Joseph Stalin Museum, Gori, credit Wikipedia
Bloody Gori, by Bill Hartley
There is a museum dedicated to Stalin in his birthplace, the Georgian town of Gori. It doesn’t contain many items which actually belonged to him, since Stalin wasn’t the acquisitive sort, at least in the personal sense. They do have his private railway carriage on display. Of course, in the first half of he twentieth century no self-respecting dictator would have been without one. There is also the log cabin in which the local lad was born and grew up. It resembles one of those garden cabins they advertise in country living magazines, though the carpentry isn’t as good.
Arriving at Tblisi airport a traveller may notice the occasional dog lying around on the concourse. Usually a dog in an airport comes with a handler and is there for security purposes. Not so in this case. Georgia’s capital has a large collection of feral dogs roaming free. These are far from being emaciated specimens. Here it is considered a sort of civic duty to keep them fed. The local authorities play their part too. All the dogs carry a yellow ear tag confirming their vaccination status and they interact quite amicably with the human population. At a café with tables outdoors, it’s not unusual to be sharing space with a sleeping dog.
Georgia is a small country in a state of transition. It was once annexed by the Tsars, briefly regained its independence following the Russian revolution and did so once more in 1991, after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Subsequently Georgia lost some territory after Russia saw an opportunity to exploit ethnic divisions. First was South Ossetia, where a separatist movement took on central government. Russian ‘peace keepers’ came in and the territory is now an independent republic recognised by Russia, Syria and Venezuela. The rest of the world disagrees. Even so South Ossetia has a president and a prime minister governing a population of 56,000. It is as if Cumbria had seceded from England.
Another piece of territory in the northwest was lost following the Russia-Georgia war of 2008. This became the so-called Republic of Abkhazia and the outcome was the displacement of many thousands of Georgians. It seems unlikely they’ll get it back since the Russians are building a new base for their Black Sea fleet; presumably hoping it is beyond the reach of Ukraine. To the south is the city of Anaklia where the Georgian government has come to an agreement with the Chinese for the construction of a deep-water port. This will be of great strategic significance along a route shipping goods between Europe and Asia.
Approaching the capital Tblisi, it is easy to see why a financial journalist in Moneyweek recently went so far as to describe Georgia as the ‘Switzerland of the Caucasus’. With a Black Sea coast and lying on the old Silk Road, it is a place through which trade has flowed for centuries. Georgia has a young, well-educated population which unlike its seniors prefers English as a second language, rather than Russian. The corruption endemic in other post Soviet republics has been largely eliminated. In part this was achieved when the entire police force was sacked. Modern multi lane roads run into the capital, alongside which new apartment blocks are going up near their grim Soviet era predecessors.
With a general election due on 26th October of this year, the political temperature is beginning to rise. On a Saturday afternoon in late September a procession and rally took place in Tblisi, organised by one of the opposition parties. Many of those marching were wrapped in the national colours and at the head of the procession an EU flag was being carried. The ruling Georgian Dream party is seeking a record fourth term in office and unlike the main opposition is reputedly pro Moscow. A few months ago it enacted what is known locally as the ‘Agent’s Law’. This law requires organisations receiving more than 20% of their funding from abroad to register as ‘agents of foreign influence’ and is seen by many as a way for the government to suppress its opponents. The Kremlin enacted similar legislation back in 2012. It seems unlikely that Georgia’s application to join the EU will make much progress whilst the law remains in force.
Politics also find their way into the pulpit. The deeply conservative Georgian Orthodox church has close ties with the Russian Orthodox, the latter being widely seen as subservient to the Kremlin. Religious observance can be strong. On a Saturday morning at a church close to Tblisi’s old town there was standing room only, with proceedings being broadcast to those outside. Archbishop Jakob of Bodbe recently posted online a sermon he had preached at the Church of the Mother of God. The translation wasn’t very good, making it difficult to determine if he was pro Moscow or pro EU. At times he seemed to be hostile to both. During the sermon he also accused one politician of ‘speaking like a woman’. This seemed insensitive since most of the congregation appeared to be female. It remains to be seen if Georgian Dream gets another term, of if the Western orientated United National Movement prevails.
Perhaps it is the old town district of Tblisi which most reflects Georgia in transition. Architectural styles vary across the country depending on available materials. In the old town there are many brick and timber buildings with characteristic balconies, extending living space over the street below. The old town lies on both sides of the Kura river where it runs through a steep sided valley. House building up the slopes has resulted in a rather dramatic townscape. In addition, every promontory seems to have a church or chapel. These tend to have a conical dome built above a drum shaped tower, with the building below laid out as a cross. The old town is on a World Monuments Watch list as being endangered. There is a plan dating back to 2010 to make the buildings and cobbled streets more attractive to tourists but progress has been patchy at best. Getting along a pavement can be something of an assault course, avoiding deep potholes and various other trip hazards. Some houses have been beautifully restored and new ones built in the traditional style (the Italian ambassador lives in one). Others are in a dangerous state of near collapse. Sometimes it is only by looking into a courtyard to find clothes drying that one realises that this dangerously unstable dwelling is in fact still inhabited. Out on the pavements street sellers of vegetables and the local wines interact amiably with passers by. There are tiny traditional grocer’s shops interspersed with small supermarkets. Looming over the old town is the golden dome of the Holy Trinity Cathedral, looking as if it has always been there but in fact was only completed in 2004.
Georgia is likely to be in the news in the coming weeks as the election approaches. The result may help determine whether this small republic in the Caucasus will turn westwards or accept the influence of its giant neighbour to the north.
William Hartley is a Social Historian and globetrotter
That Big Brother portrait in the Gori museum reminded me of a schoolboy exchange, when invited to the birthday of a Young Communist acquaintance, whose father was local party treasurer and whose mother worked for Jack Gaster of Korean War “fame”. Ron’s bedroom displayed two large photographs, Stalin and Voroshilov on the Kremlin Wall, and Uncle Joe himself grinning with bad teeth against his pipe. Thinking of the Soviet death-toll and the concentration-camps, which my host described as “capitalist lies”, I said, “There’s the old rogue, smiling for the camera.”
“Stalin is ALWAYS smiling, Dave,” said Ron indignantly with the confident assurance now found with the young captives of woke. The vile Vozhd died the following year, and 14 years later I organised a Multinational Commemoration of the Victims of Communism in the Albert Hall. Who knows or cares about them today?
PS
There is a valuable Museum of Communist Terror in London which can be searched online.