Singing Revolution - Latvia

Latvia

During the second half of the 1980s as Mikhail Gorbachev introduced glasnost and perestroika in the USSR, which rolled back restrictions to freedom in the Soviet Union, aversion to the Soviet regime had grown into the third Latvian National Awakening, which reached its peak in mid-1988.

In 1986, it became widely known to the public that the USSR was planning to build another hydroelectric power plant on Latvia's largest river Daugava, and that a decision had been made to build a subway in Riga. Both of these projects planned by Moscow could have led to the destruction of Latvia's landscape and cultural and historical heritage. In the press journalists urged the public to protest against these decisions. The public reacted immediately, and in response the Environmental Protection Club was founded on February 28, 1987. During the second half of the 1980s the Environmental Protection Club became one of the most influential mass movements in the region and began to make demands for the restoration of Latvia's independence.

On June 14, 1987, the anniversary of the 1941 deportations, the human rights group "Helsinki-86", which had been founded a year earlier, organised people to place flowers at the Freedom Monument (Latvia's symbol of independence that was erected in 1935). This was an unprecedented event that demonstrated the rebirth of national self-confidence in Latvia.

On June 1 and 2, 1988, the Writers' Union held a congress during which the democratisation of society, Latvia's economic sovereignty, the cessation of immigration from the USSR, the transformation of industry and the protection of Latvian language rights were discussed by delegates. Over the course of this conference, for the first time in post-war Latvia, the secret protocol of the "Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact", which had determined Latvia's fate after 1939, was publicly acknowledged.

The congress of the Writers' Union stirred up public opinion and provided an additional stimulus for the general process of national revival.

In the summer of 1988, two of the most important organisations of the revival period began to assemble themselves - the Latvian People's Front (LPF) and the Latvian National Independence Movement (LNIM). Soon afterwards the more radically inclined Citizens' Congress called for complete non-compliance with the representatives of the Soviet regime. All of these organizations had a common goal: the restoration of democracy and independence. On October 7, 1988, there was a mass public demonstration, calling for Latvia's independence and the establishment of regular judicial order. On October 8 and 9 the first congress of the Latvian People's Front was held. This organization, which attracted 200,000 members, became the main representative of the return to independence.

On August 23, 1989, the fiftieth anniversary of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, the People's Fronts of all three Baltic countries held a huge demonstration of unity - the "Baltic Way". A 600 km (373 mi) long human "chain" from Tallinn through Riga to Vilnius was assembled. This was a symbolic demonstration of the people's call for independence from the Soviet Union.

New elections to the Supreme Soviet took place on March 18, 1990, in which the supporters of independence gained a victory. On May 4, 1990, the new Supreme Soviet of the Latvian SSR adopted a motion, "Declaration of Independence", which called for the restoration of the inter-war Latvian state and the 1922 Constitution.

In January 1991, however, pro-communist political forces attempted to restore Soviet power. With the use of force, attempts were made to overthrow the new assembly. Latvian demonstrators managed to stop the Soviet troops from re-occupying strategic positions, and these events are known as the "Days of the Barricades".

On August 19, 1991, an unsuccessful attempt at a coup d'état took place in Moscow when a small group of prominent Soviet functionaries failed to regain power due to large pro-democracy demonstrations in Russia. This event resulted in Latvia swiftly moving toward independence. After the coup's failure the Supreme Soviet of the Latvian Republic announced on August 21, 1991, that the transition period to full independence declared on May 4, 1990 had come to an end. Therefore Latvia was proclaimed a fully independent nation whose judicial foundation stemmed back to the statehood that existed before the occupation on June 17, 1940.