Eduards Berklavs (June 15, 1914 – November 25, 2004) was a

Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

and

Latvia Latvia ( or ; lv, Latvija ; ltg, Latveja; liv, Leţmō), officially the Republic of Latvia ( lv, Latvijas Republika, links=no, ltg, Latvejas Republika, links=no, liv, Leţmō Vabāmō, links=no), is a country in the Baltic region of ...

n politician. Eduards Berklavs was born in Kurmāle Parish, today part of the

Kuldīga Municipality Kuldīga Municipality ( lv, Kuldīgas novads) is a municipality in Courland, Latvia. The municipality was formed in 2009 by merging Ēdole parish, Gudenieki parish, Īvande parish, Kabile parish, Kurmāle parish, Laidi parish, Padure parish ...

. During his youth, he was active in

labour Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the labour ...

and

communist Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a s ...

organizations. In 1930s, he was arrested and served a prison sentence for his communist activities. After Latvia was occupied by the Soviet Union in 1940, Berklavs, with a background as a

Komsomol The All-Union Leninist Young Communist League (russian: link=no, Всесоюзный ленинский коммунистический союз молодёжи (ВЛКСМ), ), usually known as Komsomol (; russian: Комсомол, links=n ...

and

Communist Party A communist party is a political party that seeks to realize the socio-economic goals of communism. The term ''communist party'' was popularized by the title of ''The Manifesto of the Communist Party'' (1848) by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. A ...

official, rose to become the deputy chairman of the Council of Ministers of

Latvian SSR The Latvian Soviet Socialist Republic (Latvian SSR), also known as Soviet Latvia or simply Latvia, was a federated republic within the Soviet Union, and formally one of its 16 (later 15) constituent republics. The Latvian Soviet Socialist Rep ...

in 1950s. In this position, he opposed the Soviet policies of

Russification Russification (russian: русификация, rusifikatsiya), or Russianization, is a form of cultural assimilation in which non-Russians, whether involuntarily or voluntarily, give up their culture and language in favor of the Russian cultur ...

, supported a larger role for Latvian language and proposed to limit immigration from other parts of the Soviet Union to Latvia. This led to him being labelled as Latvian

nationalist Nationalism is an idea and movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the state. As a movement, nationalism tends to promote the interests of a particular nation (as in a group of people), Smith, Anthony. ''Nationalism: The ...

and deposed from his position in 1959. He later wrote the Letter of 17 Latvian communists, where he accused the Soviet government of "

Great Russian chauvinism Great Russian chauvinism (russian: Великорусский шовинизм) is a term defined by the early Soviet government officials, most notably Vladimir Lenin to describe an ideology of the "dominant exploiting classes of the nation, holdin ...

" and the "

forced assimilation Forced assimilation is an involuntary process of cultural assimilation of religious or ethnic minority groups during which they are forced to adopt language, identity, norms, mores, customs, traditions, values, mentality, perceptions, way of lif ...

". In the late 1980s, Berklavs became a Latvian independence activist. He was one of the founders and the first chairman of

Latvian National Independence Movement The Latvian National Independence Movement ( lv, Latvijas Nacionālās Neatkarības Kustība, LNNK) was a political organization in Latvia from 1988 until 1997. It formed in 1988 as the radical wing of Latvian nationalist movement. Unlike the main ...

(LNNK), a pro-independence political organization. He was simultaneously active in

Latvian Popular Front The Popular Front of Latvia ( lv, Latvijas Tautas fronte) was a political organisation in Latvia in the late 1980s and early 1990s which led Latvia to its independence from the Soviet Union. It was similar to the Popular Front of Estonia and the ...

and the Congress of Citizens of Latvia. During this period, Berklavs was one of the most prominent independence activists. He was elected to the Latvian parliament in 1990 and 1993; on both occasions he was the oldest member of the parliament.

References

1914 births 2004 deaths People from Kuldīga Municipality People from Courland Governorate Communist Party of Latvia politicians Latvian National Independence Movement politicians For Fatherland and Freedom/LNNK politicians Fifth convocation members of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union Members of the Supreme Soviet of the Latvian Soviet Socialist Republic, 1947–1951 Deputies of the Supreme Council of the Republic of Latvia Deputies of the 5th Saeima Soviet Army officers Soviet military personnel of World War II Recipients of the Order of the Red Banner Recipients of the Order of the Red Banner of Labour Recipients of the Order of the Red Star Recipients of the Order of the Three Stars {{Latvia-politician-stub