Latvia and the Latvians Frederic T. Harned, Harvard University (part of a larger M.I.T. study), 1973

General Information

IV. Demography

The population of Latvia, according to the 1970 census, was 2,364,127, an increase of 13% from 1959. [1] This rate of growth was about average for European peoples of the USSR. Much of that growth, however (58% according to data from one Soviet source [2]) was achieved through immigration, mostly of non-Latvians, from other parts of the Union. Ethnic Latvians represented 62.0% of the republic's population in 1959, but only 56.8% in 1970. Russians increased from 26.6% to 29.8% of the population, and other Slavic peoples (Belorussians, Poles, and Ukrainians) from 7.2% to 9.0%. In 1935, ethnic Latvians had constituted over three-quarters of the population of the republic. [3]

The steady erosion of the ethnic nature of their country is apparently of great concern to many Latvians, both at home and among emigrants. De-nationalization is strongest in the cities, where the Russian population tends to concentrate. Latvians constituted only 41% of the 1970 population of Riga, down. from 45% in 1959. [4] Nearly 94% of all Latvians living in the USSR already live in their republic, so that the Latvian portion of the republic population is not likely to be significantly reinforced by further concentration of the nationality in its homeland. That concentration is already one of the highest in the Soviet Union. It is exceeded only by that of the Georgians and the Lithuanians.

With the urban population making up almost two-thirds (62%) of the total republic population Latvia is one of the most highly urbanized parts of the Soviet Union. Riga, the capital, with over 700,000 inhabitants, is second only to Leningrad as the largest city on the Soviet Baltic coast. The population is also one of the most highly educated in the Soviet Union. Only Estonia has a higher proportion of specialists with higher or specialized secondary education. [5]

A major reason that immigration presents such a considerable threat to the Latvian nation is its very low rate of natural population growth. While. Latvia's birth rate of 14.5 births per 1000 population is only marginally lower than the rate for the RSFSR (14.6), the death rate, at 11.6 per thousand, is considerably higher and leaves a natural growth rate of only 3.3 per thousand, lowest in the USSR (only a little over half the rate for the RSFSR). Two factors are at work here. First, there is a large population of the aged (17.3% of Latvia's population is over 60 years old, and only 28.7% under 20, whereas the corresponding figures for the USSR as a whole are 11.8% and 38%) which is reflected in the high death rate (life expectancy in Latvia is nearly equal to that of the U.S.). [6] The age structure of the USSR's ethnic Latvian population is even less favorable; fully 20% are over 60 years old, and only 26% are under 20. [7] Secondly, there is a cultural preference in Latvia for smaller families, begun later in life. [8]

The Communist Party of Latvia reported 127,753 members and candidate members on January 1, 1971, or roughly 5.4% of the population, compared to the CPSU's 5.9%. [9] At the time of the formation of the LSSR, the Latvian Communist Party was miniscule, comprising less than 700 members and candidates as late as 1944. [10] After the war, the ranks of the Party were filled in large part by the importation of cadres, both Latvian and non-Latvian, from other Soviet republics. But the Party remained relatively small in comparison to the population throughout the 1950s and 1960s. [11] Current data on the ethnic breakdown in the Party are not published, but Western studies have indicated a clear preponderance of Russians at all levels. [12]

Certainly it is clear that non-Latvians or Latvians with long residence in Russia, considered to be "Russified" by Western writers and apparently by some native Latvian Communists, [13] play a disproportionate role in the top Party leadership. Of the five secretaries of the CPL, First Secretary August Voss was raised in Russia and arrived in Latvia in 1945. Second Secretary N. Belukha, apparently in charge of cadres and Party organization, is a Ukrainian and speaks no Latvian at all. Secretary for propaganda A. Drizulis lived in Russia until he was 25, as apparently did Industry Secretary E. Petersons. Agriculture Secretary R. Verro, is an Estonian and does not speak Latvian. The Chairman of the Council of Ministers was born in Belorussia; the Chairman of the Supreme Soviet, in Moscow. [14] The slow promotion of native cadres and the failure to encourage the use of the Latvian language by Party workers was one of the major concerns of a group of Latvian Communists, nominally led by Deputy Premier E. Berklavs, that was removed in a major purge of the CPL in 1959-1960. [15] The dominance of the political system by men with few ties to the local population continues to be a major concern in Latvia.

1. CDSP, 1971: XXIII: 16: 14.
2. Sovetskaya Latviya (June 23), 1971. Translated in JPRS #53732, "Translations on USSR Political and Sociological Affairs," series (August 2), 1971: 166: 73.
3. Rutkis, 1967: 292, 302. The absolute number of Latvians in Latvia in 1970 was smaller than in 1935!
4. Russians, Belorussians and Ukrainians constituted over 50% of the population of Riga in 1970. Itogi 1970: IV: 283.
5. Nar. khoz. 1970: 234.
6. Nar. khoz. 1970: 50-51; LTS, -1971: 331. Statistical Abstract of U.S., 1971: 53.
7. Itogi 1970: IV: 363.
8. Vestnik statistiki (June), 1971: 6: 23-24. Translated in JPRS, "Translations on USSR Political and Sociological Affairs," (August 17), 1971: 170. Another complicating factor is the divorce rate, one of the highest in the world (in 1970, 45 divorces were recorded for every 100 marriages). See Nauka i tekhnika (January), 1972: 1: 4-7.
9. From Partiinaya zhizn' (December), 1971: 24: 4 and Nar. khoz. 1970: 7. A more informative figure is CP strength as a percent of adult population: Latvia - 7.2%, USSR - 9.0%. Radio Liberty Dispatch, "Major Turnover of Leading Party Cadres in Union Republics," (April 20). 1971: 9.
10. Ocherki, 19 : 92.
11. See Widmer, 1969: 167.
12. See Vardys, 1964:. 9-10; King, 1968: 61-62; Trapans, 1963.
13. See the "Letter of 17 Latvian Communists," Briviba (Stockholm) (January), 1972: 1: 225: 5-8, and in the Congressional Record (February 21), 1972. See also the analysis of the "Letter" and of Soviet rebuttal in Soviet Analyst (London) (March 2), 1972: I: 1: 306 and (April 13), 1972: I: 4: 4-6.
14. "Letter of 17 Latvian Communists"; see also the biographical sketches of these men in LME.
15. See King, 1965: 188-203; Berzins, 1963: 255-261; "Letter of 17 Latvian Communists"; Widmer, 1969: 311-317.