ABSTRACT
The events of March 1956 left short-and long-term imprints on Georgian society, many of which have been described in the preceding chapters. In the immediate aftermath, anti-Russian attitudes and actions increased dramatically. Numerous cases that were reported to the Georgian authorities indicate the nature of this escalation, but others referred to in appeals by Russians that were addressed directly to leading politicians in Moscow reveal the depth of fear and unease that the new atmosphere created for Russians in the republic. Towards the end of April 1956 a group of Russian inhabitants of Tskhaltubo sent a desperate appeal to Klim Voroshilov, claiming they were “in fear of our lives” as a result of the antiRussian mood. They had been told to leave immediately or face the consequences, amid rumours that anti-Russian atrocities were being prepared for 1 May. One of the leaders of the anti-Russian campaign was the local procurator, and the authorities were doing nothing to stop the threats or protect the population.1 In the same week a military officer on the railways complained to Zhukov of the growing nationalism in Tbilisi and that he was treated as “an alien, a Pariah, an undesirable.” According to this letter, official capitulation to nationalism was demonstrated by the removal of non-Georgians from their positions.2 Later in the year, a member of the CPSU for twenty years, Boris Belkov, alerted the central committee to the growing number of assaults on Russians in his town of Rustavi, which had grown so regular that Russians could not go out at night. He linked rising nationalism on the part of the authorities to corruption, a link that was to be made with growing regularity.3
