Vilnius Academy of Arts

Photography and media arts department

Giorgi Papalashvili’s MA degree theoretical work:

The myth of red messiah,

Deconstructed nationalism and story telling

Author of the work:

Giorgi Papalashvili

Supervisor of the work:

Laima Kreivyte

Reviewer:

Auridas Gajauskas

Vilnius, 2014

1 Summary

A Georgian monk Ioane Zosime in his 10th century poem predicted, that on the second coming of the Messiah he will judge the world in Georgian language. It has become the future telling of the Georgian nation. The interlacement of political power and religion in the stories being told in this crossroad between Asia and Europe is the reason why by now Georgian Orthodox Church and Stalinism adore each other.

In my work “Red Messiah” I investigate this phenomenon and construct a storytelling situation based on chance, various object and events from Georgia.

2 Contents

 Introduction 4  Red messiah 6  Caucasian Clay Circle 19 Barbare Rafaliantsi case 24  Where your heart beats 28  Conclusion 34  Bibliography 35

3 Introduction

In the end of 20th century globally one of the most important appearances was the collapse of Soviet Union, which is seen as the mirror and culmination of fast social changes. In 1991 Enton Giddens wrote: “today we live in an epoch which characterizes with huge social changes that is radically different from the changes of previous epochs”.

The changes were sudden and fast for the nations of Eastern Europe. One day they woke up not in huge communist union but in capitalist world. For some of the countries this move was so shocking that they still can’t decline the hidden communist mentality but on the same time living as independent democratic states.

The main research question can be formulated in following way: how are storytelling and chance reflecting on the collective memory with the example of Georgia? The contemporary Georgian national narratives gather around two aspects: A. traumatic events happening around the concept B. pro-western orientation as a cultural paradigm.

The thesis searches the roots of the Georgian collective memory in different aspects. A Georgian monk Ioane Zosime in his 10th century poem predicted, that on the second coming of the Messiah he will judge the world in Georgian language. It has become the future telling of the Georgian nation. The interlacement of political power and religion in

4 the stories being told in this crossroad between Asia and Europe is the reason why, by now, Georgian Orthodox Church and Stalinism adore each other.

The rise and fall of totalitarian regimes and concomitant ideologies in the 20th century have given rise to different attempts to understand various social phenomena of contemporary industrial and post-industrial societies. Among them one of the central objects of interest is national identity and collective/social memory.

5 RED MESSIAH

1

“Well, now open your mouth and say – A”, these are the famous word from well- known Georgian film “Sherekilebi” (crazies). In the film saying a letter “A” is important for a doctor to find out a problem in patient’s illnesses. 2 But we can see this method as a symbol of tool for searching the truth about a person. It can be Georgian version of “Shibboleth”.

The 12th chapter of "Book of Judges" in "Old Testament" describes the conflict

1. http://forum.ge/?f=84&showtopic=34638589 6 2. “Sherekilebi”, A Georgian film directed by Eldar Shengelaia, 1973 year.

between two Jewish tribes. "Shibboleth," the Hebrew word for "stream," was used by the soldiers of Gilead to separate their neighbors from the Ephraimites, who pronounced the “sh” as an “s”. The Gileadites held the fords of the Jordan against the Ephraimites. And when any fugitive from Ephraim said, "Let me cross," the men of Gilead would ask him, "Are you an Ephraimite?"; if he said, "No," they would say to him, "Then say shibboleth"; but he would say "sibboleth," not being able to pronounce it correctly. Thereupon they would seize him and slay him by the fords of the Jordan. Forty-two thousand Ephraimites fell at that time. 3

On the basis of this biblical story appeared the term "shibboleth", which has gained meaning of an identification mark. Later a philosopher Jacques Derrida defines “Shibboleth” as a characteristic mark, which itself is devoid from any concept, but the differences are determined, and thus it becomes a sort of separation of the subjects and the senselessness gains a decisive importance.

Accent appears from an irrelevance, when, for example, a person isn’t in his/her area of origin – it can be geographical or social environment – i.e., he/she doesn’t belong to dominant majority, but speaks in the language of them. In this case the accent is one of the main tools to unmask the difference, which consider as “deviation from the norm” only outside of own territory or area. For example, Georgian Adjarian accent can be an accent only outside of Adjaria (Georgian region), where most of the people don’t come from that territory.

3. The Hebrew Bible, book of judges, chapter 12,

7 But in order to consider accent as “Shibboleth” it’s important to identify it, which requires some knowledge about the owner of an accent from the listener. For example, in Germany when Georgian person is speaking in German language with Georgian accent he/she shows that he/she is a foreigner, but most of the Germans can’t recognize his/her nationality, because for them the sound of Georgian accent is unknown. But for example French accent is already “Shibboleth” in Germany, because they already have some information about that country.

So, the accent creates the whole chain of association, which can start from living spheres and step by step it can also go to cultural or political phenomenon. So, the accent, which perceives as “Shibboleth”, has a representative meaning and produces various kind of emotions in listener, due to his/her knowledge or experience. These emotions are called temporary insanity, which appears not with thinking but associatively and shows the emotional approach to the things what they perceive. And behind the temporary insanity there are some icons and stories hidden that are associatively joined with accents. If in the west part of Europe Georgian accent doesn’t mean anything, in Russia it is part of cultural memory and associates with one concrete person – Josef Stalin, whose accent is presented as prototype of Georgian one: even after half of the century when Russian parodists and to speak in Russian with Georgian accent they use the example of Stalin speeches. 4

Georgian accent is the accent of Stalin and this makes it as “Shibboleth”. And this fact itself creates a paradox in Russian historical and cultural memory: a person, which is a symbol of Russia’s military and political power, is carrying the sign of marginalization.

4. The accent of Stalin and the apocalypse of Georgian language, Giorgi Maisuradze, Tskheli Shokkoladi, 2009, 1-3

8 In May 9th, 1945 Stalin’s own formula "Великий русский народ" 5 (the Great Russian people), which is considered as a declaration of new big-Russian chauvinism and imperialism, was pronounced in Georgian accent. This fact put the marginal stamp on its own big-Russian chauvinism, as far as authorized rights belong to non-Russian marginal person, to “Shibboleth”. Khrushchev's famous speech at the XX Congress of the CPSU in 1956 and the de-Stalinization of Soviet Union was an attempt to free Russian-Soviet imperialism from phonetic defect – do not accept in Russia Russian language with Georgian accent.

In 1950, June 20, in the newspaper “Pravda” Stalin published the article “Marxism and issues of language science” that was written for discrediting the opinion of scientist Niko

Mari. 6 He described the language, as Marx called it superstructure, as the ideological product of social-economical bases. That means he considered language as class phenomenon, every social class has its own language. Josef Stalin didn’t agree on this theory and in the article he said that language can’t be superstructure and it stands on no bases. Language is not for the specific class but it is created by the whole society. In this article he wrote a lot about the dialects but he mentioned the word “accent” only once in ironical way:

“Russian aristocrats are proud of themselves when they talk with strong French accent while speaking in Russian language. Russia was cleaned from these class

poppies by the revolution”. 6

5. The Great Russian people, Pravda, Josef Stalin, 1945, 1

6. Marxism and issues of Language science, Pravda, Josef Stalin, 1950, 1

9 The revolution replaced class French accent with accents from the Russian provinces. It should be surprising for Russia when its history can remember Catherine II speaking with so strong German accent that sometime she was making many grammar mistakes also. The principal difference between Catherine’s German accent and Stalin’s Georgian accent was that Georgian was the language of the colony. During 31 years it was giving the tone of language of conquered nation and province to the conqueror Russia’s language.

By the direct order of Stalin Soviet nations create the whole pantheons of national heroes and the anniversaries of the figures face to public holidays in the whole of Soviet Union. For example, for Russia this kind of figure is Pushkin, about whom Stalin specially mentions in his "Marxism and Linguistic Issues" and reminds Russian people that they speak in the language of Pushkin; in Ukraine Taras Shevchenko was created as a cult; in 1937 they celebrate the anniversary of Shota Rustaveli (Georgian Poet) in the whole Soviet Union.

10 But to connect all of the different nations Soviet Union started to create its own history. The state, which was created in1922, starts its history from the far stone ages. The nations included in it had always had enemies and in every conflict they have been fighting for justice. The enemies are still active and dangerous. In this case communism, as the highest level of development of society, helps historical justice not to exist higher and more ideal structure as its owns. But before this perfect State the judgment time has to pass.

“Georgian language is buried till the day of the second coming of the Messiah for persuading, that each language God has convicted this language” , these are the words from one of the most famous and mysterious poem “The Praise And Exaltation of Georgian Language” by Ioane Zosime, well-known Georgian Christian monk from

10th century. 7

“Soviet People” is the family of “free nations”, where Russia is a “big brother”, but “father” (Отец всех народов) – Stalin. In such Brotherly family Georgian “father” gives a special status to Georgian nation. If in Soviet Union more than 300 nations can believe their special role on the basis of the stories created by Stalin, Georgian people don’t even need to have some faith, they only need to turn on the radio and listen to the voice of Stalin there.

7. Georgian Christian thought and its cultural context, , Leiden , the Netherlands, Global Oriental and Hotei Publishing, 2014, 337

11 Georgian intellectual society used to ignore and still don’t recognize the fact, that most of the citizens of Georgia is Stalinist. This happened not because of primitive nationalism, but the dominant form of the Georgian nationalism, which brought Stalin as the main figure of national identity. We shell also mention that both Georgian and Russian anti- Stalinist affect is based on the speech of Stalin. By de-Stalinization Russian nationalism tried to clean the accent of Stalin, and Georgian nationalism put the accent and the language together.

In both cases the name was banished – by the psychoanalytical sense of this word, for example, in Sigmund Freud explanations it banished as, desire of the killing father, which moves from conscious to unconscious and returns back with the new face, in most cases as a nervous. 8 And analyzing the symptoms of the nervous gives us the opportunity to reconstruct “first scenes”, which will helpful for understanding the hidden motivations of people. So, by the analyzing Georgian Stalinism must be possible to understand Georgian nationalism, specially, when its biggest ground was created in the time of Stalin. Though, any concepts or ideological directives are less important than identification figure, which is not prehistoric or mythological person, but living human whose body and speech is the beginning of all mythos.

As we already mentioned, Stalin as a figure of Georgian national identity not only wakes up the proud feelings in Georgian people but also gives the special place in big soviet family. But it’s not enough just to know these things, if only because this Georgian “father” doesn’t have Georgian name and he doesn’t speak in Georgian language.

8. The ego and the ID, Sigmund Freud, W. W. NORTON and company, USA, 1962, 22

12 The only true “shibboleth” for being Georgian stays his accent, which brings not only the acoustic pleasure for Georgian listeners but we can find even the religious dimensions in Georgian cultural memory. Stalin’s governance repeats the signs of story of Christianity, which aims to build “kingdom of god” (communism) by the second coming of messiah. We can identify 1937’s repressions as a biblical “judgment time”. And in the eternal kingdom only “true people” will deserve to get the right be there.

Killing millions of people is Stalin’s one of the famous act, which doesn’t have any rational explanation and the only meaning for it can be given by comparing it with judgment time. And in Georgian religious consciousness the judgment time has a specific significance, which says that it will be in Georgian language.

Messiah – Stalin is speaking in Russian and by this language he judges Soviet people, but by strong Georgian accent. The Georgian language is buried in Russian, from where it wakes up with the accent of Stalin and judges humanity.

Stalin gets support from Georgian church also from middle of 20 century. Ni 1943 Russian official church recognizes the autocephaly of the Georgian church, which was declared in1917 by Georgia. And in 1948 the Georgian patriarch Kalistrate Tsintsadze sends the letter to Stalin:

13 “The main of the humanity! It was my dream to see the pride of our people and the greatest man of the world by my eyes, but the fortune didn’t give me this happiness, maybe I’m not worth for it. Precious Stalin, I want to say honest thank you from Georgian church and from its leader, cause you put the Georgian church in the list of the soviet organizations. And as the proof of my patriotic love I’m sending Georgian writing, which was made by Georgian ancestors with the text: “to Josef the Georgian, the greatest human in the world. . .” This letter can be seen as resume of political theology of Soviet Georgia: “the main of the human”, “the greatest human of the

world”, “the pride of our people”, “Josef the Georgian”. 9

It creates the icon of messianic country, which is the end is the stone, where will be built the messianic Georgian nationalism and political orthodoxy.

Cult of Stalin is still alive and beloved for not very small percent of Georgian citizens. Even in 2012 some groups of people are returning the statues of Stalin back to main squares of the cities; some of them write songs, poems, etc; and the highest expressions of love are prayers and icons of Stalin. But the main movement started in 1956, March 5th.

9. The letters of bulletin, Tbilisi, Georgia, Kalistrate Tsintsadze, 2010

14 When Nikita Khrushchev denounced Stalin's cult and his cruelty explained by Georgian roots. This speech became the reason for Georgian people to make big demonstrations, first it started with insist on an explanation but soon it moved the wish of having independent country. On that time BBC was reporting that Georgians came out in the street for saving the cult of Stalin. But also S. Stanikov - the correspondent of Trud in Georgia – is writing a confidential letter to Com. Burkov. Small part from that letter:

“On 9th March unimaginable things were happening. Not only the youth but even grown-ups were going berserk on the streets. Most of the small workshops were closed. The employees of small offices stopped work and came out on the streets. There were even cases of workers not reporting for work at the enterprises of the food and light industry. In short the normal life in the city was totally disrupted. That is why the Central Committee (certainly after a big delay) appealed to the city's population. Anti-social elements started inciting the nationalist sentiments of the people: 'Georgians' - they shouted - 'blood has been spilt for Stalin and we will continue our struggle and not a single Georgian must leave this place etc.'” on this day many hundreds of people were killed by Soviet soldiers. After this fact even every try to discriminate Stalin is seen as attack to Georgian nationality by many people in

Georgia. 10

10. Memories brought from history, Tbilisi, Georgia, Asaval Dasavali, 1999, 12

15 One of the Georgian priest say to his followers, that holly Mary was the only one thing that saved Soviet Union from German troops in the Second World War.

“When in the Second World War Germany started to attack Soviet Union metropolitan Illia started to pray. He was praying in front of icon of holy Marry for three days and in the end he had a contemplation of holy Marry, who said that she would help Soviet Union if the Orthodox Church will get power again by government. And after this they brought the icon in St. Petersburg, which saved

whole Russia”, says a Georgian priest Ieromieli in one of his preaches. 11

In the same time he reminds people how Soviet soldiers saw holy Marry in the sky with angels and how she was leading the army to Germany.

11. Who won in the war, newspaper “Kviris Palitra”, priest Shota Ieromieli, Tbilisi, Georgia, 2009,14 16 But one of the strong evidences for the fact that Stalin cult is still popular and active in Georgia is, for example, the speech of one of the most popular Orthodox archpriest in Georgia, Teodore Gignadze.

“Once, one lady came to me and asked to hold requiem for Josef. Later I found out that that Josef was Stalin. I was thinking if I could make it or not, but later I decided that it’s my duty. And the miracle happened. During praying I felt so much warmth in my heart that I can’t describe. After that I can’t say anything bad about Stalin”, says

Teodore Gignadze on of his lectures in the state university of Tbilisi. 12

These kinds of speeches are more dangerous when it happens in universities and schools where new Generation should rise up.

Propaganda of Stalinism and religion is getting more and more power now days in Georgia. As we see even some of the popular priests are supporting the cult of “great father”. And it happens in almost every place: schools, universities, media, street, families, etc. In such case it’s very hard to ask young generation having liberal views, even though when some of the Georgian “liberals” are worshiping on the Georgian Orthodox Church also.

Closed society is the position when it doesn’t develop, but stands against any novelty that tries to bring any kind of changes. But it doesn’t mean that the closed society doesn’t change. Its changeability is addressed not to the new but to the reincarnation of “the old”.

12. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jwpSsnO6Mhg

17 In the end this brings the society to the self isolation, make another part of the world and era as a stranger. The irrelevance with the time creates the conflict with an outward world and also inside the closed society, that brings not only the inadequate reactions, but also the collective paranoia towards everything new and unknown. 13

13. Closed society and its saviors, Giorgi Maisuradze, Radio liberty, 2011

18 II

Caucasian Clay Circle

Russian philosopher Nikolai Berdyaev had the opinion that Soviet communist ideology doesn’t come from Marxism but it take the roots from Orthodoxy. German philosopher Oswald Spengler says that the winning of communists was the revenge of the try to turn traditional orthodox Russia into Catholic European country. Stalin as a person became the analogue of Byzantine Emperor. And the emperor in orthodox political theology is almost equal as Jesus Christ, so the ruler is seen as the highest religious authority.

Stalin won together with the October revolution and 20th modernistic experiments that stopped secularization and liberal ideas. The whole new Soviet empire returned back to its Orthodox-Messianic roots, but with one difference the church was replaced with party, holly trinity – with leaders. The main idea stay the same: It exists only one “true opinion” and only one instance for constructing the rules (church/party), and everybody who thinks differently and freely is the enemy of the nation that needs to be destroyed.

“Plaintiff and defendant! The Court has listened to your case, and has come to no decision as who the real mother of this child is. I as Judge have the duty of choosing a mother for the child. I’ll make a test. Shauva, get a piece of chalk and draw a circle on the floor. Now place the child in the center. Plaintiff and defendant, stand near the circle, both of you! Now each of you, take the child by a hand. The true mother is she 19 who has the strength to pull the child out of the circle, towards herself,” – this is the part of the speech of Azdak from “Caucasian chalk circle”. Bertolt Brecht wrote the play in the middle of 20th century. The Caucasian Chalk Circle is a parable inspired

by the tale of King Solomon and a child claimed by two mothers. 14

Before going back to Brecht’s play, let’s have a look at the similar story from Hebrew Bible:

“Now two women who were harlots came to the king, and stood before him.

And one woman said, “O my lord, this woman and I dwell in the same house; and I gave birth while she was in the house.

Then it happened, the third day after I had given birth, that this woman also gave birth. And we were together; no one was with us in the house, except the two of us in the house.

And this woman’s son died in the night, because she lay on him.

So she arose in the middle of the night and took my son from my side, while your maidservant slept, and laid him in her bosom, and laid her dead child in my bosom.

And when I rose in the morning to nurse my son, there he was, dead. But when I had examined him in the morning, indeed, he was not my son whom I had borne.”

14. Caucasian Chalk Circle, Bertolt Brecht, translation by Alistair beaton, A&C black publishers, London, 2007, 21

20 Then the other woman said, “No! But the living one is my son, and the dead one is your son.”

And the first woman said, “No! But the dead one is your son, and the living one is my son.”

Thus they spoke before the king.

And the king said, “The one says, ‘This is my son, who lives, and your son is the dead one’; and the other says, ‘No! But your son is the dead one, and my son is the living one.’”

Then the king said, “Bring me a sword.” So they brought a sword before the king.

And the king said, “Divide the living child in two, and give half to one, and half to the other.”

Then the woman whose son was living spoke to the king, for she yearned with compassion for her son; and she said, “O my lord, give her the living child, and by no means kill him!”

But the other said, “Let him be neither mine nor yours, but divide him.”

So the king answered and said, “Give the first woman the living child, and by no means kill him; she is his mother.” 15

15. Hebrew bible, Solomon’s wise judgment, biblia.com, 1kings 3:16-27,

21 There is also a bit different Jewish interpretation: According to the Midrash, the two women were sisters-in-law, both of who had born sons, and whose husbands had died. The baby was actually the lying woman's nephew. Therefore, when Solomon suggested that the infant be split in half, the lying woman, jealous of her nephew and sister-in-law, agreed. Thus was Solomon able to know who the real mother was.

But Brecht's source for the play is most likely Klabund's Circle of Chalk, which was based on an ancient Chinese play written in 1300 A.D. with the same name.

A beautiful sixteen-year-old girl, Hai-tang (also transliterated Hai-t'ang, Hi-tang, or Chang-hi-tang), is sold into a house of prostitution by her impoverished family, after her father's death. There she is befriended by Ma Chun-shing, a wealthy and childless tax collector, who takes her into his house as his second wife. She bears him a son, Shoulang, but earns the jealousy of his first wife, Ah-Siu. Ah-Siu accuses Hai-tang of adultery, poisons Ma, blaming Hai-tang for the crime, and claims to a court that Shoulang is her own child, so that she can inherit Ma's fortune. Hai-tang is arrested, and beaten until sheconfesses. As Hai-tang is about to be hanged, she is rescued by Bao Zheng in a scene similar to the Judgement of Solomon: Shoulang is placed in a circle of chalk between the two women, and each is ordered to pull; as Hai-tang can’t bear to hurt her child, she is judged his true mother.

Brecht adapted this story into parable form and changed the setting to Soviet Georgia near the end of World War II. Very soon the play got very popular, especially in Georgia. And until now it is played in two theaters of Tbilisi.

After the half of the century the world is facing radical changes in political life. If before the main fight was between capitalistic western world and communism, now more “popular” became the topic of religious extremism.

22 Not to continue writing about the whole soviet history, let’s go back to Brecht. How he would remake the Chinese or biblical story watching contemporary Georgia? For that we suggest to analyze the story of nine month old baby killed for the political reasons.

“Georgia will be brighten” – this is Georgian state’s the main political “doctrine”, that was created by political orthodoxy and Georgian nationalism. It lives together with the country already more than 20 years. This formula became the only face of political reality. With the “help” of this idea Georgia lives in the virtual world where saints are fighting against dragons and different monsters. With this opinion, it’s logical, when the elected president makes an oath at a church.

23 Barbare Rafaliantsi case

31st of September, 2012 – this is the date of the biggest tragedy of one Georgian family. 9 months old baby was found drowned into the clay container of wine in one of the villages of Georgia.

Until now the investigation is not finished so we will try to collect only the facts what is already well known for public.

Preconditions:

In October first 2012 Georgia is planning to have parliamentary elections. Country already has two big concurrent parties: “Georgian Dream”, which is opposition of the present government and “United National movement”, which is in present government already 9 years. Pre-election time is very tense because the supporters of “Georgian Dream” think that country is under the biggest terror and they want to save the country. In autumn one of the opposition media company published the videos from the Georgian prisons where the 24 violence to prisoners was clearly visible. These videos caused big demonstrations against the government. On the same time a lot of accusations were said against “United National Movement”.

Morning, September 30 - Parliamentary candidate in one of the regions holds a press- conference where she says:

“Yesterday night in the village, Kolag, in the house of my cousin somebody through the bomb. Not so many things were damaged because the place, where they did it, is under construction but the baby carriage of my cousin was burned. If even any hair will fall down from any person in this region tomorrow, on the day of election, I say

that for that responsible will be “United National Movement””. 16

In the late evening people see the killed baby in TV.

As the relatives say the baby was lost around 30 minutes. During that period television cameras manage to go to the family and everybody finds the baby drown into the clay container full of wine.

In the video it’s clearly visible how one man opens the cover of the container and says that there is nothing, but another person shouts: “what nothing there is Barbare”. During some time nobody tries to take the baby out of the wine. Just after some minutes one lady brings 9 months old Barbare out.

This fact was shown in live of one of the biggest opposition television. Few minutes after they found out baby dead the aunt of her gives the interview to the TV that her cousin was killed by the members of “National Movement”.

16. TV channel 9, 2012, 09, 30 11:02, Manana Berikashvili

25 After that tragic day in the village there appeared different versions who and why they did it. Some say that it was done by the members of “United National Movement” as the next tyrant act; some say that the baby was killed by “Georgian Dream” to have a huge scandal just before the election and some people say that 9 months old Barbare was killed by her own family members. One of the men from the same village tells to journalist that people say that the family took money to do it. And also the next the after the death of the baby mother and the aunt were on the election and they were walking in the street as if nothing had happened.

Until now there is no official version about the death of Barbare. But nobody doubts about the fact that in any case it was done because of the political reason.

If Brecht would decide now to write “Caucasian chalk circle” the end of the story might have changed. One of the exceptions that was the play for German writer because of its happy end it wouldn’t be exception anymore.

If we discuss the story of little Barbare Rafaliantsi, already it doesn’t matter who killed her, who waited until the moment that baby would be dead. Even in the play of Brecht in the beginning both of the women agreed on competition; both of them took a baby to take him towards their own side. Already this act could be seen as using baby as a tool for rules of fighting. In the contemporary times people just could realize how serious the situation was. But what was stopping to see it, when, in the times of Brecht, Georgia was under much bigger political propaganda, it was the time when country was facing biggest political problems.

If we look at Georgia’s life now we can easily say that political ideology is weaker then religious one. Orthodox patriotism became more important than any other thing in contemporary Georgian society.

26 They started to recreate and perceive their own country as a celestial state in the end of 80th, when Georgian patriarch Illia the second pronounced the words for his annual Easter speech: “Christ is risen, Christ is risen, Georgia is risen”.

From that period of time Georgia gets the religious icon, celestial status. Today the phrase “Georgia will be brightened” is one of the most popular ideologies for most of the Georgian people. So, many historical facts of people are being re-realized. For example Stalin’s cult and actuality is getting religious patriotic meaning, he is getting connected with some religious stories from the far history. It also shell not be surprised that during every political elections most of the people wait for some Messiah, person who will be sent from God to survive Georgia from bad times and to survive the world also.

27 III

Where your heart beats

The first main effort to engage with the collective dimension of memory was made by french sociologist and philosopher maurice halbwachs. He borrowed the notion of memory from individual psychological realm and transplanted it into sociological analysis where it represented strictly socio-cultural phenomenon - counterpart of individual memory - shared and distributed among individuals of collectivity, but individuals were understood strictly as members of certain social group.

“It is not sufficient, in effect, to show that individuals always use social frameworks when they remember. it is necessary to place oneself in the perspective of the group or groups. The two problems, moreover, are not only related: they are in effect one. one may say that the individual remembers by placing himself in the perspective of the group, but one may also affirm that the memory of the group realizes and manifests itself in individual memories”, maurice halbwachs. 17

Thus, social memory is mediated and socially/culturally transmissible across time and generations, though never static. It is an intangible socio-cultural heritage, although its manifestations and materializations are common practice in modern societies.

17. On collective memory, maurice halbwachs, edited by Lewis A. coser, the university of Chicago press, Chicago, USA. 1992, 40 28 Paul connerton in his prominent work “how societies remember” found the aspect of bodily practices, corporeal manifestations, ceremonies and rituals in the process of memorialisation and commemoration. 18

In the summer of 2013 the leader of Georgian orthodox church, Patriarch Illia the second legitimated the idea, saying: “When I heard about his death tears couldn’t stop coming outside of my eyes, he was a great man.” 19

But that’s the thing he was a great man. Even though still a lot of people in post soviet countries love Stalin. And the love is in many cases is so strong that nobody can stop it. It is hard to imagine but still it is the reality that when even the person’s most beloved people where exiled or executed during the regime, even he/she love the great father of the nation.

This might be seen as a clear example how the social memory constructs the human mind. But “the father” is dead, anyway only love can live and not the new orders from the beloved one. The people need a stepfather now.

In 1988 again Georgian Patriarch announced that he was the chosen one from God, when there would be the second coming of Messiah he would lead the survived people to the top of one of the Georgian mountains. He says he got this information from his dream while he was sleeping in his blessed room. Well, the blessed room was also in Vladikavkaz, Russia where he was born and lived for a long time. This propaganda worked perfect. Till now 95 % of Georgian population believes that the current patriarch is the assistant of messiah and only they will survive who will be next to him.

18. How societies remember, Cambridge university press, Paul connerton, 1989

19. http://netgazeti.ge/GE/105/News/22214/

29 But there is something wrong with this idea. Georgia will never become second Iran or something like that if we look back to history. There must exist another plan B, C, and etc.

In this case we can look at the story about one mother who lives in country side and she grows beautiful red roses. Now she is more than 80 years old but she is still very active lady, she has a lot to do and to dream about.

“Well. My second dream is to see patriarch and to talk to him. But every time I can’t manage to do it, I am very busy”, once she said to the journalists of one of the

Georgian TV, Rustavi 2. 20

The very famous Russian journalist and media magnate, Artyom Borovik was on his way to Kiev when his private airplane crashed and died in 2000.

20. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pJ3OoTlj97k

30 Soon again a very famous journalist from Italy Antonio Russo was shot dead near Tbilisi. He was going to send the electronic version about Vera Putina to Italy.

None of the killings were investigated properly and especially neither death has been proved to have any connection with our lady from the small village of Georgia.

Her name is Vera Putina, and she claims that she is the real mother of Russian president Vladimir Putin. She lives on a dirt track of the small village, Metekhi, 12 miles away from Gori, the hometown of Stalin.

In 1999 when she saw Vladimir Putin first time in TV, her eyes got full of tears. She claims she recognized her lost son after a long time.

In Mrs Putina's account, Mr Putin's father was a Russian mechanic, Platon Privalov, who got her pregnant while married to another woman. She claims her son, nicknamed "Vova" was born on October 7, 1950, exactly two years before Mr Putin's official birth date.

But Mr. Putin doesn’t agree on this information and says that his grandfather, Spiridon Putin, had been Vladimir Lenin's and Joseph Stalin's personal cook and both of his parents died of cancer, his mother in 1998 and his father in 1999. The interesting fact is that both of his official parents died just in the period of his presidential campaign.

The killed journalists I mansion in the beginning were just to publish the information about the “Georgian mother” of Vladimir Putin.

Until now there is 10 years gap in such a famous politician’s biography as Vladimir Putin. And these are the years when Vera Putina says Vovka was living together with her in Metekhi.

OK, let’s see how little Vovka got used to Georgian small village during 10 years.

31 In 1952, Mrs Putina married a Georgian soldier, Giorgi Osepahvili, and moved to Georgia with her son. People from the village say that Giorgi didn’t like little son of his wife and all the time he was beating him. He didn’t want him to live next to his family.

Mrs Putina is diffident about her son's relationship with his stepfather but admits that "Giorgi was very strong with the children. But Vova was a quiet child who read a lot and didn't like relationships." 21

Shura Gabinashvili is a former Russian teacher of the village school in Metekhi. She claims to have given the child Russian language classes, and says that she has received death threats about making the claims public.

She remembers "Vova" as "an extremely bright child, the brightest in the class. Russian was his favourite subject. He also liked fishing and wrestling. He was the shortest child in the class but he always wanted to win at everything."

In December 1960, under pressure from her husband to disown her child, she delivered "Vova" back to his grandparents in Russia. Mrs Putina believes that the St. Petersburg-based "parents" referred to in Mr Putin's biography adopted her son from his grandparents.

That’s how the story from Vera Putina finishes. Until now nobody really know if it is a true story or not. But there is one thing that almost the whole village remembers him.

If we consider the story as the true one, then we can easily discuss is together with the relationship of Stalin and his mother. We can say that these two political figures have almost the same background: they grew in the same small area; both of their family experiences were very violent; and both of them became the dictators.

21. Could this lady be Vladimir Putin’s real mother?, the telegraph, 2008,12,05

32 On the same time we can look at Russia as being the country full of fear that the past might repeat itself. They already got the cultural trauma with the face of Stalin. That’s why after his death huge anti-Stalinist movement started from Soviet government.

“Cultural trauma occurs when members of a collectivity feel they have been subjected to a horrendous event that leaves indelible marks upon their group consciousness, marking their memories forever and changing their future identity in fundamental

and irrevocable ways”, writes sociologist Jeffrey C. Alexander. 22

22. Cultural trauma and collective identity, university of California press, Berkeley, California, USA, Jeffrey C. Alexander , 2004, 33

33 Conclusion

In the research we tried to describe the phenomenon of Stalinism and its relationship with religious roots. Is the propaganda and the construction of the people’s mind and life finished together with Soviet Union or it just got different shape?

Georgia is one of the clear example how strong the propagandistic machine might be, so powerful that it changes even the meaning of the life for many people in the country.

It is also interesting to find out how stories are created. There are many stories being told in human lives are made by chance but used really consciously by some people that become the leaders. One of them was very the well known dictator Stalin also. And he managed to build up the memory for the whole Soviet Union so much that even now days many people still live in the made up history and mentality.

34 Bibliography

 The accent of Stalin and the apocalypse of Georgian language, Giorgi Maisuradze, magazine Tskheli Shokkoladi, Tbilisi, Georgia, 2009, 1-3

 The Great Russian people, Pravda, Moscow, USSR, Josef Stalin, 1945, 1

 Marxism and issues of Language science, Pravda, Moscow, USSR, Josef Stalin, 1950, 1

 Georgian Christian thought and its cultural context, , Leiden , the Netherlands, Global Oriental and Hotei Publishing, 2014, 337

 The ego and the ID, Sigmund Freud, W. W. NORTON and company, USA, 1962, 22

 The letters of bulletin, Tbilisi, Georgia, letter of Kalistrate Tsintsadze, 2010, 4

 Memories brought from history, Tbilisi, Georgia, Asaval Dasavali, 1999, 12

 Who won in the war, newspaper “Kviris Palitra”, priest Shota Ieromieli, Tbilisi, Georgia, 2009,14

 Closed society and its saviors, Giorgi Maisuradze, Radio liberty, 2011

 Caucasian Chalk Circle, Bertolt Brecht, translation by Alistair beaton, A&C black publishers, London, 2007, 21

 Hebrew bible, Solomon’s wise judgment, biblia.com, 1kings 3:16-27,

 On collective memory, maurice halbwachs, edited by Lewis A. coser, the university of Chicago press, Chicago, USA. 1992, 40

 How societies remember, Cambridge university press, Paul connerton, 1989

35  Could this lady be Vladimir Putin’s real mother?, online magazine the telegraph, 2008,12,05

 Cultural trauma and collective identity, university of California press, Berkeley, California, USA, Jeffrey C. Alexander , 2004, 33

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