On 31 May 1989, the Board of the Council of the Latvian Popular Front adopted an appeal that clearly turned the Awakening movement toward the course of independence. The document called on LTF groups and branches to discuss whether the Front should join the struggle for Latvia’s full political and economic independence outside Soviet statehood. It was a bold public step from the idea of a reformed federation toward the goal of a restored state—less than a year before the declaration of 4 May 1990.

In the spring of 1989, disappointment in the possibilities of Soviet perestroika was growing in the Baltics, and the question of independence was rapidly entering legal politics. The 31 May appeal helped transform independence from a slogan of dissidents and informal movements into the political program of the largest mass organization.