Saint-Petersburg Historical Journal N 4 (2016) УДК 94(474.3) Sniedze Kale Latvian Rifl emen’s Young Artists Circle Daile and its Members. <...> Revision of the Current Interpretation When refl ecting upon the connection of early 20th century Latvians to Russia, the word «rifl emen» is brought up most often. <...> The rifl emen frequently became mythologised characters, although, naturally, they were real persons, some of which — the so-called Red Rifl emen with their discipline and fi ghting spirit — helped the Bolsheviks retain power in Russia. <...> Their achievements have been much written about and variously interpreted depending on the author’s political engagement. <...> Regarding Latvian rifl emen-artists, the information that can be found both in the publications of the 1920–30s and today is related mainly to those who served among the rifl emen of independent Latvia. <...> In Soviet Latvia meanwhile, starting from the mid-1950s, after the rehabilitation of the victims of totalitarian regime’s repressions, an interest arose in those Latvian artists who served in the regiments of the Red Rifl emen. <...> Art historian and artist Arturs Eglītis (1907–1996) organised The Exhibition of Latvian Red Rifl emen-Artists’ Works in 1959 in the State Museum of Latvian and Russian Art in Riga (Latvian National Museum of Art), establishing the perception of these artists as fi ghters. <...> Evidently, this perception took hold, as it can be encountered in virtually every other publication, whose authors underline the combative aspect1 (Artist Fighter, With Palette and Rifl e). 1 Sk.: Sondoviča E. Mākslinieks no Kremļa pulka [V. Andersons] // Rīgas Balss. 1986. 12. apr. <...> N 85. 5. lpp.; Batura L. Ar šauteni un paleti // Rīgas Balss. 1988. 7. sept. N 206. 5. lpp., u. c. of these artists-rifl emen, which was also refl ected in the titles of the articles Петербургский исторический журнал № 4 (2016) 144 Latvian Rifl emen’s Young Artists Circle Daile and its Members Part of these then-praised rifl emen-artists were members of the Kremlin Studio or Latvian Rifl <...>