Control of the cultural life in Latvia was one of functions of the Latvian Communist Party (LCP) Central Committee (CC). The collection of documents furnishes rich information about the formulation and implementation of LCP CC cultural policy, about ‘deviations’ from the official path committed by the cultural opposition, and about attempts to use Latvian culture for the political ends of the Soviet regime in 1940-1991.
Location
Rīga Kurzemes prospekts 5, Latvia LV-1067
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Central Committee of the Latvian Communist Party LV_LVA_F PA-101
Provenance and cultural activities
The collection of LCP CC documents provides a deep insight into the main developments of LCP cultural policy, on what was considered by Party ideologists and KGB officials as ‘deviation' from the ‘Party line' in the sphere of culture, or even ‘transgressions'. Of particular interest is the period of Khrushchev's rule (1956-1964), when culture became one of the main battlefields between defenders of Stalinist cultural policies and advocates of a more liberal approach. Numerous files show how a battle was going on over what should be tolerated in culture and what should not. The documents also contain examples of cultural opposition, or what was defined as such by Party ideologues. Under Soviet rule, LCP CC documents were stored in the Archive of the Institute of Party History. These documents were available to only very few chosen researchers, but even they could not use descriptions of the fund, they could only use documents selected by archivists. In 1991, the Archive of the Institute of Party History, containing not only the fund of the LCP CC, but also that of city and district organisations, and primary cells, as well as Komsomol and Komintern funds, was transferred to the Latvian State Archive, a subdivision of the National Archives of Latvia, and became fully available to researchers. At present, the LCP CC fund is one of those most frequently used by researchers, students and the general public. Different documents from this fund are published in collections of documents published by the Latvian State Archive, the Institute of Latvian History, etc. These documents are also available to the general public in virtual exhibitions published on the site of the National Archives of Latvia (at present the State Archives is a branch of the National Archives). The collection of documents of the LCP CC is also widely used by foreign researchers, in particular regarding the period of the ‘thaw' in Soviet politics.
Description of content
The collection of documents of the Latvian Communist Party Central Committee (LCP CC) covers a time span from June 1940 to August 1991. It consists of 69 descriptions of archive files and 11,589 files. The LCP CC controlled and operated a wide range of spheres of life in Latvia under Soviet rule, including cultural life. Files on Party congresses, CC plenary meetings, meetings of Party activists, stenograms and protocols of CC Bureau meetings, as well as CC department documentation, show how Party politics developed, and what was defined by the CC as cultural opposition. Numerous documents provide information on different expressions of cultural opposition. It also contains KGB reports on the public mood, as well as on the mood of the cultural intelligentsia, on different ‘transgressions' in the cultural sphere.
Content
grey literature (regular archival documents such as brochures, bulletins, leaflets, reports, intelligence files, records, working papers, meeting minutes): 1000-
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