Arvīds Pelše | |
|---|---|
Арвид Пельше | |
 Pelše in 1969 | |
| Chairman of theParty Control Committee of theCentral Committee | |
| In office 8 April 1966 – 29 May 1983 | |
| Preceded by | Nikolay Shvernik |
| Succeeded by | Mikhail Solomentsev |
| First Secretary of theCommunist Party of Latvia | |
| In office 25 November 1959 – 15 April 1966 | |
| Preceded by | Jānis Kalnbērziņš |
| Succeeded by | Augusts Voss |
| Full member of the23rd,24th,25th,26thPolitburo | |
| In office 8 April 1966 – 29 May 1983 | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1899-02-07)7 February 1899 |
| Died | 29 May 1983(1983-05-29) (aged 84) |
| Resting place | Kremlin Wall Necropolis, Moscow |
| Nationality | Latvian |
| Party | RSDLP (Bolsheviks)(1915–1918) CPSU (1918–1983) |
| Other political affiliations | Communist Party of Latvia (1915-1983) |
| Profession | Politician,historian |
Arvīds Pelše (Russian:А́рвид Я́нович Пе́льше,Arvid Yanovich Pelshe; 7 February [O.S. 26 January] 1899 – 29 May 1983) was aLatvianSovietpolitician,functionary, and historian.
Pelše was born into a peasant family, in Mazie farm nearZālīte,Iecava inBauska county, in theCourland Governorate of theRussian Empire (nowLatvia) to Johan Pelše and his wife Lisa. He was baptized in the village church on 14 March of the same year.[1] As a worker in Riga, Pelše joined theSocial-Democratic Party (Bolsheviks) of the Latvian Region in 1915. In 1916, he metLenin inSwitzerland.[2] Between 1914 and 1918, Pelše worked in theworkshops ofRiga andVitebsk, as a milling machine operator at the steam-engine making plant inKharkov, as a punching worker inPetrograd and a loader in the port ofArkhangelsk. On behalf of the local committees he had joined the revolutionary propaganda. He was a delegate of the sixth congress of theRussian Social Democratic Labour Party of the Arkhangelsk party organization. He participated in theFebruary Revolution in 1917 and was a member of the famousPetrograd Soviet. He was actively involved in the preparation and conducting of theOctober Revolution in 1917. In 1918, he joined theCheka. In 1918, he was sent by Lenin to Latvia to prosecute the revolution there. In 1919, he was attached to theRed Army and later became a manager in the Construction Ministry of theLatvian Socialist Soviet Republic. After the defeat of the Soviet Latvian government, he returned to Russia in 1919.[2]
He was a lecturer and political commissar in the Red Army from 1919 to 1929. In 1931, he graduated from the history department of the Moscow Institute of the Red Professoriat, and between 1931 and 1933, he was a graduate student in the institute. At the same time, he was an instructor at the Institute of Party History at the Central School ofNKVD between 1929 and 1932. Between 1933 and 1937, he was first deputy of the Commissariat of State Farms (Sovkhozes). Between 1937 and 1940, he taughthistory in the Moscow Higher Educational Institute. In June 1940, he played a leading role in the process of admitting of Latvia into the USSR[clarification needed]. From March 1941 to 1959, he served as Secretary of theCentral Committee of theCommunist Party of Latvia for propaganda and agitation. During theGreat Patriotic War in 1941-1945, he worked to prepare the party and the Soviet cadres to transformLatvia into a communist[citation needed] state.
In 1958, he traveled toDenmark to attend the 20th Congress of theCommunist Party of Denmark. July 1959 to November 1959 marked the purge of all nascent nationalism from the Communist Party of Latvia—about 2,000 of the party leadership and activists were stripped of their posts and privileges.
The Soviets elevated Pelše to First Secretary, replacing the purged Kalnbērziņš on 25 November 1959. In January 1960, Pelše promptly denounced his former (purged) associates for deviating from "the right path in carrying out Leninist nationality policy".[3] From that point forward, the First Secretaries of the Latvian SSR were servile party functionaries, as first embodied by Pelše, whom Latvians regarded as symbols of submissiveness to the Soviets.[4][5]
Pelše was appointed as member of theCentral Committee in 1961. That same year, afterYuri Gagarin returned from his space mission, Pelše proposed changing the name of the Latvian capitalRīga but the Soviet central authorities saw this as extreme.
In 1963, Pelše headed a commission nicknamed the "Pelše Commission", which investigated the assassination ofSergei Kirov. The commission finished its work in 1967.[6]
Pelše served as First Secretary of the Latvian SSR until 15 April 1966. At the 23rd Party Congress in 1966, Pelše addressed his colleagues as follows:
On 7 November 1975, Pelše gave a speech in the ceremony commemorating the 58th anniversary of the October Revolution. In his address, Pelše confirmed continuing Soviet support for "fighters for freedom" and "the patriots in Angola."[7]
He was rewarded for his faithful service, being selected by the 23rd Party Congress for full membership to thePolitburo of theCPSU, a position he held until his death in May 1983. Pelše was also Chairman of theParty Control Committee, which oversaw the discipline of party members, from 1966 to 1983.
Pelše's health was failing in his last years. When he did not attendthe funeral ofLeonid Brezhnev in November 1982, rumors spread he had died, but a few days later, on 23 November, he appeared in a session of theSupreme Soviet. Another absence which was noticed by the media was in the ceremony marking the centennial of the death of Karl Marx, on 31 March 1983, one month before he died.[8]
He suffered fromlung cancer, as well asatelectasis, which aggravated his lungs, and worseningcardiopulmonary failure. He died ofcardiac arrest at 5:55 on 29 May 1983.[9] Pelše was honoured with astate funeral; his remainslay in state at theHouse of Trade Unions. On 2 June, his ashes were carried by an armoured vehicle to Red Square, with all the Politburo members standing at the top ofLenin's Mausoleum. After lavish eulogies were read by Soviet leaderYuri Andropov and Politburo memberViktor Grishin, his ashes were laid to rest in theKremlin Wall Necropolis.
Pelše wrote some works on the history of theCPSU, on the history of the revolutionary movement inLatvia,anti-capitalist nationalists, the socialist and communist construction in the country.
He was twice awarded withHero of the Socialist Labor (1969, 1979), 6Order of Lenin, theOrder of the October Revolution and other medals. TheRīga Polytechnic Institute was named for Pelše after he died.
Pelše was married three times. He had two children from the first marriage: a daughter, Beruta (died), and son, Arvik (died during World War II). One son from the second marriage, Tai, (was born in 1930) - a pensioner, and did not support any contacts with his father after the 3rd marriage. The third wife of Pelše was Lidiya, the ex-wife of Stalin's secretaryAlexander Poskrebyshev. From 1966 until his death, he lived at 15 Spiridonovka Street. A commemorative plaque was placed in the front of the building.
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