The Commissariat for Latvian National Affairs in 1918: Organization, Main Directions and Performance

This article is devoted to the activities of the Commissariat for Latvian National Affairs in the territory of the RSFSR before the attempt to Sovietize Latvia in December 1918. The main focus of this organization's work has become cultural and educational activities among the Latvian diaspora in Soviet Russia. The policy pursued by the Commissariat towards the Latvian national minority demonstrated the implementation of new approaches to national policy, in which small national groups become part of the nation-building, while preserving their own culture and national identity. The policy pursued by the Bolsheviks contributed to the strengthening of the Soviet state and demonstrated to the world community a new principle of organizing a multinational space based on the idea of equal rights for all the peoples of the country.