The August Uprising (Georgian: აგვისტოს აჯანყება, agvistos adjank’eba) was an unsuccessful insurrection against the Soviet rule in the Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic from late August to early September 1924. is the 240th day of the year (241st in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... For the rap album, see 1924 (album). ... is the 248th day of the year (249th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... For the rap album, see 1924 (album). ... State motto: პროლეტარ ყველა ქვეყნისა, შეერთდით! Official language Georgian since 1978 Capital Tbilisi Chairman of the Supreme Council Zviad Gamsakhurdia (at independence) Established In the USSR:  - Since  - Until February 25, 1921 December 30, 1922 April 9, 1991 Area  - Total  - % water Ranked 10th in former Soviet Union 69,700 km² -- Population  - Total (1989)  - Density Ranked... For other organizations known as the Red Army, see Red Army (disambiguation). ... For the reggaeton aritst, see Cheka (artist). ... Prince Kote Andronikashvili, chairman of the Committee for Independence of Georgia from 1923 to 1924 The Committee for the Independence of Georgia (Georgian: , Sak’art’velos damoukideblobis komiteti) or the Parity Committee (პარიტეტული კომიტეტი, Paritetuli komiteti) was an underground anti-Soviet organization active in the Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic in the early... Sergo Ordzhonikidze Grigoriy Konstantinovich Ordzhonikidze (Georgian: გრიგოლ (სერგო) ორჯონიკიძე - Grigol (Sergo) Orjonikidze, Russian: Григорий Константинович Орджоникидзе), generally known as Sergo Ordzhonikidze (Серго) (October 24 [O.S. October 12] 1886 – February 18, 1937) was a member of the Politburo, and close friend to Stalin. ... Solomon Grigorevich Mogilevsky Соломон Григорьевич Могилевский (1885 - 1925) headed the Soviet foreign intelligence service, the INO of the GPU, from 1921 to May 1922, when he was sent to head the GPU in the South Caucasus region. ... Lavrenty Beria Lavrenty Pavlovich Beria (Russian: Лавре́нтий Па́влович Бе́рия) (29 March 1899 - 23 December 1953), Soviet politician and police chief, is remembered chiefly as the executor of Joseph... Kakutsa Cholokashvili (right) and Gen. ... Mikheil Javakhishvili Mikheil Javakhishvili (Georgian: ; real surname: Adamashvili, ადამაშვილი) (November 8, 1880 – September 30, 1937) was a Georgian novelist who is regarded as one of the top twentieth-century Georgian writers. ... Evgen (Geno) Gvaladze (ევგენ (გენო) ღვალაძე in Georgian; May 13, 1900 - October 25, 1937) was a famous Georgian jurist, journalist and public benefactor, one of the leaders of the National-Liberation movement of Georgia in 1921-1937. ... Insurrection could refer to: * in a general sense, it means Rebellion * it is also a title of a Star Trek film, see Star Trek: Insurrection ... CCCP redirects here. ... State motto: პროლეტარ ყველა ქვეყნისა, შეერთდით! Official language Georgian since 1978 (Georgia was the only Soviet republic to have an official language) Capital Tbilisi Chairman... For the rap album, see 1924 (album). ...

Aimed at restoring the independence of Georgia from the Soviet Union, the uprising was led by the Committee for Independence of Georgia, a bloc of anti-Soviet political organizations chaired by the Georgian Social Democratic (Menshevik) Party. It was a culmination of the three-year struggle against the Bolshevik regime established by the Soviet Russia’s Red Army during a military campaign against the Democratic Republic of Georgia in early 1921. The insurrection was suppressed by the Red Army and Cheka troops and was followed by a wave of mass repressions in which several thousand citizens of Georgia were purged. The August uprising proved to be one of the last major rebellions against the early Soviet government and its defeat marked the final establishment of the Communist rule in Georgia. Prince Kote Andronikashvili, chairman of the Committee for Independence of Georgia from 1923 to 1924 The Committee for the Independence of Georgia (Georgian: , Sak’art’velos damoukideblobis komiteti) or the Parity Committee (პარიტეტული კომიტეტი, Paritetuli komiteti) was an underground anti-Soviet organization active in the Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic in the early... Anti-Soviet refers to persons and activities actually or allegedly aimed against the Soviet Union or the Soviet power within the Soviet Union. ... Menshevik Flag of Georgia, created by Iakob Nikoladze The Social Democratic Party of Georgia was a leading political party in pre-Soviet Georgia. ... For other uses, see Bolshevik (disambiguation). ... State motto: Russian: Пролетарии всех стран, соединяйтесь! Translation: Workers of the world, unite! Capital Moscow Official language Russian Established In the USSR:  - Since  - Until November 7, 1917 November 7, 1917 December 12, 1991 (dissolution) Area  - Total  - Water (%) Ranked 1st in the USSR 17,075,200 km² 13% Population  - Total   - Density Ranked 1st in the... For other organizations known as the Red Army, see Red Army (disambiguation). ... Combatants •  Russian Soviet Federated Socialist Republic •  Republic of Turkey •  Georgian SSR •  Democratic Republic of Georgia Commanders •  Anatoli Gekker • Mikhail Velikanov • Grigoriy Ordzhonikidze •  Kazım Karabekir • Giorgi Kvinitadze • Giorgi Mazniashvili • Valiko Jugheli Strength ~50,000 (Red Army) ~35,000 Casualties Unknown, dead estimated at 5,500 Soviet soldiers Unknown, dead estimated... Anthem: Dideba Zetsit Kurtheuls (Praise Be To The Heavenly Bestower of Blessings) Map of the Democratic Republic of Georgia from November 1918 to May 1920. ... Year 1921 (MCMXXI) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar). ... For the reggaeton aritst, see Cheka (artist). ... This article is about communism as a form of society and as a political movement. ...

Reasons

Georgia was proclaimed a Soviet Socialist Republic on February 25, 1921, when the Red Army took control of Tiflis (Tbilisi), the capital of Georgia, and forced the Menshevik government into exile. In its final decades of its existence, the Soviet Union consisted of 15 Soviet Socialist Republics (SSR), often called simply Soviet republics. ... is the 56th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... View of Tiflis from the Grounds of Saint David Church, ca. ...

Yet, Georgia’s loyalty to the new regime proved not so easy to obtain. Within the first three years of their rule, the Bolsheviks managed to recruit fewer than 10,000 people into their party, while the Mensheviks still enjoyed significant popularity in Georgia, counting over 60,000 members in their organizations. The 1918-1921 independence, though short lived, had played a crucial role in the national awakening of Georgia, winning a high popular support to the ruling Menshevik party. A forcible Sovietization and grievances over the ensuing border rearrangements in which Georgia lost sizeable portion of its pre-Soviet territories to Turkey, Azerbaijan SSR, Armenian SSR and Russia, fueled a widespread opposition to the new regime. The new Bolshevik government, led by the Georgian Revkom (Revolutionary Committee), enjoyed so little support among the population that it faced the distinct prospect of insurrection and civil war.^[1] The Bolsheviks had limited ties with the Georgian peasantry, which was overwhelmingly opposed to collectivization and dissatisfied over land shortages and other economic troubles. The situation in the country was further aggravated by a famine prevailing in many areas and the summer 1921 outbreak of cholera which carried off thousands of victims. The desperate shortage of food and the breakdown of medical services resulted in heavy mortality, Catholicos Patriarch Leonid being among the dead.^[2] The highly politicized working class of Georgia, with its severe economic problems, was also hostile toward the new regime as were the national intelligentsia and nobility who had pledged their loyalty to the Menshevik republic. A delayed transition from the Revkom’s rule to the Soviets’ system, subordination of workers’ organizations and trades unions to the Bolshevik party committees and Moscow’s centralizing policy created a discontent even among the multiethnic workers of Tiflis who were the most sympathetic towards Communist doctrines.^[3] Sovietization is term that may be used with two distinct (but related) meanings: the adoption of a political system based on the model of soviets (workers councils). ... State motto: Бүтүн өлкәләрин пролетарлары, бирләшин! Workers of the world, unite! Official language None. ... State motto: ÕŠÖ€Õ¸Õ¬Õ¥Õ¿Õ¡Ö€Õ¶Õ¥Ö€ Õ¢Õ¸Õ¬Õ¸Ö€ Õ¥Ö€Õ¯Ö€Õ¶Õ¥Ö€Õ«, միացեք! (Workers of the world, unite!) Official language None. ... For other uses, see Revolutionary committee (disambiguation). ... Collective farming is an organizational unit in agriculture in which peasants are not paid wages, but rather receive a share of the farms net output. ... <nowiki>Insert non-formatted text hereBold text</nowiki>A famine is a social and economic crisis that is commonly accompanied by widespread malnutrition, starvation, epidemic and increased mortality. ... Cholera (or Asiatic cholera or epidemic cholera) is a severe diarrheal disease caused by the bacterium Vibrio cholerae. ... His Holiness and Beatitude Catholicos-Patriarch of All Georgia is the head of the Georgian Orthodox and Apostolic Church. ... Leonid (Leonidas) (Georgian: , Leonide) (1860 – 1921) was a Catholicos-Patriarch of All Georgia from 1918 to 1921. ... Soviet redirects here. ... The examples and perspective in this article or section may not represent a worldwide view. ...

Public discontent within the Georgian society indirectly reflected in a bitter struggle among Bolsheviks about the way in which social and political transformation was to be achieved in Georgia. Hardliners led by Sergo Ordzhonikidze, head of the Transcaucasian Regional Committee (Zaikkraikom) of the Russian Communist Party, and Joseph Stalin, People's Commissar for Nationalities for the RSFSR, launched a series of measures aimed at elimination of the last remnants of Georgia’s self-rule. They were opposed by a group of Georgian Bolsheviks, described by their opponents as "national deviationists" and led by Filipp Makharadze and Budu Mdivani, who advocated tolerance toward the Menshevik opposition, greater democracy within the party, a moderate approach toward land reform, and, above all, called for greater autonomy from Moscow and stubbornly opposed Stalin’s project of uniting all the three Transcaucasian republics economically and politically. The crisis known as the "Georgian Affair" lasted throughout 1922 and ended with the hardliners’ victory. As a result, Georgia was forcibly merged with the Armenian and Azerbaijan republics into the Transcaucasian SFSR, a decision which delivered a heavy blow to Georgian national pride. With the defeat of "national deviationists", the Bolsheviks’ policy became more aggressive; all kind of opposition was severely suppressed; those parties which still retained legal status were forced to announce their dissolution and declare their official loyalty to the Soviet authorities between April 1922 and October 1923. Those who continued to operate did that as underground organizations.^[4] The Georgian Orthodox Church was also persecuted; over 1,500 churches and monasteries were closed or demolished^[5] and a number of clerics were imprisoned, including Catholicos Patriarch Ambrose who was arrested and tried for having sent a letter of protest to the 1922 Genoa Conference in which he described the conditions under which Georgia was living since the Red Army invasion and begged for the "help of the civilized world".^[6] Grigoriy Konstantinovich Ordzhonikidze (Russian:Григорий Константинович Орджоникидзе), generally known as Sergo Ordzhonikidze (Серго) (October 12, 1886 - February 18, 1937) was a member of the Politburo, and close friend to Stalin. ... Transcaucasia is the name given to a region south of the Caucasus Mountains that covers Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia. ... The Communist Party of the Soviet Union (Russian: Коммунисти́ческая Па́ртия Сове́тского Сою́за, transliterated Kommunisticheskaya Partiya Sovetskogo Soyuza, acronym: КПСС (KPSS)) was the ruling political party in the Soviet Union. ... Josef Vissarionovich Dzhugashvili (Georgian: , Ioseb Besarionis Dze Jughashvili; Russian: , Iosif Vissarionovich Dzhugashvili) (December 18 [O.S. December 6] 1878[1] – March 5, 1953), better known by his adopted name, Joseph Stalin (alternatively transliterated Josef Stalin), was General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Unions Central Committee from... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with: :Sovnarkom. ... Prime Minister of Georgian SSR: 1923-1928 President of Georgian SSR: 1938-1941 Categories: Georgia (country) geography stubs | Soviet Union stubs ... Polikarp Budu Mdivani (Georgian: ; Russian: , Polikarp Gurgenovich [Budu] Mdivani) (1877 – July 19, 1937) was a veteran Georgian Bolshevik and Soviet government official energetically involved in the Russian revolutions and the Civil War. ... The Georgian Affair of 1922 was a political conflict within the Soviet leadership about the way in which social and political transformation was to be achieved in the Georgian SSR. The dispute over Georgia, which arose shortly after the forcible Sovietization of the country and peaked in the latter part... Year 1922 (MCMXXII) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... The Transcaucasian Soviet Federated Socialist Republic was a short-lived (1922-1936) Soviet republic, consisting of Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan, which were traditionally known as the Transcaucasian Republics in the Soviet Union. ... Year 1923 (MCMXXIII) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... The Georgian Orthodox and Apostolic Church is one of the worlds most ancient Christian Churches, founded in the 1st century by the Apostle Andrew. ... Catholicos-Patriarch of All Georgia Ambrosi His Holiness and Beatitude Ambrose (Georgian: , Ambrosi) (September 7, 1861 – March 29, 1927) was a Georgian religious figure and scholar who served as the Catholicos-Patriarch of All Georgia from 1921 to 1927. ... The Genoa Conference was held in Genoa, Italy in 1922 from April 10th to May 19th. ...

Preparation

Colonel Kakutsa Cholokashvili, one of the leaders of anti-Soviet guerrilla movement, is venerated as national hero of Georgia.

In the course of the Red Army invasion, part of the defeated Georgian forces withdrew into the mountains and organized themselves into a number of small partisan groups. From 1921 to 1922, guerrilla warfare broke out in several regions of Georgia. In May 1921, the highlanders of Svaneti, northwestern Georgia, led by Mosestro Dadeshkeliani, Nestor Gardapkhadze and Bidzina Pirveli, rose in rebellion. After a resistance of six months, the revolt was put down and its leaders were purged. In early 1922, the rebellion against the Soviet rule broke out in Khevsureti, another mountainous district, but in northeast Georgia. Soviet troops using aviation managed to stop this rebellion from spreading, but could not crush it completely. Colonel Kakutsa Cholokashvili, who had led the revolt, managed to escape to the neighboring Chechnya, whence he made several inroads into Georgia, preventing the Bolsheviks from gaining a foothold in the eastern Georgian mountains. The local militsiya chief Levan Razikashvili was arrested and later shot for having sympathized with the rebellion. Image File history File links Metadata No higher resolution available. ... Image File history File links Metadata No higher resolution available. ... Kakutsa Cholokashvili (right) and Gen. ... Sir Galahad, a hero of Arthurian legend In many myths and folk tales, a hero is a man or woman (the latter often called a heroine), traditionally the protagonist of a story, legend or saga, commonly possessed of abilities or character far greater than that of a typical person, which... Svaneti (სვანეთი. Also known as Svanetia or Svania in Russian and Western languages) is a historic province in Georgia, in the northwestern part of the country. ... The Svanetian Uprising of 1921 was an unsuccessful rebellion against the recently established Bolshevik regime in Georgia. ... The Kakhet-Khevsureti Rebellion (Georgian: ) was a rebellion in 1921 against the Bolshevik forces in the Kakheti and Khevsureti regions of Georgia (then the Georgian SSR) following the Red Army invasion of Georgia. ... Khevsureti mountains Fortress village Shatili Khevsureti is a historic province in eastern Georgia, located along both the northern and southern slopes of the Great Caucasus Mountains. ... Kakutsa Cholokashvili (right) and Gen. ... The Chechen Republic (IPA: ; Russian: , Chechenskaya Respublika; Chechen: , Noxçiyn Respublika), or, informally, Chechnya (; Russian: ; Chechen: , Noxçiyçö), sometimes referred to as Ichkeria, Chechnia, Chechenia or Noxçiyn, is a federal subject of Russia. ... A member of a Russian special purpose police team (OMSN), equipped with a 9A91 submachine gun. ... Levan Razikashvili (Georgian: ) (1895-1923) was a Georgian military officer and victim of Soviet repressions. ...

Still, these revolts were local and spontaneous and did not attract large masses. Within the period of 1922-1923, 33 of 57 active guerrilla detachments disintegrated or surrendered to the Soviet authorities. The deplorable situation of the anti-Soviet opposition forced all major underground parties to seek closer cooperation. The negotiations proceeded slowly, however, and it was not until mid-1922 that the Mensheviks reached an agreement with their formal rivals – the National Democrats and some other political groups – to coordinate their efforts against the Bolsheviks. Soon the opposition parties congregated into an underground movement known as the Committee for the Independence of Georgia or the "Damkom" (short for damoukideblobis komiteti, Committee for Independence). Sponsored by the government of Georgia-in-exile, the Damkom began preparations for a general uprising in Georgia. The organization set up a "Military Center" and appointed General Spiridon Chavchavadze the commander-in-chief of all rebel forces. Several members of the former Menshevik government returned clandestinely from exile, including the former Minister of Agriculture, Noe Khomeriki, as well as the former commander of the National Guard, Valiko Jugheli. The organizers, encouraged by the Georgian emigrants in Europe, had still more expectations that the Western powers intended to help. They also hoped that the Georgian revolt would further other Caucasian peoples to rise in arms, but the secret negotiations with Armenian and Azeri nationalists yielded no results and even more promising talks with the Muslim Chechen leader, Ali Mitayev, were finally aborted due to mass arrests and repressions in Northern Caucasus. Prince Kote Andronikashvili, chairman of the Committee for Independence of Georgia from 1923 to 1924 The Committee for the Independence of Georgia (Georgian: , Sak’art’velos damoukideblobis komiteti) or the Parity Committee (პარიტეტული კომიტეტი, Paritetuli komiteti) was an underground anti-Soviet organization active in the Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic in the early... Noe Zhordania remained the head of the government in its French exile. ... Noe Khomeriki (Georgian: ) (executed in 1924) was a Georgian politician involved in the Social Democrat movement and shot during the Bolshevik Red Terror in the Georgian SSR. Born in the province of Guria (then part of Kutais Governorate, Imperial Russia), he engaged in local peasant movement and was a member... Vladimir “Valiko” Jugheli (Georgian: (?-1924) was a Georgian politician and military commander. ... There is also a collection of Hadith called Sahih Muslim A Muslim (Arabic: مسلم, Persian: Mosalman or Mosalmon Urdu: مسلمان, Turkish: Müslüman, Albanian: Mysliman, Bosnian: Musliman) is an adherent of the religion of Islam. ... Southern Federal District (Northern Caucasus) is one of the seven federal districts of Russia. ...

The Georgian branch of the Soviet secret police, Cheka,^[7] with recently appointed Deputy Chief Lavrentiy Beria playing a leading role, managed to penetrate the organization and carried out mass arrests. A prominent Menshevik activist, David Sagirashvili, was arrested and then deported to Germany in October 1922 along with sixty-two other Mensheviks.^[8] A heavy loss was sustained in February 1923 by the Georgian opposition, when fifteen members of the military center were arrested. Among them were the principal leaders of the resistance movement, Generals Kote Abkhazi, Alexander Andronikashvili and Vardan Tsulukidze; they were executed on May 19 1923.^[9] In March 1923 the Cheka discovered an underground Menshevik printshop and arrested several oppositionists.^[10] The Menshevik leaders Noe Khomeriki, Benia Chkhikvishvili, and Valiko Jugheli too fell in the hands of the Cheka on November 9 1923, July 25 1924, and August 6 1924, respectively. For the reggaeton aritst, see Cheka (artist). ... Lavrenty Beria Lavrentiy Pavlovich Beria (Georgian: ლავრენტი ბერია, Lavrenti Pavles dze Beria; Russian: Лаврентий Павлович Берия; 29 March 1899–23 December 1953) was a Soviet politician and chief of the Soviet security and police apparatus. ... Prince Kote (Konstantine) Abkhazi (In Georgian: &#4313;&#4317;&#4322;&#4308; &#4304;&#4324;&#4334;&#4304;&#4310;&#4312;) (November 17, 1867-May 19, 1923), was a distinguished Georgian military figure, politician and public benefactor, one of the leaders of the Georgian national liberation movement in 1921-1923, Major General of Artillery (1914). ... Benia Chkhikvishvili (also spelled Bénia Tchkhikvichvili) (Georgian: ) (?-1924) was a Georgian politician who was involved in the Social Democratic movement in the early 20th century. ...

Under these circumstances, some Georgians doubted whether the uprising could be successful. The captured rebel leader, Jugheli, urged Cheka officials to allow him to inform his comrades that their plans had been discovered and advise them to abandon their proposed revolt, but the Cheka refused.^[11] Jugheli’s message still reached the rebels, but the conspirators decided that this might have been a Cheka provocation and went ahead with plans for the uprising.

There are many indications that the Soviet intelligence had been, at a certain level, implicated in provoking the uprising. The Cheka, employing secret agents in local socialist circles, were well informed of the conspiracy and popular dissatisfaction of the Bolshevik rule. Instructed by Stalin and Ordzhonikidze, Beria and his superior, Kvantaliani, actually encouraged the rebellion so they would have a pretext for eliminating all political opposition and avenging personal scores with their former rivals in Georgia.^[12]

Outbreak and reaction

Prince Kote Andronikashvili, chairman of the Damkom (1923-4)

On August 18, 1924, the Damkom laid plans for a general insurrection for 2.00 am August 29. The plan of the simultaneous uprising miscarried, however, and, through some misunderstanding, the mining town of Chiatura, western Georgia, rose in rebellion a day earlier, on August 28. This enabled the Soviet government to timely put all available forces in the region on alert. Yet, at first the insurgents achieved considerable success and formed an Interim Government of Georgia chaired by Prince Giorgi Tsereteli. The uprising quickly spread to neighboring areas and a large portion of western Georgia and several districts in eastern Georgia wrested out of the Soviet control. Image File history File links Metadata No higher resolution available. ... Image File history File links Metadata No higher resolution available. ... The 12-hour clock is a timekeeping convention in which the 24 hours of the day are divided into two periods called ante meridiem (AM, Latin for before noon) and post meridiem (PM, Latin for after noon). Each period consists of 12 hours numbered 12, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5... Chiatura is a city in Imereti region of Western Georgia. ...

The success of the uprising was short-lived, however. Although the insurrection went further than the Cheka had anticipated, the reaction of the Soviet authorities was prompt. Stalin dissipated any doubt in Moscow of the significance of the disorders in Georgia by the one word: "Kronstadt", referring to the Kronstadt rebellion, a large scale though unsuccessful mutiny by Soviet sailors in 1921. Additional Red Army troops under the overall command of Semyon Pugachev were promptly sent in and Georgia’s coastline was blockaded to prevent a landing of Georgian émigré groups. Detachments of the Red Army and Cheka attacked the first insurgent towns in western Georgia – Chiatura, Senaki and Abasha – as early as August 29 and managed to force the rebels into forests and mountains by August 30. The Red Army forces employed artillery and aviation to fight the guerrillas who still continued to offer resistance, especially in the province of Guria, a home region to many Georgian Menshevik leaders and thus overwhelmingly disloyal to the Bolshevik rule. Tiflis, Batumi and some larger towns, where the Bolsheviks enjoyed more authority, remained quite as did Abkhazia and most of the territories compactly settled by ethnic minorities.^[13] Combatants Soviet Sailors Red Army Commanders Stepan Petrichenko Marshal Mikhail Tukhachevsky Strength c. ... Akaki Khorava State Theater in Senaki. ... Absaha can refer to: Abasha - district in Georgia Abasha - town in Georgia, center of district Abasha This is a disambiguation page &#8212; a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ... Guria is a region in Georgia (Caucasus), in the western part of the country, bordered by the eastern end of the Black Sea. ... A general view of Batumi Batumi Batumi (Georgian: , formerly Batum or Batoum) is a seaside city on the Black Sea coast and capital of Adjara, an autonomous republic in southwest Georgia. ... Capital Sokhumi Official languages Abkhaz, Georgian Government  -  Chairman, Cabinet of Ministers  -  Chairman, Supreme Council Temur Mzhavia Autonomous republic of Georgia  -  Georgian independence Declared Recognised 9 April 1991 25 December 1991  Currency Georgian lari (GEL) Anthem Aiaaira Capital Sukhumi Official languages Abkhaz, Russian1 Government  -  President Sergei Bagapsh  -  Prime Minister Alexander Ankvab...

Following the setback suffered by the insurgents in the west, the epicenter of the revolt now shifted into eastern Georgia, where, on August 29, a large rebel force under Colonel Cholokashvili assaulted the Red Army barracks in Manglisi, on southwestern approaches of Tiflis, but was driven back by the Soviet troops which had heavily fortified all strategic positions in and around the capital. Reinforcements failed and Cholokashvili’s forces were left isolated, forcing them to retreat eastward into the Kakheti province. On September 3, Cholokashvili made the last desperate attempt to turn a tide of the rebellion and took the town of Dusheti in a surprise attack. However, he could not hold off a Red Army counter-offensive and withdrew into mountains. The suppression of the rebellion was accompanied by a full scale outbreak of the Red Terror, "unprecedented even in the most tragic moments of the revolution" as the French author Boris Souvarine puts it.^[14] The scattered guerrilla resistance continued for several weeks, but by mid-September most of the main rebel groups had been destroyed. Categories: Caucasus geography stubs | Georgia (country) ... Dusheti is a small town in the Mtskheta-Mtianeti province in central Georgia. ... For other uses, see Red Terror (disambiguation). ... Boris Souvarine is the commonly used pseudonym of Boris Konstantinovič LifÅ¡ic, a Russian-born French political activist and journalist. ...

On September 4, the Cheka discovered the rebels’ chief headquarters at the Shio-Mgvime Monastery near the town of Mtskheta, and arrested Prince Andronikashvili, the Damkom chairman, and his associates Javakhishvili, Ishkhneli, Jinoria, and Bochorishvili. On the same day, Beria met with the arrested oppositionists in Tiflis, and proposed to issue a declaration urging the partisans to put down their arms. The committee members, tied up and facing death themselves, accepted the proposal on the condition that an order to stop mass executions be given immediately. Beria agreed and the rebels signed the declaration in order to put an end to the bloodshed.^[15] The Shiomgvime Monastery The Shio-Mgvime Monastery (Georgian: , Shiomghvime, literally meaning the cave of Shio) is a medieval monastic complex in Georgia, near the town of Mtskheta. ... Mtskheta is one of oldest cities of the republic of Georgia (in Kartli province of Eastern Georgia), near Tbilisi. ...

The persecutions did not end, however. In violation of the promise made by Beria to the arrested opposition leaders, mass arrests and executions continued. The political guidance of the anti-revolt operations was effected by the GPU chief in Georgia, Solomon Mogilevsky,^[16] and the repressions were largely supported by the Transcaucasian Central Committee.^[17] Stalin himself is quoted to have vowed that "all of Georgia must be plowed under".^[18] Soviet poster of the 1920s: The GPU strikes on the head the counter-revolutionary saboteur State Political Directorate was the secret police of the RSFSR and USSR until 1934. ... Solomon Grigorevich Mogilevsky Соломон Григорьевич Могилевский (1885 - 1925) headed the Soviet foreign intelligence service, the INO of the GPU, from 1921 to May 1922, when he was sent to head the GPU in the South Caucasus region. ...

In a series of raids, the Red Army and Cheka detachments killed thousands of civilians, exterminating entire families including women and children.^[19] Mass executions took place in prisons,^[20] where people were killed without trial, including even those in prison at the time of the rebellion.^[21] Hundreds of arrested were shot directly in good wagons, so that the dead bodies could be removed faster, a new and effective technical invention authored by the Cheka officer Talakhadze.^[22]

The exact number of casualties and the victims of the purges remains unknown. Approximately 3,000 died in fighting.^[23] The number of those who were executed during the uprising or in its immediate aftermath amounted to 7,000-10,000^[24] or even more. According to the most recent accounts included also in The Black Book of Communism (Harvard University Press, 1999), 12,578 people were put to death from August 29 to September 5, 1924. About 20,000 people were deported to Siberia and Central Asian deserts.^[25] The Black Book of Communism: Crimes, Terror, Repression is a book authored by several European academics and senior researchers from CNRS, and edited by Dr. Stéphane Courtois. ... The Harvard University Press is a publishing house, a division of Harvard University, that is highly respected in academic publishing. ... This article is about Siberia as a whole. ... Map of Central Asia showing three sets of possible boundaries for the region Central Asia located as a region of the world Central Asia is a vast landlocked region of Asia. ...

Aftermath

The young Soviet security officer Lavrentiy Beria rose to prominence due to his effective and ruthless action during the August Uprising.

Reports of the extent of the repressions caused an outcry among socialists abroad. Leaders of the Second International sent a resolution to the League of Nations condemning the Soviet government, but did not achieve any substantial results. Clara Zetkin, a notable German Social Democrat, attempted to counteract the negative publicity, visited Tiflis and then wrote a leaflet on Georgia, in which she claimed that only 320 persons had been shot.^[26] Nonetheless the public outcry resulted in unpleasant repercussions for the central government in Moscow, prompting the Politburo to set up a special commission, led by Ordzhonikidze, to investigate the causes of the uprising and the Cheka activities during its elimination. In October 1924, following the issuance of the commission’s report, some members of the Georgian Cheka were purged as “unreliable elements” who were presumably offered up as scapegoats for the atrocities.^[27] Ordzhonikidze himself admitted before a meeting of the Central Committee in Moscow in October 1924 that "perhaps we did go a little far, but we couldn't help ourselves.” On October 7 1924, the Soviet administration (Sovnarkom, "Council of People's Commissars") of Georgia declared an amnesty to all participants of the revolt who would surrender voluntarily. In early March 1925 the Chairman of the All-Union Executive Committee, Mikhail Kalinin, arrived in Georgia and called for the amnesty of the participants of the August 1924 insurrection, and for the suspension of religious persecutions. As a result, the Cheka grip in Georgia was relatively eased (for example, Catholicos Patriarch Ambrose and the members of the Patriarchal Council were released), military pacification was completed and an appearance of normality returned to the country, but Georgia had suffered a shock from which he was never able to completely recover. The uprising proved to be a last armed effort of Georgians to oust the Bolshevik regime and regain their independence.^[28] The most active pro-independence part of the Georgian society, nobility, military officers and intellectual elites were virtually exterminated, suppressing any serious resistance to the Soviet rule for several decades to come. Only a few survivors such as Cholokashvili, Lashkarashvili and some of their associates managed to escape abroad. The Georgian émigré Irakly Tsereteli considered the event disastrous both for the future of social democracy and of Georgia.^[29] Image File history File links Lavrenti_Beria. ... Image File history File links Lavrenti_Beria. ... Lavrenty Beria Lavrentiy Pavlovich Beria (Georgian: ლავრენტი ბერია, Lavrenti Pavles dze Beria; Russian: Лаврентий Павлович Берия; 29 March 1899–23 December 1953) was a Soviet politician and chief of the Soviet security and police apparatus. ... The phrase Second International has two meanings: For the international association of socialist parties of the late 19th century, see Second International (politics) and a successor organization, the Socialist International For one of the Merriam-Webster dictionaries of American English, see Websters New International Dictionary, Second Edition This is... The League of Nations was an international organization founded as a result of the Paris Peace Conference in 1919–1920. ... Stamp Clara Zetkin, maiden name Eissner (5 July 1857 - 20 June 1933) was an influential socialist German politician and a fighter for womens rights. ... Politburo is short for Political Bureau. ... This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ... The President of the Soviet Union was the Head of State of the USSR from March 15, 1990 to December 25, 1991. ... Mikhail Kalinin A 1919 image showing Joseph Stalin, Vladimir Lenin, and Mikhail Kalinin (right) Mikhail Ivanovich Kalinin (Russian: ) (November 19 [O.S. November 7] 1875 – June 3, 1946) was a Bolshevik revolutionary and Soviet politician. ...

The uprising was also exploited as the pretext for disrupting the Tiflis University which was seen by the Bolsheviks as a shelter of Georgian nationalism. Despite the fact that several leading academics, who sympathized with or even participated in the anti-Soviet movement, eventually distanced themselves from the idea of an armed revolt and even denounced it in a special statement, the university was purged of unreliable elements and placed under the complete control of the Communist Party. Substantial changes were made in its structure, curriculum, and personnel, including the dismissal of the Rector, a noted historian Ivane Javakhishvili.^[30] Image:TSU2. ... Ivane Javakhishvili (April 11, 1876 - November 18, 1940) was an outstanding Georgian historian and public benefactor, co-founder of the Tbilisi State University, one of founders of the modern scientific school of history of Georgia and the Caucasus, Academician (Full Member) of the Academy of Sciences of former Soviet Union...

On the other hand, the events in Georgia demonstrated the necessity for greater concessions to the peasants; Stalin declared that an August 1924 uprising in Georgia was sparked by dissatisfaction among the peasants and called the party to conciliate them. He admitted that "what has happened in Georgia may happen throughout Russia, unless we make a complete change in our attitude to the peasantry" and placed the responsibility for the errors committed on subordinate officials. Vyacheslav Molotov, an influential member of the Politburo, for his part declared: "Georgia provides a startling example of the breach between the Party and the mass of the peasantry in the country."^[31] As a result, the Communist Party of Georgia chose, for the time being, to use peaceful persuasion rather than armed coercion to extend their influence over the peasant masses, and to moderate the attempts to enforce collectivization.^[32] The extension of the radical land reform and the relative freedom granted peasants reduced hostility to the new regime.^[33] Although the last attributes of Georgia’s political and economic sovereignty, which both the Mensheviks and the "national Communists" had fought to preserve, had been eliminated, the final victory of the Soviet power in Georgia was accompanied by moderate economic growth, that ensured relative stability in the country. Another important factor in lessening opposition to the Bolsheviks, particularly from the intelligentsia, was the policy of "nativization" persuaded by the Soviet government in the 1920s; Georgian art, language, and learning were promoted; the spread of literacy was sponsored and the role of ethnic Georgians in administrative and cultural institutions enhanced.^[34] For other uses, see Molotov (disambiguation). ... The notion of an intellectual elite as a distinguished social stratum can be traced far back in history. ... Korenizatsiya (Russian: ) sometimes also called korenization, meaning nativization or indigenization, literally putting down roots, was the early Soviet nationalities policy promoted mostly in the 1920s but with a continuing legacy in later years. ...

Assessment

Under the Soviet Union, the August Uprising remained a taboo theme and was hardly mentioned at all, if not in its ideological content. Using its control over education and the media, the Soviet propaganda machine denounced the Georgian rebellion as a "bloody adventure initiated by the Mensheviks and other reactionary forces who managed to implicate a small and undereducated part of the population in it."^[35] With a new tide of independence movement sweeping throughout Georgia in the late 1980s, the anti-Soviet fighters of 1924, particularly, the leading partisan officer Kakutsa Cholokashvili, emerged as a major symbol of Georgian patriotism and national resistance to the Soviet rule. The process of legal "rehabilitation" (exoneration) of the victims of the 1920s repressions began under Gorbachev’s policy of Glasnost ("publicity") and was completed in the May 25 1992 decree issued by the State Council of the Republic of Georgia chaired by Eduard Shevardnadze.^[36] In connection with the opening of the Museum of Soviet Occupation in May 2006, more archival reserves were made public by the Ministry of Interior of Georgia which has recently started to publish the names of the victims of the 1924 purges and other materials from the Soviet era secret archives.^[37] Kakutsa Cholokashvili (right) and Gen. ... Rehabilitation in the context of Soviet or Russian topics is often a false friend used to translate the Russian term reabilitatsiya as applied to convicted persons. ... Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev (Russian: ; Pronunciation: mih-kha-ILL ser-GHE-ye-vich gor-bah-CHOFF) (born March 2, 1931), was leader of the Soviet Union from 1985 until 1991. ... //   (Russian: IPA: ) is politics of maximal openness, transparency of activity of all official (governmental) institutes, and freedom of information. ... This article does not cite its references or sources. ...

Notes

The 11th Soviet Red Army was a contingent of the then newly created Russian Red Army improvised by the Bolsheviks. ... Memorial (Russian: Мемориал) is an international historical and civil rights society that operates in a number of post-USSR states with the following missions stated in its charter: To promote mature civil society and democracy based on the rule of law and thus to prevent a return to totalitarianism; To assist... Year 2006 (MMVI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... December 17 is the 351st day of the year (352nd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2006 (MMVI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... December 17 is the 351st day of the year (352nd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ...

References

• ვალერი ბენიძე (Valeri Benidze) (1991), 1924 წლის აჯანყება საქართველოში (1924 Uprising in Georgia). Tbilisi: სამშობლო ("Samshoblo") (in Georgian)
• ლევან ზ. ურუშაძე (Levan Z. Urushadze) (2006), ქაიხოსრო (ქაქუცა) ჩოლოყაშვილის ბიოგრაფიისათვის (For the biography of Kaikhosro (Kakutsa) Cholokashvili).- "ამირანი" ("Amirani"), XIV-XV, მონრეალი-თბილისი (Montreal-Tbilisi), pages 147-166, ISSN 15120449 (in Georgian, English summary).
• Ariel Cohen (1998), Russian Imperialism: Development and Crisis. Praeger/Greenwood, ISBN 0275964817.
• Raymond Duguet (1927), Moscou et la Géorgie martyre. Préface de C. B. Stokes. Paris: Tallandier.
• Stephen F. Jones (October 1988). "The Establishment of Soviet Power in Transcaucasia: The Case of Georgia 1921-1928". Soviet Studies 40, No. 4: 616-639. 
• Amy W. Knight (1993), Beria: Stalin's First Lieutenant, Princeton University Press, Princeton, New Jersey, ISBN 0691010935.
• David Marshall Lang (1962). A Modern History of Georgia, London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson.
• Karl E. Meyer (Summer 2001). "Icebergs in the Caucasus". World Policy Journal CODA XVIII, No. 2. 
• Ghia Nodia, Álvaro Pinto Scholtbach, coordinators-editors (2006), The Political Landscape of Georgia. Eburon Delft, ISBN 9059721136.
• Roger William Pethybridge (1990), One Step Backwards, Two Steps Forward: Soviet Society and Politics in the New Economic Policy, Oxford University Press, ISBN 019821927X.
• Rudolph J. Rummel (1990), Lethal Politics: Soviet Genocide and Mass Murder Since 1917. Transaction Publishers, ISBN 1560008873.
• Boris Souvarine (2005), Stalin: A Critical Survey of Bolshevism, Kessinger Publishing, ISBN 1419113070.
• Ronald Grigor Suny (1994), The Making of the Georgian Nation: 2nd edition, Indiana University Press, ISBN 0-253-20915-3.
• Akaki Surguladze, Paata Surguladze (1991), საქართველოს ისტორია, 1783-1990 (History of Georgia, 1783-1990), Tbilisi: Meroni. (in Georgian)
• Markus Wehner (1995). "Le soulèvement géorgien de 1924 et la réaction des bolcheviks". Communisme n° 42/43/44: 155-170. 

Stephen F. Jones is an American expert on post-Communist societies in the former Soviet Union and Eastern Europe who currently serves as a Professor of Russian and Eurasian Studies at Mount Holyoke College, South Hadley, Massachusetts. ... The Princeton University Press is a publishing house, a division of Princeton University, that is highly respected in academic publishing. ... Nassau Street, Princetons main street. ... David Marshall Lang (May 6, 1924 – March 20, 1991), was a Professor Emeritus of Caucasian Studies, School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London. ... This article is about the capital of England and the United Kingdom. ... Ghia Nodia (Georgian: ) (born 1954) is a political scientist who currently serves as a chairman of the Caucasus Institute for Peace Democracy and Development based in Tbilisi, Georgia and Professor of political science at the Ilia Chavchavadze State University. ... Oxford University Press (OUP) is a highly-respected publishing house and a department of the University of Oxford in England. ... Rudolph Joseph Rummel (born October 21, 1932) is professor emeritus of political science at the University of Hawaii and alternative historian. ... Boris Souvarine is the commonly used pseudonym of Boris Konstantinovič Lifšic, a Russian-born French political activist and journalist. ... Ronald Grigor Suny is Emeritus Professor of political science at the University of Chicago; he has previously been the Charles Tilly Collegiate Professor of Social and Political History and the first holder of the Alex Manoogian Chair in Modern Armenian History, at the University of Michigan. ... Indiana University, founded in 1820, is a nine-campus university system in the state of Indiana. ... Akaki Surguladze (Georgian: ) (1913-1991) was a Georgian historian. ...

External links

• A documentary film "1924" (includes original footage). Retrieved from Youtube on September 4, 2007.