Chapter 216 Internal and External Troubles
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"Defend Georgia, oppose Abkhaz independence, maintain Georgian unity..."
"Abkhazia is an inherent territory of Georgia. Whoever wants to split Georgia is the public enemy of the Georgian people..."
...
In Khusumi, the capital of the Abkhaz Autonomous Region, the opposition led by Gamsakhurdia suddenly announced a hunger strike to defend Georgia's sovereignty and territorial integrity with his own life. The Soviet government had to urgently cut off the communications and postal services in Khusumi, and even blocked satellite signals. The government of the Abkhaz Autonomous Region urgently took over the state's radio and television stations. Half an hour after the incident, the only program residents of the Abkhaz Autonomous Region could watch was the government's circular broadcast of warning statements.
But no matter how the news was blocked, the foreign media stationed in the Soviet Union still knew about it. But now Georgia has banned foreigners from entering. Gamsakhurdia's name spread throughout Georgia overnight. Originally, the issue of the ownership of Abkhazia was only an issue of administrative division within the Soviet Union, but Gamsakhurdia raised it to an ethnic issue between Georgia and other ethnic groups. The seditiousness of this incident made many young Georgians conscious Or they were coerced in unconsciously.
In fact, the Soviet government did nothing wrong in this matter. Abkhazia was originally the inherent land of the Abkhaz people, but after the founding of the Soviet Union, it was assigned to Georgia because of management problems. Because Abkhazia is close to the Black Sea, it gradually prospered here, and with it, the population ratio of Georgians began to increase, gradually becoming the mainstream ethnic group in Abkhazia.
Abkhazians and Georgians have been in constant conflict for decades because of the Georgian xenophobic character. The Abkhaz people desperately want to independently join the Soviet Union or merge into the Russian Republic, but this call is regarded as a betrayal of Georgia. The Georgian opposition took the opportunity to make trouble. Instead of advocating how to resolve the conflict between the two ethnic groups, they intensified the persecution of the Abkhaz people. As a result, Georgian, Abkhaz, and Russian ethnic groups emerged in Abkhazia. opposition.
The Georgian opposition wants Abkhaz territory, but wants to drive Abkhazians off the land. This kind of extreme nationalism is comparable to that of Nazi Germany, but the birds that can sing will eat the worms. Gamsakhurdia's performance has won wide support in the world. If the Nobel Peace Prize is awarded to He is simply humiliating the Nobel Committee.
Gamsakhurdia's sudden hunger strike made the Georgian government feel helpless. Although the first secretary of Georgia, Patti Ashvili, decisively prevented the further spread of the news, rumors were already flying all over the territory of the Republic of Georgia. A large number of Georgian ultranationalists who sympathized with the hunger strikers led by Gamsakhurdia began to rush to Abkhazia in various ways. Patti Ashvili hoped that the Central Committee of Georgia would agree to his proposal to blockade Abkhazia,
But this proposal was aborted due to disunity and factional struggles within the Georgian party committee.
In desperation, Patti Ashvili could only report the matter to the central government and ask for the central government's decision. This is tantamount to kicking the ball to Gorbachev again. Gorbachev did not know how to deal with this matter. The Politburo has been meeting since Sergei Sha left, and there is still no result until 12 o'clock in the middle of the night. In fact, everyone knows that it is best to let the police and the military intervene in this situation to bring the situation under control. But no one wants to take on this responsibility. Once the notoriety of forceful suppression is on the back, it is definitely a political stain that cannot be washed away in this lifetime.
The Politburo was in a meeting, and Seryozha was also thinking about Georgian issues after returning home. Seryozha originally wanted the Georgian issue to hold Ligachev back. Let him and Shevardnadze fall into endless battles, thereby relaxing the supervision of the Soviet Union's Foreign Trade Bank and the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation. However, Seryozha inadvertently used the "Komsomolskaya Pravda" to incite the ultra-nationalists in Georgia. This was not Seryozha's original intention. Seriosha's Leningrad Special Economic Zone has just begun to be established. It would be a pity if the situation in Georgia affected the construction of the Leningrad Special Economic Zone.
...
It wasn't just Seryozha who was worried that night. Shevardnadze, who was sitting on the special plane to Moscow at this moment, also frowned and looked at the clouds in the evening. Just an hour ago, Shevardnadze received a call from the Kremlin, from which Shevardnadze knew what happened in Abkhazia today. Shevardnadze was also frightened at the time, so he ended his visit in Hungary and hurried back to China to deal with the Georgian issue.
Sitting on the plane, Shevardnadze was exhausted physically and mentally. His visit to Hungary was to determine the relationship between the Soviet Communist Party and the new leadership of the Hungarian Socialist Workers Party. The current Hungarian Socialist Workers Party is no longer headed by Comrade Kadar. The newly elected General Secretary Gros Karoy hopes to establish a new, equal party-to-party relationship with the CPSU instead of the Kadar Party What kind of relationship did the Soviet Union guide the Hungarian Socialist Workers Party during its administration. Along with this trend of thought, the Hungarian government and Austria bypassed the Soviet Union for dialogue on the border issue. The two countries agreed to open the border and allow limited free movement of people between the two countries. mouth. However, this opening has solved the problem of material supply in Hungary. Western goods began to flood the Hungarian consumer market, and people no longer have to wait in long lines at the food store. Seeing Gros Karoy's triumphant expression, Shevardnadze even wanted to punch him to the ground.
The Soviet Red Army stationed in Hungary has not yet withdrawn. If the current general secretary of the party is Stalin, even if it is any one of Khrushchev, Brezhnev, Andropov, and Chernenko, Gross Carroy had already been taken to the execution ground for execution. But now the Soviet Red Army stationed in Hungary had to hide in the barracks and let the Hungarian ideology slide to the west. How sad!
Shevardnadze knew that Gorbachev would not agree with the Red Army to launch another Hungarian October incident (in 1956, the Soviet Union suppressed the Hungarian reformists by force and shot Nagy, then the first secretary of the Hungarian Labor People's Party. After the incident , Kadar came to power, and the Hungarian Working People's Party was renamed the Hungarian Socialist Workers' Party). Gorbachev cherished his reputation too much. He did not have the courage of Soviet leaders such as Khrushchev, and he did not dare to bear the notoriety of forceful suppression. But when the country is in crisis, someone has to stand up. That person should have been the general secretary of the CPSU, but he chose to back down when it was time to take responsibility. The last supreme ruler who did this has been chopped off In the end, he was the last Tsar Nicholas II.