The capital of the Georgian SSR. How the richest republic of the USSR lived: Soviet Georgia

The Georgian SSR as part of the Soviet Union was on a special account. It was caused by objective factors. First, Joseph Stalin was born in Georgia. In addition, there were other Georgians in the supreme power in the USSR, such as Grigory Ordzhonikidze and Lavrenty Beria. Political activity in the Georgian SSR has always been very high, and the cult of Stalin, for obvious reasons, was especially strong.

Special position

An economic favorable regime was created in the Georgian SSR. The republic annually received substantial subsidies from the Union budget. The level of consumption per capita in Georgia was 4 times higher than the same indicator of production. In the RSFSR, the consumption rate was only 75% of the level of production.

After the famous report of Nikita Khrushchev on February 14, 1956, on the exposure of the cult of personality, mass uprisings began in Tbilisi. Already on March 4, people began to gather at the monument to Stalin in the Georgian capital, the communist Parastishvili climbed onto the pedestal of the monument, drank wine from a bottle and, breaking it, said: “Let Stalin’s enemies die like this bottle!”.

Peaceful rallies took place for five days. On the night of March 10, wanting to send a telegram to Moscow, a crowd of thousands went to the telegraph office. Fire was opened on her. According to the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Georgia, during the suppression of the riots, 15 people were killed and 54 were injured, 7 died in hospitals, 200 people were arrested.

Throughout the Union, the dismantling of monuments to Stalin began, only in Gori, in the homeland of the "leader of the peoples", by special permission from Khrushchev, the monument was left. For a long time it remained the most famous monument to Stalin, but it was also dismantled in our time, on the night of June 25, 2010. By decree of Mikheil Saakashvili.

Georgia cannot but be associated with wines, and the Georgian in the cultural field of the Soviet Union invariably acted as a toastmaster and a connoisseur of long beautiful toasts. The Georgian SSR was one of the main and oldest wine-growing regions of the Soviet Union, and Georgian wines have become an internationally recognized brand. It is known that at the Yalta Conference, Stalin treated Winston Churchill with Georgian Khvanchkara wine, after which the British minister became a devoted connoisseur of this brand.

Stalin himself loved the wines "Kindzmarauli", "Khvanchkara" and "Madjari".

High-quality table and fortified wines were produced in Georgia. The production of grape wines was carried out by Samtrest enterprises, which included exemplary state farms: Tsinandali, Napareuli, Mukuzani, Kvareli in Kakheti and Vartsikhe in the western part of Georgia. The Champagne Winery produced Soviet champagne and grape wines. In Georgia, by the 1960s, 26 brands of wine were being produced: 12 dry table wines, 7 semi-sweet, 5 strong, and 2 sweet desserts.

Due to the optimal climatic conditions, the Georgian SSR was a real tourist Mecca of the Soviet Union. For Soviet citizens, the resorts of Georgia replaced Turkey, Egypt, and other hot foreign countries. In the resort Abkhazia, which was part of the Georgian SSR, there were the most fashionable resorts of the USSR Pitsunda and Gagra.

During the Soviet era, Georgia was the best training base for Soviet skiers. Also, Georgia in general and Svaneti in particular became the main climbing bases of the Soviet Union.

Alpiniades and category ascents to the peaks of the Caucasus Mountains were periodically held here. A great contribution to the development of Soviet mountaineering and climbing was made by Mikhail Vissarionovich Khergiani, 7-time champion of the USSR and Honored Master of Sports of the Soviet Union.

Georgian tea In addition to wine, the Georgian SSR was famous for its tea. Its quality, according to William Pokhlebkin, was competitive (at the world level), although with reservations. Despite the fact that attempts to establish and organize tea production have been made in Georgia since the middle of the 19th century, its quality left much to be desired, and plantation volumes did not reach even 900 hectares.

In the early 1920s, young plantations were planted in Georgia, and active and fruitful selection work began. In 1948, Ksenia Bakhtadze managed to develop artificial hybrid varieties of tea: "Georgian No. 1" and "Georgian No. 2". For them, she was awarded the Stalin Prize. The variety "Georgian Selection No. 8" obtained later was able to withstand frosts down to -25. This variety has become a real sensation.

Eric Smith also noted that the Georgians played a significant role in the formation of the shadow economy of the Soviet Union, shaping the market of the late USSR in the form of "diaspora competition".

The Georgian SSR as part of the Soviet Union was on a special account. It was caused by objective factors. First, Joseph Stalin was born in Georgia. In addition, other Georgians, such as Grigory Ordzhonikidze and Lavrenty Beria, were part of the supreme power in the USSR. Political activity in the Georgian SSR has always been very high, and the cult of Stalin, for obvious reasons, was especially strong.

Special position

Guilt

Stalin himself loved the wines "Kindzmarauli", "Khvanchkara" and "Madjari".

Tourism

Due to the optimal climatic conditions, the Georgian SSR was a real tourist Mecca of the Soviet Union. For Soviet citizens, Georgian resorts replaced Turkey, Egypt, and other hot foreign countries. In the resort of Abkhazia, which was part of the Georgian SSR, there were the most fashionable resorts of the USSR Pitsunda and Gagra.

During the Soviet era, Georgia was the best training base for Soviet skiers. Also, Georgia in general and Svaneti in particular became the main climbing bases of the Soviet Union.

Georgian tea

In addition to wine, the Georgian SSR was famous for its tea. Its quality, according to William Pokhlebkin, was competitive (at the world level), although with reservations.
Despite the fact that attempts to establish and organize tea production have been made in Georgia since the middle of the 19th century, its quality left much to be desired, and plantation volumes did not reach even 900 hectares.

In Soviet times, Georgian tea became a brand known outside the Union. In the late 70s, he was already exported to Czechoslovakia, Bulgaria, Poland, East Germany, Hungary, Romania, Finland, Yugoslavia, Afghanistan, Iran, Syria, South Yemen and Mongolia.

Flowers, tangerines and the shadow economy

The Soviet people were not well versed in the specifics of the ethnic diversity of the Caucasian peoples, so the image of a Georgian, resourceful and wealthy businessman, was rather collective. However, in a way he was right.

In terms of industrial production, the Georgian SSR did not give the Soviet Union so much, but the Georgians provided Soviet citizens with everything necessary for the holidays: citrus fruits, wine, tea, tobacco, mineral water.

The Georgian SSR, according to economist Kennan Eric Scott of the Washington Institute, supplied 95% of tea and 97% of tobacco to the Soviet counters. The lion's share of citrus fruits (95%) also went to the regions of the USSR from Georgia.

In his report at the Woodrow Wilson Center in Washington, Eric Smith also noted that the Georgians played a significant role in the formation of the shadow economy of the Soviet Union, forming the market of the late USSR in the form of "diaspora competition".

With the consent of the Mensheviks, in June 1918, Georgia was occupied by German and Turkish troops; in December they were replaced by British troops, who remained there until July 1920. In February 1921, the Bolsheviks launched an armed uprising and, with the help of the Red Army, overthrew the Menshevik government and established Soviet power in Georgia.

On February 25, 1921, the Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic (Georgian SSR) was formed.

From March 12, 1922 to December 5, 1936, the Georgian SSR was part of the Transcaucasian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic (TSFSR) as part of the USSR; December 5, 1936 entered directly into the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR).

The Georgian SSR included: the Socialist Soviet Republic of Abkhazia (in 1921-1931, since 1931 as the Abkhaz ASSR); Adjara ASSR; South Ossetian Autonomous Region.

The economy of Georgia was part of the all-Union socio-economic system. In the first days after the victory of Soviet power in Georgia, industry, railways, banks, and land were nationalized. Industrialization and collectivization of agriculture was carried out in the republic. Collectivization in rural areas was carried out especially cruelly, in the process of mass purges, tens of thousands of people died (party activists, intellectuals, specialists and everyone who was suspected of being dissatisfied with the regime).

As a result of industrialization, whole new branches of industry were created, including engineering, oil production, chemical, etc.

During the Great Patriotic War, several national Georgian divisions were formed on the territory of Georgia, which participated in the battle for the Caucasus, in the battles for the liberation of the Taman Peninsula, the Crimea, and on other fronts. Georgia has supplied a significant amount of weapons, ammunition, uniforms and food.

In total, about 700 thousand people from Georgia (a fifth of the population of the republic) participated in the war, about 350 thousand of them died.

In the post-war period (1950-1970) Georgia has made significant progress in development. Such industries as hydropower, coal, manganese and copper mining, ferrous metallurgy (production of ferroalloys, cast iron and steel), mechanical engineering (machine tool building, instrument making, production of trucks, electric locomotives, marine vessels), oil refining, production of building materials (cement, slate, blocks), chemical (production of mineral fertilizers and chemical fiber) and textile (silk, wool, cotton). The food industry (tea production, bottling of mineral water, including carbonated water, etc.) and the textile industry (production of silk, cotton and woolen fabrics) developed.

The infrastructure of the sanatorium and resort economy was developed on the Black Sea coast.

In the 1970s A dissident movement emerged in Georgia led by Zviad Gamsakhurdia and Merab Kostava. The course for perestroika, proclaimed in the late 1980s. Mikhail Gorbachev, led to a rapid change of leaders of the Communist Party of Georgia.

On October 28, 1990, Zviad Gamsakhurdia's coalition "Round Table - Free Georgia" won the multi-party elections to the Supreme Council of Georgia. Gamsakhurdia was elected Chairman of the Supreme Council in November 1990.

On March 31, 1991, a referendum was held on the restoration of Georgia's state independence. 90.5% of voters took part in the referendum, of which 98.93% voted for state independence.

On April 9, 1991, on the basis of the results of a national referendum, the Supreme Council of the Republic adopted the Act on the Restoration of the State Independence of Georgia, which declared the Act of Independence of 1918 and the Constitution of 1921 valid. The post of President of Georgia was introduced.

On April 14, 1991, at an extraordinary meeting of the first session of the Supreme Council, Zviad Gamsakhurdia was elected the first president of independent Georgia, on May 27, 1991, he was elected president of Georgia in general direct secret elections (86.5% of voters voted for him).

The material was prepared on the basis of information from open sources

Today you can often hear that Georgia lived the best life in the Union. There could be several reasons for the privileged position. This is a good geographical location, and the Georgian elite in the party leadership, and the peculiarities of the Transcaucasian mentality. But the fact remains that in the Soviet Union everyone had the same rights. But for some reason the Georgians were allowed a little more.

Where did Tbilisi get powerful state support from?

Due to historical factors, after the Bolsheviks came to power, a rather noticeable Georgian stratum appeared in the leadership of the party. Yenukidze, Ordzhonikidze, Beria - these names say something. Later, the place of head of state went to Stalin (Dzhugashvili). The desire to pay attention to the leader and his small homeland resulted in the social popularization of a small Transcaucasian republic.

In the 1930s, the image of a smiling, honest and brave Georgian began to appear frequently on Soviet movie screens. Georgia gradually occupies a special place among other republics, becoming a universal favorite. In the 1950s and 1980s, the GSSR, along with Armenia, the Baltic States and Azerbaijan, was the leader among the union republics in terms of centralized investments and subsidies.

The leadership of the USSR considered Georgia one of the most dangerous and vulnerable "points" in terms of maintaining the unity of the Soviet state. This means that this region had to be quickly turned into a "showcase" of real socialism. In addition, the goodwill of Moscow can be explained by the merits of the Georgian leaders of that period. Mzhavanadze and Shevardnadze stood firmly in defense of the interests of their native republic before the center, skillfully seeking amazing privileges. They succeeded in alternating exactingness with the ability to "solve problems", which is clearly evidenced by Shevardnadze's well-known phrase about the sun rising for Georgia from the North. The Georgian SSR was generously supported by Moscow cash subsidies paid for by the Russian regions. So the only thing left for the local elite was to “bring” them into the right office in time.

Successful Georgian economy, paid for by state subsidies and shadow incomes of "guild workers"

A simple Soviet citizen, arriving in Georgia, marveled at the level of local life. There were a lot of cars here, solid stone residential buildings, so different from the wooden huts of Russian collective farmers, and the Georgians themselves seemed to live in carefree prosperity. Statistics show that after the 1960s, the average pensions, salaries, scholarships and social benefits in Georgia were higher than the average Union. At the same time, prices and tariffs did not exceed the average bar.

Among the workers in the main production sectors (energy, railways, seaports), the share of Russians prevailed. But in the service sector (resort service, trade, domestic trucking, taxi, etc.) were represented by Georgians. During this period, the sector of the shadow Georgian economy was born. This activity was supported by influential "guardians" from local and allied structures. The local guild workers were reliably insured by the fears of the leadership about a possible aggravation of the situation in the Georgian Republic. According to Malkhaz Garunia, a former member of the Party Control Commission for Georgia, the "underground" could be pressed only for accountability. There was no real desire to destroy the corruption pyramid either in Moscow or in Tbilisi. In fact, successful shadow businessmen ensured the privileged status of the Georgian SSR within the Union.

Hundreds of small, medium-sized underground workshops were located not only in private Georgian houses, but even in state-owned enterprises. In the Georgian SSR, it was possible to purchase almost everything that was considered in short supply for most of the Soviet people. Therefore, thanks to the weakened ideological pressure, the peculiarities of the Soviet closed economic system and the entrepreneurial spirit of local residents, guild goods had a serious competitiveness. And the period of the seventies - eighties became the "golden age" of Georgian entrepreneurship.

One of the reasons for the “success” of Soviet Georgia was its natural location, which made it a favorable subtropical resort area in a northern country with a harsh climate. Successful geography brought the republic a lot of Soviet rubles and the status of the tourist Mecca of the Soviet Union. In Abkhazia, which is part of the GSSR, at that time the most prestigious southern resorts in the Union of Gagra and Pitsunda appeared, where the entire Soviet elite rested.

In addition, Georgia was the mountaineering base of the USSR and a popular training camp for professional skiers. Alpiniades often took place here, and category ascents were organized in the Caucasus Mountains. The legendary Borjomi springs originate from the tops of the Bakuriani mountains. Here, in addition to mountain skiers, those who wished to improve their health with hydrotherapy in a mild, warm winter climate went there.

"Khvanchkara" for Churchill and export Georgian tea

The industry of the Georgian SSR did not particularly stand out against the background of the leading republics of the Soviet Union, but the Georgians provided the Soviet people with wines, citrus fruits, tobacco, tea and mineral water. The Republic of Georgia, as one of the oldest wine-growing regions of the USSR, has earned worldwide recognition of its own products. It is known that during the Yalta Conference Joseph Stalin treated Winston Churchill to the Georgian "Khvanchkara", and the British Minister highly appreciated the quality of this brand.

In addition to wines, the Georgian SSR was famous for its tea. In the 1920s, young tea plantations were planted here, and selection development began. In 1948, new hybrid varieties were bred: "Georgian No. 1" and "Georgian No. 2". This tea was awarded the Stalin Prize. The next achievement was the variety "Georgian Selection No. 8", capable of withstanding temperatures down to -25. During the Soviet period, Georgian tea was known far beyond the borders of the country. By the end of the 70s, it became a popular export product.

Georgia still remains one of the most picturesque countries of the post-Soviet space. You can verify this at