Klāra Anna Luīze Kalniņa, née Veilande (1874–1964), was a Latvian

feminist Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideology, ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social gender equality, equality of the sexes. Feminism holds the position that modern soci ...

suffragette A suffragette was a member of an activist women's organisation in the early 20th century who, under the banner "Votes for Women", fought for the right to vote in public elections in the United Kingdom. The term refers in particular to members ...

, editor, and politician, a long-time member of the

Latvian Social Democratic Workers' Party The Latvian Social Democratic Workers' Party (, LSDSP) is a Social democracy, social-democratic list of political parties in Latvia, political party in Latvia and the second oldest existing Latvian political party after the Latvian Farmers' Uni ...

( (LSDSP)).

Life

Kalniņa was born in the village of Vanči in

Courland Governorate Courland Governorate, also known as the Province of Courland or Governorate of Kurland, and known from 1795 to 1796 as the Viceroyalty of Courland, was an administrative-territorial unit (''guberniya'') and one of the Baltic governorates of the ...

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire that spanned most of northern Eurasia from its establishment in November 1721 until the proclamation of the Russian Republic in September 1917. At its height in the late 19th century, it covered about , roughl ...

(today in Latvia) on 24 February 1874. She finished four grades of schooling in 1890 in

Jelgava Jelgava () is a state city in central Latvia. It is located about southwest of Riga. It is the largest town in the Semigallia region of Latvia. Jelgava was the capital of the united Duchy of Courland and Semigallia (1578–1795) and was the ad ...

, where the language of instruction was German, not Latvian. She was admitted into the

sixth grade Sixth grade (also 6th grade or grade 6) is the sixth year of formal or compulsory education. Students in sixth grade are usually 11-12 years old. It is commonly the first or second grade of middle school or the last grade of elementary school, an ...

of the

Jelgava Gymnasium Jelgava Gymnasium or Academia Petrina is the oldest higher educational establishment in Latvia. Based on an idea by , it was established in Jelgava, Mitau, capital of the Duchy of Courland and Semigallia, by Duke Peter von Biron in 1775. The duke ...

at the age of 20 and graduated in 1897 having completed the

seventh grade Seventh grade (also 7th Grade or Grade 7) is the seventh year of formal or compulsory education. The seventh grade is typically the first or second year of middle school. In the United States, kids in seventh grade are usually around 12–13 years ...

. In the meantime, she had gone to

St Petersburg Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the Neva, River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland ...

, the capital of the Russian Empire, in an attempt to further her education, but was forced to return home in 1896 by financial difficulties. Kalniņa met her future husband,

Pauls Kalniņš Pauls Kalniņš (3 March 1872 – 26 August 1945) was a Latvian physician and politician (LSDSP), a long-term Speaker of the Saeima, one of the signatories of the Memorandum of the Latvian Central Council in 17 March 1944, and was the Acting Pre ...

, in 1895 and they married three years later. They had one son, the politician

Brūno Kalniņš Brūno (also: Bruno) Haralds Kalniņš (7 May 1898 – 26 March 1990) was a Latvian people, Latvian Latvian Social Democratic Workers' Party, social democratic politician and historian. He was the son of prominent social-democratic politician ...

. During the

German occupation of Latvia during World War II The military occupation of Latvia by Nazi Germany was completed on 10 July 1941, by Germany's armed forces. Initially, the territory of Latvia was under the military administration of Army Group North, but on 25 July 1941, Latvia was in ...

, she and her husband participated in the pro-independence

Latvian Central Council The Latvian Central Council (LCC, , LCP) was the pro-independence Latvian resistance movement during World War II from 1943 onwards. The LCC consisted of members from across the spectrum of former leading Latvian politicians and aimed to be the g ...

. After her husband's death in 1945, she fled to Sweden and lived there until she died in 1964.

Activities

While still a student, Kalniņa was one of the founders of a literary group, Aurora (), that rejected the bourgeois idea that women's roles in life were limited to

Kinder, Küche, Kirche ''Kinder, Küche, Kirche'' (), or the 3 Ks, is a German slogan translated as "children, kitchen, church" used under the German Empire to describe a woman's role in society. It now has a mostly derogatory connotation, describing what is seen as an ...

. In the mid-1890s, she became involved in the New Current () and the beginnings of the

social democratic Social democracy is a Social philosophy, social, Economic ideology, economic, and political philosophy within socialism that supports Democracy, political and economic democracy and a gradualist, reformist, and democratic approach toward achi ...

movements. While in St Petersburg, she participated in the activities of the Social Democrats there and then became active in organizing the social democratic group in Kurzeme from 1901 to 1903. Kalniņa and her husband left Russia that same year and lived in Germany and

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

until the outbreak of the

1905 Russian Revolution The Russian Revolution of 1905, also known as the First Russian Revolution, was a revolution in the Russian Empire which began on 22 January 1905 and led to the establishment of a constitutional monarchy under the Russian Constitution of 1906, th ...

prompted their temporary return.Novikova, pp. 210–11 She was elected to the

Constitutional Assembly of Latvia The Constitutional Assembly of Latvia () was independent Latvia's first elected legislative body. Its main task was creating the constitution of Latvia, the Satversme, which is still in effect to this day. The Speaker of Assembly was Jānis Čaks ...

in 1920. Alongside

Aspazija Aspazija was the pen name of Elza Johanna Emilija Lizete Pliekšāne (née Elza Rozenberga; 16 March 1865 – 5 November 1943), a Latvian poet and playwright. Aspazija is the Latvian transliteration of Aspasia. Biography Aspazija was born ...

, Apolonija Laurinoviča,

Valērija Seile Valērija Seile (; 1891–1970) was a Latvian politician, educator, historian, librarian and writer. She was educated in St Petersburg. She returned to Latvia in 1916, was the secretary of the Provisional Land Council of Latgale in 1917-18 and ...

and Berta Vesmane, she was one of five women elected to the proto-parliament.

Citations and references

Cited sources

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kalnina, Klara 1874 births 1964 deaths People from Jelgava Municipality People from Dobele county Latvian Social Democratic Workers' Party politicians Members of the People's Council of Latvia Deputies of the Constitutional Assembly of Latvia Latvian feminists Latvian socialist feminists 20th-century Latvian women writers 20th-century Latvian writers Latvian women's rights activists 20th-century Latvian women politicians Latvian World War II refugees Latvian emigrants to Sweden