May 15 is no longer celebrated as a national holiday, but for five years before the Soviets arrived in 1940, this day, known as National Unity Day, was a state holiday.
On May 15, 1934, then-Prime Minister Karlis Ulmanis dissolved the Parliament frustrated with his inability to push a legislation through the fractured Legislature. Because the Constitution doesn’t give the PM that right, Ulmanis staged a bloodless coup d’etat that night. For the five following years the events of May 15 were dubbed as the greatest event in Latvian history since the creation of the Republic in 1918.
That day, the 16-year-old democracy in Latvia died.
Ulmanis informed the President Alberts Kviesis about the coup only on the following day, May 16.
“All activities of political parties and with it the activity of the Saeima ceased until the Constitution is reformed,” read the headline in one newspaper dated May 16, 1934. The newspaper also cited rumors about a military coup as a reason for the “temporary” suspension of democracy in the country.
Kviesis was allowed to serve the rest of his term until 1936, after which Ulmanis unconstitutionally merged the office of President and Prime Minister in his own person. Consolidating the power, Ulmanis became a Vadonis, or the Leader of the Latvian people, creating a cult of personality in the country.
However, in spite of this bloodless political coup, Ulmanis was a popular leader during whose leadership Latvia recorded major achievements.
The popularity of Ulmanis and the glory of the Ulmanis Latvia stretched through generations and still exists to this day among some Latvians. Riding a high horse of his last name, Ulmanis’ great nephew, Guntis Ulmanis became the first president in the post-Soviet Latvia in 1993.
“During Ulmanis’ rule, education was strongly emphasized and literacy rates in Latvia reached the highest levels in Europe. Due to an application of the economics of comparative advantage, the United Kingdom and Germany became Latvia’s major trade partners, while trade with Russia was reduced. At a time when most of the world’s economy was suffering, Latvia could point to increases in both gross national product (GNP) and in exports of Latvian goods overseas.”
In 1935, May 15 became a national holiday – Tautas Vienibas Svetki, or National Unity Day – and remained as such until 1940. On that day, pro-government newspapers boasted of the achievements reached since the bloodless coup d’etat. In fact, poems were written about that day. Here’s one published in 1938 with my amateur translation.
Ik dzivibai te jaunas apkart rodas, -
Un visi kopa Ritam preti dodas,
Lai vienoti tie justu lielu speku
Un lepnumu celtu latvju tautas eku
Par audzem nakosam, kam cels vel prieksa tals
Stav musu Vadonis un musu General’s
For each life here is born
And all together we’ll move to Tomorrow
So that united those could feel strong power
And with pride will build a home for Latvian nation
For future generations, who have a long road ahead
Stand our Leader and our General.
Every year, the government-supported newspapers hailed this event as the right decision for the Republic of Latvia. One sentence jumps to mind from the newspapers of those days, “Instead of demagoguery, the people received the results.”
In the end, though, in nearly six years of the Ulmanis regime, the Constitution was never reformed; the Parliament was never restored. While Ulmanis attempted to protect the Latvian state from the supposed military coup, he told Latvians not to resist the Red Army when it arrived to Latvia in 1940, when the scepter of the Latvian state was handed over from one Great Leader to Another.
Ulmanis believed Stalin would spare his life, but in the end, the Soviet security forces took him to Soviet Union where he was killed.
His remains have not been found to this day.
The Great Leader President Karlis Ulmanis walks along the troops during the Unity Day parade. The photo is taken from a newspaper dated May 15, 1939.