The formation of the Interfront is inseparable from the struggle for and against the reforms initiated in the Soviet Union by Mikhail Gorbachev. Not long after a mass movement, the Latvian Popular Front, had been established in Latvia in October 1988 in support of the reforms, or Perestroika, taking place in the Soviet Union, the opponents of the democratic reforms also began to organise in the Latvian SSR – the International Workers' Front gathered for its first congress on 7 January of the following year. Similar movements opposing Perestroika arose in other parts of the Soviet Union.

To solve the problems of economic planning, it was necessary to carry out wholesale personnel changes in the Soviet Union. In order to minimise the resistance towards these reforms from conservative communists, criticism of the system of government was permitted and even encouraged, quickly spreading beyond questions of economy to encompass processes in art, culture, society and politics. The Interfront gathered those who were against Gorbachev's reforms, liberalisation, democratisation, openness and the independence of Latvia from the USSR and supported the preservation of the dictatorship of the Communist Party.

The Interfront's activities included the organisation of mass demonstrations and meetings, production of propaganda publications and participation in elections as well as by direct appeals to Soviet officials with the demand to stop attempts aimed at the restoration of Latvian independence. As one of the tools of its political activity, the Interfront strove to heighten inter-ethnic tensions and actively opposed decisions that strenghtened Latvian language and culture. A large part of the Interfront's supporters was made up of employees of enterprises of all-union importance who had come to Latvia since the Soviet occupation as well as government employees and Soviet Army soldiers. Among the most notable leaders of the Interfront were Viktors Alksnis, Alfrēds Rubiks and Tatjana Ždanoka.

The demonstrations organised by the Interfront gathered several thousand people, sometimes more than ten thousand, yet these meetings embodied a considerably greater threat, since a large part of the supporters of the Interfront were current or former Soviet servicemen, and the Soviet Army's brutal retribution towards the defenders of democracy and independence in other parts of the Soviet Union was well known.

Following the adoption of the declaration of the restoration of Latvian independence on 4 May 1990, the various organisations opposing Latvian independence – the Interfront, the Equal Rights parliamentary group in the Supreme Council, the Baltic Association of Soldiers and others – merged into a single structure. Amidst the worsening political situation, in late 1990, it formed the All-Latvian Public Protection Committee, which, during the Barricades of January 1991, made an unsuccessful attempt to seize state power in Latvia. The Interfront also actively supported the attempted coup in the Soviet Union by Gorbachev's opponents and supporters of the centralisation of power – the 1991 August Putsch.

Following the failure of the coup and the full restoration of Latvian independence on 21 August 1991, the Interfront was dissolved.

About the Interfront. Edgars Engīzers, historian

Here we present eight commentaries about subjects brought up by some of the works in the exhibition. These reflections deal not only with the realities of the period of the National Awakening – queues, popular demonstrations, the Interfront and the Berlin Wall, but also phenomena that remain relevant today – feminism, waste, monuments and television. The authors of the commentaries are specialists in their respective fields, who look at the subject from their individual perspectives – subjectively emotional as well as academic and scholarly. This material gives a better insight into the context of the time and lets visitors see different aspects of the National Awakening with today's eyes.

Introduction

🏛 Latvijas Nacionālā mākslas muzeja galvenā ēka
🏛 Mākslas muzejs RĪGAS BIRŽA
🏛 Dekoratīvās mākslas un dizaina muzejs
🏛 Izstāžu zāle ARSENĀLS (šobrīd slēgta rekonstrukcijai)
🏛 Romana Sutas un Aleksandras Beļcovas muzejs
🏛 Ekspozīcija “Skulptūru mežs. Antīkās un renesanses tēlniecības nolējumi” Muzeju krātuvē.

New tracks tagged #interfront