Anarchism in Latvia emerged from theLatvian National Awakening and saw its apex during the1905 Russian Revolution. Eventually the Latvian anarchist movement was suppressed by a series of authoritarian regimes in the country.
During the time of theLivonian Confederation, peasants retained personal freedom and self-government,[1] but after theLivonian War the power of landowners was expanded, culminating in the establishment of the Duchies ofLivonia,Courland and Semigallia under thePolish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, when the peasant class was brought intoserfdom. WhenLivonia was brought under the rule of theSwedish Empire, the abolition of serfdom was briefly proposed, but it was rejected by the region's rulingBaltic German nobility, which desired to retain ownership of the peasants.[2]
After the end of theGreat Northern War in 1721, theBaltic region was brought under the rule of theRussian Empire, but the peasants continued to be administered by theBaltic German nobility under a feudalLandtag.[3] Serfdom was subsequently expanded underCatherine the Great,[4] after the defeat ofPugachev's Rebellion.[5] In response, local voices such asJohann Georg Eisen von Schwarzenberg[6] andGarlieb Merkel[7] began to advocate for theabolition of serfdom.[8]
After the suppression of theKauguri riots in 1802, new peasant laws were introduced that replaced serfdom withvilleinage, which tied peasants to the land rather than directly to the land-owners.[9] This was followed by the complete abolition of serfdom throughout most of the Baltic by 1820,[10] preceding theEmancipation reform of 1861 which abolitioned serfdom throughout the entirety of the Russian Empire.
Around this timethe First Latvian National Awakening was taking place, during which theYoung Latvians began to advocate for aromantic nationalism,[11] in opposition to the remnants of feudalism retained by the Baltic German nobility. In the 1880s, theNew Current movement emerged from the national awakening, taking a more explicitly political approach, inspired by thesocialist ideas of the time. Socialism was particularly appealing to the hundreds of thousands of landless peasants in Latvia, as well as the country's growing urbanproletariat.
At the turn of the 20th century, the working classes of the Baltic states began to wage an open struggle against the Russian Empire. Latvian landless peasants began to seize vacant land for themselves, beginning a period of peasant uprisings. When these uprisings were repressed by the landowners, many peasants fled into the woods where they formed partisan detachments known as the "Forest Brothers" and organized to attack wealthy estates and local police. Participation in the detachments was voluntary, with decisions being made by consensus, without organizational hierarchy.[12][13]
In the wake ofBloody Sunday, a general strike was called inRiga, beginning the1905 Revolution in Latvia, as Latvian workers began to revolt against both the Russian authorities and German nobility.[14] Anarchist ideas began to spread throughout the Latvian working classes, with the first anarchist groups being established throughout the country, largely led byLatvian Jews. An anarcho-communist group known as theRiga International[15] began to conduct propaganda work among the poor in both theYiddish andLatvian languages, even translatingThe Conquest of Bread byPeter Kropotkin into Latvian. Eventually, a number of disparate anarchist groups throughout the Latvian capital united together, establishing the Federation of Riga Anarchist Communist Groups.[12]
By the autumn of 1905, armed conflict between the German nobility and the Latvian peasants began in the rural areas ofVidzeme andCourland. In Courland, the peasants seized or surrounded several towns where they established revolutionary councils. In Vidzeme the fighters took control of the Rūjiena-Pärnu railway line. Altogether, a thousand armed clashes were registered in Latvia in 1905.[16] Anarchists joined in the armed struggle, launching a number of attacks against the forces of theGerman nationalistparamilitary forces, as well as the property of the Latvian capitalist class.[12]
In response, the Russian Empire declaredmartial law and began to violently suppress the Latvian revolutionary movement, which anarchists led armed resistance against. In the ensuing repression, many anarchists were arrested and sentenced to hard labor or prison, while a number of young Jewish anarchists were sentenced to death by a military tribunal.[12] In total, hundreds of people were executed, many without trial, while thousands more were sent into exile inSiberia or fled toWestern Europe. Latvian anarchists that had fled toLondon continued their revolutionary activities, taking part in a number of bank robberies that culminated in the events of theTottenham Outrage and theSiege of Sidney Street.[17]
In Latvia, the anarchist movement was forced by the repression to change its tactics, with many aligning themselves withanarcho-syndicalism. Towards the end of 1907, the Free Workers' Organisation was established in Riga, and its members became known as the Yankovists, after the group's founder. The Yankovists began to organize among the working classes, advocating openclass conflict through strikes, expropriations and property destruction. Former social democrats of theLatvian Social Democratic Union and theSocial Democracy of the Latvian Territory began to join the Free Workers' Organisation, disillusioned by party politics. However, by September 1908, the organisation was dissolved, as many Yankovists disseminated themselves into legal trade unions.[12]
Following theFebruary Revolution, Latvian revolutionaries began to return to the country, including a number of anarchists. In August 1917, the Liesma group was founded along anarcho-syndicalist lines and went on to actively participate in theOctober Revolution. After committing some expropriations, the group established the Latvian Anarchists' Club in a small house, which held reading circles and lectures. When faced with the need to begin publishing anarchist literature, the group occupied a larger house and renovated its previous property into ahousing cooperative. The group also founded a unit ofBlack Guards to fight againstcounter-revolutionary elements. In April 1918, a number of Latvians arrived fromKharkov and joined the Liesma group, which went on to occupy a manor house, open a museum and establish the Latvian Anarchist Theatre. However, their house was soon after raided by theRed Army and the anarchists were arrested, taken toButyrka prison and tortured. The group was later released, recognized as "ideological revolutionaries", but only after their work had been thoroughly destroyed.[18]
After theLatvian victory over the Bolsheviks in theLatvian War of Independence, the new Republic of Latvia wasconstituted as a liberal democracy. But the1934 Latvian coup d'état established anauthoritarian regime underKārlis Ulmanis, which suppressed the country's left-wing opposition. The subsequentSoviet occupation in 1940,Nazi occupation in 1941 andSoviet re-occupation in 1944 ensured the ultimate suppression of any remaining left-wing opposition. TheLatvian Soviet Socialist Republic was established under the single-party rule of theCommunist Party of Latvia. The country eventually regained its independence during theSinging Revolution, which restored liberal democracy after over 50 years of authoritarian rule.
The anarchist movement slowly began to re-emerge during the 21st century, with a group of Latvian anarchists going on to participate in the 2012 Baltic Anarchist Meeting.[19]
