In May 1917 the Latvian Regiments transferred their loyalty to the Bolsheviks. They became known as Red Latvian Riflemen (Latvian: Latviešu sarkanie strēlnieki, Russian: красные латышские стрелки) and actively participated in the Russian Civil War. The Riflemen took an active part in the suppression of anti-Bolshevik uprisings in Moscow and Yaroslavl in 1918. They fought against Denikin, Yudenich, and Wrangel. In 1919 the division received the highest military recognition of that time: the Honorable Red Flag of VTsIK. Jukums Vācietis, formerly a colonel in the Latvian Rifles became the first commander-in-chief of the Red Army.
The Latvian Red Riflemen were instrumental in the attempt to establish Soviet rule in Latvia in 1919. They suffered great losses of personnel due to the decreasing popularity of Bolshevik ideas among the Latvian Riflemen and Latvians generally, and the majority were re-deployed to other fronts of the Russian Civil War. The remaining forces of the Red Army in Latvia were defeated by the Baltic German volunteers and newly formed Latvian units initially under Colonel Kalpaks and later under Colonel Jānis Balodis,loyal to the Latvian Republic in western Latvia, by the Estonian Army and allied Latvian forces in northern Latvia, and finally by a joint campaign of the Polish and new Latvian army in Latgale, south-eastern Latvia.
Following the 1920 peace treaty between Latvia and Bolshevist Russia, 11,395 former Red Riflemen returned to Latvia.
Other former Riflemen remained in Soviet Russia and rose to leadership positions in the Red Army, Bolshevik party, and Cheka. Many, however, were later executed or imprisoned (often dying in GULag camps) during the Great Purges, when most "old guard" Bolsheviks and high-ranking military and intelligence officers (as well as many intellectuals) were persecuted by Stalin as potential rivals or traitors. Latvian Communists were among the most persecuted groups. When the USSR occupied Latvia in 1940, many of the surviving Red Riflemen returned to Latvia.
It should be noted that the most famous pre-World War II Soviet Communist leaders from Latvia were not from the Red Riflemen: Martin Latsis, Yakov Peters, Arvīds Pelše, Jānis Bērziņš, Yan Rudzutak, Pēteris Stučka, Robert Eikhe. All of them, except for Stučka (who died in 1932) and Pelše, perished in the Great Purges of 1937–1940.
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