Alfrēds Rubiks (, ''Alfred Petrovich Rubiks''; born 24 September 1935), is a Latvian

communist Communism () is a sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology within the socialist movement, whose goal is the creation of a communist society, a socioeconomic order centered on common ownership of the means of production, di ...

politician and a former leader of the Communist Party of Latvia. He was a

Member of the European Parliament A member of the European Parliament (MEP) is a person who has been Election, elected to serve as a popular representative in the European Parliament. When the European Parliament (then known as the Common Assembly of the European Coal and S ...

for

Latvia Latvia, officially the Republic of Latvia, is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is one of the three Baltic states, along with Estonia to the north and Lithuania to the south. It borders Russia to the east and Belarus to t ...

from 2009 until 2014. In the European Parliament he was a member of the European United Left–Nordic Green Left group. Due to his former allegiance with the Communist Party of Latvia after January 1991, Rubiks is prohibited from running for an electable office in Latvia under Latvian law. His two sons Artūrs Rubiks and Raimonds Rubiks are also politicians and members of the

Saeima The Saeima () is the parliament of the Latvia, Republic of Latvia. It is a unicameral parliament consisting of 100 members who are elected by proportional representation, with seats allocated to political parties which gain at least 5% of the p ...

for

Harmony In music, harmony is the concept of combining different sounds in order to create new, distinct musical ideas. Theories of harmony seek to describe or explain the effects created by distinct pitches or tones coinciding with one another; harm ...

Biography

Rubiks served as the Chairman of the Riga City Executive Committee from 1984 to 1990, effectively the last

Communist Communism () is a sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology within the socialist movement, whose goal is the creation of a communist society, a socioeconomic order centered on common ownership of the means of production, di ...

mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a Municipal corporation, municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilitie ...

of the city. He was a member of the

Politburo of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union The Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, abbreviated as Politburo, was the de facto highest executive authority in the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU). While elected by and formally a ...

from July 1990 until the party was banned on November 6, 1991. As head of the Communist Party of Latvia in 1991 he opposed Latvia's independence from the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

and issued a list of Latvian pro-independence politicians to be arrested but on 23 August 1991 was imprisoned himself for his role in attempting to overthrow the then new democratic government and supporting the August 1991 coup d'état attempt in Moscow. Despite his incarceration, Rubiks was nominated as a candidate in the 1996 Latvian presidential election by the Socialist Party, but lost to incumbent Guntis Ulmanis. Rubiks was released in November 1997 for good behaviour, and became chairman of the Socialist Party of Latvia, the de facto successor to the Communist Party, in 1999. In a 2000 poll, Rubiks was ranked the least popular politician in Latvia with a score of -22.4 points. He was elected a

in the 2009 European Parliament elections as one of the two reprentatives of the political alliance Harmony Centre. In 2012, Rubiks distributed his biography "From Political Prisoner to European Parliament Member" to all EP members, drawing criticism from other MEPs from Latvia for the claims made in the book. In 2015, after the Socialist Party of Latvia lost in the

2014 European Parliament election The 2014 European Parliament election was held in the European Union (EU) between 22 and 25 May 2014. It was the 8th parliamentary election since the first direct elections in 1979, and the first in which the European political parties field ...

, he resigned as its chairman. In 2019, along with Nils Ušakovs he was removed from the board of Harmony Centre.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rubiks, Alfreds 1935 births Living people Politicians from Daugavpils Members of the Politburo of the 28th Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union Heads of the Communist Party of Latvia Socialist Party of Latvia politicians People's commissars and ministers of the Latvian Soviet Socialist Republic Members of the Congress of People's Deputies of the Soviet Union Members of the Supreme Soviet of the Latvian Soviet Socialist Republic, 1980–1985 Members of the Supreme Soviet of the Latvian Soviet Socialist Republic, 1985–1990 Deputies of the Supreme Council of the Republic of Latvia Deputies of the 5th Saeima Harmony Centre MEPs MEPs for Latvia 2009–2014 Mayors of Riga Candidates for President of Latvia Riga Technical University alumni People of the Singing Revolution Latvian prisoners and detainees Prisoners and detainees of Latvia Recipients of the Order of the Badge of Honour