Telegram from First Secretary of the Georgian Communist Party, Dzhumbar I. Patiashvili to the Central Committee (CC) of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU)

Incoming enciphered message No. 219/sh

From Tbilisi

Received 8 April 1989

8:50 p.m.

I report that the situation in Tbilisi continues to remain tense.

A gathering of many thousands of people is taking place at Government House whose main slogans remain as before: “Secession from the USSR, the creation of an independent Georgia”, “Liquidation of autonomies”, etc.

A 3,500-person rally in the Abkhazian ASSR [Autonomous Socialist Soviet Republic] of people of Georgian nationality directed against the secession of Abkhaziya from the GSSR has taken place.

In a number of higher educational institutions parts of the student body have declared a hunger strike in support of the demonstrators. As a whole the CP CC, the government, and local Party and government authorities have a grip on the situation and are taking the necessary measures to stabilize the situation.

Yesterday, 7 April, a meeting of the Bureau of the CC Georgian CP [GCP] took place and today there was a meeting of the Party activists of the Republic at which measures of Party, government, and law enforcement agencies were approved to strengthen political, organizational, and indoctrination work in labor collectives and places of residence; also, an appeal of the CC of the Communist Party, the Supreme Soviet, and the Council of Ministers of Georgia to the Party members and workers of Georgia has been adopted.

In particular, it was planned to hold meetings of activists in all regions of the Republic and meetings of primary Party organizations with the participation of members of the Bureau and the CC GCP where practical plans of action were worked out for the development of projected measures. A series of speeches of eminent figures of science and culture of the Republic and representatives of the working class and peasantry have been organized on television and radio and in the press. “Roundtables” and youth meetings are being held in higher educational institutions on current issues of the public life of Georgia, the destructiveness of illegal activities, the measures of responsibility for what has been done, and the need to strengthen discipline and order for the further development of democracy and glasnost.

After the activists’ meeting everyone fanned out and went to workplaces to explain its materials and the Party policy in present conditions and the unity of the Party and the people in carrying out the tasks of perestroika.  

Workers’ groups [druzhiny] consisting of 4,685 people have been created at 111 Tbilisi enterprises and institutions to maintain discipline and orderliness.  Specific plans have been developed and are being carried out together with the MVD and ZAKVO [sic] to maintain law and order and adopt, if necessary, exhaustive measures to prevent disorders and illegal acts. The entire staff of the CC, the Supreme Soviet, the GSSR Council of Ministers, the Tbilisi City Party Committee and City Executive Committee are efficiently performing their functions and actively working among the population and demonstrators.

No more additional measures on the part of the CC CPSU or the USSR government are required at the present time besides those adopted earlier.

This is reported for your information.

Secretary of the CC GCP

D. Patiashvili