Eastern European Baptist History: New Perspectives, 2007

attern similar to the Catholic political force in Germany.” The political 7! As a sign of the times, we should also note that leftist tendencies existed among the Rus- sian Orthodox clergy. Most of the thirteen members of various ranks of Orthodox clergy elected from different regions of the empire to the second State Duma belonged to the lib- eral or leftist parliamentary groups. In May 1907 the Holy Synod even pronounced dis- ciplinary measures against clergy deputies who were part of “revolutionary parties”. S.L. Firsov, Russkaia tserkov’ nakanune peremen: konets 1890-x-1918 gg. (Moscow: Dukhovnaia biblioteka, 2002), pp. 355, 357-358. 2 In response to church demonstrations and other revolutionary activities within Lutheran parishes during the revolution of 1905, representatives of Latvian Baptist churches sent a letter of support to the Lutheran Consistory in June 1905. “LatvieSu baptistu misiones sadraudzibas vasaras saeima’, Rigas Avize, no. 126 (14 June 1905). 3 For example, secretary of the Baptist Church in Aizpute Mikelis Purvics was executed in 1906, found “guilty” of delivering a speech at one of the revolutionary mass meetings. How- ever, even then he asked people to avoid burning the manors of the Baltic German nobility. Tervits, Latvijas baptistu vésture, p. 91. 4 Uldis Kréslins, Aktivais naciondlisms Latvija, 1922-1934 (Riga: Latvijas Véstures institita apgads, 2005), p. 58. 1. Mednis, “Politiskas partijas Latvijas Republika’, Latvijas Arhivi, no. 3 (1995), p. 17. 107 organisation supported and led by Baptists, the Union of the Christian Working People, has a misleading name. According to Osvalds Freivalds, who has written the history of the political parties of the First Republic (1918-1940), it was actually middle-class in its ideological perspective.” The union opposed those who labelled it as representing only the lower classes and, as stated by secretary Voldemars Freimanis, a Baptist minister, claimed that “in social life common to all of us we should not have a class- orientated stand”.” At the same time the party sought support among the poor. Party member Evalds Rimbenieks, a Baptist pastor later elected to the parliament, and who also served as Minister of Finance and mayor of Liepaja (one of largest cities in Latvia), stressed the role of Christianity in liberating the poor: “Christianity has created a new movement among the oppressed working people and showed them the way to the spiritual and social freedom.”* This is a sign of a new phase in the history of Latvian Baptists, when inward-looking spirituality is being gradually replaced by a socially cautious, “this-worldly” attitude. “One who thinks of Christianity as sweet lullaby to put humanity to sleep does not know Christianity at all’,? claimed Rimbenieks. Discussions found in the official journal of the Baptist Union Kristiga Balss [The Christian Voice] indicate that it was not a smooth transition.” We also should not