“Down with the rotten Russian empire”, “No to the Russian communist dictatorship”, “No to the Russian regime” — years, centuries have passed, forms of government and methods of conquest have changed in Russia, and protest slogans in Georgia, but the desire of the Georgian people to free themselves from Russian influence remains unchanged. The anti-Russian protest, which began in 1802 with one of the first uprisings and has been going on in various forms for 223 years, is still ongoing.

Putting aside the pathos and exaggeration typical of Georgian history tellers, if we look at the dry facts with a cold mind, we can boldly say that no invader has caused as much damage to the country as Russia. No matter how much the Georgian Dream, whose legitimacy is not recognized by a large part of society, the opposition, or the international community, tries to portray the Global War Party, the Deep State, and the West as the enemy, history teaches us that for more than two centuries, Georgia’s main enemy has been Russia.

In this article, we will briefly review the long path that the Georgian people have traveled against the Russian regimes and still continue to fight for freedom and democracy, which is so alien and unacceptable to Russia and its affiliated parties. We will recall some historical facts that show why and how we fight against Russia.

The Battle Against Imperialism

The 1783 Treaty of Georgievsk, which remains a controversial topic to this day, was also called the promise of “eternal friendship.” The agreement, by which Russia promised assistance and protection to the Georgian people, was soon followed by betrayal, which was finally confirmed by the Manifesto of 1801 — Russia officially abolished the royal principalities of Kartli-Kakheti and declared them governorates.

1802, 1804, 1812, 1819, 1824, 1832, 1841 — these are the years that, by the decision of the Georgian Dream, will no longer be included in the Unified National Examinations Program and that preserve the large-scale and blood-soaked history of anti-Russian uprisings. These dates show us that at no point in history did the Georgian people voluntarily accept the Russian style of rule, and it was always imposed and harmful.

The 1804 uprising in Kakheti was started by the Batonishvilis, demanding the terms of the treaty be respected and the restoration of the kingdom. The first open anti-Russian speech was unsuccessful, and the leaders were arrested in the hope that this would slow down the anti-Russian charge. However, in 1804, a new center of rebellion emerged in Mtiuleti, when Russian soldiers treated the locals inhumanely during the construction of a military road. Even the pages of a censored book published in 1896 contain information about rape, beatings, and other degrading treatment in Mtiuleti before the uprising: “Two men and a woman were tied to a yoke, a whip was tied around them, and the soldiers beat the men and women with whips from behind.”

It also discusses how the mountaineers’ uprising spread to other regions and that the goal was not just to receive better treatment, but also to be liberated from Russia:

“Wherever they were given the opportunity, they would directly shout, we no longer want Russian domination, our hopes for them have not been fulfilled, and instead of bringing us relief, the Russians have taken our souls away with godless beatings, immense expense, and extortion.”

Despite great resistance and roadblocks, Russia ended the Mtiuleti uprising with arrests and executions.

In 1804, another Georgian king, Solomon, the ruler of Imereti, was deceived and forced to sign another treaty, the Treaty of Elaznauri. In 1810, Russia also abolished the Royal Principality of Imereti, and King Solomon fled and led a rebellion with the Batonishvilis.

“To calm the agitated country, according to Tormasov, it was necessary not to defeat the Imereti troops, but to subdue the king himself. To achieve this goal, he advised Simonovich to use the sword, gold, force, and all sorts of tricks,” we read in a book published in 1911 about the king of Imereti. This uprising was crushed in exactly the same way, with the sword and all sorts of tricks, and Solomon died in exile.

Soon after, in 1811, Russia, which propaganda still portrays as monotheistic, abolished the autocephaly of the Georgian Church , subordinated it to the Russian Synod, and appointed an exarch.

“Conquering and acquiring a country with sword and weapon is not as difficult as people think. The matter is not conquest and enslavement, but the care and management of the nation, the establishment of law and the introduction of a management-governance appropriate to the morality and character of the conquered nation. The Russian government of that time could not do either one or the other. Before God, it could not have done either. If it had not been able to do so at home, what would it have done anywhere else?”

This is how Alexander Fronel describes the situation at that time in his book “The Uprising of Kakheti” and tells us that despite the cruelty of the Russian troops, as soon as the princes gained power, the center of the uprising would reappear. For example, in 1812, when “the flame of the uprising spread to Kakheti, fell into the middle of Kartli, advanced westward to Ossetia and approached Tbilisi.”

Fronel has preserved notes from various individuals explaining the reasons why another uprising began in Kakheti:

• “We have not experienced such godlessness and misfortune even during the rule of the Leks, the Kyzylorda, and the Ottomans. We endured, we endured the hardships of the event, because we swore allegiance to the ruler, but when our wives were snatched from our hands, we could not bear it any longer and we destroyed them.”
• “They would grab women, pull down their underwear, and hit them with sticks.”
• “The very act of placing the army in families was God’s wrath. We were dressed as soldiers, they still beat us, we were fed, we still couldn’t escape the whip. They would drag us out of our beds and lie down in them themselves. Who can count how many wives and children they raped and stripped of their honor!”

Despite its large scale, this uprising was also defeated. The participants, including the clergy, were humiliated by being beaten, suffocated, and imprisoned. Some of those who survived death and suffocation were forced to pay a contribution.

In 1819-1820, there was another uprising in Imereti and Guria, led by the clergy. In order to subjugate the autocephalous Georgian Church, Russia began to take various steps, including the performance of services in the Slavic language and the census of church children and fathers. The leaders of the uprising, the clergy and nobles, were arrested and exiled, but this created a new hotbed in Imereti, which also spread to Samegrelo and Guria. As historians describe, the process that began as a church rebellion turned into a national liberation uprising. According to sources, the uprising was again suppressed with blood and heavy taxes were imposed on the people.

This series of protests and tsarist repressions were followed by the 1832 plot, the action plan of which was developed by exiled and local nobles and public figures. Various historical sources describe this process as a real opportunity to restore statehood, although the conspiracy was betrayed by one of the participants, Iase Palavandishvili. The leaders were arrested and exiled, which had a great impact on the slowdown of the national liberation movement.

This is only a small part of the crimes that the Russian Empire committed against the Georgian people. In addition, in the 1800s, the principalities of Guria, Abkhazia, Samegrelo, and Svaneti were gradually abolished. Some of them, history calls “voluntary entry into the Russian protectorate” with an autonomous status, and some of them are called annexations. We remember the protests in Abkhazia in 1821-1827, the uprising against colonial oppression in 1866, the participants of which were hanged and exiled. Also, the forced exile (muhajir) of the Abkhazians in 1867.

Although the influence of Russian tsarism in Georgia was strong and its power was based not only on the sent rulers, exarchs and troops, but also on some of the local, traitorous nobles, the desire to fight for freedom and statehood among the population did not fade for decades. Small protests appeared in various places.

Monument of the Tergdaleulebi
Photo: Iamze Bardavelidze / National Library of Parliament

Important participants in the anti-Russian protest were the Tergdaleulebi and the periodicals operating in Georgia in the 1960s: Iveria, Droeba, Tsiskari, and Moambe of Georgia. By this time, the form of the protest had changed and had evolved from armed uprisings to the dissemination of anti-tsarist stories, poems, and publicistic letters, bypassing censorship. By the way, the Georgian Dream government also decided that it is no longer necessary to study some of the anti-Russian works created during this period.

Later, socialist groups became more active, including the Mesame Dasi, and a dissident movement began. The members of the Mesame Dasi had ideological disagreements with the Tergdaleulebi, but the struggle of both groups played an important role in the growth of protest in Georgia and the strengthening of national self-awareness.

The struggle against Tsarist Russia preserved in the history of Georgia the names of such people as: Alexander Batonishvili, King Solomon, Solomon Dodashvili, Dimitri Kipiani, Ilia Chavchavadze, Noe Zhordania and many others.

At the beginning of the 19th century, the already weakened Russian Empire was torn apart by internal conflicts and revolution. It was at this time that “in the midst of a terrible world storm, in internal and external struggles, Georgia’s freedom was born.” After 117 years of Russian rule, the first independent republic of Georgia was established in 1918.

The Battle Against Communism

Georgia’s freedom from Russia proved to be short-lived. The first independent republic, created by the people freed from the empire, existed for only 3 years. In February 1921, the Red Army invaded Georgia.

Despite their clear numerical superiority, the Georgian troops, including military academy students and cadets, put up great resistance, but were defeated.

 

Georgia was forcibly Sovietized, the government fled into exile, the flag of the First Republic, the coat of arms, and other attributes related to national identity were banned, and a new history of struggle began. In Soviet Georgia, uprisings and plots could no longer be held so permanently, because the communist system controlled everything better than the Russian Empire. Despite this, the wave of the national movement still lived on.

In 1922, a military center and a sworn detachment were created, whose members waged guerrilla warfare against the Red Army.

“The savage hordes of Russia have invaded Georgia, liberated from a hundred years of slavery, and have once again carried it out with fire and sword. The agents of Moscow here are diligently striving to eradicate from our lives every trace of national freedom. […] Sons of Georgia, our enemies will try to blacken our actions and tarnish our reputation; they will christen our struggle as banditry and vandalism,” wrote the commander of the sworn detachment, Kakutsa Cholokashvili, in 1922.

He was not mistaken — according to various historical sources , the 1924 uprising was assessed with a number of epithets: “counter-revolution”, “rebellion of the upper classes”, “senseless and stupid adventure”, “senseless bloodshed”, “bandit speeches”, and others. Sergo Ordzhonikidze, Joseph Stalin and other communists of Georgian origin tried to exclude the national motive from the issue of the uprising and denied that the peasants also participated in it, as if only the former masters and nobles had a protest. Similar forms of discrediting the charge of protest follow Russian regimes to this day.

In the first photo: Kakutsa Cholokashvili and other soldiers / In the second photo: freight cars where machine gun fire was opened on the detainees / Archival footage from the Rondeli Foundation information brochure

In 1922, Catholicos-Patriarch Ambrosi Khelaia was arrested for anti-Soviet activities and sentenced to imprisonment. The Soviet army learned of the rebels’ plans and arrested members of the military center. Generals: Kote Abkhazi, Alexander Andronikashvili and 13 other Georgians were shot in 1923 on the territory of today’s Vake Park . Despite the repression, the rebels planned to liberate Tbilisi for August 1924. In western Georgia, the rebels captured a number of settlements and managed to maintain power for several days. They also distributed an appeal:

“Citizens! Three and a half years have passed, years of suffering, torture, execution of chosen patriots, humiliation and insults, squandering, appropriation of the nation’s wealth. In these conditions, Georgia’s stay means Georgia’s destruction, and liberation means its revival. […] Citizens! Those who want national freedom, those who want political freedom, freedom of religion, those who want to be the owners of your wealth — take up arms. Everyone, take part in this struggle, everyone who can. In this struggle, Europe is with us and our victory is assured. Down with the occupation government! Long live independent, free Georgia!”

The forces were unequal, the uprising ended in defeat, with the participants being severely punished and shot. The Soviet Union tried to destroy and suppress the struggle for the idea of ​​a national movement from the very beginning, which led to the repressions of the 1930s, when tens of thousands of people were deported and shot. This had a great impact on the slowdown of anti-Soviet protests, although the struggle for statehood did not stop.

The anti-Soviet plot of 1941 is also known, when shortly after the start of World War I, public figures, students, writers, and poets created a patriotic organization that planned a conspiracy against the Soviet Union. The conspirators had an organizational structure, used encrypted messages, and planned to continue the fight if any member of the organization was arrested. The Soviet government learned about their plans, and arrested the conspirators on charges of creating a fascist organization and being agents of other countries. The young people, some of whom were graduate students at TSU, were shot, and some were deported.

Participants in the anti-Soviet conspiracy Giorgi Dzigvashvili, Shalva Shavianidze, Kote Joglidze
Photo: National Library of Parliament

In the following years, there were numerous cases when young people, mainly schoolchildren and students, were arrested for distributing anti-Soviet proclamations. There are also reports of an organization created by students in 1946, the goal of which was to peacefully liberate Georgia in accordance with the constitutional norm that allowed the Soviet Union to secede from the union. They were arrested and sentenced to 25 years in prison.

The information about the protests in Tbilisi in 1956 and the tragedy that the Soviet government then unleashed is still disputed. The protests began in March after Nikita Khrushchev denounced Joseph Stalin and began the process of de-Stalinization. Young people took to the streets to defend the cult of Stalin, near his monument. There are reports that the rally included not only pro-Stalin slogans, but also anti-Soviet and independence-restoring demands. Fire was opened on the demonstrators, which officially claimed the lives of more than 20 people, unofficially – more than a hundred.

After these events, the well-known anti-Soviet student movement Gorgasliani, led by Zviad Gamsakhurdia and Merab Kostava, became particularly active. Their names are associated with the anti-Soviet proclamations of 1956, soon after their distribution, all members, including Guram Dochanashvili, were arrested and sentenced to prison:

“Georgians! There is no one else to save us, except ourselves. We must achieve freedom through struggle! Today, when all conscious humanity is outraged by the terrible atrocities of Moscow, the question of the existence or non-existence of our nation is raised. It is time to unite under one flag to fight against the invader of our homeland.”

A special role in the anti-Soviet demonstrations was played by the large-scale protest held in defense of the Georgian language in 1978. When the Soviet government tried to package the policy of Russification with the idea of ​​“equality of nations” and revoke the status of the Georgian language as the state language, young people, students, members of the national liberation movement, and citizens took to the streets of Tbilisi.

“It was during this period that a significant part of Georgian society, especially student youth, intelligentsia groups, and a number of segments of the population, rejected communist-internationalist ideological dogmas and returned to national values,” — Dimitri Shvelidze, Doctor of Historical Sciences (excerpt from an oral story).

The 1978 protests were significant for several reasons. First, because the Soviet government saw the power of young people and students and their organized action to defend their nationality; also because it had to take this power and their demands into account and back down — the Georgian language retained its state status.

As a culmination of many years of struggle and the work of the national movement, mass protests began in Georgia in March and April 1989, when reports spread that the chairman of the Communist Party in Abkhazia had demanded the status of a union republic or direct subordination to Russia. The initial demands of the mass protests included the resignation of the chairman and the cessation of anti-Georgian policies by the Russian Soviet government. Then there was a debate about whether the main line of the protest should be concentrated on the issue of Abkhazia or on the demand for independence. Ultimately, at a rally of 100,000, Georgians demanded independence while going on a hunger strike, fasting, singing, dancing, and praying.

Givi Nakhutsrishvili / National Library of Parliament

The Soviet press spared no effort to discredit the protesters and their demands. A look at the publications of that time will convince you that the Russian regimes have the same methods of defaming the protesters to this day. For example, the articles complained that the republic’s leadership was trying to resolve the situation, but “anti-Soviet slogans” were heard at the rally; as if the people did not share the charge of the protest and said that “everything that disrupted the normal life of the capital is unjustified”. The same publications wrote after the April 9 massacre that the crackdown was “a lawful decision of the competent authorities” and was carried out “to ensure security and prevent unforeseen consequences”. Responsibility was assigned to “leaders of informal associations of an extreme orientation, who, with their unacceptable, unbridled, anti-state actions, have greatly strained the public atmosphere and created a situation of obvious political hysteria.” Yes, although they are very similar to statements spread in government propaganda media in recent years, these are actually materials prepared 36 years ago, ordered by the Soviet government.

On the night of April 9, the Soviet government brought out the army and violently attacked peaceful protesters, who did not resist and even cleared the way for them to defend themselves, but in response they were beaten with shovels, tear gas, and insults. Some of the protesters were covered, protected, and fled the scene with the help of the Georgian Soviet militia. The participants in the demonstration recall what they went through that night, when Russian soldiers were chasing them to kill them. The Soviet army killed 21 people on April 9 — the youngest of whom was 16 years old, and the oldest was 70. Dozens of people were injured.

Despite the scale of the violence, the declaration of a curfew, and the threats, people took to the streets again in the following days. In honor of those who died in the tragedy, Rustaveli Avenue was filled with tulips, and proclamations appeared on other streets of Tbilisi. The tragic night of April 9 finally destroyed the influence of the Soviet government in Georgia, which had begun to falter during the plot of 1922. Three years later, on April 9, 1991, Georgia regained its independence.

Ia Mchedlishvili / National Library of Parliament

During the Soviet Union, thousands of people died in the struggle for Georgia’s independence and national sovereignty, both during the suppression of uprisings and protests, and as a result of deportations and executions. The National Archives preserve documents containing incomplete lists of people executed and exiled under Soviet rule.

The Battle Against Authoritarianism

Despite so many struggles, Georgia has not yet been freed from Russian influence. It did not take long for an authoritarian regime to emerge in the Russian Federation, which emerged from the ruins of the Soviet Union. During his 25-year rule, Vladimir Putin has consolidated and strengthened in Russia all the values ​​and approaches that the Soviet government was so proud of.

Since the 1990s, the population of Georgia has had to resist ethnic confrontations, military conflicts, destabilization of political processes, information warfare, propaganda machine, seizure of state institutions, and the undermining of democracy planned and provoked by Russia. It is a fact that Russia manages to manage political processes in Georgia for its own benefit, but it is also a fact that the population of Georgia is not used to this and is now protesting even in the conditions of regained independence.

Newly independent Georgia had to deal with a civil war in 1991-1992, the Abkhazian war in 1992-1993, and the South Ossetian conflict in 1991-1992. Russian influence spread to separatist sentiments, and instead of national consolidation, we got a military confrontation, which was also supervised by Russia. The elected government in Georgia, which the coup organizers called a dictatorial regime, was overthrown, control over two historical regions was lost, thousands of people died, and tens of thousands became refugees.

After the coup, the new president of Georgia was Eduard Shevardnadze, a former Soviet Union Foreign Minister and First Secretary of the Communist Party Commission, who came from Russia. His term in office was marked by steps that were beneficial to pro-Russian policies at various times, as well as the beginning of cooperation with Western organizations and membership in the CIS.

The country was plunged into prolonged chaos and problems, which, unlike other former Soviet republics, significantly hindered the development process of Georgia. Shevardnadze’s rule was followed by the Rose Revolution, which was accompanied by the uprising of Aslan Abashidze in the Autonomous Republic of Adjara. After large-scale demonstrations in Adjara, Abashidze fled to Russia, while Shevardnadze went home and the National Movement came to power.

Then there were political conflicts, repressions against citizens, the media, and the opposition, the Kodori Uprising, and 2008, when Russia invaded Georgia. The August war, the deaths of more than 400 people, and the declaration of independence of territories occupied by Russia once again sparked anti-Russian protests.

Organized by the then government, on August 12, citizens gathered in Tbilisi to condemn the Russian aggression on Rustaveli. Then, as a sign of solidarity, the presidents and prime ministers of European countries came to Georgia and condemned Russia’s actions. Another anti-Russian protest was organized on September 1, when a human chain was planned throughout Georgia.

Batumi residents / Human Rights Center

After the August War, on each anniversary, citizens paid tribute to the memory of the dead in various ways and protested against Russian aggression, the creeping occupation, and the illegal detention of citizens by de facto forces. Symbolic performances, film screenings, human chains, and marches were held.

In the following years, anti-Russian sentiments did not slow down, although large-scale protests were mainly directed against the repressive policies of the National Movement government.  Anti-Russian demonstrations intensified in the country 7-8 years ago, especially after Russia actively began waging an information war. The authoritarian and now dictator Putin used Russian soft power against Georgia and, by misleading citizens and spreading manipulative and false information, strengthened pro-Russian sentiments in various groups.

One of the first anti-Russian movements was “Russia is an Occupier,” whose members organized protests even when Russian propagandists were visiting Georgia and when the number of Russian tourists in Batumi was growing. For example, in 2018, an international media forum funded by the Russian President’s Foundation, which was attended by propagandists, met with great resistance. Activists greeted them with protest posters and, symbolically, music and a Georgian meal, thereby emphasizing that it is unacceptable to spread a table and be hospitable to the occupiers.

On.ge / JAMnews

We remember numerous small protests, whether it was against national team wrestlers wearing T-shirts in the colors of the Russian flag, as well as the symbolic renaming of streets with Russian names, and many others.

In 2018, when the Russian occupation regime imprisoned, tortured, and killed Archil Tatunashvili, a large-scale protest rally “Peace is better than war” was organized on the streets of Tbilisi. The next largest anti-Russian protest rally began on Gavrilov’s night, on June 20, 2019, when a Russian communist MP was first invited to the Georgian Parliament, then placed in the chairman’s chair, and finally the citizens who came out to protest were dispersed by police forces, during which several people lost their eyes and suffered other physical injuries. About 40 journalists were injured while covering the rally.

After June 20, for several months, continuous anti-Russian rallies were held – citizens protested the government’s pro-Russian policy, the violent dispersal of the rally, and demanded the release of those detained and the transition to a proportional electoral system. The rallies of that time gave rise to the formation of a number of activist organizations, protests expressed with original posters, the unification of musicians against the occupation, and many anti-Russian activities, which were peaceful and diverse forms of protest.

Photos: Tbel Abuselidze / On.ge / Netgazeti

Around this time, accusations of Georgian Dream’s pro-Russian leanings intensified, which were reinforced over time by the steps they took and public statements they made. It all started with Russia’s appeasement and non-provocation policy and ended with Georgia’s international isolation.

In recent years, hundreds of thousands of people have taken to the streets in Georgia to protest against Russia’s full-scale war in Ukraine and the Georgian government’s position on the issue, the resumption of flights with the occupying country, the first landing of a Russian plane, the entry of a Russian ship into a Georgian port, Russian law, or the Russian regime in general. Hundreds of thousands of people have also taken to pro-European rallies, simply supporting European integration or protesting the denial of candidate status or the suspension of the European integration process.

Vakho Kareli / Aprili Media

It is also important to note that historically, the Georgian population fought against Russian authoritarian regimes in the country, and now they have to fight against the Georgian Dream, which has become an authoritarian regime, which attacks all of Georgia’s strategic partners, hinders the country’s path to European integration, adopts anti-democratic laws that are harmful to the country, restricts citizens’ freedom of speech and expression, manipulates with unreasonable fears, and produces homophobic and hateful propaganda that contradicts the fundamental rights of citizens and their right to a dignified life.

This time, the fight against Russia is taking place in dozens of cities across Georgia, on Rustaveli Avenue, which is blocked daily, in university buildings, public institutions, theater buildings, and near prisons and detention centers, where citizens support detained family members, friends, and colleagues. Now the fight continues in hallways, on the streets, at the Christmas tree, and at pro-government concerts — everywhere where they can make their voices heard.

Vakho Kareli / Aprili Media

Now we have to fight Russia on social networks, where we confront the wave of propaganda and disinformation with accurate information. The fight continues in hospitals, where there are citizens who were severely beaten during the protests; in courts, where those detained during the protests are accused of organizing group violence and are sentenced to imprisonment for damaging dams; where the manager of a critical media outlet, Mzia Amaghlobeli, is being sentenced to prison on charges of attacking a police officer and faces 4 to 7 years in prison, but in reality they are being punished for their journalistic activities and are trying to intimidate other media outlets in the same way. We journalists, who have been watching the protests mainly from the perspective of our footage, stories, and articles for years, are already fighting in the streets to protect our colleague, for freedom of speech, and for the right to work.

All this is happening while the authors of repression and violence, people who surrounded, beat, imprisoned and beat citizens again, subjected them to degrading conditions and insulted them, remain unpunished. Now Georgia is again fighting against Russia and its influence, defending its European future with continuous rallies and is not going to give up in this two-century anti-Russian struggle.