Miķelis Valters

Taken with the concepts of socialism, Valters landed a position at the "Dienas Lapa" (Daily Sheet) editorial office in Rīga.

At the same time, he distanced himself from the Marxist generalizations and simplifications he felt had come to characterize Jaunā Strāva, and dedicated himself while in jail to more serious philosophical and political studies.

In 1900, along with his associates Ernests Rolavs and Emīls Skubiķis, he founded Vakareiropas latviešu sociāldemokrātu savienība (the Western European Latvian Social-Democratic Union).

Along with his revolutionary oriented activities, he also busied himself with writing, publishing several collections of poetry: "Tantris" (1908), "Ēnas uz akmeņiem" (1910, Shadows on Stones) and "Mūžība" (1914, Eternity).

After the February Revolution, he returned to Latvia in May 1917 and was elected to the Vidzeme Land Council, and was one of the founders of the Latvian Farmers' Union (LZS).

On October 19, 1918m Valters and Esvards Traubergs submitted their petition to Germany's Chancellor Maximilian, requesting he support the aspirations to achieve independence for their nation.

Valters is also credited with formulating the clause in Article I of the Latvian Constitution (the Satversme, adopted in 1922) stating that "the sovereign power of the State of Latvia is vested in the people of Latvia" (Latvijas tauta) rather than the Latvian people (latviešu tauta), and is thus responsible for laying part of the legal groundwork for a multi-ethnic nation-state and political nation.

Baltic-German journalist and political activist Paul Schiemann (Pauls Šīmanis) subsequently made this the cornerstone of his revolutionary concept of separation of nation (Volksgemeinschaft—national community) and of state (Staatsgemeinschaft—state community), which formed the cornerstones of his pioneering Latvian model for implementing minority participation and rights.

Ulmanis finally relented, that after envoy J. Lazdiņš in Belgium retired, Valters should be transferred from Warsaw to the less important posting of Brussels.

Toward the end of WWII, on January 27, 1945, envoys still representing Latvia's sovereign interests Jūlijs Feldmanis (Switzerland), Miķelis Valters (Belgium), and Vilis Šūmans (Estonia) sent a telegram to British Prime Minister Winston Churchill prior to the meeting of the Great Powers, emphatically protesting against the occupation and annexation of Latvia by the USSR.