Browsing by Author "Matsaberidze, Malkhaz"
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Item Constituent Assembly of Georgia and Formation of Party System(Ivane Javakhishvili Tbilisi state university, Faculty of social and political sciences, 2019-06) Matsaberidze, Malkhaz; მაცაბერიძე, მალხაზBy the time of the declaration of independence (May 26, 1918), different political parties and groups, formed in the Russian Empire functioned in Georgia. After the formation of an independent state, locally based parties were supposed to form the basis for the party system in the country, while others were forced to disappear from the political arena. The real influence of the parties should have been proved through elections of the Constituent Assembly. Those elections were held on February 14-16, 1919. 15 political units participated in the elections. They can be divided into four groups: • Political parties and their breakaway parts – 7 units; • Political groups created by the Georgian intelligentsia – 3 units; • Political associations of ethnic minorities – 3 (4) units; • Foreign political parties – 2 units. Political parties, which were created by intelligentsia hurriedly, on the eve of elections (Union of non-party members, Shota Rustaveli Party, Aesthetic League of Patriots) did not win the support of the electorate and no single deputy of the Constituent Assembly was elected from these parties. Representatives of the political units of national minorities (National Council of the Muslims of Georgia, Union of Muslims of Borchalo district, Democratic Group of Georgian Greeks, National Party of Abkhazians) ended the elections with the same result. From the foreign parties, Revolutionary Federation “Dashnaktsjutjun” won three seats in 1 The paper was prepared in the framework of the Shota Rustaveli National Science Foundation project “Constituent Assemble of Georgia: Experience of the Georgian parliamentarism”, Code: FR – 18 – 20157. the Assembly; Social-Democratic Party of Russia did not collect enough votes. As for the first group of parties in our classification, initially 4 out of the 7 units won the elections, later on, 6 units were represented in the Assembly. The composition of parties in the Constituent Assembly looked as follows: Political parties Main elections - February1919 1st additional elections – August 1919 2nd additional elections – May 1920 Social-Democratic Party of Georgia 109 105 102 National-Democratic Party of Georgia 8 7 8 Socialist-Revolutionary Party of Georgia 5 5 6 Socialist-Federalist Party of Georgia 8 9 9 “Dashnaktsjutjun” - 3 3 National Party of Georgia - 1 2 The elections of the Constituent Assembly and two years of its activities revealed some trends in the development of the Georgian political spectrum, in particular, a domination of the leftist political parties (they had 122 and, later on, 120 seats out of 130 in the Assembly), a weakening of the Social-Democratic Party (the number of deputies decreased from 109 to 92), a formation of the radical leftist wing (“Akhali skhivi” group) by 1921, and a unification of the Right political forces (formation of the “Democratic Party”). The party composition of the Constituent Assembly by February 11, 1921, looked as follows: Party Seats in the Constituent Assembly Social-Democratic Labor Party of Georgia 92 Independent Social-Democratic faction “Skhivi” 10 Democratic fiction (union of non-socialist parties) 10 Socialist-Federalists 9 Socialist-Revolutinaries 6 “Dashnaktsjutjun” 3 In the Autumn of 1921 elections of the Parliament of Georgia should have been held on the basis of the Constitution of 1921, however, the Soviet occupation led to dramatic changes in the development of the country.Item The Representatives of National Minorities in the Constituent Assembly of Georgia (1919-1921)(2020) Matsaberidze, Malkhaz; Orjonikidze, TamarThe paper reflects on the works and activities of the representatives of national minorities in the Constituent Assembly of Georgia in 1919-1921, through the analysis of the documents, stenographic reports of the sessions of the constituent assembly and those-days Georgian press and archival materials. The 20 per cent of the population of the Democratic Republic of Georgia (which was established on May 26, 1918) were ethnic minorities: Armenians, Turkish Muslims (they are denoted as “Tatars” in those-days documents and later they were re-named as Azerbaijanians), Russians, Greeks, Abkhazians, Ossetians, Germans. A portion of them were integrated in the Georgia society, whereas others found themselves alienated in the newly declared Georgian state and demonstrated separatist tendencies; a great majority of national minorities tried to become accustomed to the new life in the new state. The government of the Democratic Republic of Georgia granted extensive rights to the national minorities residing in the country and tried to integrate into the socio- political life of the newly created state. To this end, the significant work was undertaken by the governing political party – the Social Democratic Worker’s Party of Georgia – to ensure representation of all significant national minorities of the country into the Constituent Assembly through its party list. The paper analysis the activities of the representatives of national minorities in the Constituent Assembly of Georgia and reflects on their biographies to highlight their future fate in the emigration or under the Bolshevik repressions. Representatives of some ethnic minorities (Muslims, Greeks) established their own political parties/unions before the elections (The National Congress of the Muslims of Georgia; The Muslim Union of the Borchalo District; The Hellen’s Union of Georgia) although they did not manage to elect their nominee in the Constituent Assembly. The Armenian minority participated in the elections of the Constituent Assembly through the Dashnak Party and the Social-Democratic Worker’s Party of Russia. Only Dashnak Party was successful to send the nominee in the Constituent Assembly. Representatives of ethnic minorities were also presented in the electoral list of the Georgian political parties. In this respect, the Social Democratic Party of Georgia performed extremely well as through its party list the representatives of all major ethnic groups residing in Georgia were elected in the Constituent Assembly. The concept “People of Georgia” reflected the policy of integration of ethnic minorities, which denoted all citizens of Georgia, irrespective of their ethnic and religious belonging. The term was used by the ruling Social Democratic Party and by the representatives of the government of Georgia in their rhetoric. The policy of integration of national minorities only partially was successful, primarily due to the fact of the short time-span of the existence of the Democratic Republic of Georgia. In 1921, after the occupation and Sovietization of Georgia, the conquerors of Georgia manipulated and instrumentalized a portion of the national minorities against the central authorities of Georgia. The representatives of national minorities in the Constituent Assembly of Georgia were also affected by the Communist repressions, irrespective of the fact whether any of them collaborated with the Soviet government beforehand. Representatives of national minorities elected in the Constituent Assembly through the party list of Social-Democrats, which emigrated abroad, remained on the position of defending the interests of Georgia.Item The War of February-March, 1921 and the Constituent Assembly of Georgia(Ivane Javakhishvili Tbilisi state university, Faculty of social and political sciences, 2021-06) Matsaberidze, MalkhazThe article deals with the concluding stage of activities of the Constituent Assembly of Georgia (1919-1921). Unfortunately, the stenography and other documents reflecting this stage of activities of the Constituent Assembly have not been discovered yet. The only source for this period is the newspaper materials and commemorations and recollections of those -days public figures. The Constituent Assembly had to adopt Constitution in the Spring of 1921 which would serve as a bases for the parliamentary elections. The new parliament had to be assembled on November 6, 1921, signalling the finalization of the activities of the Constituent Assembly; but the events had come in other way round. The attack of the Soviet Russia and its allies on the Democratic Republic of Georgia intervened in the peaceful activities of the Constituent Assembly. The country faced deadly events. From this period the two stages could be differentiated in the activities of the Constituent Assembly: law-making and organizational activities for the defence of the country under the conditions of the war. In spite of hard situation, the Constituent Assembly finalized the discussion of Constitution and adopted it on February 21, 1921, whereas on February 22 approved its French translation. With the adoption of constitution, the Constituent Assembly fulfilled its main task. The Constituent Assembly of Georgia rejected the idea of capitulation at the end of the war and according to the decree of March 1, 1921 the government and the presidium of the Constituent Assembly emigrated abroad endowed with special rights. They were tasked to wage war for the restoration of independence. The Constituent Assembly participated in the organizational activities of the defensive measure in many respects: a). At the sessions of the Constituent Assembly (15, 21, 28 February and March 17) and assemblies of its presidium the various issue related to the ongoing war were actively debated; b). The decrees of the Constituent Assembly condemned those forces which organized an attack on Georgia and the members of the Bolshevik „Revcom‟ were declared as outlaws; c). The Constituent Assembly adopted several statements addressed to the international society with a request of assistance on withstanding the aggression; d). The members of the Constituent Assembly visited the frontline to encourage citizens and warriors and to organize the defensive measures. If by the beginning of the war the Constituent Assembly had a joint spirit against the enemy, with the failures in the war several members of the Constituent Assembly, mainly representatives of the opposition fractions, decided to support the Soviet government with the hope that the Bolshevik regime would keep its promise to defend the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Georgia. A portion of the members of the Constituent Assembly emigrated, whereas those who stayed in Georgia were repressed by the Soviet regime. With the adoption of the Constitution and with its struggle for the independence the Constituent Assembly created legal foundations for the restoration of the independence of Georgia.