14 ŽDANOKA v. LATVIA JUDGMENT by the supreme governing and administrative authorities of the Republic of Latvia shall be in force in its territory; (4) this constitutional law shall enter into force on the date of its enactment.” B. The status of the CPSU and the CPL 54. The role of the CPSU in the former Soviet Union was defined in Article 6 of the Constitution of the USSR (1977) and in Article 6 of the Constitution of the Latvian SSR (1978), which were worded along identical lines. Those provisions stated: “The leading and guiding force of Soviet society and the nucleus of its political system and of all State organisations and public organisations is the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. The CPSU exists for the people and serves the people. The Communist Party, armed with Marxism-Leninism, determines the general perspectives of the development of society and the course of the USSR’s domestic and foreign policy, directs the great constructive work of the Soviet people, and imparts a planned, systematic and theoretically substantiated character to their struggle for the victory of communism. All party organisations shall function within the framework of the Constitution of the USSR.” 55. The Supreme Council’s decision of 24 August 1991 on the suspension of the activities of certain non-governmental and political organisations was worded as follows: “On 20 August 1991 the Internationalist Front of Workers of the Latvian SSR, the United Council of Labour Collectives, the Republican Council of War and Labour Veterans, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Latvia and the Central Committee of the Latvian Union of Communist Youth issued a proclamation informing the Republic’s population that a state of emergency had been decreed in Latvia and encouraging all private individuals to oppose those who did not submit to the orders of the National State of Emergency Committee. In so doing, the abovementioned organisations ... declared their support for the organisers of the coup d’état and encouraged other individuals to do the same. The actions of those organisations are contrary to Articles 4, 6 and 49 of the Latvian Constitution, which state that Latvian citizens are entitled to form parties and other associations only if their objectives and practical activities are not aimed at the violent transformation or overthrow of the existing constitutional order ... and that associations must observe the Constitution and legislation and act in accordance with their provisions. The Supreme Council of the Republic of Latvia decrees: 1. The activities of the Communist Party of Latvia [and of the other abovementioned organisations] are hereby suspended ...”