View source for Iskolat

{{expand Latvian|date=September 2023}}
{{No footnotes|date=July 2023}}
{{Main|History of Latvia|Diplomatic history of World War I#Three Baltic states}}{{Infobox former country
| image_flag             = Iskolata karogs.svg
| motto                  = [[Workers of the world, unite!]]
| national_anthem        = [[The Internationale]]
| capital                = [[Cēsis]]<br>[[Valka]] (Later)
| status                 = [[Autonomy]]
| year_end               = 1918
| year_start             = 1917
| common_languages       = [[Latvian language|Latvian]]<br>[[Russian language|Russian]]<br>[[Latgalian language|Latgalian]]
| title_leader           = Chairman of Iskolat
| year_leader1           = 1917
| leader1                = Oto Kārkliņš
| year_leader2           = 1918
| leader2                = [[Fricis Roziņš]]
| event_start            = Founded
| date_start             = 30 July
| event1                 = Second Congress
| date_event1            = 22 December
| event2                 = Part of [[Soviet Russia]]
| date_event2            = 31 December
| event_end              = [[Treaty of Brest-Litovsk]]
| date_end               = 3 March
| p1                     = Governorate of Livonia
| s1                     = Latvian Socialist Soviet Republic
| flag_p1                = Flag of the Liflandia Governorate.svg
| flag_p2                = Flag of the Courland Governorate.svg
| p2                     = Courland Governorate
| flag_s1                = Flag of Latvian SSR 1919.svg
| today                  = [[Latvia]]
}}
'''Iskolat''' ({{langx|ru|Исколат}}, {{langx|lv|Iskolats}}), or formally the '''Executive Committee of the Soviet of Workers, Soldiers, and the Landless in Latvia'''{{efn|('''Ис'''полнительный '''ко'''митет Совета рабочих, солдатских и безземельных депутатов '''Лат'''вии)}}, was the governing body in the territory of [[Latvia]] that was under control of the pro-Communist [[Latvian Riflemen|Red Latvian Riflemen]] in 1917–1918.

==History==
During the [[Russian Revolution]] the Iskolat was established in [[Riga]] on 29–30 July 1917 [[Adoption of the Gregorian calendar#Adoption in Eastern Europe|O.S.]] (August 11 – 12, 1917, [[New Style|N.S.]]), at the initiative of the Central Committee of the [[Communist Party of Latvia|Social Democratic Party]], then controlled by the [[Bolshevik]]s with the purpose of carrying out the [[Bolshevik coup]] within the territory of [[Latvia]] not occupied by [[Germany]]. When Germans occupied Riga, the Iskolat moved to [[Cēsis]] and later to [[Valka]], where it took power over the Valka district, disbanding the organs established by the [[Russian Provisional Government]].

On December 17, 1917 the [[Congress of Soviets]] of Latvia convened in [[Valmiera]] and elected {{ill|Oto Kārkliņš|lv|Oto Kārkliņš}} as the chairman of Iskolat, who was later replaced by [[Fricis Roziņš]] in 1918. 

Iskolat fled to Moscow after German forces occupied Latvia in February 1918 and was disbanded in March 1918.

[[Soviet historiography]] considers the Iskolat to have been the first Soviet government of sovereign Latvia between December 1917 and February 1918.

==See also==
*[[Latvian Provisional National Council]]
*[[Latvian Socialist Soviet Republic]]

==Notes==
{{notelist}}

==References==
*[http://www.oval.ru/enc/30310.html "Iskolat"], ''[[Great Soviet Encyclopedia]]''
*{{cite journal |last= Zile |first= Zigurds L. |year= 1977 |title= Legal Thought and the Formation of Law and Legal Institutions in the Socialist Soviet Republic of Latvia, 1917–1920 |journal= Journal of Baltic Studies |volume= 8 |issue= 3 |pages= 195–204 |url= http://www.informaworld.com/openurl?genre=article&issn=0162%2d9778&issue=3&spage=195&volume=8 | format = PDF |access-date= 2007-07-10 |doi= 10.1080/01629777700000191 |url-access= subscription }}
*{{cite book |last= Ezergailis |first= Andrew |author-link= Andrew Ezergailis|title= The Latvian Impact on the Bolshevik Revolution: The First Phase: September 1917 to April 1918 |series= East European Monographs no. 144 |year= 1983 |publisher= East European Monographs |location= Boulder |isbn= 978-0-88033-035-0 |oclc= 61541087 }}
*{{cite journal |last= Swain |first= Geoffrey |year= 1999 |title= The Disillusioning of the Revolution's Praetorian Guard: The Latvian Riflemen, Summer–Autumn 1918 |journal= Europe-Asia Studies |volume= 51 |issue= 4 |pages= 667–686 |url= http://openurl.ingenta.com/content?genre=article&issn=0966-8136&volume=51&issue=4&spage=667&epage=686 | format = PDF |access-date= 2007-07-10 |doi= 10.1080/09668139998840 |url-access= subscription }}


[[Category:Political history of Latvia]]
[[Category:1917 establishments in Latvia]]
[[Category:Early Soviet republics]]
[[Category:Former socialist republics]]
[[Category:Post–Russian Empire states]]
[[Category:Soviets]]
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