POLITICAL DISTURBANCES OF MARCH 1956 IN TBILISI

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP80T00246A047200470001-6
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: S
• Document Page Count: 11
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: August 5, 2010
• Sequence Number: 1
• Publication Date: March 6, 1959
• Content Type: REPORT

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~ A ~ ~ ? t ? ~ A ? R t ? a
CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY
This material contains information affecting the National Defense of the United States within the meaning of the Espionage Laws, Title
18, U.S.O. Secs. 793 and 794, the transmission or revelation of which in any manner to an unauthorized person is prohibited by law.
S-E -C -R-E -T
COUNTRY USSR (Georgian SSR)
DATE OF
f INFO.
PLACE &
DATE ACQ.
Political Disturbances of
March 1956 in Tbilisi
REPORT
DATE DISTR.
NO. PAGES
REFERENCES
SOURCE EVALUATIONS ARE DEFINITIVE. APPRAISAL OF CONTENT IS TENTATIVE
A 10-page report on the Tbilisi riots of March 1956 and on Georgian
reactions to the Stalin anniversary in March 1957
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USSR (Georgian SSR)
Political Disturbances of March 1956 in Tbilisi
1. According to custom, on the morning of 5 March 1956, the
annrersary of Stalin's death, student delegations arrived
at Stalin's statue in Tbilisi (N 41-li2, E 44-4 5) with wreaths.
The statue had been surrounded by militia guards since the
early morning to prevent overcrowding as the wreaths were
laid. Although the groups protested militia orders to re-
main at a considerable distance from the site - to preclude
haranguing - they realized that the order was firm and, con-
sequently, dispersed throughout the town. Subsequently,
reports circulated to the effect that the memorial meeting
had probably been proscribed by the authorities.
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2. In the afternoon crowds started to drift to the statue site
to protest the official interdiction. In the late afternoon
the guards suddenly disappeared, and the stage in front of
the statue was taken by student speakers who eulogized Stalin
while protesting the Soviet rulers (i.e., Khrushchev and
Mikoyan), who, they said, were opposed to the personality
cult only to belittle "theillustrious Georgian, Stalin".
The speeches, which lasted until 2 A.M., contained progres-
sively sharper protests against the insult to the memory of
Stalin. At 2 A.M. a Georgian woman, a widow of a Hero of
the Soviet Union who had been killed during World War II,
took the platform to announce that the meeting was adjourned;
she exhorted the crowd to reconvene at 6 A.M., however, to
stop work the following day, and to demonstrate reverence
for the memory of Stalin. At the end of the meeting the
public was informed that a Committee of Free Georgia, con-
sisting of students from the Stalin University in Tbilisi,
had been established. A guard of honor of youths was left
at the statue for the duration of the night.
3. On 6 March at 10 A.M. snowballing crowds of youths and adults
thronged from all parts of the city towards the site of the
statue, carrying pictures of Stalin, Mao Tse vZ4ing, Molotov,
and Kaganovich. A holiday atidosphere prevailed throughout
SLr
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the town, with houses and shop windows decorated with pictures
of Stalin. The demonstrations lasted until the afternoon, and,
when the crowd became very dense, it broke up and concentrated
at the Stalin Statue and the Central Square (tsentralnaya
ploshchad). At both points speakers from all walks of life
appeared; their speeches were characterized by opposition to
the government and the regime. A 70-year-old kolkhoz member
spoke about the poverty prevailing at his settlement; a war
invalid said that Stalin had been his motive for going to war,
and now his memory was to be erased. Khrushchev and Mikoyan
were targets of defamation. A ten-year-old girl recited a poem
ending with the words: "The wise stay on the soil and the
fools in the Kremlin (imniye ludie na zemle a duraki v kremle)".
Meanwhile, all traffic in town had stopped and loudspeakers
which had been installed on vehicles requested the public to
participate in the demonstration. The speeches lasted through-
out the night.
1~. On the morning of 7 March, the demonstrators marched toward
the Armenian quarter to the 26 Komissarov quarter, headed by
a sleigh containing caricatures of Khrushchev (resembling a
pig) and of Mikoyan. Meanwhile, a rumor was spreading that
Chinese Deputy Chairman Marshal Chu-Te had arrived in Tbilisi
that morning, whereupon loudspeakers announced that the
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demonstration was to head toward his quarters in Berit's
former residence five kilometers away. Fifty thousand persons
started marching to the residence, which was surrounded by mil-
itary guards (probably MVD soldiers armed with machine guns).
As the demonstrators approached the mansion and called upon
Chu-Te to come forward, someone appeared on the balcony of
the house and announced that Chu-Te was not there at all.
Leaders of the demonstration, however, had been reliably
informed that he was there, and demands for his presence
lasted two or three hours. Finally, a small delegation of
the demonstrators entered the house, and a short while later
the Chinese marshal appeared on the balcony, accompanied by
the secretary of the Central Committee and members of the
Georgian government. He was received with loud and repeated
shouts of "Lenin-Stalin" after which one of the demonstrators
read a note of protest against the denigration of Stalin
instigated by Khrushchev which concluded with a query as to
the whereabouts of Stalin's son Vasil'y. Chu-Te answered in
broken Russian, promising that the Lenin-Stalin line would
continue to direct all actions of the Communist Party through-
out the world. He also assured the public that Vasil. Stalin
was staying at A safe place in China. After receiving a note
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of protests which he promised to deliver to Mao Tse-/ng,
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Chu-Te asked the crowd to disperse quietly and return to
work. The meeting cheered the demonstrators considerably,
and they returned to the town center in high spirits. The
mob dispersed to the Naberezhnaya and at the Central Square.
With the exception of the gorsovet and the Headquarters of
the Transcaucasian Military District, all of the buildings
in'the center of town were decorated with pictured of Stalin.
One of the speakers at the Central Square called upon the
public to compel these institutions to display the pictures.
Several demonstrators climbed into the gorsovet, found Stalin
pictures, and hung then in front of the building while the
crowd cheered. The public then approached military head-
quarters, which was under guard, and for two solid hours -
undaunted by the pouring rain - demanded that pictures of
Stalin be shown. When no reaction came from the building,
several youths climbed up to its roof and lowered huge pic-
tures of Stalin to the front, accompanied by the cheering
of the crowd. Since there was no retaliation from the mili-
tary guards, the crowd moved to the buildings occupied by the
Central Committee and the republican MVD and similarly decorated
them.
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6. Meanwhile, the demonstrations continued with speakers from
all walks of lifer notably writers, professionals, and poets.
One poet even managed t9Eompoee a poem on the spot to read
to the enthusiastic public. From time to time loudspeaker
announcements proclaimed that prominent people had joined the
demonstration.
7. Train traffic to Moscow was not interrupted, although trains
were covered with slogans commemorating Stalin.
8. On 9 March, the anniversary of Stalin's funeral, the local
Russian paper Zaria Vostoka and the Georgian paper Komunist
featured a picture and biography of Stalin on the front page.
The Tbilisi radio station also called upon the public to hang
black flags in memory of Stalin's funeral. Both measures were
officially instigated and were aimed at conciliating the
public, but the people considered that they were not com-
mensurate to the greatness of Stalin. At 11 A.M. loudspeakers
at the Naberezhnaya announced that the secretary of the
Georgian Central Committee was asking for public consent to
address the demonstrators. When favorably received, he ad-
dressed the assembly "as one Georgian to another", a comment
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which gave rise to catcalls and prolonged shouts that he was
a traitor to the Georgian people. When the crowd quieted
down, the secretary said that the Party had done everything
to honor Stalin's memory, and asked the public to disperse
quietly and return to work, under threat of stronger steps
against the demonstrators. He was immediately hooted off
the stage. The demonstrators then returned to their normal
course, with speakers censuring the threats of the secretary.
Georgian national flags began appearing on buildings. Toward
p
evening searchlights were installed in many places, and armored
cars suddenly began passing through the streets. Between 8
and 9 P.M. it was announced by loudspeaker that cables of
sympathy with the stand taken by the Georgian students had
been received from the Universities of Moscow, Leningrad,
and Kiev. The announcement aroused great enthusiasm, and it
was immediately decided to dispatch acknowledgements as well
as a cable to the Kremlin demanding Khrushchev's deposal and
Georgian independence. A list of members for a provisional
Georgian government was drafted, and a few dozen people were
selected to go to the main post office to dispatch the tele-
grams, accompanied by a large crowd. When they approached
the main post office, they spotted a military radio car new
the side of the building which was continuously transmitting
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messages about the situation. The public entered the building,
but when one group tried to get to the third floor where the
television transmitting station was situated, several machine
gun volleys were heard. It was immediately known that there
were wounded and dead among those who had tried to enter the
station; bloodstained shirts and blouses were carried out of
the building and hung on Stalin's statue at the Naberezhnaya.
Meanwhile word passed around to go to the arsenal and get arms
for defense.
9. At that time tanks appeared in the streets and it was realized
that the town was surrounded by military units. The Georgian
division, which was stationed in Gory (N 41-58., E 44-07)., the
birthplace of Stalin, was cut off from the town and was also
put under siege. The tanks moved to Stalin's statue at the
Naberezhnaya, and surrounded the area, leaving only a narrow
passage for the public. When the tanks started shooting into
the air to frighten the crowd and compel it to disperse, the
speakers called upon the crowd to remain and keep cool, but
many people left in fright in order to hide in the vicinity.
Troops entered Tbilisi and formed a cordon around the crowd
at the statue. Shots whistled by, and many persons who had
hidden among nearby shrubs and trees were hit, while those
who resisted the troops were thrown into the river. The
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aforementioned widow, after covering herself in Stalin's
picture and declaring that she would not budge, was bayoneted
by the soldiers. A small group of demonstration leaders who
had remained next to the statue were arrested and put into a
military car.
10. At 2 A.M. the Tbilisi radio station announced that martial
law had been proclaimed because American parachutists had
tried to organize disturbances in Tbilisi. In the morning
posters were put up on the walls of buildings by the Central
Committee and the Komsomol which called on the public to
return to work and maintain order. Patrols of tanks, armored
cars and soldiers filled the streets. On the morning of the
tenth, the public again tried to assemble near Stalin's statue,
but speechmaking attempts were immediately suppressed and the
crowd was forcibly dispersed. Those who provoked the soldiers
or censured them for using force were arrested on the spot.
The Russian and Ukrainian composition of the military units
caused much bitterness among the Georgians. Martial law
lasted for three days until the situation returned to normal.
The organizers of the demonstration were originally given heavy
prison sentences, but several months later, when the verdicts
were appealed, the charge was changed from attempted rebellion
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to hooliganism and the sentences were reduced to one or two
years.
11. During the same period in March 1957 a mounted militia guard
stationed near the Stalin statue from the early hours of the
morning allowed delegations to lay their wreaths there but
not to congregate. A small group of youths which tried to
assemble around the statue was chased away by the mounted
guard. Pictures of Stalin and of his son Vasi* were sold
in the town.
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