A steadfast defender of Latvia's Communist Party at the Soviet Union's end
After the August 1991 coup attempt, he was arrested, becoming a jailed defendant after trying to preserve the Soviet union-wide order.
Alfrēds Rubiks was a Latvian communist politician formed by work in Riga's municipal administration and the Communist Party of Latvia. In the conflict between the Soviet system and Latvian independence, he sought to preserve the party's union-wide order, and his support for the August 1991 coup attempt brought arrest, conviction, and imprisonment. After his release, he continued that political line as leader of the Socialist Party of Latvia and later as a Member of the European Parliament.
Career timeline
1954–1957Served in the Soviet Army
1957–1961Process engineer at the Riga Electromachine-Building Plant
1982–1984Minister of Local Industry of the Latvian SSR
1984–1990Chairman of the Riga City Executive Committee
1990–1991First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Latvia and member of the CPSU Politburo
1991–1997Imprisoned over the 1991 coup attempt, sentenced to eight years in 1995
1999–2015Chairman of the Socialist Party of Latvia
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
