March 9 massacre in Tbilisi, 1956
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The March 9 massacre in Tbilisi, 1956 was a crackdown of peaceful demonstrators in Tbilisi, Georgian SSR, Soviet Union by Soviet troops on March 9, 1956.
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[edit] Background
On 25 February 1956, in a sensational speech to the 20th Congress of the CPSU, Nikita Khrushchev, a new Soviet leader, denounced the late dictator Joseph Stalin (born in Georgia) as a brutal despot, thus initiating policy of de-Stalinization. He said he wanted to break the "Stalin cult" that had held Soviet citizens in its thrall for 30 years. [1]
Khrushchev’s policy of de-Stalinization was a blow to Georgian pride if only because he cast aspersions on the Georgians themselves. Georgian youth, bred on the panegyrics and permanent praise of the “genius” of Stalin, was proud to consider him being a Georgian that ruled over great Russia, and, as believed widely, dominated the world. Now sudden shock of denigration of Stalin was considered as a révanche taken by Khrushchev over the dead giant of history, and as national humiliation.
[edit] Massacre
Several days in advance of the third anniversary of Stalin’s death, groups of students participated in spontaneous demonstrations and meetings by the huge monument of the ‘Great Leader’ near the Kura embankment. The demonstrations in the capital triggered similar protests in other parts of the republic. The situation had become uncontrollable by March 5, when thousands of protesters accompanied by the cacophony of car sirens were chanting the slogan “Long Live Great Stalin, Long Live the Party of Lenin and Stalin, Long Live Soviet Georgia” near the Government House on Rustaveli Avenue. By 8 March, the protest had become apparently anti-Soviet. The most radical group of students demanded restoration of Georgia’s independence from the Soviet Union. Finally the officials allowed the celebration of the anniversary to be held, but when crowds of students moved through the streets towards the monuments, frightened Vasil Mzhavanadze, the local communist leader, lost control and passed on the responsibility to the army. Suddenly the shooting started from several buildings, and the army soldiers and tanks pursued the escaping students. Although no precise numbers of casualties is known, at least 80 (and maybe over 150) young people were killed and several hundreds wounded and arrested.
The March 9 tragedy was a tabooed theme for decades. But the lesson was learned. For some twenty years no open confrontation ever took place, until a new generation of Georgian youth arrived on the scene, so strong was the shock and bitter frustration.
[edit] See also
- April 14 demonstrations in Tbilisi, 1978
- April 9, 1989 Massacre
[edit] Further reading
- Vladimir A. Kozlov: Mass Uprisings in the USSR: Protest and Rebellion in the Post-Stalin Years. M.E. Sharpe, Armonk, New York [u.a.] 2002, ISBN 0-7656-0668-2
