| Latvia: Year of Horror | THERE SHALL BE NO REPRISALS |
In those few weeks was hidden the most horrible villainy of Bolshevik cynicism. From the very first days of the occupation rule, word spread like wildfire of the first wave of arrests. The prisons, emptied of recidivists, criminals, Bolshevik agents, subversives, spies and illegals, quickly filled with Latvian patriots. Former Latvian policemen were arrested for attempts to maintain order in city streets. Every other Latvian who wore a uniform was arrested -- soldiers, border guards, home guards, -- or those who were in a supervisory position in the former government offices as well as judges who ruled in accordance with the prevailing law, and finally those who openly and proudly announced their affiliation to the Latvian nation. Ironically, at the same time, the Bolsheviks proclaimed the equality and brotherhood of nations.
Unrest and agitation among the people grew. The nation, confused and shaken by events arranged by cynical and coldblooded minds, was facing an uncertain future and sensed the presence of danger. The occupation power was fighting the distrust and hatred of the nation. There would be no reprisals, the puppet regime promised! That had to be repeated again and again, not because this power attempted to establish and secure authority and regain the lost trust, but rather it exploited the existing and freshly and deliberately provoked antagonisms to arrive at its real goal: To Destroy "Harmful elements". These elements These elements were the whole independence-minded Latvian nation.
"There shall be no reprisals." These words encompass the oldest Bolshevik lie, their most horrible deeds perpetrated during the year of their rule. Words seemingly expressing trust and forgiveness hid the real intent of the Bolsheviks -- the destruction of the Latvian nation.
When a year later, the ground opened up and the corpses disclosed the truth, it was more horrible than aything anyone had imagined or feared.
On the 26th International Bolshevik Youth Day, Latvians were again coerced. Students were ordered out into the streets. The Bolsheviks had to prove to the world that the nation and especially the youth understood and loved the new era and that they "freely and without coercion rejoiced in the establishment of Soviet power." Compulsory demonstrations were the best method to create this falsified effect.
Streets were crowded with a variety of signs and displays on which much money was spent.
"Farmland, livestock and inventory will be left intact." Although new slogans and ever louder promises issued forth, nobody believed them anymore. Not one farmer believed that Latvian agriculture would be saved from the fate of the collectivized farms in the Soviet Union. The farmers gave up. They sensed the future. So, the Bolsheviks had to lie to mask their plans as much as possible. The Minister of Agriculture lied gladly.
Latvian farmers' suspicions proved correct: farms were subdivided to give farmworkers 10 hectares of land each, and minimal livestock to ensure that the new farmers would not thrive. This was the transition period to kolkhoz (collective) farms. Thus, 10,140 farmers were robbed of their land and livestock.
Quickly and deliberately, according to plans from Moscow, the poison of Bolshevism was fed into the flesh of the nation. More and more the spirit of the nation's life and vitality was threatened. Next to the screaming agitation which paralyzed people in demonstrations, the Bolsheviks used widespread and colourful signs and newspaper articles to feed their ideas into schools and places of higher education, even the University of Latvia. Youth everywhere, the healthiest and most positive rsource of a nation, were subjected to these pernicious ideas. New "sciences" , hitherto unknown on Latvia, were created -- a Chair of Marxism-Leninism. The facultries of thology and philosophy were closed, the staff fired and arrested.
As new replacements were hired, their only qualifications were diplomas from the "Red Professorship Institute." This institution prepared special instructors for the dissemination of Bolshevik ideas.. Often these "professors" had problems with written material, but qualifications were based on the length of membership in the Communist Party and on the number of years spent in prisons. These men were chosen to be the new educators and leaders of Latvian youth.
Apart from the foregoing innovations, the Latvian Communist Youth Alliance was created with the task to Bolshevize the Latvian youth. To be successful, it had to mar the spirit of youth from childhood -- by having them join the Pioneer organization
The wave of contradictions, lies and exploitation also swept over factory and office workers. Now they were to work according to impractical plans, goals, and targets, that could never be achieved. The stakhanov movement created an artificial fever for raising production quotas, competitions between factories and firms to improve efficiency. This was a method to falsely mirror the wishes of the workers, compelling them often to work double time, instead of eight hours. This cruel shock movement drained and totally exploited the energy of the workers.
Simultaneously, to spiritually destroy the people, the Bolsheviks undermined the support of the nation's economic and material life.. Despositers lost their life's savings in banks and credit unions.. This most of all hurt the small and thirfty working man, To add to the misery, houses were repossessed, industry and transportation was nationalized, the farmers' land was taken for the collectives, and tradesmen's tools, equipment, and apartment furnishings were also nationalized.
Ironically, this entire programme was called "a fight for a better future, a fight for the ideals of Marx, Engels, Lenin and Stalin."
The tentacles of Bolsehvism had the flesh of the nation firmly in their grip. Only one result was forseeable -- spiritual helplessness and dullness, physical weakness and overexertion, preconditions firstly for slavery and then an animal-like existence.
Such was the characteristic trademark of the Bolshevik era: shoutd slogans, marches of communist supporters, the tread of thousands of feet had to proclaim how to commemoratre the day when the Dictatorship of the Proletariat was born, a day that promised paradise on earth.
In reality, these marches, slogan shouting, and parades had to try to drown out the noise of a life collapsing in ruins from Bolshevik poison and lies. The reality was an indictment of the Soviet occupation that had transformed life on earth in Latvia into a hell.
Job Seekers at Labour Exchange in Riga | Ads for job openings
Come wintertime, everybody was surprised by the new agitation method:
Ads in newspapers invited people to a Labour Exchange to fill innumerable vacancies and new jobs positions available. When long lines of the unemployed formed at the Exchange, people there knew nothing of these openings.
