History of Latvia only St. Petersburg and Moscow by the number of industrial workers, and at the turn of the century over 90% of Latvians could read. In this regard, Latvia was equally primed for radical leftism and nationalism. In all, spearheaded by the Latvian Social Democratic Workers’ Party (LSDSP), the governorates making up what is now Latvia were probably the most ungovernable in the whole Russian Empire. Following the shooting of demonstrators in St. Petersburg on January 9, 1905 a wide-scale general strike began in Riga. On January 13 Russian army troops opened fire on demonstrators in Riga killing 73 and injuring
On the Restoration of Independence of the Republic of Latvia the Republic of Latvia "de jure" is a sovereign country. It observes that the Republic of Latvia proclaimed independence on 18 November 1918, and was internationally recognized in 1920, and that Latvia was admitted to membership in the League of Nations in 1921. The first country to recognize the independence of Latvia "de jure" was Soviet Russia on 11 August 1920, when the Soviet-Latvian Peace treaty was signed (it is generally considered that the independence of Latvia "de jure" was internationally recognized on 26 January 1921, when it was recognized by the Allies of World War I). The declaration notes