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Restricting Russians: language and immigration laws in Soviet Latvia, 1956–1959

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 November 2018

Michael Loader Open the ORCID record for Michael Loader [Opens in a new window]
Michael Loader*
Affiliation:
International Center for the History and Sociology of World War II and its Consequences, National Research University, Higher School of Economics, Moscow, Russia
*
*Email: mloader@hse.ru
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Abstract

In 1956, a prominent faction within the leadership of Soviet Latvia, the Latvian national communists, launched two ambitious initiatives designed to redress perceived Stalinist Russification polices – a language law and residency restrictions. This article examines and evaluates these two policies and asks if they were part of a “Latvianization” program that deliberately targeted Russians for denial of residency permits and required Russians to gain Latvian-language competency within a two-year timeframe or face the threat of dismissal. In an effort to restore the primacy of the Latvian language, the national communists created a law enforcing knowledge of Latvian and Russian for Communist Party and government functionaries and service sector personnel. Using the Soviet legal system, the national communists also attempted to halt the influx of predominantly Slavic immigration to the Latvian capital, Riga. By instituting passport restrictions on settling in the city, the national communists sought to limit Slavic migration in order to maintain Riga's Latvian character and reduce pressure on the city's housing supply and municipal services. Existing studies deem passport restrictions in other Soviet cities a failure. The author argues, however, that the national communists’ scheme was generally successful, dramatically curbing migration to Riga during its operation.

Keywords

Russificationnational communismLatviamigrationSoviet periphery
Type
Articles
Information
Nationalities Papers , Volume 45 , Issue 6 , November 2017 , pp. 1082 - 1099
Copyright
Copyright © 2017 Association for the Study of Nationalities 

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