1978 Georgian Demonstrations - Aftermath

Aftermath

Following this unprecedented concession to public opinion, the Soviet authorities, alarmed by the mass actions in Georgia, abandoned similar amendments in the constitutions of Armenia and Azerbaijan and declared Armenian and Azerbaijani state languages at the republican level, without waiting for similar manifestations in either republic.

The language issue in the Transcaucasian republics revealed the sensitivity of the national problem in the region. The upsurge of national movement in Georgia proper, led to tensions within the minorities as well, in particular with the Abkhaz, who interpreted the concession by the Soviet authorities as a retreat in the face of Georgian nationalism and saw this as an opportunity to secede from Georgia. In May 1978, several thousands of Abkhaz nationalists assembled in the village of Lykhny to support 130 Abkhaz Communists, who had signed the letter to Moscow, demanding that the Abkhaz ASSR be allowed to be transferred from Georgia to the Russian SFSR. The Kremlin dispatched I.V. Kapitonov, secretary of the Communist Party Central Committee, to Sukhumi and installed a new party leader, Boris Adleiba, in Abkhazia. Kapitonov declared that secession was impermissible, but the government acknowledged the seriousness of Abkhaz problem by decreeing a costly plan "for the development of the economy and culture of the Abkhaz ASSR". An extra 500 millions rubles were appropriated over seven years for economic investments such as a road-building program for infrastructure-poor Abkhazia, and cultural benefits such as the creation of an Abkhaz State University (with Abkhaz, Georgian, and Russian sectors), a State Folk Dance Ensemble in Sukhumi, and Abkhaz-language television broadcasting. Besides, ethnic quotas were established for certain bureaucratic posts, giving the Abkhaz a degree of political power that was disproportionate to their minority status in the autonomous republic.

Both the Georgian language and Abkhaz questions were on high agenda throughout the following years. Georgians living in Abkhazia protested about discrimination against them at the hands of the Abkhaz Communist Party élite and demanded the equal access to the autonomous structures. Several Georgian intellectuals petitioned Shevardnadze and the Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev to address the situation. During 1981, at least five mass demonstrations took place in Georgia at which Abkhaz question was raised once again alongside broader issues connected with the defense of the Georgian language, history, and culture. The protesters also demanded the release of Avtandil Imnadze, the only person who was arrested in connection with 14 April 1978 events for having filmed the student demonstrations in Tbilisi. Although Shevardnadze managed to comply with popular opinion without being punished or reprimanded by the centre, probably due to the success of his economic policy in Georgia, he still sought to neutralise the dissident movement in order to retain his fame of a successful and loyal Communist leader. Under increasing pressure from the authorities, the national movement suffered a setback in April 1979, when the prominent Georgian dissident, Zviad Gamsakhurdia, was pardoned after having repented his views, admitting his "errors of judgment" on nationwide television. As Gamsakhurdia's close associate, Merab Kostava, refused to surrender, he remained an untainted leader of Georgian dissident movement until his release in 1987 and his mysterious death in a car crash in 1989. The anti-nationalist measures also included the dismissal of Akaki Bakradze, a popular professor who taught a course on Georgian literature at Tbilisi University and was known for his anti-Soviet feelings. In March 1981, over 1,000 students protested and achieved the restoration of Bakradze to his position. Later that month, large groups of students and intellectuals demonstrated in defence of Georgian national rights and submitted to the Georgian party leadership a document entitled "The Demands of the Georgian People". The petition included proposals to protect the status of the Georgian language, improve the teaching of Georgian history and preservation of Georgian historical monuments, and protect the Georgians in Abkhazia. Other Georgian protests took place in the town of Mtskheta in October 1981, when 2,000 people demonstrated in defence of their native language. Unrest continued, and, in 1982, intellectuals protested against the arrest of dissenters on trumped-up charges.