Abstract
The paper aims to define the Soviet basic paradigms of Latvian modern history which were questioned at the turn of the 1980's / 1990's. Deconstructing the Soviet paradigm proceeded gradually in several stages.
The Soviet construction of modern Latvian history was based on several basic paradigms: a paradigm of Latvian Red Shooters, labor and socialist movement and the existence of the Soviet Republic in Latvia, the concept of the inter-war Latvian Republic as a puppet state of Western imperialists and a fascist state. However, the basis of the construction was the paradigm of the socialist revolution and voluntary integration of Latvia to the Soviet Union.
The questioning of these paradigms was associated with Perestroika and Glasnost in 1988. The sentencing of Stalin's crimes was linked to a new interpretation of Latvian statehood, Latvian shooters, and mass deportation of the population.
Since the condemnation of Stalin's terror, acceptable in the Perestroika narrative, the debate went on to the recognition of the secret additions to the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact and the illegality of joining the USSR. The recognition of the unlegal annexation of the Baltic states, had direct political consequences, which had already exceeded the limits of Perestroika and led legally to final separation and restauration of independence of the Baltic States.