The Images of Soviet Past in the Contemporary Georgian Historiography

This article was devoted to understanding Soviet history in contemporary Georgian historiography.The main attention is paid to: general assessment of the Soviet period in the history of Georgia; the establishment of Soviet power; relation to I.V. Stalin; political repressions.The main historiographical sources are generalizing and special jobs of Georgian historians.The author relied on the principle of historicism and a systematic approach, used methods of logical and historiographic analysis, comparative historical and problem-chronological methods.Contemporary Georgia is considered to be the successor of the Georgian Democratic Republic (1918)(1919)(1920)(1921).On the contrary, the history of the Georgian SSR and the Georgian SSR is not recognized as a full-fledged stage in the development of Georgian national statehood.The establishment of Soviet power in 1921 is assessed by most Georgian historians as the "occupation" of Georgia by Soviet Russia.The Soviet period of history is subject to a radical reassessment, although the attitude personally to Stalin as the leader of the Soviet state retains a certain specificity.The considerable attention is paid to political repressions, and the experience of Soviet modernization is actually devalued.The Soviet past in Georgia is not consigned to oblivion, but serves as the basis for the formation of national identity based on the victimization of the past.