Location

• Rīga Bezdelīgu iela 1, Latvia LV-1048
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Languages

• Latvian
• Russian

Website

• http://www.archiv.org.lv/index3.php?id=9099

Name of collection

• Latvian Writers' Union 

Provenance and cultural activities

• The Latvian Soviet Writers' Union was an influential cultural organization. It was created in October 1940 as the Latvian SSR Writers' Union, when the first 13 members of the organization signed a declaration on its foundation. Its statutes were copied from the constitution of the Soviet Writers’ Union. At its first conference on 14-16 June 1941, which was renamed a congress, the name was changed to the Latvian Soviet Writers' Union, and the organization functioned under this title until 24-25 May 1990, when the name Latvian Writers' Union was assumed at its tenth congress.
  As the Soviet-German war started a week after the congress, writers who supported Soviet power fled to Russia. Some of the initial members of the Union who remained in Latvia, in 1944 escaped to the West. In 1944, the Soviets returned to Latvia, and the Union was reestablished. Writers who had spent the war in Russia or had fought in the Soviet army made up the leadership of the organization until the mid-1960s.
  In the 1950s, a new generation of talented poets, novelists and playwrights entered literary life, and appealed for greater creative freedom and respect for the pre-Soviet Latvian cultural heritage, as well as a widening of intellectual horizons by learning about current world literature. In December 1965, at the 5th Congress of the Union, they managed to oust the five most notorious conservatives from the Union's Executive Board, and to secure a stronger position in the leadership for the younger generation. The Latvian Communist Party Central Committee had no choice: it had to approve the results of the congress, and to put up with the demands voiced about the shackles of censorship, etc. In the next two decades, the Writers' Union developed as an organisation that was respected by ordinary people and the authorities. In some cases, it managed to defend individual members or joint interests. As a rule, it did not directly oppose the authorities, and tactics of accommodation were usually applied.
  With the start of perestroika, the Writers' Union became a force for change, along with other creative unions. The plenary meeting of the creative unions on 1-2 June 1988 was the first event at which the authorities came under massive criticism from organizations that were considered to be loyal to Soviet power. At this event, it was openly claimed that Latvia was occupied by the Soviet Union in 1940, the first time the claim came from an official tribune. After the plenary meeting, the Writers' Union had an outstanding role in the formation of the Popular Front in Latvia, the organization which played the main role in the struggle for the reestablishment of independent Latvia.
  The collection of documents of the Latvian Soviet Writers' Union started forming with the establishment of the Union in 1940-1941, but the systematic building up of the collection started in 1944. Most of the documents are from the 1960s and 1980s.

Description of content

• The collection consists of records and transcripts of congresses, plenary meetings, minutes of meetings of the Executive Board and the Secretariat, as well as minutes of meetings of sections (poetry, prose, drama, critics, translators, Russian literature) of the Union, records of meetings of the Association of Young Writers, the opinions of literary advisors on manuscripts, correspondence with the Soviet Union Writers' Union and the unions of other national republics, documents from the Literature Propaganda Bureau and the Writers' Club, and financial documentation. The most important documents presenting evidence of cultural opposition are transcripts of congresses of writers and Board meetings, and some records of section meetings.

Content

• grey literature (regular archival documents such as brochures, bulletins, leaflets, reports, intelligence files, records, working papers, meeting minutes): 500-999

Operator(s)

• Latvian State Archive of the Latvian National Archives

Owner(s)

• Latvian Writers' Union

Geographical scope of recent operation

• international

Topics

• literature and literary criticism

Founder(s)

• Latvian Writers' Union

Date of founding

• 1940

Place of founding

• Riga, Latvia
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Creator(s) of content

• Latvian Writers' Union

Collector(s)

• Latvian Writers' Union

Important events in the history of the collection

• Transfer of documents of the Latvian Soviet Writers' Union to the Latvian State Archive

Featured items

• Materials of the 5th Congress of the Latvian Soviet Writers' Union in 1965

Access type

• completely open to the public

Part of network

• The National Archives of Latvia

Author(s) of this page

• Bleiere, Daina

References

Māris Čaklais (2000). Laiks iegravē sejas: uzmetumi memuāriem. Rīga: Jāņa Rozes apgāds.

Inta Čaklā (2002). Kā dzeja izlauzās brīvība. No "Stāsta par Knuta Skujenieka grāmatas neizdošanu". In: Rita Luginska, Saulcerīte Viese (Sast.). Grāmatas aizkulises: Apceres, dokumenti, intervijas, atmiņas. Rīga: Sol Vita, pp. 74-95.

Ilgonis Bērsons (2006).Auseklītis zem āmura un kāškrusta: rakstnieku soļi divos lūzumgados (1940-1941). Rīga: Sol Vita.

Ieva Heimane, red. (2010). Radošo savienību plēnums. 1. un 2. jūnijs. Rīga: Jumava.

Silvija Radzobe (2017). "Kosmopolītu" lieta un Aleksandrs Čaks: dokumentāla hronika ar komentāriem. Rīga: LU Akadēmiskais apgāds.