On March 5, 1953 , the leader of the Soviet Union, Joseph Stalin, dies. The media, politicians, and even participants in many events spoke about his death. The debate about whether the period of Stalin’s activity was good or bad continues to this day. Interest in him was not so much informative as ideological. Therefore, it is worth considering in detail the Mingrelian case, which, for obvious reasons, Stalin could not bring to the end.
The revision of the Stalinist course began precisely with the fact that the CPSU Congress began to discuss whether the Mingrelian case against Beria was true.
At this stage of Soviet history, the national problems of the Soviet Union, which found their place on both sides of the Caucasus Mountains , were intertwined in a very strong way . The local population is divided into clans, between which there has been a war for centuries. The corrupt authorities could not solve the problems of the population. It is precisely because of this that the Mingrelian case, which is briefly described in these lines, will soon be launched.
Stalin in the south
Towards the end of the summer of 1951, Joseph Stalin went south on his last vacation in his life. He was in Tskhaltubo when the Minister of State Security (MGB) of the Georgian SSR Nikolai Rukhadze came to him. The conversation turned to the emigration of the Mensheviks from Georgia. In addition, Rukhadze also mentioned corruption in the Georgian SSR, proposing the creation of a special body to combat bribes.
By the way, such questions were raised earlier, and Stalin kept them in sight all the time after the end of World War II. The “Leningrad affair”, “the case of the underground synagogue” in the city of Novokuznetsk and many other repressive campaigns sometimes have far-fetched accusations, but at the same time their anti-corruption basis could not be refuted.
The Mingrel case begins with the fact that during the personnel cleansing of the MGB of Georgia, the predecessor Rukhadze was fiercely opposed by the second secretary of the Central Committee of the Georgian Communist Party (b) Mikhail Baramia, as well as Lavrentiy Beria, who was deputy Stalin.
The beginning of the war between Rukhadze and Baramiya
Between Mikhail Baramiya and Rukhadze, a real war begins. Demands were put forward to dismiss the current minister and judge on a huge number of charges. The trial of the Rukhadze case will take place in 1955, when Beria will already be executed, and Stalin will die. The Minister of State Security of Georgia decides to enlist the support of the Great Leader, which was a very right step.
On November 9, 1951, a resolution was issued that received the title “On Bribery in Georgia and on the Anti-Party Group of Baramia”. Despite the measures taken to combat corruption, no result was achieved, as stated in the text of the resolution. It was also pointed out that the government in Georgia is corrupt and patronizes bribes.
In addition, the decree indicated that if the Mingrelian group was not given a proper rebuff, then new people might appear who would continue their work, possibly even from other regions of the country. In this case, the Communist Party in Georgia will most likely fall into several parts.
The Mingrelian business is so called because, according to the authorities, the group in Georgia consisted mainly of Mingrelians. Baramiya, Rapava, Shonia, Chichinadze and Kuchava lose their jobs. It was proposed to begin advocacy work against them.
Interrogations
Investigative actions and a series of arrests began, for which experienced workers of the Ministry of State Security of the USSR were brought from Moscow. Interrogations were carried out in a style that strongly resembles Beria and Rukhadze: many methods were used to ensure that the defendant gave false confessions. Worst of all was those to whom physical coercion was applied: the prisoner sat for a long time in a cold room, his arms were turned around and he was handcuffed, beaten with sticks, deprived of sleep for a long time, starved, and more. The obtained "testimonies" went to the very top, after which a resolution was approved on the state of affairs of the Communist Party in the Georgian SSR. It stated that errors and shortcomings in the work of the authorities in Georgia were progressing extremely slowly.
The Mingrelian case revealed that a group led by Baramia planned to seize power. On March 27, the first secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party (Bolshevik), Candide Charkviani, lost his post, and Alexey Mgeladze takes his place. It was assumed that the formal replacement of power, as well as the declaration of Charkviani as an enemy of the people, was to be made precisely by Lavrenty Beria, who recommended him to his former place of work.
Beria did not dare to disobey the demand of the Great Leader, after which he falls under the scrutiny of the investigation. They also arrested Vardo Makselishvili, who worked as a major of state security in Georgia and was under the auspices of Lavrenty Pavlovich. Her husband, who worked at the Ministry of State Security of the USSR, could not escape the investigation. On July 16, 1953, Beria admitted that he lived with Maximelishvili even before she got married.
The investigation wanted to go to the main mingrel, but Joseph Stalin died. Beria, who headed the USSR Ministry of Internal Affairs, creates committees for the review of many cases, including Mingrelian. This was necessary in order to free loyal people, return them to the highest posts, and also take control of power not only in Georgia, but throughout the state.
Freeing the people, Beria declared that Stalin personally sent them to prison. Moreover, he often contacted Georgia, asking about the promotion of the Mingrelian business and showing dissatisfaction. The leader demanded that physical measures be applied in order to finally gain recognition.
Summary
On April 10, 1953, it was recognized that the Mingrelian group never existed, and that the case against it was nothing more than a provocation. Thirty-seven of those arrested in this case were released and fully rehabilitated, but many of them again went to prison, but in the case of Beria.
Beria and his supporters were able to create such power in Georgia, whose bad sides became the norm throughout the USSR. Of course, Stalin is also to blame for this, without which the “berivism” would not have existed for a long time. In his defense, we can say that it was Stalin who first began to fight the outrages in the state apparatus of Georgia.