Ilia Chavchavadze - Death

Death

After serving as a member of the Upper House in the first Russian Duma, Ilia decided to return to Georgia in 1907. On August 28, 1907 Ilia Chavchavadze was murdered by a gang of six assassins who ambushed him and his wife Olga while traveling from Tbilisi to Saguramo, near Mtskheta. The assassination of Ilia Chavchavadze remains controversial today. Based on recent discoveries in archives, the plot to assassinate Ilia is believed to have been a joint operation by the Mensheviks and the Bolsheviks both wings of Social Democrats, due to Ilia's condemnation of their revolutionary views, his socially conservative vision for Georgian nationalism, and his tremendous popularity among the public.

Author and historian Simon Sebag Montefiore suspects that a young Joseph Stalin may have been involved in planning the Prince's murder. According to Montefiore,

"The Bolshevik position in Georgia was undermined by the assassination of the hugely popular Prince Ilya Chavchavadze.. in August 1907. The Bolsheviks had attacked his patriarchal vision of Georgian culture and, it was widely believed, had decided to kill him; there is some evidence that Stalin's friend Sergo Ordzhonikidze organized or took part in the assassination. It may be that the SDs took no part in the murder at all. Stalin always praised Chavchavandze's poetry in his old age and there is no evidence that he ordered the hit, but he was very close to Sergo and he was certainly more than capable of separating literary merit from cruel necessity: politics always came first."

During World War II, an old man confessed to having been hired by the Tsarist Okhrana to assassinate Ilia. During the Soviet period, an investigation was launched by the Soviet authorities which later concluded that the Tsarist secret police and administration had been involved in the assassination.

Either way, the Prince's murder was seen as a national tragedy which was mourned by all strata of Georgian society. Prince Ak'ak'i Tsereteli, who was suffering from serious health problems at the time, spoke at the funeral and dedicated an outstanding oration to Ilia: “Ilia's inestimable contribution to the revival of the Georgian nation is an example for future generations”.