Soviet Union Cry Independence

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The other Baltic states jest that being Latvian is "not a nationality but a profession," a reflection of the peculiar position of an ethnic group whose cultural survival has long been threatened. In 1935 Latvians made up 76% of the population in their homeland. By 1979 their numbers had dwindled to 53.7%. During the same period, the total of ethnic Russians in Latvia climbed from 11% to 32.8%. Thus, Latvian national aims have to be advanced through the art of compromise. At a time when Lithuanian and Estonian parliamentarians were debating whether to turn down Moscow's election-reform laws last November, the Latvians, led by President Anatoli Gorbunov, veered away from open revolt and drafted alternative wordings for the disputed passages.

Latvia has always had stronger ties to Moscow than have the other two republics. Latvian Riflemen made up the Kremlin's elite Praetorian Guard in the years after the Bolshevik Revolution, and party boss Arvid Pelshe became a fixture of the Brezhnev gerontocracy. Latvian First Secretary Janis Vagris, who gained his post last October when Boris Pugo was promoted to Moscow's Party Control Committee, is viewed by many as a compromise choice whose views on reform and political pluralism are acceptable to party conservatives.

One intriguing measure of popular support for the cause of Latvian self- determination came during the parliamentary elections, when Juris Dobelis, a leader of the Latvian National Independence Movement, ran against four establishment candidates, including First Secretary Vagris. The Communist Party chief squeaked by with 51%, and Dobelis polled an impressive 34%. When the Latvian Popular Front asked its 100-member council last June whether it should "join the struggle for Latvia's complete and economic independence," the vote was a unanimous yes. In May Popular Front members opened formal contacts with the leaders of Latvian exile organizations at a gathering in France. The movement hopes to score well in local elections this December and in balloting for the Latvian supreme soviet next February. As Kezbers admits, "They have slogans, programs -- and no responsibility for the past."

LITHUANIA

One of the more dramatic moments at the Congress of the People's Deputies occurred in early June, when members of the Lithuanian delegation walked out of the Kremlin's Palace of Congresses in protest against Gorbachev's plan to put the question of a new Committee for Constitutional Supervision to a vote. Considering the importance of constitutional issues for the republics, the Lithuanians wanted more time to discuss the makeup of the committee. Gorbachev compromised and referred the matter to a commission. From the point of view of the pragmatic Estonians, it was a case once again of the Lithuanians "mounting a charge on white horses." But Popular Front leader Virgilijus Cepaitis sees it differently: "We have been giving lessons to Moscow, and they have been accepting them. We are helping Gorbachev by showing the way."