The
Latvian National Awakening refers to three distinct but ideologically related
National revivalNational revival or national awakening is a period of ethnic self-consciousness that often precedes a political movement for national liberation but that can take place at a time when independence is politically unrealistic.-See also:* Gaelic revival...
movements:
- the First Awakening refers to the national revival led by the Young Latvians
Young Latvians is the term most often applied to the intellectuals of the first Latvian National Awakening , active from the 1850s to the 1880s. "Jaunlatvieši" is also sometimes translated as "New Latvians," but "Young Latvians" is the more accurate term because it was modeled on the Young Germany...
from the 1850s to the 1880s,
- the Second Awakening to the movement that led to the proclamation of Latvian independence in 1918, and
- the Third Awakening to the movement that led to the restoration of 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 , and to the southeast by Belarus . Across the Baltic Sea to the west lies Sweden...
's independence in the "Singing RevolutionThe Singing Revolution is a commonly used name for events between 1987 and 1990 that led to the restoration of the independence of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania...
" of 1987–1991.
Though the term "Awakening" was introduced by the Young Latvians themselves, its application was influenced by the nationalist ideologue
Ernests BlanksErnests Blanks , publicist, the first to publicly advocate for Latvia's independence in 1917.Ernests Blanks was editorial writer of Dzimtenes Atbalss . At a time when others discussed Latvia's and, the other Baltic countries, autonomy, Ernests Blanks dared to demand sovereignty for Latvia. Already...
and later by the academician Jānis Stradiņš; Stradiņš was the first person to use the term "Third Awakening" (at the expanded plenum of the Writers' Union of the Latvian SSR in June 1988), opposing those who had begun to call the national revival in the period of
glasnostwas the policy of maximal publicity, openness, and transparency in the activities of all government institutions in the Soviet Union, together with freedom of information, introduced by Mikhail Gorbachev in the second half of 1980s....
the
Second Awakening (the first being that of the Young Latvians).
Blanks sought to distinguish between the
New CurrentIn the history of Latvia, the New Current was a broad leftist social and political movement that followed the First Latvian National Awakening and culminated in the 1905 Revolution...
(in Latvian:
Jaunā strāva) — a broad and radical socio-economic, political, and cultural movement that lasted from the late 1880s until the 1905 Revolution, led by
RainisRainis was the pseudonym of Jānis Pliekšāns , a poet, playwright, translator, and politician. He is considered to be one of the greatest Latvian writers...
and influenced by
MarxismMarxism is the political philosophy and economic worldview based upon a materialist interpretation of history, a Marxist analysis of capitalism, a theory of social change, and an atheist view of human liberation derived from the work of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels; three primary aspects of...
— from the more nationalistic direction taken in 1903 by Ernests Rolavs and
Miķelis ValtersMiķelis Valters was a prominent Latvian politician, diplomat, writer, and editor....
; to Blanks, the 1890s "could be stricken completely from the history of national thought." He saw Rolavs' and Valters' nationalist
Latvian Social Democratic UnionThe Latvian Social Democratic Union was a socialist political group with roots dating to 1892 in Liepāja. Founded in exile the autumn of 1900 and led by Miķelis Valters and Ernests Rolavs...
(in Latvian:
Sociāldemokratu savienība; sometimes abbreviated SDS) — a radical socialist group critical of the
cosmopolitanismCosmopolitanism is the idea that all of humanity belongs to a single community, possibly based on a shared morality. This is contrasted with communitarian theories, in particular the ideologies of patriotism and nationalism...
of the
Latvian Social Democratic Workers' PartyThe Latvian Social Democratic Workers' Party is a centre-left, social democratic party in Latvia. It has a long history but is not represented in the current parliament of Latvia.-History:...
(
Latvijas sociāldemokrātiskā strādnieku partija; LSDSP) — as the direct ideological descendants of the Young Latvians.
The
Latvian National Awakening refers to three distinct but ideologically related
National revivalNational revival or national awakening is a period of ethnic self-consciousness that often precedes a political movement for national liberation but that can take place at a time when independence is politically unrealistic.-See also:* Gaelic revival...
movements:
- the First Awakening refers to the national revival led by the Young Latvians
Young Latvians is the term most often applied to the intellectuals of the first Latvian National Awakening , active from the 1850s to the 1880s. "Jaunlatvieši" is also sometimes translated as "New Latvians," but "Young Latvians" is the more accurate term because it was modeled on the Young Germany...
from the 1850s to the 1880s,
- the Second Awakening to the movement that led to the proclamation of Latvian independence in 1918, and
- the Third Awakening to the movement that led to the restoration of 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 , and to the southeast by Belarus . Across the Baltic Sea to the west lies Sweden...
's independence in the "Singing RevolutionThe Singing Revolution is a commonly used name for events between 1987 and 1990 that led to the restoration of the independence of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania...
" of 1987–1991.
Though the term "Awakening" was introduced by the Young Latvians themselves, its application was influenced by the nationalist ideologue
Ernests BlanksErnests Blanks , publicist, the first to publicly advocate for Latvia's independence in 1917.Ernests Blanks was editorial writer of Dzimtenes Atbalss . At a time when others discussed Latvia's and, the other Baltic countries, autonomy, Ernests Blanks dared to demand sovereignty for Latvia. Already...
and later by the academician Jānis Stradiņš; Stradiņš was the first person to use the term "Third Awakening" (at the expanded plenum of the Writers' Union of the Latvian SSR in June 1988), opposing those who had begun to call the national revival in the period of
glasnostwas the policy of maximal publicity, openness, and transparency in the activities of all government institutions in the Soviet Union, together with freedom of information, introduced by Mikhail Gorbachev in the second half of 1980s....
the
Second Awakening (the first being that of the Young Latvians).
Blanks sought to distinguish between the
New CurrentIn the history of Latvia, the New Current was a broad leftist social and political movement that followed the First Latvian National Awakening and culminated in the 1905 Revolution...
(in Latvian:
Jaunā strāva) — a broad and radical socio-economic, political, and cultural movement that lasted from the late 1880s until the 1905 Revolution, led by
RainisRainis was the pseudonym of Jānis Pliekšāns , a poet, playwright, translator, and politician. He is considered to be one of the greatest Latvian writers...
and influenced by
MarxismMarxism is the political philosophy and economic worldview based upon a materialist interpretation of history, a Marxist analysis of capitalism, a theory of social change, and an atheist view of human liberation derived from the work of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels; three primary aspects of...
— from the more nationalistic direction taken in 1903 by Ernests Rolavs and
Miķelis ValtersMiķelis Valters was a prominent Latvian politician, diplomat, writer, and editor....
; to Blanks, the 1890s "could be stricken completely from the history of national thought." He saw Rolavs' and Valters' nationalist
Latvian Social Democratic UnionThe Latvian Social Democratic Union was a socialist political group with roots dating to 1892 in Liepāja. Founded in exile the autumn of 1900 and led by Miķelis Valters and Ernests Rolavs...
(in Latvian:
Sociāldemokratu savienība; sometimes abbreviated SDS) — a radical socialist group critical of the
cosmopolitanismCosmopolitanism is the idea that all of humanity belongs to a single community, possibly based on a shared morality. This is contrasted with communitarian theories, in particular the ideologies of patriotism and nationalism...
of the
Latvian Social Democratic Workers' PartyThe Latvian Social Democratic Workers' Party is a centre-left, social democratic party in Latvia. It has a long history but is not represented in the current parliament of Latvia.-History:...
(
Latvijas sociāldemokrātiskā strādnieku partija; LSDSP) — as the direct ideological descendants of the Young Latvians. It was the SDS (and especially Valters) that first began to formulate demands for Latvia's political autonomy.
Stradiņš based his view of the national revival in the 1980s on Blanks, considering the Second Awakening similarly: he viewed the organization of the
Latvian riflemenLatvian riflemen were military formations assembled starting 1915 in Latvia in order to defend Baltic territories against Germans in World War I. Initially the battalions were formed by volunteers, and from 1916 by conscription among the Latvian population...
, the activities of the Latvian émigrés in Switzerland, the Latvian refugees' relief committee in Russia, the proclamation of independence and the battles for independence as coming under the heading of the Second Awakening. Less frequently, some have seen the New Current and the 1905 Revolution — and sometimes even the
Khrushchev ThawThe Khrushchev Thaw refers to the period from the mid 1950s to the early 1960s, when repression and censorship in the Soviet Union were partially reversed and millions of Soviet political prisoners were released from Gulag labor camps, due to Nikita Khrushchev's policies of de-Stalinisation and...
— as National Awakenings.