Coup in Latvia on May 15, 1934
During the coup d'état of May 15, 1934 , the incumbent Latvian Prime Minister Kārlis Ulmanis forcibly established an authoritarian regime with the elimination of parliament and political parties.
prehistory
As in other new states in Eastern Europe, Latvia, which has been independent since 1918, did not have its own democratic tradition. A liberal electoral law allowed a large number of small parties to enter parliament, which resulted in unstable governing coalitions. The governments changed every 10 months on average from 1918 to 1934, a total of 18 times . The Great Depression from 1928 onwards caused additional problems . Large parts of the population, who still remembered the quiet pre-war times in the Russian Empire , blamed parliamentarism for the prevailing conditions.
The 1930s saw an upsurge in nationalist dictatorships in Europe. Authoritarian regimes were already in place in the neighboring states of Estonia after the coup d'état of March 12, 1934, and Lithuania . As the founder of the state and first prime minister, Ulmanis had the necessary authority to be considered a “strong man” of Latvia.
Preparations
Since 1932, the Peasant Party- controlled press campaigned for a constitutional change. The main organizers and initiates of a violent constitutional amendment were Ulmanis, the later ministers Vilhelms Munters , Alfreds Jēkabs Bērziņš and Bernhards Einbergs, as well as the military Krišjānis Berķis , Mārtiņš Hartmanis and Jānis Balodis . After Ādolfs Bļodniek's government was overthrown in 1934, the Latvian Social Democratic Labor Party, the strongest faction in parliament , refused to take over government. Instead, Ulmanis was elected president of the government in March. He was able to fill important government posts with his own people. In April, Kārlis Goppers, commander of the Vidzeme Division and the Riga Garrison, was replaced by Krišjānis Berķis. Rumors of an impending coup were widespread at the time, but no concrete action was taken.
procedure
The conspirators had secured the support of the army , guards and police. On the night of May 15-16, important state and party institutions were occupied by the National Guard. The most famous politicians and party activists were arrested. A state of emergency was declared on the morning of May 16. By order of the police, the streets of Riga were flagged. No newspapers appeared in the days that followed. Arrests of potential opponents of the coup continued in both the capital and the province. The proceedings were bloodless and the last of those arrested were released in 1935.
In the new regime, political parties, strikes and demonstrations were now forbidden. The freedom of the press was restricted. President Alberts Kviesis was not a supporter of the coup, but remained in office and signed the laws of the new cabinet until Ulmanis took over the office of president on April 11, 1936 by means of a self-enacted law.
literature
- Aivars Stranga. LSDSP un 1934. gada 15th maija valsts apvērsums . Rīga 1998. ISBN 9984-643-06-9 .
- Valters Ščerbinskis: Pašvaldību amatpersonu atlaišanas un iecelšanas pēc 1934. gada 15th maija apvērsuma . In: Latvijas Arhīvi . Vol. 2007. No. 2, pp. 54. – 76.
- Viesturs Sprūde: Top dokumentu krājums par 15. maija apvērsumu . In: Latvijas Avīze, May 15, 2006, p. 6.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Kārlis Ulmanis ir viens ievērojamākajiem un arī vispretrunīgāk vērtētais latviešu politiķis. - lv.lv ( Memento of the original from November 25, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Adolfs Silde: Development of the Republic of Latvia . In: Boris Meissner (ed.): The Baltic Nations: Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania . Markus-Verlag, Cologne 1990, ISBN 3-87511-041-2 , pp. 63–74, here p. 70.
