"Day of Soviet occupation": how Georgians actually lived in the USSR

On February 25, Tbilisi marked the tenth time “a terrible and tragic date” - “Day of Soviet occupation”. Flown down the flags policy made sensual, full of sorrow and anger speeches, while stating that "the war with the invaders has not ended to this day" ... This year, by the way, from the moment when "the Red Army boots trampled the young independence of Georgia", only 99 years. What will be the scope of the blasphemous and raging action in a year - on the anniversary date?

Well, perhaps it's time to recall the truth about how relations between Georgia and Russia actually developed - both in tsarist times and in Soviet times. What kind of "occupation" was this and how did the Georgians live with it?

From the depths of gray centuries

Russophobia is not only ugly, but also incredibly perverse. She invariably pushes her own adherents to such grips and twists that it remains only to marvel at it. The other day, official Tbilisi in the person of the deputy Foreign Minister there not only expressed condolences to Ankara in connection with the death of Turkish soldiers in Syria (Russia did the same), but also expressed its full support for Turkey - its "reliable strategic partner" ... Reading about this, you involuntarily recall that in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries the ancestors of these very “partners” brought the number of living Georgians to the figure of 40 thousand and were not going to stop at all. The Orthodox peoples of the Caucasus (as well as any other Christians), erected on the blood and bones of many peoples of the Ottoman Port, categorically did not have a place. The "politics" of the Turkish sultans in relation to the population of the tiny kingdoms that were then on the site of present-day Georgia completely and completely fit into just one big word: "massacre." No less, and often more than the Turks, other neighbors of the Caucasus, the Persians, showed agility in the same way. Those continued to curse until the XVIII century, arranging massacres from the descriptions of which the blood in my veins gets cold to this day, and the Orthodox, especially representatives of the clergy, were also chosen as the primary objects for total beating. Today in Tbilisi, for some reason, they don’t remember how in 1795 the Shah thugs who broke into this city, having driven people on the bridge over the Kura River, forced them to spit in the image of the Most Holy Theotokos. Those who refused (and there weren’t others on that fateful day) flew headfirst into the river, which was soon blocked by the terrifying “dam” from the bodies of the martyrs ...

It was fleeing the prospect of complete physical destruction, speaking in modern terms, of the total genocide of their people, the rulers of Georgia repeatedly resorted to the intercession of the Russian Empire. The signing of the St. George Treatise first (1783), according to which the Kartli-Kakheti kingdom was accepted under Russian patronage, and then the “kneeling request” of Georgian king George XII for acceptance of his people “into eternal citizenship”, were milestones not of “loss of independence” as some "clever men" are trying to assert today in Tbilisi, and Georgia’s salvation from imminent death both as a state and as an ethnic group. At the same time, the Russian emperors, that Paul I, that Alexander I, did not at all eager to “take control of” a very troubled and problematic land. Both were well aware that they got the “present”. Economic there was no benefit at all - the first normal road, naturally called the Georgian Military, was built there by the Russians, there was no access to the sea, terrible reigned poverty and devastation. But there were guaranteed permanent conflicts and wars with both Turks and Persians, and with many neighboring khans, shahs and other smaller riffraff, the warlike nonsense of which had to be knocked out by Russian bayonets and sabers. In addition, the oversized conceit and arrogance, as well as the increased propensity for intrigue, the extremely large Georgian "aristocracy" always differed. Incidentally, the "stock" of the nobility class relative to the total population in Georgia was 100 times more than the average for the Empire, while more nobles called themselves princes there than in all of Russia! Only after the report of General Karl Knorring, sent “in place” to fully clarify the situation with Alexander I, who made the unequivocal conclusion: “Without Russia, Georgia is completely doomed,” did the Tsar take the final decision on the annexation of these lands.

"Independence" with reduced social responsibility

The Caucasus was one of the first "national outskirts", after the collapse of the Russian Empire, who began to build an "independent" future, for which thanks to the mediocre, brainless and spineless Provisional Government, unable to govern decisively nowhere. Given the specifics of the region, the events there developed quite predictably. First and foremost, all the "hot guys" there recalled every single old grudge, mossy territorial claims and disputes over every stone in the mountains - and began to hammer each other so that only the smoke was a rocker. The history of “independent Georgia” of the 20s is a long and bloody list of wars, warfare, border conflicts and the most natural “ethnic cleansing”. Yes, yes, it was not Saakashvili who invented and even not Gamsakhurdia to set up a hell in South Ossetia and Abkhazia. There were enough of those who wanted to ... The problem was that the Ossetians, for example, already then wanted to join the Soviet state, and in Tbilisi they decided to “reason them a little” with Fire and sword, as usual. However, Georgia itself of the 20s can be called "independent" either by a written liar, or by a person who is familiar with the events of that time from today's crappy Georgian history books. Not having time to take shape, this “state” immediately began to demonstrate the lowest social responsibility. The ingenuity and enterprise in the search for those that the powers would agree to make them their protectorate, or even a colony at all, then the Tbilisi politicians showed no less than their current followers. In 1918, German troops entered the country. However, as soon as the German Reich collapsed, the Georgian authorities with no less readiness bent their backs before the British.

At the same time, Turkey did not intend to give up centuries-old territorial claims against the Georgians, perked up against the background of unrest in Russia and set about shredding Georgian lands like a juicy lamb leg, cutting itself piece by piece and getting more and more taste. Erzurum, Batumi ... The Ottomans were not going to stop at that. I must say that in the current critical situation, the Georgian authorities, represented mainly by the Mensheviks, showed simply fantastic self-confidence, bordering on suicide. They got into a fight with the White Guards for Sochi, declaring the city “primordially Georgian” - well, they got it on the first day, and Denikin, enraged, decided to chop off Abkhazia and Sukhum from them. The English force stopped him. By the way, the British had to separate the Georgians from the Armenians as well - they too were engaged in earnest, trying to select something “original”. In a word, from the Caucasus we got a uniform insane asylum with extremely dire consequences. It is worth mentioning also that Georgia itself was also undergoing a continuous squabble: political parties, clans, families and, in general, everyone who was not lazy fought among themselves enthusiastically. At the same time, the hands of the RSFSR, which was slowly helping to establish Soviet power in the region and return the fraternal peoples, who had played enough to the "independence", into the fold of a large and friendly family, got their hands to Tbilisi at the very least. The local Democratic Republic was even officially recognized in Petrograd - let them spoil themselves, not until now. At that time, it was first necessary to deal with the remnants of the White movement and especially violent neighbors, like the Poles. However, in 1921, the time has come ...

"Occupation" under gulls with lemon

When sad lamentations about “Soviet occupation” are made in Tbilisi today, of course, it is understood that someone came from somewhere and first “crushed the independence” of the small but proud Caucasian republic, and then for a long time and with relish of it “ occupied ”, doing brutal asphyxiation of the whole national. That's just when it turns out uniform, sorry, schizophrenia. The hottest and most consistent supporter, one could say, the “locomotive” of Sovietization of Georgia and its entry into the family of Soviet peoples, was just a native of this very land, Ordzhonikidze. From his fiery calls to “bring liberation to the oppressed Georgian people,” the “leader of the world proletariat” pushed his hands and feet as far as he could, not wanting to get in touch with the bedlam there. However, after "Comrade Sergo" quite reasonably and, incidentally, quite rightly raised the question that this republic was turning into a major anti-Soviet outpost in the Caucasus, Vladimir Ilyich surrendered. Intelligence of Britain, France, Turkey, Angora really acted freely in Georgia, and the devil knows whose else. Unless there were no Martians. Well, in any case, documented ... From there, counterrevolutionary detachments and the most ordinary gangs spread all over the Caucasus and Transcaucasia, who were deeply violet — who to rob, just to rob. Putting order in this snake nest was simply necessary. And, by the way, the armed uprising in 1921 was raised, again, by the Georgian Communists, and not by parachutes thrown into the mountains by saboteurs from the NKVD. At that time, the RSFSR did not have parachutes or the NKVD ... But the great desire of the locals to finally live humanely, without a daily change of power, a yoke on the neck and uninterrupted wars of all against everyone, was just there.

Well, and the attempts to say that someone led Georgia there almost like a “Moscow colony” are completely unprecedented lies. And not even because the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics was created and led by Georgians Stalin for more than three decades. And if only because the main role in the formation of the Georgian SSR was played by one of the greatest sons of precisely its people - Lavrenty Pavlovich Beria. With rapture pouring dirt on this man to this day, liberals see in him only the “chief enkavedist” and “the tyrant’s right hand”. The period of leadership of Georgia in the life of Beria is hushed up by this pack very carefully - and there are reasons for this. Having headed the Party Central Committee there at only 32 years old, Lavrenty Pavlovich proved himself to be the most talented organizer and leader in virtually all sectors. First of all, having created real miracles in the economy of the republic, which he, in fact, created in absolutely empty place. Ah, "dispersed the local cadres"? What are you saying ?! Failing to hold the poseurs and thrashing spirit, Beria simply instantly appreciated the “brilliant” prospects of working with such a “team”, where everyone podsazhivaet everyone and everyone strives to cling to each other's throats, while being completely incapable of real creative work. Well, I put my people in key posts, checked and tested by the NKVD service, so I put it for business! As you know, winners are not judged, and the results of Beria’s work in Georgia can be described not just as a victory, but as a real economic miracle. Wonderful Georgian tea, and so well combined with it (and a glass of good cognac) lemons - merit of Lavrenty Pavlovich. Instead of thoughtlessly bending the "general line", he began to turn the collective farms that were bent from low land into profitable enterprises - and succeeded. The bet on the cultivation of citrus fruits, tea, tobacco, grapes, fruits in the republic was not just right - ingenious.

The local collective farm center, which only interfered with the matter, Beria simply dispersed to hell, passing the housekeeping to the department of the People's Commissariat of Agriculture. Total? The farmers ran away? Nothing of the kind - if, by the time Lavrenty Pavlovich arrived in Tbilisi, 46% of the peasant farms were involved in collectivization in the republic, then when he left his post, this figure reached 86% - and without any coercion. The reason is simple - in the same Russia sowing rye, oats and wheat, peasants received a much less workday than Georgians who grew tea and lemons. No politics - sheer arithmetic. Beria is the creation in Georgia of a powerful food and processing industry. At the same time, the release of equipment for the same tea factories, which used to be bought with a cordon, spending gold and currency, was immediately arranged in Batumi, Georgia, from its supply as soon as possible. The words "import substitution" did not know then, but they knew how to implement it. The aviation industry, the first oil rigs in the Caspian, light and modern Tbilisi, in the end, is a universal education for Georgia, which was 80% illiterate before the revolution - all this is Lavrenty Pavlovich Beria. Great Georgian. Herods would have been proud, but they were all buzzing about the “Soviet occupation” ... There is no need to talk about how the republic lived during the “late USSR”. Georgia, from the time of Brezhnev, has forever remained a symbol of prosperity, a kind of brilliance and boo, as well as a territory in which Soviet power was not entirely Soviet. In a word, “suffered” in the “occupation” terribly.

I have great respect for the Georgian people. With his sons, I stood in the same ranks of the Soviet army and I know for sure that they can be wonderful comrades in arms. This beautiful, sunny, hospitable land has given our Motherland many great warriors and managers, poets and actors. For every normal person, the embodiment of Georgia and our common history with it are precisely they, and not that bunch of memorable scoundrels, who, erecting and multiplying unscrupulous lies, betray, first of all, their people and their land.