March 9, 1956, in the Context of Memory Policy (On the example of Georgian History Textbooks)

Abstract

The purpose of the research is to study how the events of March 3-9, 1956, are presented in the history textbooks of Georgia. Protests and rallies against the critique of the cult of Stalin's personality were suppressed by the Soviet authorities with bloody revenge. The incident had a significant impact on the political thinking of Georgian society. The research hypothesis is that The shortcomings of the proper scientific study of the events of March 3-9, 1956, led to their different coverage in the textbooks of Georgian history in terms of conveying factual material. The content analysis method is used in the research. Two textbooks of Georgian history published in the Soviet period and ten published in the post-Soviet period are discussed. The amount of presented material is taken into account during the analysis. We highlighted the presented factual material, the evaluations and the main topics, photos, and documentary material. The Soviet history textbooks did not say anything about March 3-9, 1956. The tragic events "disappeared" from official Soviet historical memory, even though the Soviet government had given an official "assessment" of what happened - that it was an "anti-Soviet, nationalist, counter-revolutionary protest." The post-Soviet history textbooks of Georgia (three generations of textbooks are distinguished: before 2003, 2003-2012, and after 2012) cover the events of March 3-9, 1956; however, there is a significant difference in the scope of the issue presented, the factual material presented, and the evaluative accents. There is a significant difference in the number of casualties in the factual materials submitted. It can be explained by the fact that the issue still needs to be adequately studied, and in the future, it will be possible to name the exact number of dead and injured in textbooks. The authors of the textbooks first try to explain the reasons for the March 3-9 protest rallies, which were held under the slogan of defending Stalin, demanding an end to his criticism. In explaining the reasons for the rallies, the authors of the textbooks name the reasons that are close to each other but still different: Nikita Khrushchev perceived/ the critique of Stalin's personality as a national insult in Georgia; the critique of Stalin's personality became anti-Georgian and turned into cursing and humiliation of the Georgian people; As a result of the propaganda of the cult of Stalin, the love of Stalin and the homeland was intertwined with each other in Georgia. As we can see, according to the authors of Georgian history textbooks, the people who came out with the slogan of defending Stalin were trying to protect their national interests. That is why several textbooks describe the contradictory nature of the movement of March 3-9: on the one hand, it was directed against the "revisionist" Khrushchev. It seemed to serve to preserve the Soviet empire created by Lenin and Stalin. On the other hand, these rallies formed a factual basis for the revival of the national liberation movement. In some cases, the authors of Georgian history textbooks try to evaluate the events of March 3-9. The assessment given in the textbooks can be summarized as follows: It was an anti-government protest with a national flavor. The textbooks pay great attention to showing the results of the protest rallies of March 3-9, 1956, and the bloody revenge related to it for Georgia. What happened was the beginning of the liberation of the political thought of the society from the Soviet and Stalinist forms and rhetoric. The events of March 3-9 conditioned the beginning of a new phase of the national movement. Illegal groups whose calls Stalin no longer figured in and was purely national; among them "Gorgasliani" (created by Zviad Gamsakhurdia and Merab Kostava), "Sighnaghi Young Guard," "Union of Fighters for Freedom and Independence of the Homeland"... herein the following circumstance is also noteworthy - some of the authors of the textbook link the March events not only to the national organizations established in Georgia, but also note that the events of March 1956 relatively revived the emigrant movement. It is also essential that the textbook's authors try to explain why the protesters were beaten and punished with such cruelty - they believe that it was exemplary punishment for Georgia by the government. It should have been considered by other republics, where Stalin had numerous defenders. The authors also highlight the role and interests of the Georgian authorities in concealing the tragedy of March 9 - their only interest was in maintaining power and obeying Moscow's instructions without resisting; According to the authors of several textbooks, it was their inaction and unscrupulousness that led to the conceal of the March 9 tragedy.