15.sējums - Valsts prezidenta kanceleja

Heinrihs Strods. Latvijas sovetizācija (1944–1959)
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Heinrihs Strods
Sovietisation of Latvia (1944–1959)
Summary
Sovietisation of Latvia was begun immediately after the occupation of Latvia according to the
Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact of 23 August 1939. It meant subjugation of the politics, economy
and culture to the needs of totalitarian Communism of the USSR. So far the investigation of
Sovietisation in Latvia had three major weaknesses – insufficient examination of the Russian
archives, insufficient research of the economical, social and cultural life and poor understanding
of the way Sovietisation model was prepared in Russia before and after the Bolshevik
coup d’êtat of 1917. If the leadership of the USSR (Russia) had to search for 50 years in
order to “discover” the original copies of the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact of 23 August 1939 in
their own secret archives, no wonder they still cannot admit occupation of the “pact zone”
countries, including Latvia, in 1939–1940. One thing Russia cannot admit under any circumstances
is the presence of Russian imperial spectres in the USSR policy that gave Sovietisation
a distinctly Russian character. The USSR began Sovietisation of Latvia after significant
part (up to 13%) of the Latvian nation had fled to the West in 1944, using the backing of
its tremendous military might. During 1944–1945, Moscow picked up several thousands of
functionaries and without any elections installed them in Latvia as the new state administration.
Together with the CC of the CPSU in Moscow the operations of Sovietisation of Latvia in
1944–1947 were led by the Latvian Bureau of the CC of the CPSU in Riga (1944–1947) and
an organisation they created and paid for – the Communist Party of Latvia who was turning
Latvia into an imperial colony of the USSR and received 95.9% of its budget from Moscow.
Sovietisation of Latvia followed the model Bolsheviks worked out soon after the Russian
coup d’êtat of 1917. In the beginning Latvian political, business and religious leaders and
middle class were annihilated or sent to GULAG camps or Siberian settlements. Sovietisation
abolished European-style agriculture based on individual farms, private property and
market economy and introduced Russian collective farms and villages.
Russian colonial industry arrived with newly built huge factories – mostly in towns and
cities thickly populated by Latvians – Valmiera, Ogre, Jelgava and Daugavpils. Workforce
and raw materials were brought from Russia, produce went to military industrial complex or
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