Politics of the past: the use and abuse of history - Socialists ...

not see it as something important enough to resist. Their own historical
identity touchstone is different: victory in the Second World
War. Again, although this may appear dubious to most Latvians
within a narrow national context, few consider it entirely illegitimate
if seen through the prism of European history as well as the family
history of many Russian-speakers.
With a little generosity of mind, these historical perspectives can be,
if not fully reconciled, at least made mutually intelligible. Unfortunately,
there is little such generosity of mind to be found today. The
annual controversy surrounding the SS Legion veterans is a sordid
example of how painful history is being exploited for political gain.
It would be hard to reconcile those who see the SS legionnaires as
heroic freedom fighters with those who consider them unrepentant
Nazis and fascists. Yet these are neither the only, nor indeed the
best interpretations possible; just the ones most suited to feed populist
politics. An earnest debate over the issue would still leave Latvians
in serious disagreement over the actual role of the Latvian SS
legion in the Second World War, but at least it might reach a common
understanding of the tragic nature of this page of Latvian history.
Such debate is hardly conceivable today.
When history is a contentious issue today, it is not because of history
itself but because of how it is being used. History structures
Latvian politics and is one of the few issues that can still be used
to boost the support of an increasingly apolitical citizenry. It is for
this reason that historical disagreements have been an object of
demonization along with the demonization of the ethno-linguistic
other. For the last twenty years, the whole construction of the Latvian
polity has been predicated on history and the apportionment
of historical blame. The non-citizen status of a large share of Russian-speaking
Latvians is the most well-known example. Historical
arguments are employed to legitimize or delegitimize all kinds of
policies and policy demands concerning cultural and linguistic diversity
– an area where ethnic Latvians and Russian-speakers do
have diverging interests and attitudes.
When Latvia ratified the Council of Europe Framework Convention
for the Protection of National Minorities in May 2005, it applied a
definition of national minority “… which is quite narrow, includes
the citizenship criterion and refuses the national minority status not
149 Viktor Makarov