Dr. Beka Chedia is Researcher and Assoc. Professor of Political Science from Tbilisi, Georgia. He is a Country Expert (Georgia) in the several international research programmes, political analyst and writing contributor to several leading think tanks, research centers in Europe in US. He had been a visiting scholar at several higher educational institutions and think tanks in Western and Eastern Europe.

December 2021 was the 30th anniversary of the collapse of the Soviet Union. But 30 years later, the Soviet legacy still reminds in the former USSR. In Georgia, the process of de-communisation began at a rapid pace even before the collapse of the USSR - along with the beginning of the transformation of the political, economic, and public spheres expressed through the dismantling of Soviet monuments and other communist symbols. In Georgia, in the 1990s, without any formalities and the adoption of special laws, almost all Soviet symbols were removed, and toponyms associated with totalitarian regimes were abolished. Although in Georgia, symbols are more important than content. At the same time, the symbols most likely reflect not only the main landmarks of the country, but also the specific interests of the political elite in power in a given period. For the first anti-communist president of Georgia, Zviad Gamsakhurdia (who brought independence to the country in 1991), of course, all Soviet symbols and personalities associated with the communist regime, including Stalin, were unacceptable. However, by the 1990s all monuments to Lenin or other Soviet figures were removed, the monument to Stalin in his native Georgian city of Gori stayed. Also, the Stalin Museum and a street named after him in Gori continued to exist. Moreover, during the national liberation movement, the country's main pantheon (where the country's great public figures are buried) personalities associated with the communist past were reburied in the centre of the capital, the grave of Stalin's mother was left in the pantheon. The country's second president, former communist E. Shevardnadze, did not express much interest in communist symbols, at least during his presidency and he did not particularly advertise his attitude towards the personality of Stalin. Although, as an ex-president in 2008, in a televised interview with a well-known Ukrainian journalist, Shevardnadze admitted that - "Stalin was definitely a great man." The third President M. Saakashvili, who came to power through the Velvet Revolution in 2003, decided to start a new wave of de-communisation to complete course started in 1990s. It is noteworthy that in one of the television interviews, former President Saakashvili, almost in a positive context, mentioned another negatively known Georgian communist figure - chief of the USSR's secret police Lavrentiy Beria, when he noticed that “Beria was a builder, but Stalin was not a builder."

Saakashvili's authorities at first also did not dare to touch this monument, as well as the museum - fearing that this might anger the local population of the city of Gori. But the Georgian-Russian war of 2008, which also affected Stalin's hometown of Gori, gave an incentive to the then authorities to get rid of Stalin's ghost. In 2010, the monument to Stalin was finally demolished (it was 6-meter monument that stood in the centre of this city since 1952). Although, just in case, this was done by special services at night when the townspeople were sleeping. But in 2012, a completely different government came to power in the country, and the topic of Stalin, and museum in Gori, and the revival of his personality cult is increasingly associated with the current authorities of the country. Even then, international media such as the BBC began to pay attention to the sympathy of the Georgian authorities for the personality of Stalin. Foreign diplomats talk about it more and more. And foreign media are also increasingly paying attention to it.

For a country that aspires to the EU, such advertising is not entirely appropriate when for example, in the end of 2021, the famous French newspaper Le Monde published an article about the Stalin Museum with this title - "The worst museum in the world." The article was not only about the museum but also about the cult of Stalin in Georgia in general. In 2022, TV channel France 5 produced a story (France is one of those countries that is not entirely optimistic about the European integration of Georgia) that covered the revival of the Stalin cult in Georgia. It is a fact that in recent years, at the level of symbols, more and more small sculptures of Stalin appear in different parts of the country. According to unspecified data, since 2012, Georgia was erected at least 10 new monuments to Stalin. There is no exact data on how many monuments of Stalin exist in Georgia since many of them are located on private property. For example, back in 2013, a group of activists launched a campaign “50 monuments to Stalin which need to repainted while you're alive.” Recently, a new monument to Stalin was built in one of the villages in the Gori municipality in February 2022. Moreover, in a country that is actually very rich in cultural heritage, for some reason in recent years miniature statuettes of Stalin have become the main souvenir for tourists. In March 2022, at the Tbilisi international airport, seeing a lot of such souvenirs, a member of the European Parliament and former defence ministry of Lithuania Rasa Juknevičienė was so angry about it that she wrote on Twitter: “Georgia - are you sure you want to join the EU with those Stalin statues? After all, what Putin is doing now in Ukraine is the legacy of undefeated Stalinism. Tbilisi airport shop. Shame.” It is noteworthy that this statement caused a negative reaction from Georgian users of the Twitter, the MEP was even reproached for saying that this was a reason not to admit Georgia to the EU. MEP responded to the reproaches: “It is about the values. Imagine Hitler at the airports or in the squares of the cities? If Stalin is ok for you, [is] Putin also ok? What about Hitler? [Its a] symbolic negative anti-European image of Georgia.” After that on April 7, 2022, the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the Seimas of the Republic of Lithuania adopted a statement on support for Georgia’s Euro-Atlantic integration and in same time “condemning the establishment in Georgia of signs to perpetuate the memory of the dictator of the Soviet Union, Joseph Stalin.” A little earlier, on March 4, the Ambassador of the Republic of Poland in Georgia Mariusz Maszkiewicz publicly called on Georgia to “at least do a symbolic gesture and close the Stalin Museum in Gori.” It is noteworthy that the museum has the status of a state museum and is financed from the state budget and at the same time has its own incomes from visitors. During the rule of President Saakashvili there was an idea to turn the Stalin Museum, which has been in existence since 1937, into a museum of Stalinism, the then authorities believed that the Stalin Museum did not correspond to modern Georgia, but this failed and only a small corner was made in one room for the memory of the victims of Stalin's repression.  

It was after the Georgian Dream party came to power that the topic of restoring the monument to Stalin on the central square of the city Gori became more active. Despite several attempts to restore the monument, they all failed. The founder of the current ruling party Bidzina Ivanishvili, who has a huge influence on the ruling elite of the country several years ago while in the city of Gori. Although he negatively assessed Stalin's activities, he said “there is a museum and a monument to Stalin within the museum, [this] is normal.” At the same time, he noticed that the inhabitants of this city were proud of Stalin and there was no need to annoy them.

In 2015 Georgian Dream the State Minister of Georgia for Reconciliation and Civic Equality Paata Zakareishvili (currently out of office), commenting on the possible restoration of the Stalin monument, said “although Stalin could not tolerate democracy, democracy must tolerate Stalin.” The head of the tourism department claimed that the Stalin monument could turn into a good tourist attraction that could attract many tourists. It is noteworthy that both the monument and souvenirs with the image of Stalin, and other Soviet symbols are prohibited according to the country's legislation. In Georgia, on May 31, 2011, under the previous government, on the initiative of President Saakashvili, the so-called “Freedom Charter” was adopted. The charter united the law “On Lustration” and the so-called “Patriot Act.” The “Freedom Charter” banned the use of any Soviet and totalitarian symbols. Although after the 2012 elections small pro-Russian groups openly demanded the abolition of this charter. The adoption of this charter was a demonstrative act against Russia, which still cherishes Soviet symbols and still its statehood is inspired by Soviet ideology.

In 2006, as a kind of counterbalance to the Stalin Museum in the centre of the Georgian capital of Tbilisi, within the framework of the National Museum, The Museum of Soviet Occupation was established. It tells the memory of the approximately 880,000 Georgians who were killed or exiled in camps under the Soviet occupation of Georgia from 1921-1991. The opening of the museum at one time caused dissatisfaction with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Moreover, after the elections on October 1, 2012, Russia even demanded the closing the museum of the Soviet occupation in Tbilisi, but the Georgian society met the demand negatively and public groups formed on social networks that advocated the preservation of such a museum as a symbol of the Soviet and Russian occupation.  

There is no reliable data regarding what Georgians currently think about Stalin, although it is unlikely that the younger generation respects him. As for the elderly citizens of the country, Stalin's popularity is certainly present. The last time a survey was conducted (by initiative of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace) about the attitude of Georgians towards Stalin was almost 10 years ago in 2012. The results gave cause for alarm, since 45% of the Georgian population expressed a positive attitude towards Stalin, and 68% described him as a "wise leader." According to this study, the reason for Stalin's popularity in Georgia is simply his Georgian origin, nothing more.

Paradoxically, in order to recognise the European trajectory of the country, the EU required Georgia to strengthen democratic institutions of free justice, ensure the protection of human rights, etc. under the conditions of the current authorities, the question of abolishing the cult of Stalin was gradually added to this long list.

On the one hand, the judgment that the presence of the cult of Stalin is not comparable with European values sounds legitimate, but on the other hand, reproaches against Georgia for the inclination to Stalin's personality cult are slightly exaggerated. This issue has recently become aggravated not because the elderly citizens of the city of Gori love Stalin (they did not “fall in love” with Stalin today), but most likely, the recent aggravation of attention on this topic was provoked by the position of today's ruling elite, which at least shows loyalty to this issue.

This, in turn, irritates Georgia's European partners and gives them reason to doubt Georgia's commitment to European values. It is important that the country's authorities take swift steps to remove the stain of Stalinism and thereby preserve the country's positive image, especially as the country has already officially applied for EU candidate status.