From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article is part of the series on: History of Georgia

Early History

Kura-Araxes

Diauehi

Colchis

Egrisi

Caucasian Iberia

Medieval History

Tao-Klarjeti

Kingdom of Abkhazeti-Egrisi

Russian Rule

Georgia Under Imperial Russia

Early Independence

Democratic Republic of Georgia

Soviet Georgia

Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic

March 9 Tragedy

April 9 Tragedy

Modern Georgia

Republic of Georgia

Georgian Civil War

Rose Revolution

Post-Shevardnadze

History By Autonomous Republics

History of Abkhazia

History of Adjara This box: view • talk • edit

The March 9 massacre in Tbilisi, 1956 was a crackdown of peaceful demonstrators in Tbilisi, Georgian SSR, Soviet Union by Soviet troops on March 9, 1956.

Contents 1 Background 2 Massacre 3 See also 4 Further reading 5 External links

On 25 February 1956, in a sensational speech to the 20th Congress of the CPSU, Nikita Khrushchev, a new Soviet leader, denounced the late dictator Joseph Stalin (born in Georgia) as a brutal despot, thus initiating policy of de-Stalinization. He said he wanted to break the "Stalin cult" that had held Soviet citizens in its thrall for 30 years. [1]

Khrushchev’s policy of de-Stalinization was a blow to Georgian pride if only because he cast aspersions on the Georgians themselves. Georgian youth, bred on the panegyrics and permanent praise of the “genius” of Stalin, was proud to consider him being a Georgian that ruled over great Russia, and, as believed widely, dominated the world. Now sudden shock of denigration of Stalin was considered as a révanche taken by Khrushchev over the dead giant of history, and as national humiliation.

Several days in advance of the third anniversary of Stalin’s death, groups of students participated in spontaneous demonstrations and meetings by the huge monument of the ‘Great Leader’ near the Kura embankment. The demonstrations in the capital triggered similar protests in other parts of the republic. The situation had become uncontrollable by March 5, when thousands of protesters accompanied by the cacophony of car sirens were chanting the slogan “Long Live Great Stalin, Long Live the Party of Lenin and Stalin, Long Live Soviet Georgia” near the Government House on Rustaveli Avenue. By 8 March, the protest had become apparently anti-Soviet. The most radical group of students demanded restoration of Georgia’s independence from the Soviet Union. Finally the officials allowed the celebration of the anniversary to be held, but when crowds of students moved through the streets towards the monuments, frightened Vasil Mzhavanadze, the local communist leader, lost control and passed on the responsibility to the army. Suddenly the shooting started from several buildings, and the army soldiers and tanks pursued the escaping students. Although no precise numbers of casualties is known, at least 80 (and maybe over 150) young people were killed and several hundreds wounded and arrested.

The March 9 tragedy was a tabooed theme for decades. But the lesson was learned. For some twenty years no open confrontation ever took place, until a new generation of Georgian youth arrived on the scene, so strong was the shock and bitter frustration.

• 1978 Tbilisi Demonstrations
• April 9, 1989 Massacre

• Vladimir A. Kozlov: Mass Uprisings in the USSR: Protest and Rebellion in the Post-Stalin Years. M.E. Sharpe, Armonk, New York [u.a.] 2002, ISBN 0-7656-0668-2

• 70 years of Soviet Georgia
• Soviet journalist about the incidents in Georgia, March 1956
• L. Piradov’s Criticism of Student Behavior, 1956