ABSTRACT
The year of Soviet rule in Latvia, from the arrival of the Red Army on 17 June 1940 until the start of Hitler’s Operation Barbarossa on 22 June 1941, was a time of near permanent revolution in Daugavpils. Known by nationalists and Nazis as ‘the terrible year’, it began with popular demonstrations in support of the new order and ended with the mass deportation of representatives of the old order. In the first couple of weeks after the formation of the People’s Government, Daugavpils experienced a wave of street demonstrations and meetings as the Ulmanis order was overthrown and new workers’ committees were established. As soon as the communists emerged from prison, they were engaged in street clashes to disarm the aizsargs, that symbol of the old order. They consciously strove to appear internationalist rather than nationalist, and there was much loose talk of ‘soviets’ as workers’ and soldiers’ committees were established. This display of popular initiative did not last long. As soon as Stalin’s electoral timetable was set and the process of Latvia’s incorporation into the Soviet Union began, the era of street politics passed. Communists were no longer expected to dream about communism but to implement communism. Their task was no longer to be part of the worldwide struggle of communism against fascism, but to persuade a sceptical populace of the benefits of incorporation into the Soviet Union, even if that meant relying on the anti-Latvian sentiment of some Russian workers.
