The issue of women in Adjara in the prism of Soviet antireligious policy(1920s)

Batumi

Gori

Abstract

The purpose of the article to present the problem of women in the prism of the SovietatheisticpolicyinAjarain1920s.Sovietreligiouspolicyfromtheverybeginningwascharacterizedbyheterogeneity,bias,andone-sidedness,withcommunismandatheismconsidered as the mainstays of ideology. The Bolsheviks seemed to preach the inviolability of the religiousfeelingsofthe believers,but in fact fought with fire and swordagainst anymanifestation of religiosity. The Soviet government encouraged controversy among believers. A clear confirmation of this was the so-called `The chador taking' campaign, which has beenmet with serious controversy in the region. Examining the problems related to the wearing ofthe chador, presenting the issue of women in the context of anti-religious policies is the maintaskofourresearch.

The scientific novelty of the research is the discussion of the factors that collectively led tothe 1929 mass protests in mountainous Adjara (Georgia).At the same time, anumber ofunpublishedarchivaldocuments,whicharekeptintheAdjaraStateArchive,enterthescientific circulation. The factual materials presented in the article and the analysis ofthedocuments kept in the Adjara Archives Division clearly show the Soviet policy of neglectingand insulting the religious feelings of believers, which led to the 1929 large-scale anti-SovietprotestsinmountainousAdjara.

Themethodologicalbasisoftheresearchistheuniversalscientificprinciplesofobjectivity,comprehensivenessandsystematics,historical-comparativeandhistorical-typologicalmethods.

Conclusions.Asaresultoftheresearch,thedeterminingfactorsofthemassdemonstrations of 1929 were identified, in particular: the anti-religious policy of the Sovietgovernment, which included the implementation of various measures by the government, inparticular: the formation of the Militant Atheists' League and other anti-religious bodies, themassdestructionofreligiousinstitutions,theatricsagainstreligion,theintroductionofvariousawardstorewardactivistswhofightagainstreligion,thecreationofwomen'scommitteesand `Muslimwomen'ssections' to separate women fromthe religion.Added tothis was the rudeness and arbitrariness of the party officials in all spheres of public and sociallife,theimpositionofvariousrestrictionsonreligiousservicesandotherfactors,thecombination of whichled to the mass uprisingof1929.The resultsofthe researchprovedonce again that despite the various methods used to intimidate the believers, the governmentwaspowerlesstosuppressthereligiousfeelingsof thepeople.

Keywords:religion,rebellion,woman,church,believers,chador,Adjara,Georgia

Анотація

Жіноче питання в Аджарії через призму радянської антирелігійної політики(1920-тіроки)

Метою статті є представлення проблеми жінки в Аджарії (Грузія) 1920-х років через призму радянської атеїстичної політики. Радянська релігійна політика з самого початку характеризувалася неоднорідністю, упередженістю й однобічністю, де опорамиідеологіївважалисякомунізмтаатеїзм.Більшовикинасловахпроголошувалинедоторканість релігійних почуттів віруючих, а насправді «вогнем і мечем» боролися збудь-якимипроявамирелігійності.Радянськавладасприялапротистояннюсередвіруючих. Яскравим підтвердженням цього стала так звана кампанія «Зніми чадру», якавикликаласерйознісуперечкиврегіоні.Вивченняпроблем,пов'язанихізносіннямчадри, представлення проблеми жінок у контексті антирелігійної політики є основнимзавданнямнашогодослідження.

Наукова новизна дослідження полягає в обговоренні факторів, які в сукупностіпризвели до масових протестів 1929 року в гірській Аджарії. Одночасно до науковогообігувводитьсянизканеопублікованихархівнихдокументів,якізберігаютьсяуДержавному архіві Аджарії. Наведені у статті фактичні матеріали й аналіз документівяскравосвідчатьпрорадянськуполітикунехтуванняйобразирелігійнихпочуттіввіруючих,щопризвелодоширокомасштабнихантирадянськихвиступівугірськійАджаріїв1929році.

Методологічною основою дослідження є загальнонаукові принципи об'єктивності,комплексностітасистемності,історико-порівняльнийтаісторико-типологічнийметоди.

Висновки. У результаті дослідження сформульовано визначальні чинники масовихвиступів 1929 р.: антирелігійна політика радянської влади, яка передбачала здійсненнявладою різних заходів, зокрема формування Спілки войовничих безбожників та іншихантирелігійнихорганізацій,масовезнищеннярелігійнихустанов,антирелігійнітеатральнівиступи,запровадженнярізноманітнихнагороддляактивістів-антирелігійників, створення жіночих комітетів і «секцій мусульманських жінок» длявідриву жінки від релігії. До цього додалося зухвалість і свавілля партійних чиновниківувсіхсферахгромадськоготасуспільногожиття,встановленнярізноманітнихобмеженьнабогослужінняйіншіфактори,сукупністьякихпризвеладомасовогоповстання1929 р. Результати дослідження вкотре довели, що незважаючи на різноманітні методи залякування віруючих, влада була безсила придушити релігійніпочуттялюдей.

Ключовіслова:релігія,повстання,жінка,церква,віруючі,чадра,Аджарія,Грузія

Main part

Sovietreligiouspolicyfromtheverybeginningwascharacterizedbyheterogeneity,bias,andone-sidednessfromtheverybeginning,withcommunismandatheismconsideredasthemainstaysofideology.Thereligiousfeelingsofthebelieverswerethe object of constant insult during the communist era. The 1921 government decree onthe `taking out of ecclesiastical values' also provided for the use of bullets againstbelievers who opposed them. This policy of the government was followed by fierceoppositionthroughouttheempire.

It was essentially the same policy in Georgia. The Bolsheviks seemed to preach theinviolability of the religious feelings of the believers, but in fact fought with fire andsword against any manifestation of religiosity. A similar situation was in the south-western part of Georgia - Adjara, where the population was converted to Islam as aresultofthreecenturiesofOttomanrule.Anti-Muslimhysteriaprevailedintheregion,which in some ways lasted until the era of Gorbachev's transformation, although itsintensity was variable. National and angular motives were added to the anti-religioushysteria in Georgia. The Soviet government encouraged controversy among believers. Aclear confirmation of this was the so-called `The Chador taking' campaign, which hasbeenmetwithseriouscontroversyintheregion.

Generally,chadorwasnotcharacteristicfeatureforAjarapopulation.ItstraditionisrelatedwithIslamconquestanditsforciblespreadastheresultofoccupation.

Firstly(fromtheendoftheXVIcenturyalmostduringonecentury)IslamexpansioninSouthlandSouth-WestGeorgiahadasocialnature.Applicationof`voluntary'islamization,promotedbyeconomic impactapplication(free plotsfor those whobecame Muslims, additional taxation for those who kept vinery and piggery), resultedin islamization of population. But in the second half of Islam conquest, especially afterincreaseofRussia'sinteresttowardstheregion,Osmansmadetougherreligiouspolicytospeedupislamizationofpopulation.AftertheRusso-TurkishWarof1877-78South-West Georgia returned to the motherland, but Russian Empire increased and promotedIslamic ideology. The number of mosques was increased. Russia's policy was aimed atimplementation of imperial aims with the purpose of removal of the local populationandplacementofSlavicpopulationto theborderregions. The policyresultedinmuhajir migration. Disorder started in the beginning of the XX century and followingwars negatively impacted upon the region of Ajara, which was badly suffered fromchaos.ThesituationaggravatedintheperiodoftheFirstRepublic(1918-1921).

FromthefirstdaysofestablishmentoftheSovietruleinGeorgia,massantireligiouscampaign was started, `League of Militant Atheists' and `Religious Cult Councils' wereestablished, religious buildings were destroyed, antireligious plays were deliveredbroadly.Antireligiousactivityalwaysforesawwearingofspecialantireligiousbadges1.

Womenissuewasoneofthemostimportantcomponentsofantireligiouspolicy.So-calledwomencommitteeswereestablishedin1920-s,whichmanagedtheissue.Women committees supported women in family, everyday life, legal, wedding andother issues and involved them into social life. `Muslim Women Section', aimed atsupportofvocationaleducation(dressmaking),wasestablishedfrom1924.

The next letterpresents“alist ofMuslimwomen,whodesiretostudydressmaking:ZoriKhabadze,EkhsanDiasamidze,AsmieDiasamidze,PatkumeKirimogli,ZekiKhabadze,KhummieDiasamidze,KhatijeShakhamogli,KunkarShakhamogli»3.

Neither this publicity campaign had positive results. Men protested against womenvocationalcourses.Oneofthedocumentsdirectlydisplaysattitudeofthelocalpopulation:,,ourwomenshallstudyathome…ourcustomsrejecteducationforwomen…amanis apatronofawoman…mendon'twanteducationfortheirwomen…Theheadoftheexecutivecouncilsharesthesameposition»4.Activityofthegovernmentpersonsinsuchconditionsfacedmanyseriousproblems,resultedintheirrequest ofresignation.“AgrafinaTalakvadze,workingamongMuslimwomeninKhuloDistrict» sent a letter to Ajaristan Women Division on November 20, 1924 “based by myreport, it is clear that Khulo District is not ready to make background for employmentof womenand there are no reasons to hope for that. Taking above mentioned inconsideration,kindlyaskmyresignationfrommyposition»5.

Oneoftheletterssenttotherevolutionarycommitteereflectsthat“thefirstyearsoftheSovietrule»wereverydifficultforgovernmentmembers,that“activityinAjarawasequal to become hero», that it was “impossible to act in Ajara». Thus, “it was necessaryto develop a plan to restore confidence and dispel all doubts among population»6. It isspecially noted in the letter that the competence of party leaders is very law, theiractivity “resulted in Kemalist oriented Mejlis creation». According to the letter thedecreeonAjaraAutonomyisnegativelyassessedandnotedthat`theKemalists'headedit7.

Pro-Turkey forces actively implemented public campaigns and provocative acts. Apart of Muslim spiritual leaders were involved in active anti-Georgian activities. Theconsul of Turkey actively assisted them8. The All-Russian Extraordinary Commissionfor Combating Counter-Revolution, Speculation, and Sabotage was informed aboutactivities of pro-Turkey oriented members of mejlis (`Sedai Mileti', Kemalists), wholater created armed forces9. Antireligious activities, agitation, area of impact upon thelocaleducationalinstitutionswasstrictlyregulatedatthefirststages.TheMainPolitical-Educational Committee was created to monitor such issues. At the beginning,its functions contained rehabilitation of mosques. There was not a barrier to join theparty in sak'me religiosity of candidate. One of the protocols of one of the meetingsshows that several Muslims joined Communist Party in Khulo, but the majority wasrejected10. Gradually, the situation was changed. From the second half of 1920s rudebehaviouroftheCommunistpartyofficialsbecamenoticeableinallsphereofsociallife.Religiousrestrictionswerealsoestablished.Forexample,Khazirikhojawasprohibitedto provide funeral religious procedures, causing three days' delay in muslim personfuneral. Spiritual leaders were forced to sign a document, prohibiting implementationof religious procedures (for example in the village of Dioknisi). In the Gorjomi village,intentionallyhumiliatingfeasttableswereimplementedattimeofRamazan(fastingin Islam), muezzins were threaded in case they continued their religious activity. Theletter explains the reasons of the local population attitude negatively predisposed towomen education and chador removal. Partly it is explained by activity of the localfeudal lords and Muslim spiritual leaders. “One part of the feudal lords is Turkeyoriented,thesecondonehasGeorgianorientation.Wecouldnotbesupportedbythem.Wecancelledrelationswithbothpartsofthefeudallords.Weaimedouractivityatthefull isolation of the feudal lords from the farm-workers and finally we reached ouraim»11.

The government abated not a jot of demands. Registrars of Births, Marriages andDeathswereestablished(thefirstsuchRegistrarwasestablishedinVillageKhutsubani), the aim of which was to remove spiritual leaders from population12.RegistrarsofBirths, MarriagesandDeathsshouldmanageand monitormarriageregistrationissues,anderadicateearlymarriagesofunderagepeople.Thereformwassupposed to gradually change the existing practice. But the registrars often could notmanage marriage registration. The registrars were located in the central parts of thevillages,whichwererestrictedforwomenduetoexistedreligiouslimits.Thus,Councilmembersignedthedocumentsinsteadofwomen13.

According to the record, arranged in 1925, Women Committee demanded protectionof women and children rights in case of divorce and development of simplified rulesand procedures for child spousal support14. They implemented special meetings toprovideimmediaterespondtothe womenapplicationsandtriedtomanageandmonitorallissuesrelatedwithwomenneeds15.

Anti-religiouscampaigntouchedchurches,mosquesandotherreligiousinstitutions.AccordingtothedecreeofAjaristanCentralCommitteeofJanuary 13,1923,meeting 35,whichwasbasedondecisionofCouncilofPeople'sCommissarsofJanuary 3,1923,the St. AlexanderNevskiyCathedral,militaryhospitalchurchandSt. MikhailChurchandweretransferredto`Communal divisionfund',andchurchpropertywasgivento`FamineCombat Committee'16.

There were 158 acting mosques in Ajara in 1929, the construction of part of themwas finishedduringtheSovietrule,buttheysoonalmostallofthemwereclosed.Onlythe Ortajame Mosque in Batumi continued its activities until 193517. Later it became amilitarywarehouse18.

During the World War II, when it became necessary to open religious institutionsand legalize their activity, on November 28, 1943 Soviet Government statement 1325`OnChurchesOpening'wasputintoforce.OnApril19,1943similardecree`Onopeningofreligiousprayerhouses'gavepossibilitytorestoreOrtajamein1946inBatumi.

Medreses closing and `The Chador taking' campaign was broadly started from thesecond half of 1920s, which was implemented in 1928-1930. A. Pantskhava, secretaryof Ajara District Committee, informed the Central Bodies of the Party about closing of147 medreses in the region in 1929, and that religious leaders refuse to implementreligious rules and about success in `The Chador taking' campaign, he specially notedthatalltheresultswerereachedwithoutriotandpublicdisorder.

Naturally, the statement was far from reality. By that time, chador was refused byapproximately by 300 women and mainly because of administrative abuse. Archivedocuments prove that even the active communist did not remove chador from theirfamily members. Population protested the terror of administration members but thegovernmentalstructurestriedtoexplainitas“separateindividualmistakes»20.

Installation of new Soviet rules and discredit of traditional points of view was themain purpose of `League of Militant Atheists', `Militant Atheist' journal established in192521.

Opposite to Christianity, Islam required wearing of chador, but the holy book ofQuran does not contain such requirement. This issue was successfully used by Sovietpropagandists. The meetings of voters were conducted in all villages in 1928-1929 inthe frames of antireligious campaign, aimed at medreses closing and chador removal.According to the statement accepted at Sagoreti voters meeting of January 16, 1929:“wearingofchadorwasintroduced bylocalfeudallordswhowantedtosuppresstheirwives. This is an old, obsolete custom, having no place ad purpose in Soviet village»22.Similar records are fixed in decisions of other villages and speeches of communistpropagandists. At`Poor people Conference' (December 20,1928)of KedaDistrict,speaker Kh. Zoidze explained the reasons of chador removal: “formerly, a woman wassubjecttosaleandpurchaseandchadorcoveredwoman'sfacenottocausetheinterestofothermales.TheQurandoesnotcontainrequirementtowearchadorandnowadaysduring Soviet period, it is clear that it is inadmissible to sell or to buy women. …Weshall remove chador from our women and involve the into social life. Even in Turkeyand Afghanistan chador is removed, thus Ajaristan stays as the backward region. It isnecessary to develop Ajaristan and demolish all obsolete traditions and customs…»23, “ifhojaeatschickeneverydayandweeatonlylobio,itiscleartheybetrayus»24.

Anti-religious policy of Soviet Government was based on heavy-handed methods.The policy resulted in weakening of the influence of spiritual leaders and religiousinstitutions, strengthening at the same time dissatisfaction among Muslim population.Correctionofsuch`mistakes'becametheaimoftheSovietgovernment.

AccordingtoIslamrules,GeorgianMuslimwomenshouldcarrychador.AntireligiouspolicyimplementationwasstartedinSovietruleperiod.Itwascharacterizedbyimplementationofcampaignofforciblewithdrawalofchador.PembeKhozrevanidzeremovedherchadorandburntitpubliclyinJanuary1929inthecentreof Khulo. Naturally, it was a result of the Soviet brain washing and easily detectablepropagandaploy.

Fig. 1. The first women, who removed chador(ASS,CSA,photofund,description1, photo21)

Such Soviet policy increased protest mood of population. Domestic and foreignfactors, as well internal political tension in 1922-1925 caused disorder in Ajara, but itwas stopped by the local party active members. Soviet government tried to condemnwounding religious feelings and related mistakes. Appropriate recommendations andatheistic campaign were developed. At the sae time, study of Muslims' religious issueswere started and resulted in large-scale data reflecting conditions of religious buildings,educationalinstitutions,spiritualleaders.Inlinewithabovementioned,activepoaching of spiritual leaders was also implemented. Economic measures were alsoapplied.

Above mentioned measures were fruitless. Public disorder started in 1929 andresultedinthefull-scaleriot.Theprocesseswerealsorelatedwiththeprocessesoftherestparts ofGeorgia25.

ThefirstMeetingofGeorgianMuslimWomenwasconductedatBatumiStateAcademic Theatre on February 8, 1929. The meeting was attended with 447 womendelegates,380ofthemwereAjarianwomen.Womenmadespeechesatthemeeting.Atthe end of the meeting thirty women went to the platform and shouted: “Long livewomen'sfreedom,downwiththechador!»,-theyremovedtheirchadors,thrownthemand burnt, causing applause from the meting participants. According to archive data,the walls were designed with banners: “Long live to the holiday!», “Let's make oureffortstostrugglewitholdtraditionsstronger!».

Women, prepared by special service became the activists of `Women Divisions',Komsomol members and finally transformed into the integral part of the communismbuildersarmy.`Chadorremoval'campaignfacedseriousproblems.Numerousgroupof defendersofoldtraditionsresistedbreakageofreligiousrulesandwayofliving.Itwasverydifficulttokeeppeacefulsituationdespitemasscampaignprovisionandconduction of `Congress of Georgian Muslim Women' (which took place in Batumi onFebruary 8, 1929 attended by 447 delegates and 380 of them presented Ajara). Thewaveofemancipationofwomencausedpublicconcern.Georgiangovernmental`WomenDivision'createdthebody`OurWay',whichwasinvolvedinactivepropaganda, published women correspondence and systematically covered chadorrelateddata.

Manydocuments,keptinarchiveinstitutions,provethatdespitetheactivepropagandist activities, chador removal process in Muslim Ajara had more opponentsthan supporters, causing sharp debates from both sides. Attitude of supporters isclearly displayed through the questions put during discussions. The next questionswereoftenaskedatthemeetings:

- “isitadmissibletoteach2childrenbuttoleaveonechildforassistanceathome?»;

- “isitadmissibletotakeachildtokhodjaforstudiesinthesummer,whenachildisfreefromschool?»;

- “isitadmissibleimmediatelytowithdrawchador,sodeeplyrootedinthetraditions?»26;

- “ourwomensay-wewearchadoriandprefertocommitsuicidebutnottorefusechadri»27;

- “wewillnotremovechadorvoluntarily,willthegovernmentdoitviolently?»28;

- “Iprefertodiebutnottoremovechadorortoclosemedrese.Wedon'twantyourfreedom,leaveus alone»29;

- “incasemedreseiscloseweloseourreligionandhowourchildrenunderstandwhatreligiousproceduresshallbeprovidedwhenwedie?»30;

- “wewillnotremovechador,wewantourreligion,ourchildrenwillstudyatschoolandthen atmedrese»31;

- “wekeepourconscienceunderthechador»32;

- “Chadorshallberemovednotviolentlybutvoluntarily»33.

According to opinions displayed at the meetings, some women agreed to removechador,butcouldnotresistopinionofthecountrymen.Thus,theydemandedintroduction of the appropriate law, under which all females shall remove chador.Aishe Memiadze, resident of Uchambi village declared: “Chador removal is difficult.Theremaybeoneortwosupporters,butourneighbourhoodwillnotgiveusopportunity to act so. We can't resist their humiliation and the law is necessary toremovechadorandnopersonshallbehumiliatedduetochadorremoval».Archive documentsshowthatKediresidentswererelativelylessaggressivetowardsthechadorremoval process than Khulo residents. Their question seems logically asked: What istheprofitfortheGovernmentifweremovechadorandclosemedrese?35.

The 8thCongress of Ajara Councils (April 5-7, 1929) dealt with chador wearing issue inlinewithothereconomicandculturalissue.Congressdatadidnotpayspecialattentiontochadorwearingissue,dealingwithitasonlywiththeobsoletetradition.InrealityitwasrelatedwithOsmanConquest,thustheCongressdelegatesdisplayedaseriousdissatisfactionbecauseoflessattentiontotheissuefromthegovernmentalstructures36.

Applicationofheavy-handedmethodscausedmass dissatisfaction, whichsoontransformedintotheriot.ItcoveredthewholeAjara.CulturalmemoryofAjarapopulationkeepstheeventsrelatedwiththeseprocesses.

As the example we may bring field data recorded in 1969, keeping memoirs ofparticipants of the event. “Nazire Makharadze… started agitation against chador amongwomenofourvillage…TheysaidNazirebecame Georgian(Christina ismeant.-Authors), the older members of congregation condemned her, the majority of womenignored her, but Nazire prolonged her activity, she used quotation from the Koran,which declares, that the Muslims shall firstly obey the State, and then the God.Thus, if the state requires, we shall remove chador. Such agitation technique wasfruitful»37. Naturally, it was not written in the Koran and village women, who did notknowArabiccouldnotcheckcorrectnessofthispostulate.ThesefactorsweretakenbytheSovietagitationintoconsiderationandsuccessfullyapplied.

Cynicism was characteristic feature of Soviet civil servants during implementationof anti-religious campaign. The facts of offending the feelings of the believers werefrequently detected. People remember severity of A. Kalandadze, who headed KhuloPartyCommittee.ByinformationofNiazBolkvadze,descendantofoneofthewitnesses,oneoftheheads of 1929riot,AlisultanBolkvadze1929sentalettertothepitiless andrelentlesspublicperson,demandingtostopoffendingbelievers.

ThefirstcenterofmassprotestandresistancewasfixedinthevillageChvana.Soonit spreader to all villages of mountainous Ajara. Lavrentii Beria and other members ofSovietGovernmentcametoAjarafromTbilisitostudythesituationaccompaniedwitharmy forces. According to Niaz Bolkvadze, L. Beria twice met A. Bolkvadze and someother heads of the riot, who, in line with other demeans, also requested to withdrawcommunistofficialsfromthedistrictandprovisionoffreedomofreligion.Theriotwasnot finished despite the promises to improve the conditions. The rebels put undercontrolPurtio-SkhaltastrategicbridgeandconductedmilitaryparadeinSkhalta.

The special three member committee of L. Beria, L. Gogoberidze and Kovalev wasestablishedtocrushtheriot38,whoseactivitieswereresultedin subdueoftheriotandestablishmentofSovietdictatorshipinAjarain 1929.

M. Tskhakaia, Chairperson of the Central Committee of Georgia, of the 11th CongressofAjaraCoincils(March18-22,1930)promotedinclusionofwomenfromAjarato sociallifeand increasingliteracyrateamongthem39.Duringtheperiod,chadorwasnota necessary attribute of Ajarian Muslim women. Changes also touched other sides ofreligiouslife.Religiousweddingwasprohibited,butreligiousruleswereimplementedinhidden manner, the doctors secretlyimplemented posthetomyin neighbouringChristian regions to protect the local medical personnel, funeral procedures were alsoimplementedsecretly,mainlyatnights.

Sovietgovernmentstartedimplementationofactivemeasuresofcreationandinstallation of new soviet traditions. At time of religious holydays communist andkomsomolholidayswerearranged:KomsomolChristmas,komsomolwedding,Komsomolbaptizing, CommunistRedFuneral,etc.Itbecamea trendto performrevolutionarysongsduringfuneral,todeliverpatheticspeechesandpublishingannouncementsofcivilfuneralritesinmassmedia40.

Someyearsbeforetheriot,in1924,sovietholidaysrelatedprotocolwasestablished.Inlinewithotheractivities,thefirstRedWeddingwasarrangedinAjara.Theappropriate plan was developed. Wedding was supposed on August 18, 192441. Suchplans were developed to implement different Soviet holidays. So called `Red Bairam',`Red Easter' and other similar holidays having deep propaganda insight were plannedtoreplacereligious ones.

But attempt to change religious traditions did not result positively. This policy wasnot successful. Different religious procedures, rules or customs were performed inhidden manner in different form. I was known both for the partocracy and spiritualleaders andin some cases the government turneda blindeye to suchcases. Forexample, a spiritual leader hold teacher's position at more then in twenty schools. Atthe same time, there were some cases of the protests against non-religious education.Archivedatacontainsaletterofvillagecorrespondent`Khmali'datedby1927,describing woman appointment at teacher position in village Didajara of Khulo regionandtheprotestrelatedwithunpaidsalaryforMuslims42.

OneofarchivefundkeepsreportdatedbyNovember16,1929,sentbycitizenRizaliGogitidze to the Kavtaradze (name is not fixed), deputy Head of Ajara Council. Theletter describes ant-governmental and anti-school leaflets. Tension was caused bywounding of the teacher in Kobuleti. According to the documents, two meetings wereconductedtoeduceagent provocateurinvillage Legva.Oneof themeetingswasattended by the Zekeria Lortkipanidze, Head of Ajara Soviet Council. The commissioncontaining twenty four member was established by decision of the meeting aimed atdetection of provocateurs. Khoja Ramiz Baladze was detected as the provocateur. HeshelteredintheforestwiththecriminalMuradKhabazi.Brotherofkhojaappliedtothegovernmentaskingtoarrestkhoja,`becausehewillperishbrother'.Khojawasdetained,hetriedtousearmsandwaskilledduringdetention43.

Theotherfactsofanti-schoolproclamationsspreadarealsokeptatarchive documents.ThepeoplewhodistributedproclamationswereinspiredbylocalkhojasandTurkishagents.Accordingtothedocumentdatedby October 13,1929N. Chkonia,ateacherofChernali(supposedlyCharnali)villagenoticedtheenvelopeatschoolwindow,whichwasbroughttotheheadofstation5.Theenvelopecontainedthefollowing proclamation:“wedon'tneedyou,teacher!Gotherewhereyouwant,ifyoustay,we'llkillyou …khoja shall e at our mosque, we will not let our children to go to school»44.Presenting the letter, the teacher noticed that he worked at school from 1928 and noticedno protest from population, and could not notice possible author of proclamation45.During the same days, Chernali (supposedly Charnali) village school was burnt. Thegovernmentstartedactiveinvestigationtodetecttheauthorsofproclamation46.

Sovietgovernmenttriednottodivulgesuchfacts,thusspecialcommissionsdid notproveresistanceofpeople.

Fig. 2. The first women, who removed chador(ASS,CSA,photofund,description1, photo20)

woman soviet religious policy

The government gradually made its policy tougher. In 1926 it was prohibited toteach law of God, laterin1929 according to the special governmental statement,generaleducationbecamemandatoryandatthesametimespiritualeducationalinstitutionswereprohibitedtoimplementeducationalactivities48,thus,religioustraditionsweretransferredinoralmanner.Accordingly,somedifferentinterpretationsfollowedthisprocess.

It also shall be noted that the documentary exactly fixes ideological signs of chadorburningprocess.Itisenoughtoquotetheslogans,presentedatthemeetingtounderstand Soviet antireligious policy: `Religion is peoples' enemy', `Down with thechadorslaveheritage',`Downwiththechador,polygamy,earlymarriagesandbride-money'.Thefirstsloganclearlyshowsthatthestatedoctrineisagainstallreligions.Thesecond and the third slogans clearly show rejection of Islam rules. The documentary,discussedbyus,showstheimportanceofchadorremovalprocessandparticipationoftoppublicfiguresinthisprocedure.

Thus, from the presented material, the reasons and factors, the combination ofwhich led to the mass uprising of 1929, were identified. The results of the researchproved once again that despite the various methods used to intimidate the believers,thegovernmentwaspowerlesstosuppressthereligiousfeelingsofthepeople.

Chadorremoval,womenemancipationandrelated `successfulactivities'becamethebasisofthefurther`brilliantvictory'ofSovietpeopleand `nativeCommunistparty'.Theissues related with women emancipation are unknown to the youth of the twenty firstcenturyimpedingtheirfullunderstandingoftheirlegalcondition,explainingthattheirfuture legal condition depends on their free choice and active inclusion into civil andpoliticalprocesses.

All regions of Georgia are characterized with a rich cultural heritage, unacceptablefor the Soviet reality, which aim was to create a unified like-minded `Soviet citizen'(Homo Soveticus). That is why, the Soviet ideology forced Georgian art in the light oftheSovietideologytoshowGeorgian ethnologicalcultureastheimpediment ofGeorgiadevelopment, but, in reality, the Georgian artists created a rich visual evidence of theancientGeorgianspiritualandmaterialcultureforthefuturegenerations.

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