Memorandum of the working South Ossetia to the Central Committee of the Russian Communist Party (Bolsheviks), the All-Russian Central Executive Committee for Workers and Peasants' Deputies, the Council of People's Commissars, the North Caucasus Regional Committee R.K. P., the Military Revolutionary Council of the Caucasian Front, the Political Department and the Commander of the XI Army about the revolutionary events in South Ossetia.
The working South Ossetia revolted, overthrew the power of its oppressors - Georgian social chauvinists, and proclaimed Soviet power on May 8, 1920.
1. We, the elected representatives, delegates and responsible leaders of the 17 organized party communist committees of proletarian and semi-proletarian South Ossetia, who for centuries have borne the oppressive network of Transcaucasian exploiters — princes and landlords on our shoulders, .we declare publicly that from the first days of the October revolution to the present moment we have withstood the most terrible blockade of two raging dark counter-revolutionary forces: Denikin from the North, and the Georgian social traitors from the South. Because of this unprecedented siege, we were deprived of the opportunity to tell the working world about the fierce struggle that was taking place in our country and about the horrors and atrocities that the “democratic” government of Zhordania and K. committed in our country.
After the October Revolution and the Brest-Litovsk Treaty, when the Georgian social chauvinists, Armenian Dashnaks and Tatar beks and khans, united into one “sweet and inextricable company”, broke off ties with Soviet Russia — the working South Ossetia at the crowded congresses in Dzhava and Tskhinvali in March 1918, declared that South Ossetia was faced with the unprecedentedly outrageous fact of the breakdown of Transcaucasia with the revolutionary Russia at the time of the difficult struggle of the Russian proletariat with the rampant bourgeois counter-revolution. Transcaucasian chauvinists, cannibals and exploiters, while resolving this issue, ignored the poor working population of South Ossetia, while we, representatives of entire South Ossetia, are loudly protesting against such violence, against isolating us, against our will, from Soviet Bolshevik Russia.
We can never, under any circumstances, come to terms with this fact of outrageous violence emanating from the camp of the enemies of the poor working people.
We reaffirm, of course, the steady will and decision of our people and declare that South Ossetia is and should remain an integral part of the free Soviet Bolshevik Russia. We swear that in the fight against the dark forces that are between us and the Soviet Russia, we will be acting decisively and mercilessly. Warm greetings to our brothers and comrades, Russian Bolsheviks, and contempt and curse to Transcaucasian usurpers and separatists, as traitors to the proletarian revolution.
Transcaucasian stranglers at that time were diligently busy suppressing the revolution, dispersing and executing Bolsheviks and Bolshevik regiments. They were not slow to appear in South Ossetia with the so-called “People’s Guard” detachments.” These were gangs recruited from large and small exploiters and their children, shopkeepers, people with criminal past and present, cheaters, gymnasium students, etc., and headed by Prince Machabeli, Georgian Purishkevich-Veshapeli and the arch-bandit Dzhugeli himself. Each of whom had two or three Mausers, a rifle, hand grenades, a saber, a dagger, etc. Their invasion was everywhere accompanied by indescribably outrageous atrocities, disgrace: no for any reason and warning, indiscriminate fire was opened in villages from machine guns and other weapons, they robbed, killed, raped and set on fire. The Bolsheviks were being searched for with some kind of frenzy; the Bolsheviks seemed to them everywhere. it’s a nightmarish invasion of exaltation of distraught, pre-etched and bribed ... cynical Transcaucasian ultra-shameless hooligans-bandits. There was no end to popular indignation. The people revolted almost simultaneously in three regions — Tskhinvali, Sachkher and Dushet, not only Ossetians revolted, but their neighbors, Georgians — Kartalins and Imeretians.
The uprising took on a spontaneous character. —This was the beginning of the civil war, the beginning of the class, party struggle in Transcaucasia and in South Ossetia, the beginning of the struggle for the Soviet power. There was a complete division, the split of the people into two irreconcilable camps — the poor — the Bolsheviks and the princes, merchants, Mensheviks (with the Socialist Revolutionaries echoing them), who were on both sides of the barricade.
Since then, we have been fighting to the death for Soviet power.
We will not dwell in detail on the Tskhinval, Sachkhere, and Dusheti rebellions. We only briefly note that in a decisive battle near Tskhinval, the rebels destroyed the entire detachment of the Mensheviks with headquarters and the head of the detachment, Prince Machabeli; in Sachkhera, the head of the defeated Menshevik detachments Veshapeli (Georgian Purishkevich) managed to slip away, in Dusheti the rebels were fighting against the forces superior to them several times to the last bullet. The uprising was not suppressed.
It was eliminated through negotiations. The rebels were forced to do so by the complete depletion of military supplies (the reserves taken from the Mensheviks were also used up), and the lack of a live connection with the Soviet Russia ...
The notorious Georgian "democratic" government, which grew out of the decomposed corpse of the Transcaucasian Triumvirate (Sejm), surpassed its late stepmother in a criminal counter-revolutionary chauvinistic work. It conceived a broad and cunning plan - to ruin the revolutionary movement, without disdaining to use any means. - negotiations in a friendly tone for a “peaceful” resolution of the misunderstanding, then slander, blatant lies, provocation, bribery and, finally, the power of weapons in the form of punitive expeditions with violence and war by cooking.
A little after the Tskhinval events, Irakli Tsereteli arrived in South Ossetia — this Menshevik Zlatoust. The government of Zhordania thought in Ossetia to meet a dark crowd, which could easily be influenced on. But how surprised Tsereteli was when arriving in June of 1918 at the Tsunar congress of South Ossetia, where he met an organized congress of the working people divided by party fractions. The Bolsheviks were overwhelmingly; there were a small number of Social Revolutionaries, Mensheviks, and non-party persons. Tsereteli began to prophesy, proving to the people not only the failure, but also the swift death of Bolshevism in all of Russia. He dwelt for a long time on the benefits for South Ossetia of Menshevik rule and on some exceptionally magical conditions in Georgia, where the gains of the revolution can only be maintained. Our comrades quickly tore off the mask from the “socialist.” Tsereteli. To the question of what caused Transcaucasia and, in particular, the Georgian Mensheviks to secede from the Revolutionary Russia. Tsereteli began to give the most stupidly sophisticated explanations in the spirit of Menshevism and Georgian imperialism. To the question of one of our comrades “Where is your border?” Tsereteli dryly emphasized: “along the ridge,” pointing to the gray peaks of the Caucasus Mountains. Tsereteli left Ossetia “dissatisfied” with the Bolsheviks who witty remarks like those that in a stuffy atmosphere of the Menshevik Georgia, only chauvinistic instincts, but not conquest of revolution, can easily be preserved. — Not once after that, the bribed agents of the Mensheviks fabricated congresses and sentences on the annexation of South Ossetia to Georgia, elections to the Georgian Constituent Assembly, boycotted by literally the entire population of South Ossetia, as a result of which the People’s Council of South Ossetia was dispersed in May 1919.
Realizing its powerlessness, the Menshevik Government resorted to other measures. The Tskhinval, Sachkher and Dusheti uprisings are provoked by the corrupt press of Georgia, as a national uprising of Ossetians and an encroachment on the independence of the “socialist Georgia,” trying to set the working people against each other in this way. In an official report, Zhordania himself stated that princes organized an uprising in Tskhinvali with the help of Ossetian guards What an impudent: and outrageous lie: The gray-haired Zhordania, as a provocateur, throws such things into the mass to cause national clashes.
In the Tskhinval uprising, Ossetian guards were fighting in the ranks of the Georgian Mensheviks against the Ossetian and Georgian Bolsheviks. Among the Georgian guards there were many of their supporters from the Ossetians. The chief of staff of the Tskhinvali Menshevik punitive detachment Kaziev (killed near Tskhinval) was Ossetian. Ossetian guards, executioners and counter-revolutionaries, such as R. Bikoev, V. Pliev, A. Lokhov and others consisted and are still in the service of the Georgian Government. We testify — and this is well known to everyone — that in all these events there was neither a “Georgian” nor an “Ossetian”, there were only revolutionary Bolshevik rebels and counter-revolutionary traitors of the working revolution — the Mensheviks. There was a party-class struggle, which the Zhordania government in vain tried to direct from the revolutionary channel to the nationalist one to destroy the revolutionary spirit of the people. All the efforts of the Menshevik Government in this spirit were crushed against the stubborn resistance of the organized masses of the working people of South Ossetia and Georgia. No one can indicate a single case of national clashes between the working people of Georgia and South Ossetia. If in the neighborhood, in the Terek region. these national clashes took on an epidemic character, then in South Ossetia they were no such cases.
The laboring peasantry and the workers of South Ossetia and Georgia, are well aware of their common enemies who, armed to the teeth with weapons plundered on the Caucasian front and the Shamkhor massacres from the outgoing front-line soldiers, settled in Tiflisi, in the palace on Golovinsky avenu; their names are Gegechkori, Noah Zhordania, Noah Ramishvili, Noah Khomeriki and a host of others, Noahs, tails and scoundrels of the first “Noahs.” The working people will soon get to the skins of these bisons.
It is clear that the Government of Zhordania and K. remained and remains true to its chauvinistic desires. The Menshevik press is howling about Ossetian anarchists, robbers, etc. South Ossetia — this is a nest of Bolshevism, which does not allow the Mensheviks to sleep. “Peaceful” negotiations and provocative work yielded no results.
The Zhordania government takes on the “surest means” of influence. In addition, the Government is now holding the facts and indictments against South Ossetia, which on October 24 last year rose in arms. (The uprising was organized in Kutaisi and Tiflis provinces on October 24, 1919. We managed to rise in rebellion in some places, like ours, but by order of the Regional Committee, the uprising was suspended at the time of the height). —Punitive expeditions are equipped, one fiercer than the other. After the Tskhinvali events of South Ossetia, we had to experience the horrors of four more punitive expeditions. The soul of these expeditions has always been the Gori district commissar Kartsivadze, this is the right hand of the Georgian Fon Pleve-Noah Ramishvili. It’s not for nothing that the executioner Kartsivadze vowed at the funeral of the graves of the murdered bandits near Tskhinval to take revenge on the Ossetians ...
All punitive expeditions were distinguished by destruction, arsons, ruin, and repression exclusively in relation to the poor, honest working people, among whom the hated Bolsheviks were searched and suspected. Without dwelling in detail on all the punitive expeditions, we will say a few words about the December expedition in 1919, which was distinguished by the greatest cruelty and savagery.
The Menshevik forces, in advance, secretly, thoroughly prepared, invaded South Ossetia by sudden and fast transitions from three sides: through Dzhava, Jerikpm and Kudar gorges. It was clear to everyone for what and to whom they are going. By order of the District Committee
of our party, all comrades in arms occupied the heights of the entrance gorges. The Mensheviks were located in valleys and gorges with their machine guns and weapons, we - in the forests and on the snowy peaks. Our scouts — members of the Spartak Communist Youth Organization, who deftly made their way to the headquarters of the Mensheviks — regularly and accurately delivered information to us.
The leaders of the Menshevik detachments, Colonel Khimshiev, Shengelaya, Kartsivadze and others, first of all in an ultimatum form, demanded the extradition of 18 comrades-leaders of the communist organizations from the population, and when this was not achieved, they gave complete and unlimited freedom of actions to their guardsmen over the remaining villagers .
Pogroms began, reminding everyone of the well-known Jewish pogroms in Tsarist Russia. They were smashing, of course, the house of the poor working people, the Bolsheviks. Insignificant stocks of bread, mainly corn, which the poor people on their shoulders carried across the pass along impassable mountain trails from the North Caucasus, were taken away. This bread, each grain of which was sweaty and bloodshot, was rushed mercilessly in abundance into the feed and under the feet of the horses of the Georgian “people's” guard. Widely using the services of local small kulaks and former tsarist guards, the white guard went around the houses of those comrades, committing atrocities there, looting and destroying all property.
Over 400 homesteads were smashed. After the wild dancing they set fire to the house of our comrade Mate Sanakoev. We saw how the flames of this burning house brightly illuminated the Georgian "socialists", warming their hands around the fire, we heard the groans of the beaten gray-haired old men - our fathers, who were required to surrender their sons.
For seven days, on the snowy peaks, our comrades-the eyewitnesses of these and other similar horrors, passionate exchanges of opinions and discussions took place.
It was with great difficulty that the leaders had to restrain and reassure many of their comrades, who were greatly succumbed to the indescribable feelings of indignation caused by this terrible moment.
The struggle and even the complete annihilation of the arrived Menshevik forces did not represent anything beyond our strength. The question of fighting their reserves was more serious, and even more serious was the prevention of fatal mistakes to the detriment of our common cause in the upcoming revolutionary struggle. The plans of the Mensheviks became known. They came to provoke us to the battle, where, in the final result, they completely counted on the victory, and even complete extermination of the hated South Ossetians, as they had already committed in many Tatar villages in Akhaltsikhe district. (Surprisingly, there is still not a word in the press about these latest horrors). All these data, the lack of confidence in support at that moment from the neighbors — the Georgians, and Denikin was raging on the north, made us accept not to accept battle, ordinary members of the party should remain in the local villages,. We crossed the snowy pass of the Main Caucasian Range, carrying our Maksimka (machine gun), and the Mensheviks remained continuing their destructive work to the fateful moment for them, which had already come.
But despite all these horrors and extremely difficult conditions for us, the revolutionary spirit was not only not shaken, but grew at an amazingly fast pace. The punitive expeditions of the chauvinists became the best factor in revolutionizing the masses to the desired limits. Since 1918, South Ossetia has had 17 organized communist district committees: 1) Dzhava, 2) Dzhava Committee of Communist Youth, “Spartak”, 3) Roksky, 4) Kudarsky, 5) Tsonsko-Tedeletsky, 6) Kemultsky, 7) Ortevsky , 8) Belotsky, 9) Kansky, 10) Tskhinvali, 11) Tsunarsky, 12) Kornissky, 13) Okonsky, 14) Karelian, 15) Gujaretsky, 16) Kobiysko-Trusovsky, 17) Kakhetinsky, with party members with three thousand people and 90% of the sympathizers of the entire population. (The entire population of South Ossetia is about 150. OOO souls).
Party members, mainly the former front-line soldier and the workers thrown overboard for Bolshevism from different regions of Transcaucasia. At the head of the district organizations is the South Ossetian District Committee of the RCP. (Bolsheviks) ...
At present, the victorious Red Army has come close to us, occupying the entire Terek region. The labor proletarian and semi-proletarian South Ossetia, which is located on the territory on the northern side of the Tiflis and Kutaisi provinces, in direct contact with the Soviet Terek region, according to the directives of the Party's Regional Committee and according to the order of March 23, 1920, overthrew the miserable power of the Georgian Mensheviks, which was forcibly imposed on us and did not cause anything but contempt among us.
We overthrew the pitiful power of the Mensheviks and declared the power of the Soviets; we repeat and reaffirm the unshakable will of the working South Ossetia expressed in 1918:
1) South Ossetia - an integral part of Soviet Russia;
2) South Ossetia is part of the Soviet Russia on a common basis.
At this moment, we are bleeding in the fight against Georgian chauvinists.
We appeal to the comrades — the Communists and the victorious Red Army — to help us completely crush the chauvinists and Mensheviks of all ranks throughout Transcaucasia and hoist the red banner of communism everywhere. We are convinced that our outstretched arms will not be paralyzed, and our Russian comrades will not leave us in a state of expectation of fraternal help for a long time.
We send greetings to the Russian proletariat, its leader Comrade Lenin, Chicherin and other comrades, the Red Army soldiers, who are bringing deliverance to all the oppressed.
Down with criminal separatism!
Long live the Soviet regime, the World Socialist Revolution and the triumph of communism!
Let the labor world hear our enthusiastic cry of the impenetrable Caucasian gorges!
Signed:
Chairman of the South Ossetian District Committee of the RCP (b) Vl. Sanakoev.
Comrade Chairman S. Gagloev.
Members of the Committee: A. Pliev, A. Abaev.
Secretary: A. Dzhatiev.
District Committees of the South Ossetian Organization of the RCP (B.)
1) Dzhavsky: Alexander Karsanov, Simon Tedeev, E (that Kochiev, Dadte Sanakoev, Mate Sanakoev.
2) Dzhava “Snartak”: Tembol Dzhioev, Efin Tskhurbaev, Sergey Dzhioev.
3) Rock: Soslan Pliev, Avakum Slanov, Alexey Pliev Efrem Gagloev, B. Pliev.
4) Ortev: Nikolay Chochiev, Vladimir Gogichev, Vasily Kokoev, Tate Gassiev, Esta Chochiev.
5) Belot: Joseph Gobozov, Alexey Khuriev, Peter Kabulov.
6) Csan: Vl. Khubulov, Yves. Khubulov, Tsamel Khubulov,
7) Tskhinval: Gabriel Mamitov, Vladimir Dudaev, Shalva Bestaev.
8) Tsunar: Gigo Vaneev, Ilya Tibilov, Peter Gazzaev Mikhail Tedeev, Alexey Tibilov.
P) Kornis: Lavrenty Tedeev, George Kozayev, Alexander Kochiev.
10) Tson-Tedelet: Arkhip Dzhioev, Gega Dzhioev, Sergey Dzhioev, Alexander Dzhioev, Semyon Bitiev.
11) Kemulta: Gigo Laliev, Nikolai Bagaev, Sergey Byazrov, Evgraf Tedeev, Ilya Kabisov.
12) Kudar: Semyon Nartikoev, Kiril Alborov, Consantin Khugaev, Mikhail Khugaev.
13) Karel: David Pliev, Dmitry Tedeev, Joseph Chibirov.
14 Gujaret: Mikhail Osiyaev, Nikolai Tedeev, David Khubiyaev.
15) Kobiysko-Trusovsky: Nikolai Makkaev, Nikolai Gadiev, Sergey Bulatsev.
16) Okona: Jason Pukhaev, Nestor Khubezhov, Ilya Gagiev.
17) Kakheti: Razden Kozayev, Mito Kochiev, Yak. Tibilov.
Archive of the South-Ossetian Research Institute, Copy, typewritten.
1920 May 28.
From the book "The struggle of the working people of South Ossetia for Soviet power" (1917-1921). Documents and materials. Compiled by I.N. Tskhovrebov.
