After World War II, the economy of Georgia improved. New enterprises, water power stations, mines, irrigating channels etc were built The Government kept society under heavy ideological pressure. New repression appeared again, which had apparently ceased after the death of Stalin in 1953.
The new Soviet government,under N. Khrushchov,changed its postion on the dictator Stalin ..Both Jozef Stalin and the notorious Beria had been Georgians .
Georgian youth did not take kindly to the condemnation of Stalin ,a Georgian whom they had idolised . They protested in Tblisi from 3 to 9 March 1956 . The Soviet army simply turned their guns on them and killed 100 and injured 300 youth .
Thereafter a wide cross section of the population of Georgia lost the Communist ideology belief. In the 60s, nothing much happened other than "make belief " of new achievements . Corruption blossomed No one believed in official propaganda any more.
A dissidential movement started in the mid sixties Among the Georgian dissidents, the most devoted and spiritually strong person was Merab Kostava (1938-1989). He was arrested several times by the state security committee and served his term in the far camps of Russia.
By the 80s, it became clear to everyone that the rotten Soviet regime had no future. In 1985, the leader of the country, M. Gorbachov tried to overcome the crisis with cardinal reforms. "Restructuring" ("Perestroika") began. Architects of the "Restructuring" ("Perestroika") didn’t know that the Soviet system built with blood and iron, had no "immunity" for democratic freedom, and as a result, the swift decomposition of this process began.
"Restructuring" in Georgia began with emphasizing national aspiration. The leaders of the national restructuring movement, which by 1988 became on a wide scale, were former prisoners, Georgian dissidents. Soon, the motto of Independence of Georgia was evident On April 9, 1989, in Tblisi at night a meeting was attacked. 20 persons were killed by the Army Most of them were women. The April 9 tragedy happened on the same place, as March 9, 1956 bloodshed. But in 1989, the general situation in USSR was quite different. The bloody action on April 9 angered not only the whole Georgia, but the progressive society of Russia, which firmly rebelled against this. The Government was forced to step back.
After April 9, the leadership of Georgian Communist Party lost its influence in the Republic. National movement became the main motive power for the political life of Georgia.There were elections on 28 October 1990 (the first many-partied elections in Georgia since 1921).Thus, it was a peaceful end of the Communist governance in Georgia.
Z. Gamsakhurdia became the president of the country,but because of an inflexible ambitious policy of Gamsakhurdia, the relations between Government and Opposition were bitter. The country's army rebelled and bitter conflict arose resulting in the flight of Mr Gamsakhurdia in January 1992 ,but not before independence had first been proclaimed on 9 April 1991.
After the return to Georgia of the former Soviet Minister of Foreign Relations , the noted politician, Edward Shevardnadze, things improved in March 1992. His return filled the large part of the population of Georgia with hope that the prolonged anarchy would end and the country would stand on the way to stabilization. Shevardnadze soon really managed to cease Georgian-Ossetian conflict, and passed the process in the politically regulated dimension.
The return of Shevardnadze became the signal for the world for juridical recognition of the state Independence. Already on March 23, 1992, Independence of Georgia was, recognized by the Euro-union countries. On July 31 of the same year, Georgia was recognised by the UN as its 179th member. Thus, Georgia again came into the list of independant states. The dream of independance was fulfilled.
by courtesy Georgian Government
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