Arvids Pelše
Encyclopedia
Arvīds Pelše; , Iecava
, Bauska District
, Latvia
– May 29, 1983, Moscow
) was a politician
and functionary in the Soviet Union, an historian in his profession
, Iecava
in Bauska District
. As a worker in Riga, Pelše joined the Social-Democratic Party (Bolsheviks) of the Latvian Region in 1915. In 1916 he met Lenin in Switzerland
. Between 1914 and 1918, Pelše worked in the work-shops of Riga
and Vitebsk
, as a milling machine operator at the steam-engine making plant in Kharkov, as a punching worker in Petrograd and a loader in the port of Arkhangelsk
. On behalf of the local committees he had joined the revolutionary propaganda. He was delegate of the sixth congress of Russian Social Democratic Labour Party
of the Arkhangelsk party organization. Participated in February revolution
in 1917, Pelše was also a member of the famous Petrograd Soviet
. He was actively involved in the preparation and conducting of the October Revolution
in 1917. In 1918 he joined the Cheka
. In 1918, he was sent by Lenin to Latvia to prosecute the revolution there. In 1919 he was attached to the Red Army
and later became a manager in the Construction Ministry of the Latvian Socialist Soviet Republic
. After the defeat of the Soviet Latvian régime he returned to Russia in 1919.
He was a lecturer and political commissar in the Red Army from 1919 to 1929.
In 1931 he graduated from the history department of the Moscow Institute of the Red Professoriat, and between 1931-1933 he was a graduate student in the institute; At the same time he was an instructor at the Institute of Party History at the Central School of NKVD
between 1929-1932. Between 1933-1937 he was first deputy of the Commissariat of State Farms (Sovkhoz
es). Between 1937-40 he taught history
in the Moscow Higher Educational Institute. In June 1940 he played a leading role in the process of admitting of Latvia into the USSR. From March 1941 to 1959 he served as Secretary of the Central Committee
of the Communist party of Latvia
on propaganda and agitation. During the Great Patriotic War in 1941-1945 he had been working to prepare the party and the Soviet cadres to transform Latvia
to a communist state.
In 1958 he traveled to Denmark
to attend the 20th Congress of the Communist Party of Denmark
.
July 1959 to November 1959 marked the purge of all nascent nationalism from the Latvian communist party—about 2,000 of the party leadership and activists were stripped of their posts and privileges.
The Soviets elevated Pelše to First Secretary, replacing the purged Kalnbērziņš on November 25, 1959. On January 1960, for example, Pelše promptly denounced his former (purged) associates for deviating from "the right path in carrying out Leninist nationality policy". From that point forward, the First Secretaries of the Latvian SSR were servile party functionaries, as first embodied by Pelše, whom Latvians regarded as symbols of submissiveness to the Soviets.
Pelše was appointed as member of the Central Committee
in 1961. That same year, after Yuri Gagarin
returned from his space mission, Pelše proposed changing the name of the Latvian capital Rīga
but even the Soviet central authorities saw this as too extreme an action.
In 1963, Pelše headed a commission nicknamed the "Pelše Commission", which investigated the assassination of Sergey Kirov
. The commission finished its work in 1967.
Pelše served as First Secretary of the Latvian SSR until April 15, 1966. At the 23rd Party Congress in 1966 Pelše addressed his colleagues as follows:
On November 7 1975 Pelshe made a speech in the ceremony commemorating the 58th anniversary of the October Revolution. In his address Pelshe confirmed continuing Soviet support for "fighters for freedom" and "the patriots in Angola.
He was rewarded for his faithful service, being selected by the 23rd Party Congress for full membership (one of the few non-Slavs
in that position) to the Politburo of the CPSU
, a position he held until his death in May 1983. Pelše was also named chair of the Party Control Committee
, which oversees the discipline of party members.
's funeral in November 1982, rumors spread he had died, but a few days later, on November 23, he appeared in a session of the Supreme Soviet
. Another absent of him which was noticed by the media was in the ceremony marking the centennial of the death of Karl Marx, on March 31, 1983, one month before he died.
He suffered from lung cancer
. He also suffered from atelectasis
which aggravated the lungs, and worsening cardiopulmonary failure. He died of Cardiac arrest
at 5:55, May 29, 1983. Pelše was honoured with a state funeral
; His remains lay in state at the House of Trade Unions. On June 2 his ashes were carried by an armoured vehicle to Red Square, with the all the Politburo members stand at the top of Lenin's Mausoleum
. After lavish eulogies were read by Soviet leader Yuri Andropov
and Politburo member Viktor Grishin
, his ashes laid to rest in the Kremlin Wall Necropolis
.
Pelše wrote some works on the history of the CPSU
and the party, on the history of the revolutionary movement in Latvia
, anti-capitalists
nationalists, the socialist and communist construction in the country.
He was twice awarded with Hero of the Socialist Labor (1969, 1979), 6 Lenin Order, the Order of the October Revolution
and other medals. The Rīga Polytechnic Institute
was named for Pelše after he died.
Nowadays, Pelše ir regarded by many Latvians as a sort of a traitor for his efforts in the Sovietization of Latvia and his extreme pro-Russia acts..
Pelshe was married three times. He had two children from the first marriage: the daughter Beruta (died) and son, Arvik (died during World War II). One son from the second marriage, Tai, (was born in 1930) - a pensioner, and didn't support any contacts with his father after the 3rd marriage. The third wife of Pelshe was Lidiya, the ex-wife of Stalin's secretary Alexander Poskryobyshev.
Iecava
Iecava is a village on the via Baltica in Iecava municipality, in the Zemgale region of southern Latvia. The village has a population of around 5,000....
, Bauska District
Bauska District
Bauska District was an administrative division of Latvia, located in Semigallia region, in the country's centre. It was organized into a city, a municipality and fifteen parishes, each with a local government authority...
, Latvia
Latvia
Latvia , officially the Republic of Latvia , is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by Estonia , to the south by Lithuania , to the east by the Russian Federation , to the southeast by Belarus and shares maritime borders to the west with Sweden...
– May 29, 1983, Moscow
Moscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...
) was a politician
Politician
A politician, political leader, or political figure is an individual who is involved in influencing public policy and decision making...
and functionary in the Soviet Union, an historian in his profession
Career
Pelše was born into a peasant family, in "Mazie" farm near ZālīteZālīte
Zālīte is a village in Iecava Municipality in the historical region of Zemgale, and the Zemgale Planning Region in Latvia....
, Iecava
Iecava
Iecava is a village on the via Baltica in Iecava municipality, in the Zemgale region of southern Latvia. The village has a population of around 5,000....
in Bauska District
Bauska District
Bauska District was an administrative division of Latvia, located in Semigallia region, in the country's centre. It was organized into a city, a municipality and fifteen parishes, each with a local government authority...
. As a worker in Riga, Pelše joined the Social-Democratic Party (Bolsheviks) of the Latvian Region in 1915. In 1916 he met Lenin in Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
. Between 1914 and 1918, Pelše worked in the work-shops of Riga
Riga
Riga is the capital and largest city of Latvia. With 702,891 inhabitants Riga is the largest city of the Baltic states, one of the largest cities in Northern Europe and home to more than one third of Latvia's population. The city is an important seaport and a major industrial, commercial,...
and Vitebsk
Vitebsk
Vitebsk, also known as Viciebsk or Vitsyebsk , is a city in Belarus, near the border with Russia. The capital of the Vitebsk Oblast, in 2004 it had 342,381 inhabitants, making it the country's fourth largest city...
, as a milling machine operator at the steam-engine making plant in Kharkov, as a punching worker in Petrograd and a loader in the port of Arkhangelsk
Arkhangelsk
Arkhangelsk , formerly known as Archangel in English, is a city and the administrative center of Arkhangelsk Oblast, Russia. It lies on both banks of the Northern Dvina River near its exit into the White Sea in the north of European Russia. The city spreads for over along the banks of the river...
. On behalf of the local committees he had joined the revolutionary propaganda. He was delegate of the sixth congress of Russian Social Democratic Labour Party
Russian Social Democratic Labour Party
The Russian Social Democratic Labour Party , also known as Russian Social Democratic Workers' Party or Russian Social Democratic Party, was a revolutionary socialist Russian political party formed in 1898 in Minsk to unite the various revolutionary organizations into one party...
of the Arkhangelsk party organization. Participated in February revolution
February Revolution
The February Revolution of 1917 was the first of two revolutions in Russia in 1917. Centered around the then capital Petrograd in March . Its immediate result was the abdication of Tsar Nicholas II, the end of the Romanov dynasty, and the end of the Russian Empire...
in 1917, Pelše was also a member of the famous Petrograd Soviet
Petrograd Soviet
The Petrograd Soviet of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies , usually called the Petrograd Soviet , was the soviet in Petrograd , Russia, established in March 1917 after the February Revolution as the representative body of the city's workers.The Petrograd Soviet became important during the Russian...
. He was actively involved in the preparation and conducting of the October Revolution
October Revolution
The October Revolution , also known as the Great October Socialist Revolution , Red October, the October Uprising or the Bolshevik Revolution, was a political revolution and a part of the Russian Revolution of 1917...
in 1917. In 1918 he joined the Cheka
Cheka
Cheka was the first of a succession of Soviet state security organizations. It was created by a decree issued on December 20, 1917, by Vladimir Lenin and subsequently led by aristocrat-turned-communist Felix Dzerzhinsky...
. In 1918, he was sent by Lenin to Latvia to prosecute the revolution there. In 1919 he was attached to the Red Army
Red Army
The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army started out as the Soviet Union's revolutionary communist combat groups during the Russian Civil War of 1918-1922. It grew into the national army of the Soviet Union. By the 1930s the Red Army was among the largest armies in history.The "Red Army" name refers to...
and later became a manager in the Construction Ministry of the Latvian Socialist Soviet Republic
Latvian Socialist Soviet Republic
The Latvian Socialist Soviet Republic was a short-lived socialist republic formed during the Latvian War of Independence. It was proclaimed on 17 December 1918 with the political, economic, and military backing of Vladimir Lenin and his Bolshevik government in the Russian SFSR...
. After the defeat of the Soviet Latvian régime he returned to Russia in 1919.
He was a lecturer and political commissar in the Red Army from 1919 to 1929.
In 1931 he graduated from the history department of the Moscow Institute of the Red Professoriat, and between 1931-1933 he was a graduate student in the institute; At the same time he was an instructor at the Institute of Party History at the Central School of NKVD
NKVD
The People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs was the public and secret police organization of the Soviet Union that directly executed the rule of power of the Soviets, including political repression, during the era of Joseph Stalin....
between 1929-1932. Between 1933-1937 he was first deputy of the Commissariat of State Farms (Sovkhoz
Sovkhoz
A sovkhoz , typically translated as state farm, is a state-owned farm. The term originated in the Soviet Union, hence the name. The term is still in use in some post-Soviet states, e.g., Russia and Belarus. It is usually contrasted with kolkhoz, which is a collective-owned farm...
es). Between 1937-40 he taught history
History
History is the discovery, collection, organization, and presentation of information about past events. History can also mean the period of time after writing was invented. Scholars who write about history are called historians...
in the Moscow Higher Educational Institute. In June 1940 he played a leading role in the process of admitting of Latvia into the USSR. From March 1941 to 1959 he served as Secretary of the Central Committee
Central Committee
Central Committee was the common designation of a standing administrative body of communist parties, analogous to a board of directors, whether ruling or non-ruling in the twentieth century and of the surviving, mostly Trotskyist, states in the early twenty first. In such party organizations the...
of the Communist party of Latvia
Communist Party of Latvia
Communist Party of Latvia was a political party in Latvia.- Latvian Social-Democracy prior to 1919 :The party was founded at a congress in June 1904. Initially the party was known as the Latvian Social Democratic Workers' Party . During its second party congress in 1905 it adopted the programme of...
on propaganda and agitation. During the Great Patriotic War in 1941-1945 he had been working to prepare the party and the Soviet cadres to transform Latvia
Latvia
Latvia , officially the Republic of Latvia , is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by Estonia , to the south by Lithuania , to the east by the Russian Federation , to the southeast by Belarus and shares maritime borders to the west with Sweden...
to a communist state.
In 1958 he traveled to Denmark
Denmark
Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...
to attend the 20th Congress of the Communist Party of Denmark
Communist Party of Denmark
Communist Party of Denmark is a communist political party in Denmark which was founded as Venstresocialistiske Parti in 1919. VSP was a split from the Danish Social Democratic Party. The party assumed its present name in 1920...
.
July 1959 to November 1959 marked the purge of all nascent nationalism from the Latvian communist party—about 2,000 of the party leadership and activists were stripped of their posts and privileges.
The Soviets elevated Pelše to First Secretary, replacing the purged Kalnbērziņš on November 25, 1959. On January 1960, for example, Pelše promptly denounced his former (purged) associates for deviating from "the right path in carrying out Leninist nationality policy". From that point forward, the First Secretaries of the Latvian SSR were servile party functionaries, as first embodied by Pelše, whom Latvians regarded as symbols of submissiveness to the Soviets.
Pelše was appointed as member of the Central Committee
Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union
The Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union , abbreviated in Russian as ЦК, "Tse-ka", earlier was also called as the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party ...
in 1961. That same year, after Yuri Gagarin
Yuri Gagarin
Yuri Alekseyevich Gagarin was a Soviet pilot and cosmonaut. He was the first human to journey into outer space, when his Vostok spacecraft completed an orbit of the Earth on April 12, 1961....
returned from his space mission, Pelše proposed changing the name of the Latvian capital Rīga
Riga
Riga is the capital and largest city of Latvia. With 702,891 inhabitants Riga is the largest city of the Baltic states, one of the largest cities in Northern Europe and home to more than one third of Latvia's population. The city is an important seaport and a major industrial, commercial,...
but even the Soviet central authorities saw this as too extreme an action.
In 1963, Pelše headed a commission nicknamed the "Pelše Commission", which investigated the assassination of Sergey Kirov
Sergey Kirov
Sergei Mironovich Kirov , born Sergei Mironovich Kostrikov, was a prominent early Bolshevik leader in the Soviet Union. Kirov rose through the Communist Party ranks to become head of the Party organization in Leningrad...
. The commission finished its work in 1967.
Pelše served as First Secretary of the Latvian SSR until April 15, 1966. At the 23rd Party Congress in 1966 Pelše addressed his colleagues as follows:
- "We will never permit anyone to interfere in our internal affairs but will conduct a determined struggle against any imperialist interference in the affairs of other countries and peoples."
On November 7 1975 Pelshe made a speech in the ceremony commemorating the 58th anniversary of the October Revolution. In his address Pelshe confirmed continuing Soviet support for "fighters for freedom" and "the patriots in Angola.
He was rewarded for his faithful service, being selected by the 23rd Party Congress for full membership (one of the few non-Slavs
Slavic peoples
The Slavic people are an Indo-European panethnicity living in Eastern Europe, Southeast Europe, North Asia and Central Asia. The term Slavic represents a broad ethno-linguistic group of people, who speak languages belonging to the Slavic language family and share, to varying degrees, certain...
in that position) to the Politburo of the CPSU
Communist Party of the Soviet Union
The Communist Party of the Soviet Union was the only legal, ruling political party in the Soviet Union and one of the largest communist organizations in the world...
, a position he held until his death in May 1983. Pelše was also named chair of the Party Control Committee
CPSU Party Control Committee
Party Control Committee of the CPSU Central Committee was a supreme disciplinary organ within the hierarchy of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union...
, which oversees the discipline of party members.
Death and legacy
Pelše's health was failing in his last years. When he did not attend Leonid BrezhnevLeonid Brezhnev
Leonid Ilyich Brezhnev – 10 November 1982) was the General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union , presiding over the country from 1964 until his death in 1982. His eighteen-year term as General Secretary was second only to that of Joseph Stalin in...
's funeral in November 1982, rumors spread he had died, but a few days later, on November 23, he appeared in a session of the Supreme Soviet
Supreme Soviet
The Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union was the Supreme Soviet in the Soviet Union and the only one with the power to pass constitutional amendments...
. Another absent of him which was noticed by the media was in the ceremony marking the centennial of the death of Karl Marx, on March 31, 1983, one month before he died.
He suffered from lung cancer
Lung cancer
Lung cancer is a disease characterized by uncontrolled cell growth in tissues of the lung. If left untreated, this growth can spread beyond the lung in a process called metastasis into nearby tissue and, eventually, into other parts of the body. Most cancers that start in lung, known as primary...
. He also suffered from atelectasis
Atelectasis
Atelectasis is defined as the collapse or closure of alveoli resulting in reduced or absent gas exchange. It may affect part or all of one lung. It is a condition where the alveoli are deflated, as distinct from pulmonary consolidation.It is a very common finding in chest x-rays and other...
which aggravated the lungs, and worsening cardiopulmonary failure. He died of Cardiac arrest
Cardiac arrest
Cardiac arrest, is the cessation of normal circulation of the blood due to failure of the heart to contract effectively...
at 5:55, May 29, 1983. Pelše was honoured with a state funeral
State funeral
A state funeral is a public funeral ceremony, observing the strict rules of protocol, held to honor heads of state or other important people of national significance. State funerals usually include much pomp and ceremony as well as religious overtones and distinctive elements of military tradition...
; His remains lay in state at the House of Trade Unions. On June 2 his ashes were carried by an armoured vehicle to Red Square, with the all the Politburo members stand at the top of Lenin's Mausoleum
Lenin's Mausoleum
Lenin's Mausoleum also known as Lenin's Tomb, situated in Red Square in the center of Moscow, is the mausoleum that serves as the current resting place of Vladimir Lenin. His embalmed body has been on public display there since shortly after his death in 1924...
. After lavish eulogies were read by Soviet leader Yuri Andropov
Yuri Andropov
Yuri Vladimirovich Andropov was a Soviet politician and the General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 12 November 1982 until his death fifteen months later.-Early life:...
and Politburo member Viktor Grishin
Viktor Grishin
Viktor Vasilyevich Grishin was a Soviet politician. He was a Candidate and Full Member of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.Grishin was born in Serpukhov, Moscow Oblast. He served in the Red Army from 1938 until 1940...
, his ashes laid to rest in the Kremlin Wall Necropolis
Kremlin Wall Necropolis
Burials in the Kremlin Wall Necropolis in Moscow began in November 1917, when 240 pro-Bolshevik victims of the October Revolution were buried in mass graves on Red Square. It is centered on both sides of Lenin's Mausoleum, initially built in wood in 1924 and rebuilt in granite in 1929–1930...
.
Pelše wrote some works on the history of the CPSU
Communist Party of the Soviet Union
The Communist Party of the Soviet Union was the only legal, ruling political party in the Soviet Union and one of the largest communist organizations in the world...
and the party, on the history of the revolutionary movement in Latvia
Latvia
Latvia , officially the Republic of Latvia , is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by Estonia , to the south by Lithuania , to the east by the Russian Federation , to the southeast by Belarus and shares maritime borders to the west with Sweden...
, anti-capitalists
Anti-capitalism
Anti-capitalism describes a wide variety of movements, ideas, and attitudes which oppose capitalism. Anti-capitalists, in the strict sense of the word, are those who wish to completely replace capitalism with another system....
nationalists, the socialist and communist construction in the country.
He was twice awarded with Hero of the Socialist Labor (1969, 1979), 6 Lenin Order, the Order of the October Revolution
Order of the October Revolution
The Order of the October Revolution was instituted on October 31, 1967, in time for the 50th anniversary of the October Revolution. It was awarded to individuals or groups for services furthering communism or the state, or in enhancing the defenses of the Soviet Union, military and civil...
and other medals. The Rīga Polytechnic Institute
Riga Technical University
Riga Technical University is located in Riga, Latvia.- Riga Polytechnical Institute, 1862-1918 :...
was named for Pelše after he died.
Nowadays, Pelše ir regarded by many Latvians as a sort of a traitor for his efforts in the Sovietization of Latvia and his extreme pro-Russia acts..
Pelshe was married three times. He had two children from the first marriage: the daughter Beruta (died) and son, Arvik (died during World War II). One son from the second marriage, Tai, (was born in 1930) - a pensioner, and didn't support any contacts with his father after the 3rd marriage. The third wife of Pelshe was Lidiya, the ex-wife of Stalin's secretary Alexander Poskryobyshev.