Abstract:
In 1921, after the establishment of Soviet rule in Georgia, a
new political and social system based on Marxist-Leninist ideology
began to be established in the country. The 1920s-1930s
were marked by contradictory nationality and economic policies.
One of the goals of the Soviet nationality experiment was to
develop and implement a new concept of identity of the Soviet
peoples, including the Jews.
Before Sovietization, Georgian Jewish identity was closely
linked to religion; the Jewish communal life was concentrated
around the synagogue. As for economic activity and legal status,
the vast majority of Jews were involved in trade; in 1918-1921,
their full-fledged civil rights were ensured by the legislation of
the Democratic Republic of Georgia. After Sovietization, a fundamentally
different model of Jewish identity was developed. More
than 90 percent of Jews labeled as “peddlers, traders, and exploiters,”
or “non-working elements,” were denied the electoral
and labor rights. In order to involve them in the “building of a
new life,” a special committee and societies were established
and work plans were developed. At the end of the 1920s, Soviet
anti-religious propaganda, establishment of new Jewish settlements
and collective farms were aimed at separation of Jews
from their faith, weakening the main pillars of Georgian Jewish
lifestyle and identity and creation of a “new man - a Jewish worker
and a Jewish peasant”.
