History of Latvia: a Brief Survey

New political undercurrents penetrated Latvian society in the late 19thcentury and became increasingly distinct at the beginning of the 20thcentury. Latvia was introduced to Marxism in the 1890s, which waspropagated by the socialist movement New Current (Jaunā strāva). TheNew Current is considered the predecessor of the Latvian Social Democrats.The movement’s political activities were associated with protests against‘capitalistic exploitation’, general demands for democratisation of the politicalestablishment and belief in the victory of the working class, which would leadto general prosperity for the people. The first Latvian political party, the LatvianSocial Democratic Workers’ Party (Latvijas Sociāldemokrātiskā strādnieku partijaor LSDSP), was founded in Rīga in 1904. The newly founded party began todemand improvements in workers’ social conditions and turned against theexisting social order in the Baltic provinces of the Russian Empire. At that time,rights for the people were still embedded in a range of duties and rules whichwere rigidly structured by social class.The constant curtailment of civic rights and freedoms in Russia, the landlesscondition of the peasants, the privileges of the landed gentry and attemptsto Russify the local population all led Latvians to be dissatisfied with theRainis (real name Jānis Pliekšāns,1865-1929) and his wife Aspazija (realname Elza Rozenberga, 1865-1943).Rainis was New Current activist andthe most prominent Latvian SocialDemocrat. Rainis is considered the mostdistinguished Latvian writer and poet ofthe 20th century. Aspazija is consideredone of the most popular female writersin Latvia.20