Pēteris Stučka I WW1 & Wars of Independence
Pēteris Stučka (1865-1932) - lawyer, politician, publicist, book publisher, one of the leaders of the New Current, editor of several socialist and communist press publications.
Born in 1865 in a prosperous peasant family in Koknese parish, Vecbirznieki. Stučka's father Jānis Stučka was a rafter in his youth, later he worked as a folk teacher and estrator, and when he got married he became the owner of a large farm.
In the autumn of 1879, he entered the German Gymnasium in Riga, where he met Jānis Pliekšāns. In 1884, both began studying at the University of St. Petersburg, joining the group of Latvian students at the university. Stučka graduated from the University in 1888, returns to Riga and assumes the duties of the editor of the Latvian democratic newspaper Dienas Lapa. In the summer of 1897, the Dienas Lapa was temporarily closed and Stučka himself was arrested. Until January 1898, Stučka was imprisoned in Vidzeme Province Prison in Riga.
He is then deported to Vitebsk. After the repression of the 1905 revolution, he returned to Riga. From 1907 he worked as a lawyer in St. Petersburg, founded a private publishing house "Dzirkstele", started publishing a magazine promoting Marxism in Latvian (the names of the magazine change several times - "Atvases", Jaunais Pūrs "," Dzirkstele "," Ciba ", etc.), where he publishes reflections on a wide range of topics. He was also the head of the government of the Latvian Socialist Soviet Republic (1919), which was the result of events that took place on December 4, 1918: The Soviet government of Latvia was formed in Russia, which issued a manifesto on December 17 announcing its main goals. The head of the Soviet government of Latvia was Pēteris Stučka, who arrived in Valka from Pskov on December 21. The Red Army, including Latvian rifle regiments, was rapidly approaching Riga. It was abandoned on January 2, 1919, under the leadership of Kārlis Ulmanis, the Provisional Government of Latvia, leaving a seat for Pēteris Stučks and his Soviet Latvian government.
Mr Stucka's government decided to give Russian members a lesson in building socialism. He has been overwhelmed with the conviction that the "Latvian Labor Community" has every opportunity to become a role model for communists not only in Russia, but perhaps even in Europe. The Latvian proletariat was chosen to be in the "torch revolutionary powder tower". From this arose the terror and radicalism of reforms experienced in Soviet Latvia between January and May 1919, which could not be observed even in Russia. Stučka and his like-minded people hurried to reach the long-awaited socialism as soon as possible, but burned down because they quickly lost the hope and support of the population, which led to the collapse and complete destruction of Soviet Latvia during the Latvian War of Independence. Peter Stučka played his part, but did so so badly that he became a disgusted communist.
Later, Stučka was the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the USSR (1923). In 1931, Stuchka was appointed director of the Moscow Institute of Soviet Law. The city of Aizkraukle, the State University of Latvia and Tērbatas Street in Riga were named after Pēteris Stučkas. Peter Stuchka died on January 25, 1932 in Moscow and is buried in Red Square near the Kremlin wall.
More information sources
LU LFMI. Pēteris Stučka. Available: https://literatura.lv/lv/person/Peteris-Stucka/872473 [accessed 06.05.2021].
Latvian War Museum. Personalities and their achievements during the Latvian War of Independence. Available: http://www.karamuzejs.lv/lv/Petnieciba/publikacijas/12_Petnieciba_Neatkaribaskara_personibas_KP_201912.aspx [accessed 06.05.2021].
Related timeline
Related objects
Monument to the first battle for Latvia's independence
Atroadas, Inčukalns, Atmodas Street 2.
On July 3, 2016, a monument to the first battle for Latvia's independence, dedicated to the Latvian National Guard (Die Lettländische Landeswehr), was unveiled. sides. Eižens Upmanis, the chairman of the Brothers' Cemetery Committee, concluded at the time that this could be the historically first monument to the combined Latvian and Baltic forces in the battle memorials outside the cemetery. At that time, Lieutenant Colonel Oskars Kalpaks was appointed commander of the Latvian units of the Latvian National Guard or Landesver, from whose units the later Latvian army grew and formed during the Freedom Fights.
In 1918, the entire territory of present-day Latvia had fallen into the hands of the German Empire and its troops. However, at the end of the summer and autumn of 1918, the situation began to end badly for Germany, and it was clear that it was only a matter of time before Germany would be forced to concede defeat in World War I. The Russian Empire, which included Latvia before World War I, had ceased to exist earlier, with the revolutions of February and October 1917. On November 18, 1918, the Republic of Latvia was proclaimed. After the ceasefire with the Entente on November 11, 1918, the German army, which was on the territory of Latvia, was no longer motivated for further warfare, and most of its soldiers simply wanted to return home.
Under such circumstances, it was clear that Latvia's defense depended primarily on the national guard formed by the people of Latvia. Initially, due to their education and relatively greater ability to self-organize, the greatest initiative in creating such a national guard was shown by the Baltic Germans living in Latvia. Russian soldiers also joined the National Guard. In order to ensure the supply of the National Guard with uniforms, weapons and other necessary resources, on December 7, 1918, the Provisional Government of Latvia entered into an agreement with the German representative August Vinnig, providing for the provision of the National Guard from the German army reserves in Latvia. This agreement stated, among other things, that the National Guard, officially known as the Latvian National Guard or in German, the die Lettländische Landeswehr, would be the armed forces of the Republic of Latvia.
Two soldiers of the Latvian Red Rifle Regiment (ie approximately 2,000 to 3,000 soldiers) who had previously experienced in World War I and the Russian Civil War faced the Latvian National Guard. Despite the experience and numerical superiority of the Red Army, the Latvian National Guard held Inčukalns for two days in fierce fighting, until finally, in the evening of January 1, 1919, to avoid siege, was forced to retire, losing 43 dead and several wounded, most of whom was taken captive by the Bolsheviks, where they were killed or died of starvation or disease.
Author: Artis Buks. Material: Boulder. The monument is made of large monolithic stone, which was found in Rolls near Jelgava.
