People of the Revolution and the USSR

Activity
Any Government and administration 2 Legislature and state representation 1
Affiliation(set)

Most people

Any Soviet Communist Party and Bolsheviks 162 Soviet Unionstate 127 Russian Federation state institutionsstate 8 Communist Party of the Russian Federation (CPRF) 8 Lithuania state institutionsstate 3 United Russia 3 Estonia state institutionsstate 2 Latvia state institutionsstate 2

All 20 affiliations

Azerbaijan

Azerbaijan state institutionsstate 1

Belarus

Belarus state institutionsstate 1

Estonia

Estonia state institutionsstate 2 Popular Front of Estonia (Rahvarinne) 2

Kazakhstan

Kazakhstan state institutionsstate 1

Kyrgyzstan

Kyrgyzstan state institutionsstate 1

Latvia

Latvia state institutionsstate 2 Popular Front of Latvia 1

Lithuania

Lithuania state institutionsstate 3 Sąjūdis (Reform Movement of Lithuania) 2

Moldova

Moldova state institutionsstate 1

Russia

Russian Federation state institutionsstate 8 Communist Party of the Russian Federation (CPRF) 8 United Russia 3 Our Home – Russia 2

Soviet Union

Soviet Communist Party and Bolsheviks 162 Soviet Unionstate 127

Ukraine

Ukraine state institutionsstate 1

United States

United States state institutionsstate 1

Uzbekistan

Uzbekistan state institutionsstate 1
Position
Any Marxism and communism 1
Citizenship
Any Latvia 2
Background
Any Latvia 2
Era(set)
Any

People of the Soviet Union

People of the Stalin era1929–1953 1 The last generation1985–1991 2

People of the wider world

The revolutionary wave and the world war1917–1945 6
Latvia state institutions (state) The last generation 1985–1991 Clear all

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

Ivars Godmanis

Ivars Godmanis
Latvia state institutions Latvia Latvia 1951–

The physicist who walked Latvia out of the USSR and commanded the nights of the barricades

On the night of 20 January 1991, after Soviet special forces stormed Latvia's Interior Ministry, killing five, Godmanis telephoned Soviet interior minister Boris Pugo, who told him: 'I was not involved.'

A Latvian physicist turned politician, Godmanis earned his doctorate in solid-state physics and taught at the University of Latvia before joining the Latvian Popular Front in 1987. After the Front's victory in the 1990 Supreme Council elections, he became the first prime minister of a Latvia that had declared the restoration of its independence, and during the January 1991 barricades he coordinated the defense of strategic sites and personally telephoned Soviet interior minister Boris Pugo, who denied any involvement in the OMON attack. He returned as prime minister in 2007, steering Latvia through the global financial crisis until his resignation in 2009.

Career timeline
  • 1973–1988Lecturer at University of Latvia, researcher at Institute of Solid State Physics
  • 1989–1990Deputy Chairman, Latvian Popular Front
  • 1990–1993Prime Minister of the Republic of Latvia
  • 1998–1999Minister of Finance of Latvia
  • 2006–2007Minister of the Interior of Latvia
  • 2007–2009Prime Minister of Latvia