The International Front of the Working People of the Latvian SSR or Interfront (, ) was a pro-Soviet socialist organization in the
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 of the Soviet Union, republics. Th ...
, which during the years 1989–1991, supported
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 ...
remaining part of the
USSR
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nati ...
.
Interfront was founded in January 1989 as a reaction to the creation of the pro-independence
Popular Front of Latvia. In 1989 it took part in forming the ''United Front of Workers of the USSR'' (Объединенный фронт трудящихся СССР). Its membership consisted almost entirely of Soviet military members and Communist Party officials.
The Interfront central leadership published a newspaper ''Yedinstvo'' (russian: Единство, 'Unity'). Local sections of the organisation, for example in
Liepāja, published their own information bulletins. Interfront also made radio broadcasts.
Among the leaders of Interfront were Igor Lopatin, Anatoly Alekseyev, and
Tatjana Ždanoka
Tatjana Ždanoka or Tatyana Zhdanok (russian: Татья́на Арка́дьевна Ждано́к, ''Tatyana Arkadyevna Zhdanok''; born Tatyana Khesin (''Хесин'') on May 8, 1950 in Riga) is a Latvian politician and a Member of the Europea ...
.
Interfront was particularly active during the
January 1991 events in Latvia, during which several civilians and law enforcement officers were killed in clashes with
OMON units loyal to the central government in Moscow.
In September 1991, following the failed
August Coup
August is the eighth month of the year in the Julian and Gregorian calendars, and the fifth of seven months to have a length of 31 days. Its zodiac sign is Leo and was originally named '' Sextilis'' in Latin because it was the 6th month in ...
attempt and the restoration of Latvian independence from the USSR, the transitional parliament, the
Supreme Council passed a law banning Interfront and the
Communist Party of Latvia.
As a result of the ban, those known to have been members in Interfront after 13 January 1991 have faced restrictions on
naturalization
Naturalization (or naturalisation) is the legal act or process by which a non-citizen of a country may acquire citizenship or nationality of that country. It may be done automatically by a statute, i.e., without any effort on the part of the in ...
as citizens of Latvia. Former Interfront activists who hold citizenship of Latvia have been prohibited from standing as candidates for election to the
Saeima (parliament) or municipal councils.
See also
*
Interfront
Interfront was a pro-communist political movement that aimed to preserve the Soviet Union as a unified Marxist–Leninist state and strongly opposed the pro-independence movements in the republics. It had branches in Estonia, Latvia, Lithuani ...
References
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{{Authority control
Communist parties in the Soviet Union
Organizations of the Revolutions of 1989
Political history of Latvia
Communist parties in Latvia
Defunct political parties in Latvia
Political parties established in 1989
Political parties disestablished in 1991
Soviet internal politics
1989 in the Soviet Union
Singing Revolution
Dissolution of the Soviet Union