Georgian nationalism: Difference between revisions

{{Short description|Ideology promoting the Georgian identity}}

'''Georgian nationalism''' ({{lang-ka|ქართული ნაციონალიზმი|tr}}) is a [[Nationalism|nationalist]] ideology promoting [[Georgians|Georgian]] national identity, the [[Georgian language]] and [[Culture of Georgia (country)|culture]].

 

== Emergence ==

Modern Georgian nationalism emerged in the middle of the 19th century as a reaction to the Russian annexation of fragmented Georgian polities, which terminated their precarious independence, but brought to the Georgians unity under a single authority, relative peace and stability. The first to inspire national revival were aristocratic poets, whose [[Romanticism|romanticist]] writings were imbued with patriotic laments. After a series of ill-fated attempts at revolt, especially, after the failed [[1832 Georgian plot|coup plot of 1832]], the Georgian elites reconciled with the Russian rule, while their calls for national awakening were rechanneled through cultural efforts. In the 1860s, the new generation of Georgian intellectuals, educated at Russian universities and exposed to European ideas, promoted national culture against assimilation by the Imperial center. Led by the literati such as [[Ilia Chavchavadze]], their program attained more nationalistic colors as the nobility declined and capitalism progressed, further stimulated by the rule of the Russian bureaucracy and economic and demographic dominance of the Armenian middle class in the capital city of [[Tbilisi]]. Chavchavadze and his associates called for the unity of all Georgians and put national interests above class and provincial divisions. Their vision did not envisage an outright revolt for independence, but demanded autonomy within the reformed Russian Empire, with greater cultural freedom, promotion of the Georgian language, and support for Georgian educational institutions and the [[Georgian Orthodox Church|national church]], whose independence had been suppressed by the Russian government.{{sfn|Sabanadze|2010|loc=[http://books.openedition.org/ceup/573?lang=en#bodyftn5 Online]}}

 

 

The idea of Caucasian federation within the reformed Russian state was also voiced by the ideologues of Georgian [[social democracy]], who came to dominate Georgian political landscape by the closing years of the 19th century. Initially, the [[Social Democratic Party of Georgia|Georgian Social Democrats]] were opposed to nationalism and viewed it as a rival ideology, but they remained proponents of [[self-determination]].{{sfn|Sabanadze|2010|loc=[http://books.openedition.org/ceup/573?lang=en#bodyftn25 Online]}} In the words of the historian [[Stephen F. Jones]], "it was socialism in Georgian colors with priority given to the defense of national culture."{{sfn|Jones|2009|p=254}} The Georgian social-democrats were very active in [[Russian Social Democratic Labor Party|all-Russian socialist movement]] and after its split in 1905 sided with the [[Menshevik]] faction adhering to relatively liberal ideas of their Western European colleagues.{{sfn|Sabanadze|2010|loc=[http://books.openedition.org/ceup/573?lang=en#bodyftn21 Online]}}

 

== First Georgian republic ==

The [[October Revolution|Bolshevik revolution of 1917]] was perceived by the Georgian Mensheviks, led by [[Noe Zhordania]], as a breach of links between Russia and Europe.{{sfn|Sabanadze|2010|loc=[http://books.openedition.org/ceup/573?lang=en#bodyftn21 Online]}} When they declared Georgia an [[Democratic Republic of Georgia|independent democratic republic]] on 26 May 1918, they viewed the move as a tragic inevitability against the background of unfolding geopolitical realities.{{sfn|Sabanadze|2010|loc=[http://books.openedition.org/ceup/573?lang=en#bodyftn21 Online]}}

 

== Soviet Georgia ==

After the [[Red Army invasion of Georgia]] and its [[sovietization]] in 1921, followed by suppression of an [[August Uprising|armed rebellion]] against the new regime in 1924, many leading nationalist intellectuals went in exile in Europe. In the [[Soviet Union]], Georgian nationalism went underground or was rechanneled into cultural pursuits, becoming focused on the issues of language, promotion of education, protection of old monuments, literature, film, and sports. Any open manifestation of local nationalism was repressed by the Soviet state, but it did provide cultural frameworks and, as part of its policy of [[korenizatsiya]], helped institutionalize the Georgians as a "[[titular nationality]]" in the [[Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic]], allowing Georgia to develop its own national communist elite and cultural [[intelligentsia]].{{sfn|Sabanadze|2010|loc=[http://books.openedition.org/ceup/573?lang=en#bodyftn35 Online]}}{{sfn|Jones|2009|pp=255–256}} Thus, by maintaining the focus of Georgian nationalism on cultural issues, the Soviet regime was able to prevent it from becoming a political movement until the 1980s ''[[perestroika]]'' period.{{sfn|Jones|2009|pp=255–256}}

 

Georgian nationalism was eventually more tolerated during the waning years of the USSR due to [[Mikhail Gorbachev|Mikhail Gorbachev's]] Glasnost policy. The Soviet government attempted to counter the Georgian independence movement in the early 1990s with promises of greater decentralisation from Moscow.

 

== Sources ==