1978 Georgian demonstrations
On 14 April 1978, demonstrations in
This highly unusual concession to an open expression of opposition to state policy of the
Background
The late 1970s witnessed the reemergence of a Georgian national movement which called for the revival of Georgian national culture and, in its most radical form, saw no compromise to Georgia's ultimate independence from the Soviet Union, a rare instance of pro-independence dissident movement in the Union at the time. Although Georgian opposition intelligentsia preached avoidance of conflict with non-Georgian minorities, as such conflict would hamper the road to independence, and forged ties with the Russian dissidents of the time, including Andrei Sakharov, the movement had a strong anti-Russian emphasis and alarmed some minorities, especially in Abkhazia, where there was a lingering ethnic discord between Georgian and Abkhaz communities. In early 1977, the Soviet Committee for State Security (KGB) managed to suppress most Russian dissident groups and moved to Georgia, with the irreconcilable Georgian opposition leaders, Merab Kostava and Zviad Gamsakhurdia, being arrested in April. Such measures failed to curb the movement, however. New influential young dissidents such as Tamar Chkheidze, Avtandil Imnadze, later Giorgi Chanturia, and Irakli Tsereteli, emerged in support of the jailed leaders, and several underground publications (samizdat) were founded.[1] During this period Georgia acquired the position of the republic with the highest level of per capita higher education in the Soviet Union, and the increasing number of students, especially the rural youth with higher education and with little connection to the Communist Party and Nomenklatura, formed a ground for anti-Soviet sentiments.[2]
Status of language
The three
Protests
Demonstrations broke out throughout Georgia, reaching their climax in Tbilisi on 14 April 1978, the day when the Supreme Soviet of the Georgian SSR convened to ratify the new legislation. An estimated 20,000,
Aftermath
Following this unprecedented concession to public opinion, Soviet authorities, alarmed by the mass actions in Georgia, abandoned similar amendments to the constitutions of Armenia and Azerbaijan and declared Armenian and Azerbaijani state languages at the republican level, without waiting for similar manifestations in either republic.[7]
The language issue in the Transcaucasian republics revealed the sensitivity of the national problem in the region. The upsurge of the national movement in Georgia proper led to tensions between minorities as well, in particular with the Abkhaz, who interpreted the concession by the Soviet authorities as a retreat in the face of Georgian nationalism and saw this as an opportunity to secede from Georgia. In May 1978, several thousands of Abkhaz nationalists assembled in the village of
Both the Georgian language and Abkhaz questions were high on the agenda throughout the following years. Georgians living in Abkhazia protested about discrimination against them at the hands of the Abkhaz Communist Party élite and demanded equal access to the autonomous structures. Several Georgian intellectuals petitioned Shevardnadze and the Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev to address the situation. During 1981, at least five mass demonstrations took place in Georgia at which the Abkhaz question was raised once again alongside broader issues connected with the defense of Georgian language, history, and culture. The protesters also demanded the release of Avtandil Imnadze, the only person who was arrested in connection with the events of 14 April 1978 for having filmed the student demonstrations in Tbilisi.[9] Although Shevardnadze managed to comply with popular opinion without being punished or reprimanded by the centre, probably due to the success of his economic policy in Georgia,[2] he still sought to neutralise the dissident movement in order to retain his reputation as a successful and loyal Communist leader. Under increasing pressure from the authorities, the national movement suffered a setback in April 1979, when the prominent Georgian dissident, Zviad Gamsakhurdia, was pardoned after having repented his views, admitting his "errors of judgment" on nationwide television. As Gamsakhurdia's close associate, Merab Kostava, refused to surrender, he remained an untainted leader of the Georgian dissident movement until his release in 1987 and his mysterious death in a car crash in 1989.[1] The anti-nationalist measures also included the dismissal of Akaki Bakradze, a popular professor who taught a course on Georgian literature at Tbilisi University and was known for his anti-Soviet feelings. In March 1981, over 1,000 students protested and achieved the restoration of Bakradze to his position. Later that month, large groups of students and intellectuals demonstrated in defence of Georgian national rights and submitted to the Georgian party leadership a document entitled "The Demands of the Georgian People". The petition included proposals to protect the status of the Georgian language, improve the teaching of Georgian history and the preservation of Georgian historical monuments, and protect the Georgians in Abkhazia. Other Georgian protests took place in the town of Mtskheta in October 1981, when 2,000 people demonstrated in defence of their native language. Unrest continued, and, in 1982, intellectuals protested against the arrest of dissenters on trumped-up charges.[3]
Legacy
The April 1978 demonstrations are considered by many as the starting point of a new phase of Georgia's national movement, which eventually led the country into widespread resistance to Soviet rule in the late 1980s and the declaration of Georgian independence on 9 April 1991. Since 1990, 14 April has been celebrated as the "Day of the Georgian Language". Although it is not an official holiday, it is customarily a date for commemorating the events of 1978 and summarizing what has been accomplished by the nation during the past year in the areas of teaching and research.[10]
References
- ^ ISBN 0-7007-1162-7
- ^ ISBN 91-506-1600-5
- ^ ISBN 0-313-27497-5
- ^ Whitney, Craig R. (1978-04-19). "A Second Soviet Republic Wins Its Language Fight; Exceptions in Linguistic Policy". The New York Times. p. A5.
- ISBN 0-415-07153-4
- ^ ISBN 0-253-20915-3
- ^ Abrahamian, Levon Hm. (1998). Mother Tongue: Linguistic Nationalism and the Cult of Translation in Postcommunist Armenia (PDF). Berkeley Program in Soviet and Post-Soviet Studies. University of California, Berkeley Institute of Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies. p. 10. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2007-06-30. Retrieved 2007-04-03.
- ISBN 0-8014-8736-6.
- ^ (in Russian) Алексеева, Людмила (1983), Грузинское национальное движение Archived 2017-03-09 at the Wayback Machine. In: История Инакомыслия в СССР Archived 2017-03-09 at the Wayback Machine. Accessed on 2 April 2007.
- ISBN 0-7007-1087-6