Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic

Socialist Soviet Republic of Georgia (1921–1936) საქართველოს სოციალისტური საბჭოთა რესპუბლიკა(Georgian) Социалистическая Советская Республика Грузия(Russian) Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic (1936–1990) საქართველოს საბჭოთა სოციალისტური რესპუბლიკა(Georgian) Грузинская Советская Социалистическая Республика(Russian) Republic of Georgia (1990–1991) საქართველოს რესპუბლიკა(Georgian) Республика Грузия(Russian)
1921–1991
Flag(1951–1990) State emblem (1981–1990)
Motto:პროლეტარებო ყველა ქვეყნისა, შეერთდით!(Georgian) Proletarebo qvela kveqnisa, sheertdit!(transliteration) "Proletarians of all countries, unite!"
Anthem:საქართველოს საბჭოთა სოციალისტური რესპუბლიკის სახელმწიფო ჰიმნი Sakartvelos sabch’ota sotsialist’uri resp’ublik’is sakhelmts’ipo himni "Anthem of the Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic" (1946–1990) დიდება Dideba "Glory" (1990–1991)
Location of Georgia (red) within theSoviet Union
Status	Semi-independent state(1921–1922) Part of theTranscaucasian SFSR(1922–1936) Union republic(1936–1991) De factoindependent state (1990–1991)
Capital	Tbilisi 41°43′21″N44°47′33″E
Common languages	Georgian Russian Abkhaza Ossetianb Mingrelian Svan
Religion	State atheism
Government	1921–1990: UnitaryMarxist–Leninistone-partysocialist republic 1990–1991: Unitarymulti-partyparliamentaryrepublic Apr.-Dec. 1991: Unitarymulti-partysemi-presidentialrepublic
First Secretary
• 1921–1922(first)	Mamia Orakhelashvili
• 1989–1990(last)	Givi Gumbaridze
Head of state
• 1922–1923(first)	Filipp Makharadze
• 1990–1991(last)	Zviad Gamsakhurdia
Head of government
• 1922(first)	Polikarp Mdivani
• 1991(last)	Besarion Gugushvili
Legislature	Supreme Soviet
History
•Soviet invasion and occupation	25 February 1921
• Formation	25 February 1921
•Admitted to USSR	30 December 1922
•TSFSRdissolved	5 December 1936
• Sovereignty declared	18 November 1989
• Renamed toRepublic of Georgia	14 November 1990
•Independence declared	9 April 1991
• Independence recognized	26 December 1991
Currency	Soviet rouble(Rbl) (SUR)
Calling code	+7881/882/883
Preceded by Succeeded by Democratic Republic of Georgia Socialist Soviet Republic of Abkhazia Transcaucasian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic Georgia
Today part of	Armenia Azerbaijan Georgia Russia
In theAbkhazian ASSR. In theSouth Ossetian AO.

Order of the Red Bannerof the Georgian SSR, 1923

TheGeorgian Soviet Socialist Republic,also known asSoviet Georgia,theGeorgian SSR,or simplyGeorgia,was one of therepublics of the Soviet Unionfrom its second occupation (by Russia) in 1921 to itsindependence in 1991.Coterminous with the present-day republic ofGeorgia,it was based on the traditional territory of Georgia, which had existed as a series of independent states in theCaucasusprior to the first occupation ofannexationin the course of the 19th century. The Georgian SSR was formed in 1921 and subsequently incorporated in the Soviet Union in 1922. Until 1936 it was a part of theTranscaucasian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic,which existed as aunion republicwithin the USSR. From November 18, 1989, the Georgian SSR declared its sovereignty over Soviet laws. The republic was renamed theRepublic of Georgiaon November 14, 1990, and subsequentlybecame independentbefore thedissolution of the Soviet Unionon April 9, 1991, whereupon each former SSR became a sovereign state.

Geographically, the Georgian SSR was bordered byTurkeyto the south-west and theBlack Seato the west. Within the Soviet Union it bordered theRussian SFSRto the north, theArmenian SSRto the south and theAzerbaijan SSRto the south-east.

History

Establishment

On November 28, 1917, after theOctober RevolutioninRussia,there was aTranscaucasian Commissariatestablished inTiflis.On April 22 theTranscaucasian Democratic Federative Republicwas formed, though it only lasted for a month before being replaced by three new states: theGeorgian Democratic Republic,theFirst Republic of Armeniaand theAzerbaijan Democratic Republic.The 1919parliamentary electionssaw theSocial Democratic Partycome to power in Georgia. It tried to establish a moderateleft,multi-party system, but faced some internal and external problems. Georgia was dragged into wars againstArmeniaand remnants of theOttoman Empire,while the rapid spread of ideas ofrevolutionary socialismin rural regions accounted for some Soviet-backed peasants' revolts inRacha,SamegreloandDusheti.In 1921, the crisis came to a head. The11th Red Armyinvaded Georgia from the south and headed toTbilisi.On 25 February, after a one-week offence by the Red Army, Tbilisi fell to the Bolsheviks.Georgian Bolshevikstook over the country and proclaimed the establishment of the Georgian SSR. Some small-scale battles between Bolshevik troops andGeorgian Armyalso took place in Western Georgia. In March 1921 the government of the Georgian Democratic Republic was forced inexile.On March 2 of the following year the first constitution of Soviet Georgia was accepted.

On 13 October 1921 theTreaty of Karswas signed, which established the common borders between Turkey and the three Transcaucasian republics of the Soviet Union. Georgian SSR was forced to cede Georgian-dominatedArtvin OkrugtoTurkeyin exchange forAdjara,which was grantedpolitical autonomywithin Georgian SSR under Soviet rule.

Transcaucasian Soviet Federated Socialist Republics

Members of the first Supreme Soviet of the Georgian SSR

In 1922 the Georgian SSR was incorporated into Soviet Union. From March 12, 1922, to December 5, 1936, it was part of theTranscaucasian SFSRtogether with theArmenian SSRand theAzerbaijan SSR.During this period the province was led byLavrentiy Beria,the first secretary of theGeorgian Central Committeeof theCommunist Party of Georgia. In 1936, the TSFSR was dissolved and Georgia became the Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic.

Lavrentiy Beriabecame head of the Georgian branch of theJoint State Political Directorate(OGPU) and was transferred to Moscow in 1938.

Purges

The exact number of Georgians executed during theGreat Purgesis not estimated, but some scholars suggest it varies from 30,000 to 60,000. During the purges, many eminent Georgian intellectuals such asMikheil Javakhishvili,Evgeni Mikeladze,Vakhtang Kotetishvili,Paolo Iashvili,Titsian TabidzeandDimitri Shevardnadzewere executed or sent to theGulag.Partyofficials also suffered the purges. Many prominent Georgian Bolsheviks, such asMikheil Kakhiani,Mamia Orakhelashvili,Sergo Ordzhonikidze,Budu Mdivani,Mikheil OkujavaandSamson Mamuliawere removed from office and killed.

World War II

Reaching theCaucasusoilfields was one of the main objectives ofAdolf Hitler'sinvasion of the USSRin June 1941, but the armies of theAxis powersnever reached as far as Georgia. The country contributed almost 700,000 fighters (350,000 were killed) to the Red Army, and was a vital source of textiles and munitions. During this periodJoseph Stalin,an ethnic Georgian, ordered the deportation of theChechen,German,Ingush,Karachay,Karapapaks,Meskhetian TurksandBalkarianpeoples from theCaucasus;they weretransportedtoSiberiaandCentral Asiafor alleged collaboration with theNazis.He also abolished their respective autonomous republics. The Georgian SSR was briefly granted some of their territory until 1957.

Post-Stalin period

Workers at a factory in the Georgian SSR

On March 9, 1956,about a hundred Georgian students were killedwhen they demonstrated againstNikita Khrushchev's policy of de-Stalinization that was accompanied by an offhanded remark he made about Georgians at the end of hisanti-Stalin speech.

The decentralisation program introduced by Khrushchev in the mid-1950s was soon exploited by GeorgianCommunist Partyofficials to build their own regional power base. A thriving pseudo-capitalist shadow economy emerged alongside the official state-owned economy. While the official growth rate of the economy of the Georgia was among the lowest in the USSR, such indicators as savings level, rates of car and house ownership were the highest in the Union,making Georgia one of the most economically successful Soviet republics. Among all the union republics, Georgia had the highest number of residents with high or special secondary education.

Althoughcorruption was hardly unknown in the Soviet Union,it became so widespread and blatant in Georgia that it came to be an embarrassment to the authorities in Moscow.Eduard Shevardnadze,the country's interior minister between 1964 and 1972, gained a reputation as a fighter of corruption and engineered the removal ofVasil Mzhavanadze,the corruptFirst Secretary of the Georgian Communist Party.Shevardnadze ascended to the post of First Secretary with the blessings of Moscow. He was an effective and able ruler of Georgia from 1972 to 1985, improving the official economy and dismissing hundreds of corrupt officials.

In the 1970s Soviet authorities adopted a new policy of forming a "Soviet people".The" Soviet people "were said to be a" new historical, social, and international community of people having a common territory, economy, and socialist content; a culture that reflected the particularities of multiple nationalities; a federal state; and a common ultimate goal: the construction of communism. "Russian was meant to become the common language of this community, considering the role that Russian was playing for the nations and nationalities of the Soviet Union. However, in 1978, Soviet authorities had to face the opposition of thousands of Georgians, who gathered in downtown Tbilisi to hold mass demonstration after Soviet officials accepted removal of the constitutional status of theGeorgian languageas Georgia's sole official state language. Bowing to pressure frommass street demonstrationson April 14, 1978, Moscow approved Shevardnadze's reinstatement of the constitutional guarantee the same year. April 14 was established as a Day of the Georgian Language. In 1981, massive celebrations took place in honour of the republic's 60th anniversary, with a mass event taking place in front ofGeneral SecretaryBrezhnevon Tbilisi's Constitution Square.

End of the Soviet period

Flag of the Republic of Georgia,1990–2004

Shevardnadze's appointment as Soviet Foreign Minister in 1985 brought his replacement in Georgia byJumber Patiashvili,a conservative and generally ineffective Communist who coped poorly with the challenges ofperestroika.Towards the end of the late 1980s, increasingly violent clashes occurred between the Communist authorities, the resurgent Georgian nationalist movement and nationalist movements in Georgia's minority-populated regions (notablySouth Ossetia). On 9 April 1989, Soviet troops were used to break up a peaceful demonstration at the government building in Tbilisi. Twenty Georgians were killed and hundreds wounded. The event radicalised Georgian politics, prompting many—even some Georgian communists—to conclude that independence was preferable to Soviet unity and would provide Georgia with a chance to fully integrate both South Ossetia and Abkhazia, whose peoples were still loyal to the Union.

On October 28, 1990, democratic parliamentary elections were held. On November 14 a transitional period was declared until the restoration of Georgia's independence and in this regard, the republic changed its name to "Republic of Georgia".Georgia (excluding Abkhazia) was one of the six republics along withArmenia,Moldovaand theBaltic Stateswho boycotted participation in the March 1991union-wide preservation referendum.On 31 March 1991, areferendum was held on the restoration of Georgia's independenceon the basis of the Independence Act of 26 May 1918. The majority of voters voted in favor of the act.

Georgiadeclared independenceon 9 April 1991 underZviad Gamsakhurdiaas one of the republics to secede just four months before thefailed coup against Gorbachevin August, which was supported by a declining number of hardliners. However, this was unrecognized by the Soviet government and Georgia remained a part of the Soviet Union until its collapse in December 1991.

Footnotes

• 
  Map of the Georgian & Abkhazian Socialist Soviet Republics in 1922–1931
• 
  Map of the Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic in 1931–1943
• 
  Map of the Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic in 1944–1955
• 
  Map of the Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic in 1957–1991

Bibliography

• Cornell, Svante E.(2001),Small Nations and Great Powers: A Study of Ethnopolitical Conflict in the Caucasus,London: Curzon Press,ISBN978-0-70-071162-8
• Jones, Stephen F.(October 1988), "The Establishment of Soviet Power in Transcaucasia: The Case of Georgia 1921–1928",Soviet Studies,40(4): 616–639,doi:10.1080/09668138808411783
• Marshall, Alex (2010),The Caucasus Under Soviet Rule,New York City: Routledge,ISBN978-0-41-541012-0
• Martin, Terry (2001),The Affirmative Action Empire: Nations and Nationalism in the Soviet Union, 1923–1939,Ithaca, New York: Cornell University Press,ISBN978-0-80-143813-4
• Rayfield, Donald(2012),Edge of Empires: A History of Georgia,London: Reaktion Books,ISBN978-1-78-023030-6
• Rayfield, Donald (2004),Stalin and His Hangmen: The Tyrant and Those Who Killed for Him,New York City: Random House,ISBN978-0-37-575771-6
• Saparov, Arsène (2015),From Conflict to Autonomy in the Caucasus: The Soviet Union and the making of Abkhazia, South Ossetia and Nagorno Karabakh,New York City: Routledge,ISBN978-0-41-565802-7
• Scott, Erik R. (2016),Familiar Strangers: The Georgian Diaspora and the Evolution of Soviet Empire,Oxford, United Kingdom: Oxford University Press,ISBN978-0-19-939637-5
• Smith, Jeremy (2013),Red Nations: The Nationalities Experience in and after the USSR,Cambridge, United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press,ISBN978-0-52-112870-4
• Suny, Ronald Grigor(1994),The Making of the Georgian Nation(Second ed.), Bloomington, Indiana: Indiana University Press,ISBN978-0-25-320915-3
• Zürcher, Christoph(2007),The Post-Soviet Wars: Rebellion, Ethnic Conflict, and Nationhood in the Caucasus,New York City: New York University Press,ISBN978-0-81-479709-9

External links

• Georgia, land of the Golden Fleece, reveals its richesa propaganda pamphlet about the GSSR from the 1960s.
• Avalishvili, Levan: "The “Great Terror” of 1937–1938 in Georgia: Between the Two Reports of Lavrentiy Beria "in theCaucasus Analytical Digest No. 22
• Anchabadze, George: "Mass Terror in the USSR: The Story of One Family" in theCaucasus Analytical Digest No. 22
• საქართველოს ეროვნული მუზეუმიGeorgian museum of Soviet Occupation, Tbilisi.