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 of 1922, involved local Georgian Bolshevik leaders, led by Filipp Makharadze and Budu Mdivani, on one hand, and their de facto superiors from the Russian SFSR, particularly Joseph Stalin and Sergo Ordzhonikidze, on the other hand. The content of this dispute was complex, involving the Georgians’ strive to preserve autonomy from Moscow and the differing interpretations of Bolshevik nationality policies, and especially those specific to Georgia. One of the main points at issue was Moscow’s decision to amalgamate Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan into Transcaucasian SFSR, a move that was staunchly opposed by the Georgian leaders who urged for their republic a full-member status within the Soviet Union. Soviet redirects here. ... 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... 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... Bolshevik Party Meeting. ... Prime Minister of Georgian SSR: 1923-1928 President of Georgian SSR: 1938-1941 Categories: Georgia (country) geography stubs | Soviet Union stubs ... De facto is a Latin expression that means in fact or in practice. It is commonly used as opposed to de jure (meaning by law) when referring to matters of law or governance or technique (such as standards), that are found in the common experience as created or developed without... 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... “Stalin” redirects here. ... 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. ... Location Position of Moscow in Europe Government Country District Subdivision Russia Central Federal District Federal City Mayor Yuriy Luzhkov Geographical characteristics Area  - City 1,081 km² Population  - City (2007)    - Density 10,469,000   9684. ... This article or section is in need of attention from an expert on the subject. ... 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. ...

The affair was a critical episode in the power struggle surrounding the sick Vladimir Lenin whose support Georgians sought to obtain. The dispute ended with the victory of the Stalin-Ordzhonikidze line and resulted in the fall of the Georgian moderate Communist government. It also contributed to a final break between Lenin and Stalin, and inspired Lenin’s last major writings.^[1] “Lenin” redirects here. ... Lenins Testament is the name given to a document written by Vladimir Lenin in the last weeks of 1922 and the first week of 1923. ...

Background

The Soviet rule in Georgia was established by the Soviet Red Army during the February-March 1921 military campaign that was largely engineered by the two influential Georgia-born Soviet Russian officials, Joseph Stalin, then People's Commissar for Nationalities for the RSFSR, and Sergo Ordzhonikidze, head of the Transcaucasian Regional Committee (Zaikkraikom) of the Russian Communist Party. Disagreements among the Bolsheviks about the fate of Georgia preceded the Red Army invasion. While Stalin and Ordzhonikidze urged the immediate Sovietization of independent Georgia led by the Menshevik-dominated government, Trotsky favored "a certain preparatory period of work inside Georgia, in order to develop the uprising and later come to its aid." Lenin was unsure about the outcome of the Georgian campaign, fearing of the international consequences and the possible crisis with Kemalist Turkey. Lenin finally gave his consent, on February 14, 1921, to the intervention in Georgia, but later repeatedly complained about the lack of precise and consistent information from the Caucasus.^[2] Well aware of widespread opposition to the newly established Soviet rule, Lenin favored a reconciliatory policy with Georgian intelligentsia and peasants who remained hostile to the militarily imposed regime. However, many Communists found difficult to abandon the methods exploited against their opposition during the Russian Civil War and make adjustment to the more flexible policy. For moderates like Filipp Makharadze Lenin’s approach was a reasonable way to secure for Soviet power a broad base of support. They advocated tolerance toward the Menshevik opposition, greater democracy within the party, gradual land reform, and above all, respect for national sensitivities and Georgia’s sovereignty from Moscow. Communists like Orjonikidze and Stalin pursued more hardliner policy; they sought to completely eliminate political opposition and centralize party control over the newly Sovietized republics.^[3][2] Red Army flag The Workers and Peasants Red Army (Russian: Рабоче-Крестьянская Красная Армия, Raboche-Krestyanskaya Krasnaya Armiya; RKKA or usually simply the Red Army) were the armed forces first organized by the Bolsheviks during the Russian Civil War in 1918 and that in 1922 became the army of the Soviet Union. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with: :Sovnarkom. ... 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 = КПСС) was the name used by the successors of the Bolshevik faction of the Russian Social-Democratic Labour Party from 1952 to 1991, but the wording Communist Party was present in the partys name since 1918 when the Bolsheviks became the Russian... Leaders of the Menshevik Party at Norra Bantorget in Stockholm, Sweden, May 1917. ... Mustafa Kemal Atatürk Mustafa Kemal Atatürk (1881 – November 10, 1938), Turkish soldier and statesman, was the founder and first President of the Republic of Turkey. ... Combatants Red Army (Bolsheviks) White Army (Monarchists, SRs, Anti-Communists) Green Army (Peasants and Nationalists) Black Army (Anarchists) Commanders Leon Trotsky Mikhail Tukhachevsky Semyon Budyonny Lavr Kornilov, Alexander Kolchak, Anton Denikin, Pyotr Wrangel Alexander Antonov, Nikifor Grigoriev Nestor Makhno Strength 5,427,273 (peak) +1,000,000 Casualties 939,755... Prime Minister of Georgian SSR: 1923-1928 President of Georgian SSR: 1938-1941 Categories: Georgia (country) geography stubs | Soviet Union stubs ...

"National deviationism" vs. "Great Russian nationalism"

Conflict soon broke out between the moderate and hardliner Georgian Bolshevik leaders. The dispute was preceded by Stalin’s ban on formation of the national Red Army of Georgia, and subordination of all local workers’ organizations and trade unions to the Bolshevik party committees. Dissatisfied by the Soviet Georgian government’s moderate treatment of the political opposition and its desire to retain sovereignty from Moscow, Stalin arrived in Tbilisi, capital of Georgia, in early July 1921. After summoning a workers' assembly, Stalin delivered a speech outlining a program aimed at elimination of local nationalism, but was booed by the crowd and received hostile silence from his colleagues.^[4] Within the days that followed, Stalin removed the Georgian Revolutionary committee chief Makharadze for inadequate firmness and replaced him by Budu Mdivani, ordering local leaders to "crush the hydra of nationalism." ^[3] Makharadze’s supporters, including the Georgian Cheka chief Kote Tsintsadze and his lieutenants, were also sacked and replaced with more ruthless officers Kvantaliani, Atabekov, and Lavrentiy Beria. A trade union or labor union is a continuous association of wage-earners for the purpose of maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment. ... Coordinates: Government  - Governing Mayor Giorgi Gigi Ugulava Area  - City 372 km²  (143. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Lavrenty Beria Lavrentiy Pavlovich Beria (Georgian: ლავრენტი ბერია; Russian: Лаврентий Павлович Берия; 29 March 1899 – 23 December 1953) was a Soviet politician and chief of the Soviet security and police apparatus. ...

Within less than a year, however, Stalin was in open conflict with Mdivani, and his associates. One of the most important points at issue was the question of Georgia’s status in the projected union of Soviet republics. While Moscow’s envoys, led by Sergo Ordzhonikidze and strongly backed by Stalin, insisted that all three Transcaucasian republics – Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia – join the Soviet Union together as one federative republic, the Georgians wanted their country to retain an individual identity and enter the union as a full member rather than as part of a single Transcaucasian SFSR. Stalin and his henchmen accused the local Georgian Communists of selfish nationalism and labeled them as "national deviationists". On their part, the Georgians responded with charges of "Great Russian chauvinism". Lenin suddenly upheld Stalin’s position and expressed his strong support for the political and economic integration of the Transcaucasian republics, informing the Georgian leaders that he rejected their criticism of Moscow’s bullying tactics. Transcaucasia is the name given to a region south of the Caucasus Mountains that covers Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia. ... 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. ...

The conflict peaked in November 1922, when Ordzhonikidze resorted to physical violence with a member of the Mdivani group and struck him during a verbal confrontation.^[5] The Georgian leaders complained to Lenin and presented a long list of abuses, including the notorious incident involving Ordzhonikidze.

Lenin’s involvement

Lenin was no longer able to overlook the bitterness of the conflict in Georgia and unleashed his criticism upon Ordzhonikidze. In late November 1922, he dispatched the VeCheka chief Dzerzhinsky to Tbilisi to investigate the matter. Dzerzhinsky sympathized with Stalin and Ordzhonikidze and, hence, tried to give Lenin a significantly smoothened picture of their activities in his report.^[3] However, Lenin doubts about the conduct of Stalin and his allies around the Georgian question mounted. He was also afraid of negative outcry that might ensue abroad and in other Soviet republics. In late December 1922, Lenin accepted that both Ordzhonikidze and Stalin were guilty of the imposition of Great Russian nationalism upon non-Russian nationalities.^[6] He now considered Stalin and his forceful centralizing policy increasingly dangerous and decided to dissociate himself at once from his protégé. The Cheka (ЧК in Russian) was the first (of many) Soviet secret police organizations. ... Felix Edmundovich Dzerzhinsky Felix Edmundovich Dzerzhinsky (Polish: Feliks DzierżyÅ„ski, Russian: Феликс Эдмундович Дзержинский, Belarusian: Фелікс Эдмундавіч Дзяржынскі; September 11, 1877 [O.S. August 30] –July 20, 1926) was a Polish Communist revolutionary, famous as the founder of the Bolshevik secret police, the Cheka, later known by many names during the history of the Soviet...

Nevertheless, Lenin’s misgivings over the Georgian problem were not fundamental, and as his health deteriorated, the Georgian leaders were left without any major ally, watching Georgia being pressed into the Transcaucasian federation that signed a treaty with the Russian SFSR, Ukraine and Belarus, joining them all in a new Soviet Union on December 30, 1922. ^[7] 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...

The Politburo decision of 25 January 1923 concerning the removal of Mdivani and his associates from Georgia represented a conclusive victory for Ordzhonikidze and his backers.^[1] Politburo is short for Political Bureau. ...

The end of the affair

On March 5 1923, Lenin broke off personal relations with Stalin. He attempted to enlist Leon Trotsky to take over the Georgian problem, and began preparing three notes and a speech, where he would announce to the Party Congress that Stalin would be removed as Secretary General.^[8] However, on March 9, 1923 Lenin suffered a third stroke, which would eventually lead to his death. Trotsky declined to confront Stalin on the issue probably due to his long-held prejudice against Georgia as a Menshevik stronghold,^[6] At the 12th Party Congress in April 1923, the Georgian Communists found themselves isolated. With Lenin’s notes suppressed, every word uttered from the platform against Georgian or Ukrainian nationalism was greeted with stormy applause, while the mildest allusion to Great Russian chauvinism was received in stony silence.^[9]   (Russian: Лев Давидович Троцкий, Lev Davidovich Trotsky, also transliterated Leo, Lev, Trotskii, Trotski, Trotskij, Trockij and Trotzky) (November 7 [O.S. October 26] 1879 – August 21, 1940), born Lev Davidovich Bronstein (Лев Давидович Бронштейн), was a Ukrainian-born Bolshevik revolutionary and Marxist theorist. ...

Thus, Lenin’s illness, Stalin’s increasing influence in the party and his accent toward full power, coupled with the sidelining of Leon Trotsky led to the marginalization of the decentralist forces within the Georgian Communist party.^[10]

The affair held back the careers of the Georgian Old Bolsheviks, but Ordzhonikidze’s reputation also suffered and was soon recalled from the Caucasus.^[1] Mdivani and his associates were removed to minor posts, but they were not actively molested until the late 1920. Most of them were later executed during the Great Purge of the 1930s. Another major consequence of the defeat of Georgian "national deviationists" was the intensification of political repressions in Georgia, leading to an armed rebellion in August 1924 and the ensuing Red Terror which took several thousands of lives. An Old Bolshevik (старый большевик) was a member of the Bolsheviks before the Russian Revolution. ... The Great Purge (Russian: , transliterated Bolshaya chistka) is the name given to campaigns of political repression and persecution in the Soviet Union orchestrated by Joseph Stalin during the late 1930s. ... Combatants Red Army, Cheka Committee for the Independence of Georgia, other guerrilla groups Commanders Semyon Pugachev, Solomon Mogilevsky Spiridon Chavchavadze, Kakutsa Cholokashvili, Mikheil Lashkarashvili Casualties unknown 3,000 killed in fighting; 7,000-12,000 executed The August Uprising (Georgian: , agvistos adjank’eba) was an unsuccessful insurrection against the Soviet... The Red Terror was a campaign of mass arrests and deportations targeted against counterrevolutionaries in Russia during the Russian Civil War. ...

References

• Jones, Stephen F. (October 1988). "The Establishment of Soviet Power in Transcaucasia: The Case of Georgia 1921-1928". Soviet Studies 40, No. 4: 616-639. 
• Ogden, Dennis George (1978), National Communism in Georgia: 1921-1923, The University of Michigan (doctoral dissertation)