The Latvian National Independence Movement (Latvian: Latvijas Nacionālās Neatkarības Kustība, LNNK) was a political organization in Latvia from 1988 till mid-1990s.
It formed in 1988, as the radical wing of Latvian nationalist movement. Unlike the mainstream Latvian Popular Front which originally supported more autonomy for Latvia within Soviet Union, LNNK insisted on independence from Soviet Union from its beginning. The leaders of LNNK included Eduards Berklavs, Aleksandrs Kiršteins, Andrejs Krastiņš, Einars Repše and Juris Dobelis.
After Latvia gaining independence, LNNK became a political party and renamed itself National Conservative Party. It won 15 seats out of 100 in 1993 parliamentary election and was an influential opposition party. In 1993 its candidate for Prime Minister was Joachim Siegerist, who lost by only one vote and ended up second. LNNK won the municipal election in Latvian capital, Riga in 1994 but its popularity quickly faded after that. It lost half of its seats in the parliament in 1995 parliamentary election and eventually merged with Tēvzemei un Brīvībai (Fatherland and Freedom), another right-wing party with similar origins in the Latvian independence movement.
Since entering into a coalition with For Fatherland and Freedom, the party increasingly sought to propagate a particularly 'Latvian' vision for Latvia as highlighted by a series of controversial adverts encouraging the consumption of Latvian goods, and warning of the dangers of non-Latvians
An organization with similar aims and almost identical name - Estonian National Independence Party - existed in Estonia.
Famous quotes containing the words national, independence and/or movement:
“Perhaps our national ambition to standardize ourselves has behind it the notion that democracy means standardization. But standardization is the surest way to destroy the initiative, to benumb the creative impulse above all else essential to the vitality and growth of democratic ideals.”
—Ida M. Tarbell (1857–1944)
“Hail, Columbia! happy land!
Hail, ye heroes! heaven-born band!
Who fought and bled in Freedom’s cause,
Who fought and bled in Freedom’s cause,
And when the storm of war was gone,
Enjoyed the peace your valor won.
Let independence be our boast,
Ever mindful what it cost;”
—Joseph Hopkinson (1770–1842)
“Our movement took a grip on cowardly Marxism and from it extracted the meaning of socialism. It also took from the cowardly middle-class parties their nationalism. Throwing both into the cauldron of our way of life there emerged, as clear as a crystal, the synthesis—German National Socialism.”
—Hermann Goering (1893–1946)