People of the Revolution and the USSR

Activity(set)
Any Political and party leadership 13 Government and administration 5 Legislature and state representation 3 Military command 6 Security, intelligence and policing 6 Diplomacy and international organization 3 Economy, finance and planning 3 Agriculture and land policy 1 Social movements and organizing 7 Scholarship and theory 2 Science and technology 2 Literature and arts 6 Religion 1 Law and justice 2
Affiliation

Most people

Any Soviet Communist Party and Bolsheviks 2 Soviet Union state institutions 2 Latvia state institutions 1

All 3 affiliations

Latvia

Latvia state institutions 1

Soviet Union

Soviet Communist Party and Bolsheviks 2 Soviet Union state institutions 2
Position
Any Marxism and communism 3
Citizenship
Any Soviet Union 2 Latvia 1
Background(set)
Any Hungary 15 Germany 14 Russia 6 Belarus 5 Ukraine 5 Moldova 4 Estonia 3 Latvia 3 Azerbaijan 2 Finland 2 France 2 Austria 1 Croatia 1 Italy 1 Laos 1 Lithuania 1 Turkey 1 United Kingdom 1 Uzbekistan 1
Era
Any

People of the Soviet Union

People of the Stalin era1929–1953 1 People of the thaw and the stagnation1953–1985 1 The last generation1985–1991 1
Legislature and state representation Background: Latvia Clear all

Augusts Kirhenšteins

Augusts Kirhenšteins
Soviet Union state institutions Soviet communism Soviet Union Latvia 1872–1963 ○ Natural death

Microbiologist who headed the puppet government chosen by the Soviet embassy in 1940 and requested Latvia’s incorporation into the USSR

Born the son of a tenant on a manor in Mazsalaca, Livonia, he studied at the Tartu Veterinary Institute, took part in the revolution of 1905 and emigrated to Switzerland, working at a tuberculosis institute in Davos. He served as a military veterinarian in the Serbian army in the First World War and as a captain in the veterinary units of the Latvian War of Independence. In 1919 he founded a Microbiology Institute at the University of Latvia, and in 1923 he defended the first doctoral thesis in Latvia; politically he supported social democracy. In June 1940 the Soviet embassy offered him the leadership of the new puppet government; as prime minister, and from 21 July acting president, he requested Latvia’s incorporation into the Soviet Union. He chaired the Latvian SSR Supreme Soviet’s presidium in 1940–1952, joined the Communist Party in 1941 and died in Riga in 1963.

Career timeline
  • 1893–1901Tartu Veterinary Institute
  • 1911Assistant at the tuberculosis institute in Davos
  • 1919Founded the Microbiology Institute at the University of Latvia
  • 1940Puppet prime minister and acting president
  • 1940–1952Chairman of the Latvian SSR Supreme Soviet’s presidium

Vitālijs Petrovich Rubenis

Виталий Петрович Рубен
Soviet Union state institutions Soviet communism Soviet Latvia 1914–1994 ○ Natural causes

The Latvian who chaired the Soviet of Nationalities for a decade under Brezhnev

On December 8, 1983, at a Human Rights Day press conference, Rubenis described the exiled Andrei Sakharov as "a talented but sick man" whose banishment to Gorky "was necessary above all for himself, to preserve his peace of mind."

A Moscow-born Latvian Soviet politician who served as Chairman of the Latvian SSR Council of Ministers and Chairman of its Supreme Soviet Presidium before chairing the Soviet of Nationalities (1974–1984) for a decade under Brezhnev. His decade-long tenure was a rare case of a non-Russian republican cadre stably occupying a key federal parliamentary post, and he exemplified the loyal technocrats Arvīds Pelše elevated after the 1959 purge of Latvian national communists.

Career timeline
  • 1934–1941Worked as agronomist after graduating from technical school
  • 1942–1943Editor, Stakhanovsky Trud district newspaper, Rybinsk
  • 1947–1948Second Secretary, Daugavpils Uyezd Committee, CP Latvia
  • 1958–1960Head of Agriculture & Procurement Dept, Gosplan of Latvian SSR
  • 1960–1961Head of Agricultural Dept, CC CP Latvia
  • 1962–1970Chairman, Council of Ministers of the Latvian SSR
  • 1970–1974Chairman, Presidium of Supreme Soviet of Latvian SSR; Deputy Chairman, Presidium of USSR Supreme Soviet
  • 1974–1984Chairman, Soviet of Nationalities of the USSR Supreme Soviet

Anatolijs Gorbunovs

Anatolijs Gorbunovs
Latvia state institutions Marxism and communism Latvia Latvia 1942–

The Communist Party secretary who led Latvia's Supreme Council through the restoration of independence

On 14 January 1991, General Kuzmin's ultimatum to the chairman of the Supreme Council was simple: repeal the laws Latvia had adopted, or the army would act. Gorbunovs did not repeal them, and a week later flew to Moscow to face Gorbachev.

A farmer's son from Pilda in eastern Latvia, he graduated from construction college, Riga Polytechnical Institute, and the Moscow Academy of Social Sciences, then rose through the Latvian Communist Party apparatus to become Central Committee secretary for ideology. He broke with the party's hard line in 1988 by backing the Latvian Popular Front, and as Chairman of the Supreme Council presided over the 4 May 1990 session that declared the Soviet Union an occupying power and began the transition to restored independence. During the January 1991 Barricades he stood firm against General Kuzmin's ultimatum, then flew to Moscow on 21 January to confront Gorbachev directly.

Career timeline
  • 1959–1965Technician at Nīkrāce state farm, employee at Riga Agricultural Engineering Institute, Soviet Army service
  • 1970–1974Senior lecturer at Riga Polytechnical Institute, Kirov district Komsomol first secretary
  • 1974–1988Various posts in the Latvian Communist Party Central Committee, rising to secretary for ideology
  • 1988–1990Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the Latvian SSR
  • 1990–1993Chairman of the Supreme Council of the Republic of Latvia, acting head of state after independence
  • 1993–1995Speaker of the 5th Saeima
  • 1995–2002Deputy Prime Minister, Minister for Environmental Protection and Regional Development, Minister for Transport