Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic (1921–1991)

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Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic
საქართველოს საბჭოთა სოციალისტური რესპუბლიკა
Flag of Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic
Flag
Coat of arms of Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic
Coat of arms
Location of Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic
Capital
and largest city
Tbilisi
Dominant mode of productionSocialism
GovernmentSoviet republic
Area
• Total
69,700 km²
Population
• 1990 estimate
5,424,000
Preceded by
Succeeded by
Democratic Republic of Georgia
1936:
Transcaucasian SFSR
1922:
Union of Soviet Socialist Republics
Transcaucasian SFSR
1991:
Georgia


The Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic was a republic of the Soviet Union located in the southern Caucasus.

History

Formation

Germany formed a Menshevik government in Georgia in May 1918, and the UK continued to support it after Germany's defeat. The Bolsheviks led an insurrection in early 1921, and the Red Army forced the Mensheviks to flee to Western Europe in February.[1]

1950s

In 1951, Stalin purged several leaders of the Communist Party of Georgia for corruption and connections to U.S. imperialism. Beria's supporters, who made up more than half of the Central Committee, lost their positions.

In April 1953, shortly after Stalin's death, Beria organized a coup in Georgia to restore his supporters to power. Vladimir Dekanozov replaced Rukhadze as Georgia's Minister of State Security.

Generals Antonov and Sergei Yefimov organized another coup on 14 July 1953 with Khrushchev's support. They overthrew Beria's supporters installed Vasil Mzhavanadze as the leader of the CPG.[2]

Protests broke out in Tbilisi in 1956 against Khrushchev's de-Stalinization campaign.[1]

Economy

In 1971, there were 19,411 Georgian scientific workers, and Georgians were significantly overrepresented in scientific fields. Despite this, the average Georgian wage in 1978 was 16% below the all-union average.[3]

Industrial production grew by 144 times between 1913 and 1978. Georgia produced the third most metal of the Soviet republics.[1]

Demographics

Ethnic Georgians made up 68.8% of Georgia's population in 1979, a slight increase from 64.3% in 1959. The percentage of Russians in Georgia dropped from 8.5% to 7.4% from 1970 to 1979. Georgians were overrepresented in the CPSU more than any other major nationality.[3]

Languages

73% of books and 86% of newspapers published in Georgia were in Georgian. 98.4% of ethnic Georgians spoke Georgian as their first language.[3]

Living standards

Education

The number of students in Georgia rose from 157,000 before the revolution to 975,000 in the late 1970s. The Georgian student/population ratio was 43% higher than the USSR average and the second highest for any nationality behind Jews.[3]

Health care

In 1959, the per capita health expenditure in Georgia was 17.7 rubles, which was higher than Kazakhstan or Uzbekistan but lower than Russia. In 1971, the number of doctors, 36.8 per 10,000 people, was higher in Georgia than in any part of the Soviet Union. However, the number of hospital beds (88.0 per 10,000) was the second lowest behind Armenia.[3]

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 Albert Szymanski (1984). Human Rights in the Soviet Union: 'The European Nationalities in the USSR' (pp. 73–87). [PDF] London: Zed Books Ltd.. ISBN 0862320186 [LG]
  2. Ludo Martens (1996). Another View of Stalin: 'From Stalin to Khrushchev' (pp. 261–262). [PDF] Editions EPO. ISBN 9782872620814
  3. 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 Albert Szymanski (1984). Human Rights in the Soviet Union: 'The Asian Nationalities in the USSR' (pp. 44–59). [PDF] London: Zed Books Ltd.. ISBN 0862320186 [LG]