Ultimate freedom - no choice: the culture of authoritarianism in Latvia, 1934 - 1940

In: Central and Eastern Europe 2

Abstract

Chapter one. The beginning : how was the coup presented back then? -- Inter-war Latvia : prehistory of the coup, its context -- Why the coup is not a coup, but salvation? -- Ulmanis in foreign media : the Times -- Chapter two. Genesis of a political myth : an official turns into Vadonis -- Chapter three. Staging Atdzimšanas Dziesma : technologies of authoritarianism cultural policy -- How does one stage the principle of authoritarianism? staging of a mass performance as a political program -- "Atdzimšanas Dziesma will invite every Latvian to serve his nation and country by obeying Vadonis" : what is the staging going to say? -- "Atdzimšanas Dziesma depicts the fate of the Latvian people : staging as a liturgy of authoritarianism, Vadonis as a priest and actor -- Chapter four. "Another land" : Latgale region in the discourse of Ulmanis' authoritarian regime on the unity of the nation -- Political performance as a staging of unanimity -- Latgale : the symbolic stepchild and bride -- Latgalians and ethnic unity -- Latgalians and ethnic diversity : the other in the new political culture -- Answers of Latgale's media -- The education law and the technology of the melting pot -- Daugavpils Vienības Nams : a building as a political message -- Chapter five. The leader, the enemy, war and celebration : authoritarianism practices compared : Stalin and Ulmanis in Latvia's authoritarian culture -- USSR--the land of workers and violence : a dual perception -- Cultural practices of European dictatorships in the 30s -- Stalin and Ulmanis : a functional comparison of leaders -- The enemy : communism and the war of civilizations -- Moscow trials--the globalized political show of the 30s -- Chapter six. Date and place : a celebration of authoritarianism in Rēzekne and Riga -- "The harvest booster" : K. Ulmanis as a hero of cyclical time in Svēta Zeme spectacle -- 18 November as a continuation of 15 May : the course of celebration on 18 November 1938 -- Chapter seven. "New Riga" : the city as an instrument of authoritarian ideology -- Aesthetization of Ulmanis' ideology : key tendencies and international context -- Ulman Riga -- The Uzvaras laukums : a spatial self-reference -- Chapter eight. Authoritarianism and the Church : attempts to develop Latvian Christianity in 1920s and 1930s -- The relationship policy between the Church and the state under Ulmanis' regime -- The Church : in supranational content and national form -- Ideas expressed by the radical wing of Latvianizers of the Church -- Conclusion