History of Latvia: a Brief Survey

Moscow issued orders for the construction of large-scale industrial plantsin Latvia. Manufacturing in the chemical and electronics industries waswidely developed. The necessary labour force for these enterprises wasimported from Russia. Many factories manufactured material for theneeds of Russia’s armed forces.During the 1980s the inability of the Soviet planned economy tocompete with the free market economy of the democratic worldbecame progressively apparent. Thus, increasingly larger circles of thesocial and political elite agreed that it was necessary to convert to aWestern-style economy.Opposition to the occupation regime persisted throughout the entirepost-war occupation period. There existed various outlawed groups of people who heldsimilar views, read prohibited anti-communist literature, disseminated tracts and displayedthe forbidden red-white-red Latvian national flag.Latvian culture became a form of collective opposition. Cultureand intellectuals in Latvia were apportioned unprecedentedsignificance during the era of Soviet occupation. Officialnational offices were founded — creative unions — whichwere responsible for Latvian cultural issues. During the time ofoccupation, Latvian cultural traditions manifested themselvesmost strongly in the tradition of the Song Festival, whichallowed people to feel a sense of national unity and identity.However, this tradition was also subjected to Soviet ideology.An enormous strategic surveillanceradio telescope that was built for theneeds of the Soviet occupation armyin Irbene (near Ventspils). Followingthe renewal of Latvia’s independence,the radio telescope was donated toLatvian science for the detection of radiofrequencies in distant galaxies.Propaganda poster of soviet armed forces. Text in Russian:'Long live the armed forces of the Soviet Union!'.The Soviet era in Latvia. The annual Soviet military powerdemonstration in Rīga (held 1945-90). Soviet forces leftLatvia on 31 August 1994.During the Soviet occupationschoolchildren were submitted toideological training. Most students weremade to join the ‘Pioneer’ movement,which was identifiable by red kerchiefsand school uniforms.41