page_title: Latvian Soviet Socialist Republic
section_title: Creation, 1940
hierarchical_section_title: Latvian Soviet Socialist Republic / Creation, 1940
caption_attribution_description: Latvian SSR. Scale 1:3,000,000 (year 1940)
context_page_description: The Latvian Soviet Socialist Republic, also known as Soviet Latvia or Latvia, was a republic of the Soviet Union.
  It was established on 21 July 1940, during World War II, as a Soviet puppet state in the territory of the previously independent Republic of Latvia after it had been occupied on June 17, 1940 by the Red Army, in conformity with the terms of the 23 August 1939 Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact.
  Following the Welles Declaration of July 23, 1940, the annexation of the Baltic states into the Soviet Union on 5 August 1940 was not recognized as legitimate by the United States, the European Community, and recognition of it as the nominal thirteenth, fourteenth, and fifteenth constituent republic of the USSR was withheld for five decades. Its territory was subsequently conquered by Nazi Germany in June–July 1941, before being retaken by the Soviets in 1944–1945. Nevertheless, Latvia continued to exist as a de jure independent country with a number of countries continued to recognize Latvian diplomats and consuls who still functioned in the name of their former governments.
  Soviet rule came to an end during the dissolution of the Soviet Union.
context_section_description: On September 24, 1939, the USSR entered the airspace of Estonia, flying numerous intelligence gathering operations. On September 25, Moscow demanded that Estonia sign a Soviet–Estonian Mutual Assistance Treaty that would allow the USSR to establish military bases and to station troops on its soil. Latvia was next in line, as the USSR demanded the signing of a similar treaty. The authoritarian government of Kārlis Ulmanis accepted the ultimatum, signing the Soviet–Latvian Mutual Assistance Treaty on October 5, 1939. On June 16, 1940, after the USSR had already invaded Lithuania, it issued an ultimatum to Latvia which was followed by the Soviet occupation of Latvia on June 17.
  Soviet foreign minister Vyacheslav Molotov accused Latvia and the other Baltic states of forming a military conspiracy against the Soviet Union, and so Moscow presented ultimatums, demanding new concessions, which included the replacement of governments with new ones, "determined" to "fulfill" the treaties of friendship "sincerely" and allowing an unlimited number of troops to enter the three countries. Hundreds of thousands Soviet troops entered Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania. These additional Soviet military forces far outnumbered the armies of each country.
  Ulmanis government decided that, in conditions of international isolation and the overwhelming Soviet force both on the borders and inside the country, it was better to avoid bloodshed and an unwinnable war. The Latvian army did not fire a shot and was quickly decimated by purges and included in the Red Army.
  Ulmanis' government resigned and was replaced by a left-wing government created under instructions from the USSR embassy. Up until the election of the People's Parliament on July 14–15, 1940 there were no public statements about governmental plans to introduce a Soviet political order or to join the Soviet Union. Soon after the occupation, the Communist Party of Latvia was legalized as the only legal party and presented the "Working People's Bloc" for the elections. It was the only permitted participant in the election, after an attempt by other politicians to include the Democratic Bloc (an alliance of all banned Latvian parties, except the Social Democratic Workers' Party) on the ballot was prevented by the government. Its office was closed, election leaflets confiscated and its leaders arrested.
  The election results themselves were fabricated; the Soviet press service released them so early that they appeared in a London newspaper a full 24 hours before the polls had closed. All Soviet army personnel present in the country were allowed to vote.
  The newly elected People's Parliament convened on 21 July to declare the creation of the Latvian SSR and request admission to the Soviet Union on the same day. Such a change in the basic constitutional order of the state was illegal under the Constitution of Latvia, because such a change could only be enacted after a plebiscite with two-thirds of the electorate approving. On August 5, the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union completed the process of annexation by accepting the Latvian petition, and formally incorporated Latvia into the Soviet Union.
  Some of the Latvian diplomats stayed in the West and the Latvian Diplomatic Service continued to advocate the cause of Latvia's freedom for the next 50 years.
  Following the Soviet pattern, the real power in the republic was in the hands of the First Secretary of the Communist Party of Latvia, while the titular head of the republic (Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet) and the head of the executive (the Chairman of the Soviet of the Ministers) were in subordinate positions. Therefore, the history of Soviet Latvia can broadly be divided in the periods of rule by the First Secretaries: Jānis Kalnbērziņš, Arvīds Pelše, Augusts Voss, Boris Pugo.
caption: 1940 Soviet map of the Latvian SSR
exif: {}