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PROTEST ON SOVIET LAID TO LATVIANS

PROTEST ON SOVIET LAID TO LATVIANS
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February 27, 1972, Page 11Buy Reprints
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WASHINGTON, Feb. 26—A letter attributed to 17 Latvian Communists, complaining about what they say are efforts by Moscow to “Russify” their Baltic republic, has been sent to several foreign Communist parties.

A copy of the letter, which has been published in Western Europe, was made available recently to The New York Times by Latvian emigres here. United States Government analysts who have studied it say they believe it is authentic and consistent with what was already known of the nationalistic tendencies still prevalent in Latvia, which was forcibly annexed to the Soviet Union in 1940.

The Voice of America has already broadcast the full text to the Soviet Union.

The letter is not signed, but In the body of the document the 17 say: ‘'We are Communists and most of us have been such for 25‐35 years and more. We wish only well to socialism, Marxism ‐Leninism and mankind.”

They declare, “We cannot sign this letter,” but do not say why.

Russian Chauvinism Charged

The chief complaint in the 5,000‐word document is that the Soviet leaders are practicing “Great Russian chauvinism” and are seeking to force the smaller Soviet ethnic groups, such as the Latvians, to assimilate with the Russians.

Although an effort was made to redress ethnic problems after Stalin's death, the letter says, current policy is to transfer as many Russians, Byelorussians and Ukrainians — all Slays—to Latvia and the other Baltic republics of Estonia and Lithuania.

The letter criticizes the creation of new industrial sites in Latvia and the influx of nonLatvian workers. It asserts that the republic now has “a number of large enterprises where there are almost no Latvians among the workers, engineerirrr ‐technical personnel, and directors.”

“There are also those where most of the workers are Latvians but none of the executives understands Latvian,” it asserts. “There are entire institutions where there are very few Latvians. The apparatus of the Ministry of Interior in Riga, for example, has 1,500 employes, but only 300 of them are Latvians.”

The Interior Ministry supervises the police force.

The letter says that about 65 per cent of the doctors do not speak Latvian “and because of this often make crude mistakes in diagnosing illnesses and prescribing treatment.”

‘Just Indignation’ Cited

“All this calls forth just indignation in the local population,” it declares.

The letter maintains that priority is given to “the progressive Russification” of all life in Latvia, and the assimilation of the Latvians.”

There are now about 2.4 million people in Latvia, of whom only about 57 per cent are ethnically Latvian, a drop of 5 per cent in the last decade. Russians make up 30 per cent of the population, a 3 per cent increase. Poles, Lithuanians, Byelorussians, Jews and Ukrainians make up the remaining 13 per cent.

The decrease in the percentage of Latvians living in Latvia has been due not only to the influx of non‐Latvians, but also to the exceptionally low birth rate in the republic, combined with an aging Latvian population.

For instance, in 1969, Latvia recorded a birth rate of only 14 per thousand, which is the smallest of any republic in the Soviet Union. Its death rate was 11.1 per thousand, the second highest after Estonia. This means that its natural increase (birth rate minus death rate) was only 2.9 per thousand, also the smallest in the Soviet Union. The natural increase for the Soviet Union as a whole in 1969 was 8.9 per thousand.

Russian Broadcasts Noted

The letter states that although Latvians still are in the majority, two‐thirds of the radio and television broadcasts are in Russian. Latvian writers have more difficulty getting their works published than Russians, it says, and “in all republic, city, and district organizations; in most local organizations and in all enterprises, business is conducted in Russian.”

“If there is a single Russian in an organization, he will demand that the meeting be conducted in Russian, and his demand will he satisfied,” the letter goes on. “If this is not done, then the collective is accused of nationalism.”

The letter specifically decries the “loud preaching” of mixed marriages in the republic and says that Latvian language theater groups must produce Russian plays but that Russian language groups rarely have Latvian ones.

The letter was received by the Communist parties of Rumania, Yugoslvaia, France, Austria and Spain among others. It calls on them to use their influence with Soviet leaders to improve the state of the Latvian and other ethnic groups.

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