A Free Latvia in a Free Russia''
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The Formation of Latvian Literary Identity at the End of the Nineteenth – the Beginning of the Twentieth Century: Overlapping Vectors of Reception
MAIJA BURIMA The Formation of Latvian Literary Identity at the End of the Nineteenth – the Beginning of the Twentieth Century: Overlapping Vectors of Reception The issue of national literary identity is a complex problem that is related to a common view of discourses of culture and social anthropology. Literary identity is a system of codes that may refer to just one particular national literature and express both its canonical features and processes in its periphery. Literary identity is changing in time. It depends on the poetic style of writers and affects the readers’ understanding of culture. Latvian literary identity is closely related to the processes of the history of Latvian literature. The formation of modern Latvian literature dates back to the early nineteenth century, however, the origin of really balanced search of form and content is most often attributed to Juris Alunāns’ poetry collection Dziesmiņas, latviešu valodai pārtulkotas (Songs translated for the Latvian language) that was published in Tartu (Dorpat) in 1856 and contains Alunāns’ translations from different languages of the poetry by Horace, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Friedrich von Schiller, Alexander Pushkin, Mikhail Lermontov, Heinrich Heine, etc. This collection is noteworthy for crystallizing of an important concept of Latvian literature of the mid-nineteenth century, i.e. for a young national literature to develop its identity, a thorough study of classical literature and the improvement of Latvian literary language were needed. These features are manifest in the genre, form, and content of two fundamental texts of the second half of the nineteenth century: the Kaudzītes brothers’ novel Mērnieku laiki (1879) (Times of Land Surveyors) and Andrejs Pumpurs’ epic Lāčplēsis (1888) (Bearslayer). -
From Tribe to Nation a Brief History of Latvia
From Tribe to Nation A Brief History of Latvia 1 Cover photo: Popular People of Latvia are very proud of their history. It demonstration on is a history of the birth and development of the Dome Square, 1989 idea of an independent nation, and a consequent struggle to attain it, maintain it, and renew it. Above: A Zeppelin above Rīga in 1930 Albeit important, Latvian history is not entirely unique. The changes which swept through the ter- Below: Participants ritory of Latvia over the last two dozen centuries of the XXV Nationwide were tied to the ever changing map of Europe, Song and Dance and the shifting balance of power. From the Viking Celebration in 2013 conquests and German Crusades, to the recent World Wars, the territory of Latvia, strategically lo- cated on the Baltic Sea between the Scandinavian region and Russia, was very much part of these events, and shared their impact especially closely with its Baltic neighbours. What is unique and also attests to the importance of history in Latvia today, is how the growth and development of a nation, initially as a mere idea, permeated all these events through the centuries up to Latvian independence in 1918. In this brief history of Latvia you can read how Latvia grew from tribe to nation, how its history intertwined with changes throughout Europe, and how through them, or perhaps despite them, Lat- via came to be a country with such a proud and distinct national identity 2 1 3 Incredible Historical Landmarks Left: People of The Baltic Way – this was one of the most crea- Latvia united in the tive non-violent protest activities in history. -
Religion and Poetry: Latvia's JÄ Nis Rainis
Religion and Poetry: Latvia's J�nis Rainis Arvids Ziedonis, Jr., The Religious Philosophy of Jánis Rainis. Waverly, Iowa: Latvju Grammata, 1969. 344 pp. Janis Rainis' status as one of the most remarkable Latvian writers has been secure for over sixty years now. It was he who raised Latvian poetry and drama to a level of artistry never before attained. To this day, literary critics and historians have been trying to place his strongly individualistic creative out- put into definite literary schools, but not with a great deal of success. Spiritually and aesthetically he is the best example in modern Latvian letters of the organic relationship between talent shaped by tradition and talent creating tradition. Rainis' poems are the common patrimony of most Latvian anthologies, and most of his fifteen dramas (all but two written in blank verse) are constantly per- formed on Latvian stages and occasionally abroad. Five of Rainis' dramas have been set as operas, and his lyrics have also attracted composers. A book-length study in English of this Latvian writer and his work has long been overdue, for in the English-speaking countries the true greatness of Rainis' literary genius has not been fully recognized. More of Rainis' works have been translated into Russian, German, Lithuanian, Estonian, Ukrainian, Belorussian, and even into Georgian, than into English. The primary objective of professor Ziedonis' monograph, originally a Temple University dissertation, is to shift the emphasis from the usual treatment of Rainis as an artist and a Latvian nationalist to a fuller appreciation of Rainis as a founder of a "new religion." To be sure, this is not an original idea con- cerning the poet. -
A History Untold by Valdis V
“Tearing Apart the Bear” and British Military Involvement in the Construction of Modern Latvia: A History Untold by Valdis V. Rundāns BASc, Waterloo, 1975 BA, Victoria, 2008 A Thesis Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of MASTER of ARTS in the Department of History © Valdis V. Rundāns, 2014 University of Victoria All rights reserved. This thesis may not be reproduced in whole or in part, by photocopy or other means, without the permission of the author. ii Supervisory Committee “Tearing Apart the Bear” and British Military Involvement in the Construction of Modern Latvia: A History Untold by Valdis V. Rundāns BASc, Waterloo, 1975 BA, Victoria, 2008 Supervisory Committee Dr. Serhy Yekelchyk (Department of History) Supervisor Dr. Perry Biddiscombe, (Department of History) Departmental Member iii Abstract Supervisory Committee Dr Serhy Yekelchyk (Department of History) Supervisor Dr. Perry Biddiscombe (Department of History) Departmental Member Despite significant evidence to the contrary in the Latvian language, especially the memoirs of General Pēteris Radzinš, Latvians, historians included, and others, have persisted in mythologizing the military events of 8 October to 11 November 1919 in Riga as some sort of national miracle. Since this Latvian army victory, first celebrated as Lāčplēsis Day on 11 November1920, accounts of this battle have been unrepresented, poorly represented or misrepresented. For example, the 2007 historical film Rīgas Sargi (The Defenders of Riga) uses the 1888 poem Lāčplēsis by Andrējs Pumpurs as a template to portray the Latvians successfully defeating the German-Russian force on their own without Allied military aid. Pumpurs’ dream and revolutionary legacy has provided a well used script for Latvian nation building. -
Infantry Weapons of Latvian Soldiers During the Latvian War of Independence, 1918-1920
INFANTRY WEAPONS OF LATVIAN SOLDIERS DURING THE LATVIAN WAR OF INDEPENDENCE, 1918-1920 1st part. Rifles and carbines in the Latvian War of Independence. The middle of the 19th century was marked by one of the most important events in the evolution of firearms. A cartridge was made, which allowed the gun barrel to be loaded from the breechloader. In the following decades chemists created smokeless gunpowder. Both of these inventions created a foundation for all modern firearm systems. The battles of the Latvian War of Independence were a direct continuation of the First World War in this territory. This is why German, Russian and Latvian soldiers used the same weapons, that had been previously used by the belligerents on the battlefront. During the battles of the Latvian War of Independence, the main weapon of the infantry was either a rifle or a carbine. However, in terms of force, many other weapons surpassed these aforementioned guns. The power of individual weapons was increased by support weapons. These included machine guns, grenade launchers and mine-throwers. The military equipment was supplemented by hand grenades and cold weapons – bayonets or swords. In the course of the Latvian War of Independence, Latvian soldiers acquired equipment in any possible way. The equipment was bought from the British, French, Americans, and their enemies – the Germans. The weapons were also acquired as an aid from the Russian Anti-Bolshevik military units. At the same time, weapons were taken from the soldiers of the red army. After the merging of both Latvian brigades and the founding of Latvian army, the aid from the Allies was steadily increasing, reaching the highest point during the Bermondt offensive. -
Jānis Pliekšāns' (Rainis') “Formula of Happiness”
Jānis Pliekšāns’ (Rainis’) “Formula of Happiness” Jānis Lazdiņš Juridiskā zinātne / Law, No. 13, 2020 pp. 153–163 https://doi.org/10.22364/jull.13.09 Jānis Pliekšāns’ (Rainis’) “Formula of Happiness” Dr. iur. Jānis Lazdiņš Faculty of Law, University of Latvia Professor at the Department of Legal Theory and History E-mail: [email protected] The article focuses on the analysis of the understanding of “formula of happiness” of Jānis Pliekšāns (Rainis), lawyer, philosopher and the most famous Latvian poet. Rainis’ works were created at the end of the 19th – beginning of the 20th centuries. This is the time when the legal consciousness of the Latvian State was evolving and the Republic of Latvia was proclaimed (1918). Rainis’ views in the philosophy of law were significantly influenced by the theory of Marxism and the fight for rights described by Rudolf von Ihering. Rainis’ “formula of happiness” means interminable self-improvement in the struggle for personal happiness with the aim of leading the whole humanity towards happiness. The ultimate happiness is work for the benefit of all people. Keywords: Jānis Pliekšāns, Rainis, happiness, formula of happiness, struggle for happiness. Contents Introduction . 153 1. Personal Happiness . 155 2. Ultimate Happiness . 157 Summary . 162 Sources . 162 Bibliography . 162 Normative Acts . 163 Introduction Until now, happiness as a category of law has drawn little attention of lawyers and scholars of law. Predominantly, lawyers limit themselves to search for justice as the purpose of law in accordance with the particular conflict of laws. Only the right to pursuit of happiness, included in The Declaration of Independence of the Unites States of America (1776),1 has gained global fame. -
The Unattached Intellectual in State Government Agencies: Rainis in Two Stages of Politically Relevant Activities
IOSR Journal Of Humanities And Social Science (IOSR-JHSS) Volume 21, Issue 5, Ver. 1 (May. 2016) PP 55-70 e-ISSN: 2279-0837, p-ISSN: 2279-0845. www.iosrjournals.org The Unattached Intellectual In State Government Agencies: Rainis In Two Stages Of Politically Relevant Activities Inese Grumolte-Lerhe The article deals with the role of unattached intellectuals in society, and transformation of this role after their involvement in state government agencies. The case of Latvian poet, playwright and politician, Rainis, is being explored. Analysis of his intentions in two stages of politically relevant activities, i.e. stage of unattached intellectual and the politician, reveal continuity.This continuity in combination withreluctance to set a new agenda for the new career contributed to the clash of identities. Furthermore, Rainislaid claim on holding the authority of leader which is related to the symbolic power. Keywords: the political role and responsibility of intellectual, Rainis, unattached intellectual, politician. I. INTRODUCTION The subject of involvement of intellectuals,agents representing various artistic and aesthetic fields, in socially political processes of non-free societies, has earned an extensive scholarly attention in various contexts. One has to agree that fields of cultural and scholarly work provide a comparatively high degree of freedom under repressive regimes,thus their political relevance may be invokedper se(Cvijetic 1999). However, empirical studies give evidence for the fact that intellectuals who were once fighting against the repressive regime, use to change the sides of entrenchment after the regime overthrow, and turn into state government officials or politicians under the newly-established or the restoreddemocratic regime. -
Rainis' Apology Of
ISSN 2335-2337. BALTIC JOURNAL OF POLITICAL SCIENCE. December 2013, No 2 RAINIS’ APOLOGY OF THE ‘BASIC CLASS’: THE WORLD REVOLUTION OR THE NATIONAL EMANCIPATION? Inese Grumolte ABSTRACT The aim of this article is to analyze the reasons for Rainis’ appreciation of the phenomenon he labels as the ‘basic class’. The Latvian writer attributes this concept to the members of society who provide the livelihood for themselves by doing mainly the manual labour. Although thus a praise for the proletariat is voiced, the reasons are more nuanced than the common Soviet interpretation allowed to see. Rainis sees the ‘Basic class’ as a crucial agent in the struggle for Latvian national emancipation. At the same time, the article seeks an answer to the question why, according to Rainis, bourgeoisie is reluctant to fight this struggle. INTRODUCTION The 150th birth anniversary of the Latvian poet and playwright Jānis Pliekšāns (pseudonym Rainis1) is approaching (2015). In Latvia, his name does not require commentaries. However, this does not imply that his works are drained as objects of scholarly interest, at least looking from the angle of political science. The well-known Polish philosopher Leszek Kolakowski, when juggling intellectually with the basic postulates of the main political ideologies, once proved: being a conservative liberal socialist is not impossible (Kolakowski 1997: 225–229). These were the nineties of the 20th century. Reasonings based on dichotomies, such as ‘those who are not with us are against us’, seemed to have disreputed themselves ; the ‘end of the history’ was proclaimed (Fukuyama 1998: 86). When heading towards the ideological consensus, it seemed that the political ideologies are not as incompatible as it has seemed before. -
“Rainis and Aspazija” (Runa) and the Potential of IFLA FRBR LRM Key Entities for Annotating Textual Documents
Submitted on: 26.07.2017 The Linked Data collection “Rainis and Aspazija” (RunA) and the potential of IFLA FRBR LRM key entities for annotating textual documents Anita Rašmane Bibliography Institute, National Library of Latvia, Riga, Latvia, [email protected] Anita Goldberga Bibliography Institute, National Library of Latvia, Riga, Latvia, [email protected] Copyright © 2017 by Anita Rašmane, Anita Goldberga. This work is made available under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 Abstract: Work on the development of the Linked Data collection RunA (Rainis and Aspazija — two famous Latvian poets, writers and opinion leaders) by the National Library of Latvia (NLL), the National Archives of Latvia, the Institute of Literature, Folklore and Art of the University of Latvia, the Association of Memorial Museums and the Literature and Music Museum is in progress. In June 2016 the pilot collection RunA was publicly launched as a virtual collection accessible via URL link: http://runa.lnb.lv/. Authors address the problem of named entity identification by annotating textual documents (unstructured data), e.g. correspondence. The collection development team has identified key entities: works, expressions, manifestations; agents: persons, institutions; concepts, places, events as the “glue” for reflecting simple or hierarchical relationships between different objects of the collection. In current development stage mainly local URIs are provided for identification -
The Latvian Agrarian Union and Agrarian Reform Between the Two
TITLE: RIDING THE TIGER : THE LATVIAN AGRARIAN UNION AN D AGRAIAN REFORM BETWEEN THE TWO WORLD WAR S AUTHOR: ANDREJS PLAKANS, Iowa State University THE NATIONAL COUNCI L FOR SOVIET AND EAST EUROPEAN RESEARC H TITLE VIII PROGRA M 1755 Massachusetts Avenue, N .W . Washington, D .C . 20036 PROJECT INFORMATION : ' CONTRACTOR : Iowa State University PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR : Andrejs Plakans and Charles Wetherel l COUNCIL CONTRACT NUMBER : 810-23 DATE : December 31, 199 6 COPYRIGHT INFORMATION Individual researchers retain the copyright on work products derived from research funded by Council Contract. The Council and the U.S. Government have the right to duplicate written report s and other materials submitted under Council Contract and to distribute such copies within th e Council and U.S. Government for their own use, and to draw upon such reports and materials fo r their own studies; but the Council and U.S. Government do not have the right to distribute, or make such reports and materials available, outside the Council or U.S. Government without the written consent of the authors, except as may be required under the provisions of the Freedom o f Information Act 5 U.S.C. 552, or other applicable law . The work leading to this report was supported in part by contract funds provided by the National Councilfor Soviet and East European Research, made available by the U. S. Department of State under Title VIII (the Soviet-Eastern European Research and Training Act of 1983, as amended). The analysis an d interpretations contained in the report are those of the author(s) . -
The Black Guards
The Black Guards A short account of the Anarchist Black Guards and their suppression by the Bolsheviks in Moscow in 1918 Many Russian anarchists were totally opposed to the institutionalisation of the Red Guards, fighting units that had been created by factory workers in the course of the February and October Revolutions. Indeed Rex A. Wade in his book on the Red Guards points to the strong anarchist input and influence in the Red Guards in the initial phase of the Revolution. Relations between the anarchists and the Bolsheviks had started to deteriorate after the October Revolution, and anarchist delegates to the 2nd Congress of Soviets in December 1917 accused Lenin and his party of red militarism, and that the commissars were only in power at the point of a bayonet. As a result in Moscow, Petrograd and other main centres they made a concerted attempt to set up free fighting units that they called the Black Guard. In 1917 detachments of Black Guards had been set up in the Ukraine, including by Makhno. Nikolai Zhelnesnyakov as to flee Petrograd after the Bolsheviks attempted to arrest him and set up a large group of the Black Guard in the Ukraine. Other Black Guard detachments operating in the Ukraine were led by Mokrousov, Garin with his armoured train, Anatolii Zhelesnyakov, the younger brother of Nikolai, and the detachment led by Seidel and Zhelyabov which defended Odessa and Nikolaev. Another Black Guard detachment was led by Mikhail Chernyak, later active in the Makhnovist counterintelligence. In Vyborg near Petrograd, anarchist workers at the Russian Renault factory set up a Black Guard but it soon merged with a Red Guard that had been created at the factory at the same time. -
Exten.Sions of Remarks
4818 EXTENSIONS OF REMARKS February 21, 1972 level, $742 less at the associate profes Civil Rights and act "promptly and vig the Senate the unfinished business, and sor's level, and $1,119 less at the profes orously" to remove the impediments the 1 hour, under rule XXII, will begin sor's level. from the effective functioning of the running on the motion to invoke cloture The litany of discrimination can con EEOC. The time to act is now. The place on S. 2515. At 12:15 p.m., the mandatory tinue into a consideration of women in to begin is with passage of S. 2515. quorum call will begin. When a quorum professions in this country. Women pres has been established, the automatic roll ently comprise 3.5 percent of our Nation's call vote on the cloture motion will take lawyers, 2 percent of our dentists, and ORDER FOR ADJOURNMENT FROM place. That rollcall vote will begin at 7 percent of our physicians. The compar TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 22, TO 10 about 12:25 or 12:30 p.m. able figure for lawyers in Denmark is A.M. WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 23, Additional rollcall votes can be ex 24 percent and for dentists 70 percent. In 1972 pected tomorrow afternoon, especially in the event the cloture motion is Great Britain, 16 percent of the doctors Mr. MOSS. Mr. President, I ask unani adopted. are women, and this :figure is 20 percent mous consent that when the Senate com in Germany and 24 percent in Israel. pletes its business on tomorrow, Tues There are some who would say that day, the Senate stand in adjournment much of this discrimination is caused by ADJOURNMENT UNTIT.