Abstract

A lot of papers have been written on the ideological methods of the Soviet politics within the Georgian scholarly field and beyond it and their analysis is rather interesting. The aim of this article is to discuss how historiography was used for creating history, desired for the Soviet policy. During 1918-1921 there were three uprisings of Ossetian Bolsheviks, but in 1920 there was the most important by its dimensions and requirements one. It aimed at separating a part of Shida Kartli, Tskhinvali region from Geor gia and becoming it a part of Russia. In the 1990’s Georgian scholars had the chance to research the thematic of 1918-1921 freely. But the prejudice that was created at the period of the Soviet Union seemed so true that it was copied in the modern Georgian historiography. Presumably, the Soviet Union used for this the purpose Valiko Jugheli, who was one of the significant figures of the leader party and the general of Georgian public army and was described as the leader who put down the uprising in 1920. In the scholarly monographs or articles published in the 1990’s, the attitude towards the first Democratic Republic of Georgia has changed. There was no restriction by the Soviet policy and it made it possible to write works without the Soviet censorship. That is why in the scholarly literature, published after gaining the independence of Georgia, the uprising is considered not as the attempt of self-determination of the Ossetian people and justified requirement of territorial allocation, but as the action inspired by the Russians and directed against the Geor gian state. I have several sources for studying the Georgian-Ossetian conflict in 1920. The first is the archival materials, the second one is the memories of leaders. There are also periodicals that are a significant source for my research. According to this material I studied this issue again and the picture became rather different. In fact, the leader of the Georgian military operation against the uprising was general Giorgi Kvinitadze and not Valiko Jugeli. He was the leader of the right flank only. Why was the Soviet regime interested to announce Valiko Jugeli as the leader of Georgian army? My answer is simple. As I mentioned, Valiko Jugeli was one of the important figures from Georgian leader party – Social Democrats. Showing Valiko Jugheli as the leader of the Georgian army and making him an oppressor would show the same policy of the Georgian state too. Of course, this helped the Soviet political ideology to show Georgian-Democratic Party as oppressor in people’s eye. This prejudice was spread by Soviet ideology very easily as the access to archives was limited at the time of the Soviet Union. But this prejudice can change real history understanding in ways how it can be used by state in future and how it can be used by state for subjective reasons.