Sergey Kavtaradze
Encyclopedia
Sergey or Sergo Kavtaradze (Georgian
: სერგო ქავთარაძე, Sergo Kavtaradze; Russian
: Сергей Иванович Кавтарадзе, Sergey Ivanovich Kavtaradze; 15 August 1885-17 October 1971) was a Soviet
politician and diplomat who briefly served as head of government
in the Georgian SSR and as Deputy Prosecutor General of the Soviet Union
. A Georgian
Bolshevik
activist, he was persecuted for his Trotskyist
activities, but was pardoned and reinstated by his personal friend Joseph Stalin
.
Arrested during the Great Purge
, Kavtaradze became famous for being among the few victims to be brought out of jail and readmitted in the Soviet Communist Party
hierarchy. He was Deputy to the Foreign Commissar Vyacheslav Molotov
for the greater part of World War II, and, in 1944, was sent to Iran
, where his controversial stance helped topple the Mohammad Sa'ed
cabinet. Kavtaradze was also involved in provoking rebellion in the Iranian Azerbaijan
and other Iranian-ruled areas.
His last major office was that of Ambassador to Romania
, where he maintained close contacts with the Romanian Communist Party
faction formed around Ana Pauker
and played a part in facilitating electoral fraud
during the general election of 1946
.
, at the time part of the Russian Empire
. He joined the Russian Social-Democratic Workers' Party in 1903 and engaged in agitation during the period leading up to the October Revolution
. Active throughout the Caucasus
and in Saint Petersburg
, he was a member of the Social Democratic Committee for Imereti and Mingrelia (1904–1906). Kavtaradze first met his fellow Georgian Joseph Stalin early in his youth, and became his collaborator. During this time, he reputedly helped the young Stalin hide from detectives.
Kavtaradze's political activities contrasted with his romantic life: he eventually married Sofia Vachnadze, a Georgian princess whose godmother was Empress Consort Maria Feodorovna (mother of Emperor Nicolas II
). In 1912, he split with the mainstream Social Democrats as one of the Old Bolsheviks, and subsequently stood on the group's far left
. He then worked for the Bolshevik paper Pravda
(1912–1914), and, in 1915, graduated from the Saint Petersburg University
Faculty of Law. After the February Revolution
of 1917, he was present on the Social Democratic (Bolshevik)
Regional Committee in the Caucasus, while editing the group's local journal, Kavkazsky Rabochy. Later in the year, he was a delegate to the 6th Party Congress
, and, in 1918, was Chairman of the Executive Committee of the Soviet
in Vladikavkaz
. As the Civil War
took hold of the Caucasus, Kavtaradze remained a representative of the Bolsheviks, active against the Menshevik government in the Democratic Republic of Georgia
, and was arrested several times.
Although he frequently disagreed with Stalin, the two remained close. Following the Red Army invasion of Georgia
, Kavtaradze was head of the revolutionary committee
s in Batumi
and Adjaria (March–September and July–September 1921, or up until May 1921). He later filled the same post in the Georgian SSR (at the time part of the Transcaucasian SFSR
), where he was also People's Commissar for Justice
. Between February 1922 and 1923, he was head of government (Chairman of the Sovnarkom) of the Georgian SSR. He was counselor of the Soviet Embassy in Turkey (1923–1924), and later served as Deputy Prosecutor General of the Soviet Union
(1924–1928).
and the Left Opposition
in their conflict with Stalin and other Party leaders, and ceased his involvement with the group only as it collapsed. This caused him to be expelled from the Party as early as 1927. Eventually, in late 1927, he was sent on internal exile to Orenburg Oblast
(or, according to others, to Kazan
). He attempted to visit Moscow on vacation in December 1928, but was arrested on charges of spreading "Anti-Soviet
propaganda".
In 1929, Stalin ordered the State Political Directorate
and Lavrentiy Beria
to round up the leadership of the Georgian Communist Party, including Polikarp Budu Mdivani
and others who had voiced strong criticism of the centralism
imposed with the creation of the Soviet Union (see Georgian Affair
). Other Georgian comrades of Stalin were also arrested, including Kote Tsintsadze
. However, in a speech condemning Mdivani's associates as a "terrorist
group", Beria left out Kavtaradze's name, which was seen as a sign that Stalin was going to be more lenient with him. He was nonetheless sentenced to three years in prison, which he served in Tobolsk
.
Kavtaradze was eventually released on Stalin's orders, and was allowed to return to and settle in Moscow, where he worked as a journalist without reentering the Party. According to historian Roy Medvedev
, Sergey Kavtaradze's liberation came after he sent a letter to the uncontested leader, which included a pledge that "he was not working against the Party." Medvedev places Kavtaradze's release after the 1934 murder of Party boss Sergey Kirov
, while other sources indicate that he emerged from prison in 1931.
Central Committee member Lazar Kaganovich
was tasked with looking after him. One of Sergey Kavtaradze's journalistic pieces, published soon after his return to Moscow, was a recollection of his early activities, which was reportedly well liked by Stalin.
was reaching its peak, he and his wife Sofia were suddenly arrested on orders from NKVD
chief Nikolai Yezhov
, accused of "counter-revolutionary activities" and of having conspired with Mdivani to have Stalin assassinated, and sentenced to death. They were both subject to torture in the Lubyanka Prison
. Although Mdivani was shot immediately, the couple remained waiting on Death Row
for a significant period. Upon being presented with a list of planned executions, Stalin marked a dash in crayon next to Kavtaradze's name—according to various sources, this discreet sign saved Kavtaradze's life.
Sergey Kavtaradze was later moved to a prison in Tbilisi
, but brought back to Moscow in February 1939. The couple were suddenly released in late 1939, and were first allowed to see each other in Beria's Moscow apartment. British historian Simon Sebag Montefiore
argues that this was a delayed consequence of a letter Stalin received in 1936: in it, the couple's eleven-year old daughter, Maya, begged for her parents to be allowed to live. The Kavtaradzes (including Maya, who was allowed to leave Tbilisi and transported to Moscow) moved into a hotel, and then allowed to settle in a communal apartment. In what was an unprecedented gesture, Stalin and Beria paid them a visit in their new home.
in 1941, being placed in charge of the Near East
Department. In 1943, after the Nazi German
invasion of the Soviet Union
, he was Deputy Foreign Commissar. He took part in the inter-Allied
summits—the Yalta Conference
and the Potsdam Conference
. The family were often guests at the Kremlin
, where they attended dinners in the company of Stalin and other prominent politicians.
During September 1944, Sergey Kavtaradze was in Iran
, where, three years after the Anglo-Soviet invasion
, he was to push for a Soviet share in the local oil industry. He approached Prime Minister
Mohammad Sa'ed
, asking him to allow Soviet prospectors in northern Iran. Sa'ed, who was by then involved in a conflict with the far left Tudeh
and nationalist
forces over having allowed British and American businesses the possibility of opening oil field in the country, did not reply favorably to the envoy's request. Kavtaradze then resorted to threats, which he notably voiced during a meeting with Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi
. In parallel, the Soviet Red Army
troops in Iran made the transit of Iranian forces
difficult, and were present during a large-scale Tudeh demonstration in front of the Majlis
building.
It was largely as a result of these maneuvers that Sa'ed ultimately resigned on 9 November 1944, being replaced by Morteza Gholi Bayat
. In December, despite Tudeh opposition, Mohammed Mosaddeq successfully advanced legislation preventing any government official from granting Iranian fields to any foreign investor without explicit approval from the Majlis. Kavtaradze protested the change, claiming that it was aimed against the Soviet Union, but the Bayet cabinet refused to renegotiate and he returned to Moscow without having registered any gain. In June 1945, Molotov, Kavtaradze and Azerbaijan SSR
leader Mir Jafar Baghirov
were instructed by the Soviet Central Committee to secretly prepare a separatist
insurrection in the Iranian Azerbaijan
. This resulted in Ja'far Pishevari's Azerbaijan People's Government
, while agitation among the Kurdish people
gave way to Qazi Muhammad
's Republic of Mahabad
(both regimes were crushed within months by Iranian interventions).
During early autumn, together with the Armenian SSR
's Foreign Commissariat, Kavtradze analyzed the border issues between Turkey and the Caucasian Soviet Republics (see Tao-Klarjeti
, Wilsonian Armenia
). In a report to Molotov, he estimated that the Turkish state owed 20,500 km² in territory to the Armenian SSR and 5,500 km² to the Georgian SSR. With his backing, the Armenian leadership unsuccessfully proposed that the Ardahan Province
and the area around Oltu
be demanded from Turkey and granted to the Armenian SSR. The two regions had been part of the Democratic Republic of Armenia
following the 1920 Treaty of Sèvres
, but were also claimed by Georgia. In contrast, the Georgian leaders proposed that Ardahan and Oltu become part of their republic.
, whose alliance with the Axis Powers
was ended by the King Michael Coup of August 1944 (see Romania during World War II
). His office as Ambassador, like the Soviet military presence
, was instrumental in providing guidance and assistance for the Romanian Communist Party
(PCR). He took over his post in 1945, and kept it until 1952.
At the time, he was especially close to the PCR's so-called "Muscovite faction", and to its leader, Ana Pauker
. This came at a time when Pauker won the trust of Soviet leaders such as Molotov, Kaganovich and Kliment Voroshilov
—in contrast, her main rival, Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej
, sought support from Georgy Malenkov
and Beria. At a lower level, Pauker's relations with Kavtaradze were replicated by the close relationship between Gheorghiu-Dej and Mark Borisovich Mitin, the Cominform
activist and Stalinist
theorist.
During September 1945, as Soviet specialists on Romanian issues, Kavtaradze and his fellow diplomat, former prosecutor Andrey Vyshinsky
, were present in Moscow at a meeting between a Romanian delegation and Stalin. The Romanian side, overseen by Ploughmen's Front
leader and Premier
Petru Groza
, also comprised Foreign Minister and Vice-Premier Gheorghe Tătărescu
, Romanian Social Democrat
leader Ştefan Voitec
, and Mihail Ghelmegeanu. The discussions were centered on Romania's agreement to seal a final armistice
with the Soviet Union. The Minister of Justice
and prominent PCR member, Lucreţiu Pătrăşcanu
, was conspicuously absent from the talks, in what was seen as an early sign of his downfall.
In autumn 1946, Kavtaradze, who regularly instructed Pauker, played a part in the electoral fraud
that brought the PCR-created Bloc of Democratic Parties to power under Groza's leadership (see Romanian general election, 1946
).
In January 1947, as Romania prepared to sign the Paris Peace Treaty
, he played a part in negotiating, with Premier
Groza, Foreign Minister Tătărescu, and PCR activist Emil Bodnăraş
, the Soviet takeover of islands on the Danube
's Chilia branch
. While Groza asked for Romania to receive the Hertza region
and a small area north of Siret
in exchange, Tătărescu opposed any change in the status quo
, and Bodnăraş asked for promises of compensation to be made. Kavtaradze relayed his government's position that no guarantees were to be made, and the islands were ceded to the Soviet Union as part of the Paris Treaty system.
Since the Soviet-dominated Allied Commission
ended its mandate (October 1947) and until his recall, Kavtaradze replaced Red Army
general Ivan Susaykov as the most important representative of his country in relations with the Groza government, and, later, with Communist Romania
. He retired in 1954, one year after Stalin's death, and in 1961, was a delegate to the 22nd Party Congress. He died ten years later in Tbilisi, where his descendants were still residing in 2003.
cites an episode occurring circa 1939, reported to him by Kavtaradze himself: during dinner at the Kremlin, Kavtaradze was addressed by Stalin the words "And yet you wanted to kill me". Medvedev notes: "Some historians may see this comment as proof of Stalin's paranoia
. But Stalin knew well that Kavtaradze never tried to kill him. However, he could not admit this openly, for then he would have had to reconsider the execution of Budu Mdivani
and many other Communists involved in the case. It was much simpler to 'forgive' Kavtaradze alone." In his view, the case was similar to that of Alyosha Svanidze (the brother of Stalin's first wife Ekaterina Svanidze
), who was shot after refusing to confess similar crimes. He concluded: "All these actions reveal a misanthropic
tyrant
, not a mentally ill person who did not know what he was doing." Reportedly, Sergey Kavtaradze himself believed that the conversation showed Stalin to be "sick". Simon Sebag Montefiore
, who places this event right after the Kavtaradzes' liberation, cites the line as: "Nevertheless, you all wanted to kill me?", and gives Kavtaradze's reply to it as "Do you really think so?" He also records an exchange between Stalin and Sofia Kavtaradze: Stalin, looking at her hair (which had turned white in prison), commented "We have tortured you too much."
In this context, Stalin charged Sergey Kavtaradze with editing a Russian-language translation of Shota Rustaveli
's The Knight in the Panther's Skin
, which he was to complete together with the academic Shalva Nutsibidze. Nutsibidze was himself a former inmate, and he had begun work on the translation in his cell—Stalin had personally reviewed his work and found it impressive, ordering Nutsibidze to be released. Reportedly, the Soviet dictator even corrected part of the manuscript and his personal translation of a section probably made it into the final edition.
Following his release, Stalin kept Kavtaradze in his circle of intimates, and nicknamed him Tozho—in reference to his slant eyes, which, Stalin believed, made him look like the Japanese prime minister Hideki Tōjō
. He also confided in him: at some point after the Great Purge, Stalin allegedly told his friend that "we had to shoot" Nikolai Yezhov
. On one occasion in 1945, speaking in Georgian, Stalin told the Mingrelian Lavrentiy Beria
he considered him a "traitor" in front of Kavtaradze.
According to Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej
's political ally, Alexandru Bârlădeanu, Kavtaradze was also on good terms with his faction, and, while in Romania, furnished them details on his youth and relations with Stalin and his earlier fall from grace. Bârlădeanu remembered Kavtaradze telling him that he was present at the 17th Party Congress
of 1934, where he claimed to have cast his vote in favor of Sergey Kirov
and against Stalin's choices for the Central Committee
. The ballot was secret, but Stalin later ordered the voting majority to be purged, which would have left Kavtaradze among the very few survivors of that vote.
Georgian language
Georgian is the native language of the Georgians and the official language of Georgia, a country in the Caucasus.Georgian is the primary language of about 4 million people in Georgia itself, and of another 500,000 abroad...
: სერგო ქავთარაძე, Sergo Kavtaradze; Russian
Russian language
Russian is a Slavic language used primarily in Russia, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. It is an unofficial but widely spoken language in Ukraine, Moldova, Latvia, Turkmenistan and Estonia and, to a lesser extent, the other countries that were once constituent republics...
: Сергей Иванович Кавтарадзе, Sergey Ivanovich Kavtaradze; 15 August 1885-17 October 1971) was a Soviet
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
politician and diplomat who briefly served as head of government
Prime Minister of Georgia
The Prime Minister of Georgia is the most senior minister within the Cabinet of Georgia, appointed by the President of Georgia. The official title of the Head of the Government of Georgia has varied throughout history, however, the duties and functions of the leader have changed only marginally....
in the Georgian SSR and as Deputy Prosecutor General of the Soviet Union
Prosecutor General of the USSR
The Procurator General of the USSR , was the highest functionary of the Office of Public Procurator of the USSR, responsible for the whole system of offices of public procurators and supervision of their activities on the territory of the Soviet Union.-History:The office of procurator had its...
. A Georgian
Georgia (country)
Georgia is a sovereign state in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. Located at the crossroads of Western Asia and Eastern Europe, it is bounded to the west by the Black Sea, to the north by Russia, to the southwest by Turkey, to the south by Armenia, and to the southeast by Azerbaijan. The capital of...
Bolshevik
Bolshevik
The Bolsheviks, originally also Bolshevists , derived from bol'shinstvo, "majority") were a faction of the Marxist Russian Social Democratic Labour Party which split apart from the Menshevik faction at the Second Party Congress in 1903....
activist, he was persecuted for his Trotskyist
Trotskyism
Trotskyism is the theory of Marxism as advocated by Leon Trotsky. Trotsky considered himself an orthodox Marxist and Bolshevik-Leninist, arguing for the establishment of a vanguard party of the working-class...
activities, but was pardoned and reinstated by his personal friend Joseph Stalin
Joseph Stalin
Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin was the Premier of the Soviet Union from 6 May 1941 to 5 March 1953. He was among the Bolshevik revolutionaries who brought about the October Revolution and had held the position of first General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union's Central Committee...
.
Arrested during the Great Purge
Great Purge
The Great Purge was a series of campaigns of political repression and persecution in the Soviet Union orchestrated by Joseph Stalin from 1936 to 1938...
, Kavtaradze became famous for being among the few victims to be brought out of jail and readmitted in the Soviet Communist Party
Communist Party of the Soviet Union
The Communist Party of the Soviet Union was the only legal, ruling political party in the Soviet Union and one of the largest communist organizations in the world...
hierarchy. He was Deputy to the Foreign Commissar Vyacheslav Molotov
Vyacheslav Molotov
Vyacheslav Mikhailovich Molotov was a Soviet politician and diplomat, an Old Bolshevik and a leading figure in the Soviet government from the 1920s, when he rose to power as a protégé of Joseph Stalin, to 1957, when he was dismissed from the Presidium of the Central Committee by Nikita Khrushchev...
for the greater part of World War II, and, in 1944, was sent to Iran
Iran
Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...
, where his controversial stance helped topple the Mohammad Sa'ed
Mohammad Sa'ed
-Early life and prime minister ship:Born in Maragheh, he studied at University of Lausanne, and became Prime Minister after the fall of Ali Soheili's cabinet in 1943....
cabinet. Kavtaradze was also involved in provoking rebellion in the Iranian Azerbaijan
Azerbaijan (Iran)
Azerbaijan or Azarbaijan , also Iranian Azerbaijan, Persian Azarbaijan is a region in northwestern Iran. It is also historically known as Atropatene and Aturpatakan....
and other Iranian-ruled areas.
His last major office was that of Ambassador to Romania
Romania
Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...
, where he maintained close contacts with the Romanian Communist Party
Romanian Communist Party
The Romanian Communist Party was a communist political party in Romania. Successor to the Bolshevik wing of the Socialist Party of Romania, it gave ideological endorsement to communist revolution and the disestablishment of Greater Romania. The PCR was a minor and illegal grouping for much of the...
faction formed around Ana Pauker
Ana Pauker
Ana Pauker was a Romanian communist leader and served as the country's foreign minister in the late 1940s and early 1950s...
and played a part in facilitating electoral fraud
Electoral fraud
Electoral fraud is illegal interference with the process of an election. Acts of fraud affect vote counts to bring about an election result, whether by increasing the vote share of the favored candidate, depressing the vote share of the rival candidates or both...
during the general election of 1946
Romanian general election, 1946
The Romanian general election of 1946 was a general election held on November 19, 1946, in Romania. Officially, it was carried with 79.86% of the vote by the Romanian Communist Party , its allies inside the Bloc of Democratic Parties , and its associates — the Hungarian People's Union , the...
.
Early activities
Kavtaradze was born into a noble family in Zovreti, in the Georgian area of ImeretiImereti
Imereti is a province in Georgia situated along the middle and upper reaches of the Rioni river. It consists of the following Georgian administrative-territorial units:#Kutaisi #Baghdati region#Vani region#Zestafoni region...
, at the time part of the Russian Empire
Russian Empire
The Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was the successor to the Tsardom of Russia and the predecessor of the Soviet Union...
. He joined the Russian Social-Democratic Workers' Party in 1903 and engaged in agitation during the period leading up to the October Revolution
October Revolution
The October Revolution , also known as the Great October Socialist Revolution , Red October, the October Uprising or the Bolshevik Revolution, was a political revolution and a part of the Russian Revolution of 1917...
. Active throughout the Caucasus
Caucasus
The Caucasus, also Caucas or Caucasia , is a geopolitical region at the border of Europe and Asia, and situated between the Black and the Caspian sea...
and in Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg is a city and a federal subject of Russia located on the Neva River at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea...
, he was a member of the Social Democratic Committee for Imereti and Mingrelia (1904–1906). Kavtaradze first met his fellow Georgian Joseph Stalin early in his youth, and became his collaborator. During this time, he reputedly helped the young Stalin hide from detectives.
Kavtaradze's political activities contrasted with his romantic life: he eventually married Sofia Vachnadze, a Georgian princess whose godmother was Empress Consort Maria Feodorovna (mother of Emperor Nicolas II
Nicholas II of Russia
Nicholas II was the last Emperor of Russia, Grand Prince of Finland, and titular King of Poland. His official short title was Nicholas II, Emperor and Autocrat of All the Russias and he is known as Saint Nicholas the Passion-Bearer by the Russian Orthodox Church.Nicholas II ruled from 1894 until...
). In 1912, he split with the mainstream Social Democrats as one of the Old Bolsheviks, and subsequently stood on the group's far left
Far left
Far left, also known as the revolutionary left, radical left and extreme left are terms which refer to the highest degree of leftist positions among left-wing politics...
. He then worked for the Bolshevik paper Pravda
Pravda
Pravda was a leading newspaper of the Soviet Union and an official organ of the Central Committee of the Communist Party between 1912 and 1991....
(1912–1914), and, in 1915, graduated from the Saint Petersburg University
Saint Petersburg State University
Saint Petersburg State University is a Russian federal state-owned higher education institution based in Saint Petersburg and one of the oldest and largest universities in Russia....
Faculty of Law. After the February Revolution
February Revolution
The February Revolution of 1917 was the first of two revolutions in Russia in 1917. Centered around the then capital Petrograd in March . Its immediate result was the abdication of Tsar Nicholas II, the end of the Romanov dynasty, and the end of the Russian Empire...
of 1917, he was present on the Social Democratic (Bolshevik)
Communist Party of the Soviet Union
The Communist Party of the Soviet Union was the only legal, ruling political party in the Soviet Union and one of the largest communist organizations in the world...
Regional Committee in the Caucasus, while editing the group's local journal, Kavkazsky Rabochy. Later in the year, he was a delegate to the 6th Party Congress
6th Congress of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (bolsheviks)
The 6th Congress of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party was held during 26 July - 3 August in Petrograd, Russia....
, and, in 1918, was Chairman of the Executive Committee of the Soviet
Soviet (council)
Soviet was a name used for several Russian political organizations. Examples include the Czar's Council of Ministers, which was called the “Soviet of Ministers”; a workers' local council in late Imperial Russia; and the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union....
in Vladikavkaz
Vladikavkaz
-Notable structures:In Vladikavkaz, there is a guyed TV mast, tall, built in 1961, which has six crossbars with gangways in two levels running from the mast structure to the guys.-Twin towns/sister cities:...
. As the Civil War
Russian Civil War
The Russian Civil War was a multi-party war that occurred within the former Russian Empire after the Russian provisional government collapsed to the Soviets, under the domination of the Bolshevik party. Soviet forces first assumed power in Petrograd The Russian Civil War (1917–1923) was a...
took hold of the Caucasus, Kavtaradze remained a representative of the Bolsheviks, active against the Menshevik government in the Democratic Republic of Georgia
Democratic Republic of Georgia
The Democratic Republic of Georgia , 1918–1921, was the first modern establishment of a Republic of Georgia.The DRG was created after the collapse of the Russian Empire that began with the Russian Revolution of 1917...
, and was arrested several times.
Although he frequently disagreed with Stalin, the two remained close. Following the Red Army invasion of Georgia
Red Army invasion of Georgia
The Red Army invasion of Georgia also known as the Soviet–Georgian War or the Soviet invasion of Georgia was a military campaign by the Soviet Russian Red Army against the Democratic Republic of Georgia aimed at overthrowing the Social-Democratic government and installing the Bolshevik regime...
, Kavtaradze was head of the revolutionary committee
Revolutionary committee
Revolutionary committees or revkoms were Bolshevik-led organizations in Soviet Russia and in areas of its activities established to serve as provisional governments and temporary Soviet administrations in territories under the control of the Red Army in 1918-1920, during the Russian Civil War and...
s in Batumi
Batumi
Batumi is a seaside city on the Black Sea coast and capital of Adjara, an autonomous republic in southwest Georgia. Sometimes considered Georgia's second capital, with a population of 121,806 , Batumi serves as an important port and a commercial center. It is situated in a subtropical zone, rich in...
and Adjaria (March–September and July–September 1921, or up until May 1921). He later filled the same post in the Georgian SSR (at the time part of the Transcaucasian SFSR
Transcaucasian SFSR
The Transcaucasian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic , also known as the Transcaucasian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, the Transcaucasian SFSR and the TSFSR for short, was a short-lived republic of the Soviet Union, lasting from 1922 to 1936...
), where he was also People's Commissar for Justice
Ministry of Justice (Soviet Union)
The Ministry of Justice of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , formed on 15 March 1946, was one of the most important government offices in the Soviet Union. It was formerly known as the People's Commissariat for Justice...
. Between February 1922 and 1923, he was head of government (Chairman of the Sovnarkom) of the Georgian SSR. He was counselor of the Soviet Embassy in Turkey (1923–1924), and later served as Deputy Prosecutor General of the Soviet Union
Prosecutor General of the USSR
The Procurator General of the USSR , was the highest functionary of the Office of Public Procurator of the USSR, responsible for the whole system of offices of public procurators and supervision of their activities on the territory of the Soviet Union.-History:The office of procurator had its...
(1924–1928).
Left Opposition and first arrest
Around that time, Kavtaradze joined Leon TrotskyLeon Trotsky
Leon Trotsky , born Lev Davidovich Bronshtein, was a Russian Marxist revolutionary and theorist, Soviet politician, and the founder and first leader of the Red Army....
and the Left Opposition
Left Opposition
The Left Opposition was a faction within the Bolshevik Party from 1923 to 1927, headed de facto by Leon Trotsky. The Left Opposition formed as part of the power struggle within the party leadership that began with the Soviet founder Vladimir Lenin's illness and intensified with his death in January...
in their conflict with Stalin and other Party leaders, and ceased his involvement with the group only as it collapsed. This caused him to be expelled from the Party as early as 1927. Eventually, in late 1927, he was sent on internal exile to Orenburg Oblast
Orenburg Oblast
Orenburg Oblast is a federal subject of Russia . Its administrative center is the city of Orenburg. From 1938 to 1957, it bore the name Chkalov Oblast in honor of Valery Chkalov...
(or, according to others, to Kazan
Kazan
Kazan is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Tatarstan, Russia. With a population of 1,143,546 , it is the eighth most populous city in Russia. Kazan lies at the confluence of the Volga and Kazanka Rivers in European Russia. In April 2009, the Russian Patent Office granted Kazan the...
). He attempted to visit Moscow on vacation in December 1928, but was arrested on charges of spreading "Anti-Soviet
Anti-Sovietism
Anti-Sovietism and Anti-Soviet refer to persons and activities actually or allegedly aimed against the Soviet Union or government power within the Soviet Union.Three different flavors of the usage of the term may be distinguished....
propaganda".
In 1929, Stalin ordered the State Political Directorate
State Political Directorate
The State Political Directorate was the secret police of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic and the Soviet Union from 1922 until 1934...
and Lavrentiy Beria
Lavrentiy Beria
Lavrentiy Pavlovich Beria was a Georgian Soviet politician and state security administrator, chief of the Soviet security and secret police apparatus under Joseph Stalin during World War II, and Deputy Premier in the postwar years ....
to round up the leadership of the Georgian Communist Party, including Polikarp Budu Mdivani
Polikarp Mdivani
Polikarp "Budu" Mdivani was a veteran Georgian Bolshevik and Soviet government official energetically involved in the Russian Revolutions and the Civil War. In the 1920s, he played an important role in Sovietization of the Caucasus, but later led Georgian Communist opposition to Joseph Stalin's...
and others who had voiced strong criticism of the centralism
Centralized government
A centralized or centralised government is one in which power or legal authority is exerted or coordinated by a de facto political executive to which federal states, local authorities, and smaller units are considered subject...
imposed with the creation of the Soviet Union (see Georgian Affair
Georgian Affair
The Georgian Affair of 1922 was a political conflict within the Soviet leadership about the way in which social and political transformation was to be achieved in the Georgian SSR...
). Other Georgian comrades of Stalin were also arrested, including Kote Tsintsadze
Kote Tsintsadze
Kote Tsintsadze was a Georgian Bolshevik involved in the Russian revolutions and the Sovietization of Georgia. He was purged under Joseph Stalin as a member of the Left Opposition within the Communist Party of the Soviet Union....
. However, in a speech condemning Mdivani's associates as a "terrorist
Terrorism
Terrorism is the systematic use of terror, especially as a means of coercion. In the international community, however, terrorism has no universally agreed, legally binding, criminal law definition...
group", Beria left out Kavtaradze's name, which was seen as a sign that Stalin was going to be more lenient with him. He was nonetheless sentenced to three years in prison, which he served in Tobolsk
Tobolsk
Tobolsk is a town in Tyumen Oblast, Russia, located at the confluence of the Tobol and Irtysh Rivers. It is a historic capital of Siberia. Population: -History:...
.
Kavtaradze was eventually released on Stalin's orders, and was allowed to return to and settle in Moscow, where he worked as a journalist without reentering the Party. According to historian Roy Medvedev
Roy Medvedev
Roy Aleksandrovich Medvedev |Georgia]]) is a Russian historian renowned as the author of the dissident history of Stalinism, Let History Judge , first published in English in 1972...
, Sergey Kavtaradze's liberation came after he sent a letter to the uncontested leader, which included a pledge that "he was not working against the Party." Medvedev places Kavtaradze's release after the 1934 murder of Party boss Sergey Kirov
Sergey Kirov
Sergei Mironovich Kirov , born Sergei Mironovich Kostrikov, was a prominent early Bolshevik leader in the Soviet Union. Kirov rose through the Communist Party ranks to become head of the Party organization in Leningrad...
, while other sources indicate that he emerged from prison in 1931.
Central Committee member Lazar Kaganovich
Lazar Kaganovich
Lazar Moiseyevich Kaganovich was a Soviet politician and administrator and one of the main associates of Joseph Stalin.-Early life:Kaganovich was born in 1893 to Jewish parents in the village of Kabany, Radomyshl uyezd, Kiev Governorate, Russian Empire...
was tasked with looking after him. One of Sergey Kavtaradze's journalistic pieces, published soon after his return to Moscow, was a recollection of his early activities, which was reportedly well liked by Stalin.
Second arrest and death sentence
Kavtaradze consequently worked for a publishing house, reviewing works of fiction. In late 1936, as the Great PurgeGreat Purge
The Great Purge was a series of campaigns of political repression and persecution in the Soviet Union orchestrated by Joseph Stalin from 1936 to 1938...
was reaching its peak, he and his wife Sofia were suddenly arrested on orders from NKVD
NKVD
The People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs was the public and secret police organization of the Soviet Union that directly executed the rule of power of the Soviets, including political repression, during the era of Joseph Stalin....
chief Nikolai Yezhov
Nikolai Yezhov
Nikolai Ivanovich Yezhov or Ezhov was a senior figure in the NKVD under Joseph Stalin during the period of the Great Purge. His reign is sometimes known as the "Yezhovshchina" , "the Yezhov era", a term that began to be used during the de-Stalinization campaign of the 1950s...
, accused of "counter-revolutionary activities" and of having conspired with Mdivani to have Stalin assassinated, and sentenced to death. They were both subject to torture in the Lubyanka Prison
Lubyanka (KGB)
The Lubyanka is the popular name for the headquarters of the KGB and affiliated prison on Lubyanka Square in Moscow. It is a large building with a facade of yellow brick, designed by Alexander V...
. Although Mdivani was shot immediately, the couple remained waiting on Death Row
Death row
Death row signifies the place, often a section of a prison, that houses individuals awaiting execution. The term is also used figuratively to describe the state of awaiting execution , even in places where no special facility or separate unit for condemned inmates exists.After individuals are found...
for a significant period. Upon being presented with a list of planned executions, Stalin marked a dash in crayon next to Kavtaradze's name—according to various sources, this discreet sign saved Kavtaradze's life.
Sergey Kavtaradze was later moved to a prison in Tbilisi
Tbilisi
Tbilisi is the capital and the largest city of Georgia, lying on the banks of the Mt'k'vari River. The name is derived from an early Georgian form T'pilisi and it was officially known as Tiflis until 1936...
, but brought back to Moscow in February 1939. The couple were suddenly released in late 1939, and were first allowed to see each other in Beria's Moscow apartment. British historian Simon Sebag Montefiore
Simon Sebag Montefiore
Simon Jonathan Sebag Montefiore is a British historian and writer.-Family history:Simon's father, a doctor, is descended from a famous line of wealthy Sephardic Jews who became diplomats and bankers all over Europe...
argues that this was a delayed consequence of a letter Stalin received in 1936: in it, the couple's eleven-year old daughter, Maya, begged for her parents to be allowed to live. The Kavtaradzes (including Maya, who was allowed to leave Tbilisi and transported to Moscow) moved into a hotel, and then allowed to settle in a communal apartment. In what was an unprecedented gesture, Stalin and Beria paid them a visit in their new home.
World War II
Kavtaradze was assigned to the State Publishing House in 1940, and reinstated in the Party later that year. He became an assistant to Foreign Commissar Vyacheslav MolotovVyacheslav Molotov
Vyacheslav Mikhailovich Molotov was a Soviet politician and diplomat, an Old Bolshevik and a leading figure in the Soviet government from the 1920s, when he rose to power as a protégé of Joseph Stalin, to 1957, when he was dismissed from the Presidium of the Central Committee by Nikita Khrushchev...
in 1941, being placed in charge of the Near East
Near East
The Near East is a geographical term that covers different countries for geographers, archeologists, and historians, on the one hand, and for political scientists, economists, and journalists, on the other...
Department. In 1943, after the Nazi German
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
invasion of the Soviet Union
Operation Barbarossa
Operation Barbarossa was the code name for Germany's invasion of the Soviet Union during World War II that began on 22 June 1941. Over 4.5 million troops of the Axis powers invaded the USSR along a front., the largest invasion in the history of warfare...
, he was Deputy Foreign Commissar. He took part in the inter-Allied
Allies of World War II
The Allies of World War II were the countries that opposed the Axis powers during the Second World War . Former Axis states contributing to the Allied victory are not considered Allied states...
summits—the Yalta Conference
Yalta Conference
The Yalta Conference, sometimes called the Crimea Conference and codenamed the Argonaut Conference, held February 4–11, 1945, was the wartime meeting of the heads of government of the United States, the United Kingdom, and the Soviet Union, represented by President Franklin D...
and the Potsdam Conference
Potsdam Conference
The Potsdam Conference was held at Cecilienhof, the home of Crown Prince Wilhelm Hohenzollern, in Potsdam, occupied Germany, from 16 July to 2 August 1945. Participants were the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom, and the United States...
. The family were often guests at the Kremlin
Moscow Kremlin
The Moscow Kremlin , sometimes referred to as simply The Kremlin, is a historic fortified complex at the heart of Moscow, overlooking the Moskva River , Saint Basil's Cathedral and Red Square and the Alexander Garden...
, where they attended dinners in the company of Stalin and other prominent politicians.
During September 1944, Sergey Kavtaradze was in Iran
Iran
Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...
, where, three years after the Anglo-Soviet invasion
Anglo-Soviet invasion of Iran
The Anglo-Soviet invasion of Iran was the Allied invasion of the Imperial State of Iran during World War II, by British, Commonwealth, and Soviet armed forces. The invasion from August 25 to September 17, 1941, was codenamed Operation Countenance...
, he was to push for a Soviet share in the local oil industry. He approached Prime Minister
Prime Minister of Iran
Prime Minister of Iran was a political post in Iran that had existed during several different periods of time starting with the Qajar era until its most recent revival from 1979 to 1989 following the Iranian Revolution.-Prime Ministers of Qajar era:In the Qajar era, prime ministers were known by...
Mohammad Sa'ed
Mohammad Sa'ed
-Early life and prime minister ship:Born in Maragheh, he studied at University of Lausanne, and became Prime Minister after the fall of Ali Soheili's cabinet in 1943....
, asking him to allow Soviet prospectors in northern Iran. Sa'ed, who was by then involved in a conflict with the far left Tudeh
Tudeh Party of Iran
The Tudeh Party of Iran is an Iranian communist party. Formed in 1941, with Soleiman Mohsen Eskandari as its head, it had considerable influence in its early years and played an important role during Mohammad Mosaddeq's campaign to nationalize the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company and his term as prime...
and nationalist
Iranian nationalism
Iranian nationalism refers to nationalism among the people of Iran and individuals whose national identity is Iranian. Iranian nationalism consists of political and social movements and sentiments prompted by a love for Iranian culture, language and history, and a sense of pride in Iran and...
forces over having allowed British and American businesses the possibility of opening oil field in the country, did not reply favorably to the envoy's request. Kavtaradze then resorted to threats, which he notably voiced during a meeting with Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi
Mohammad Reza Pahlavi
Mohammad Rezā Shāh Pahlavi, Shah of Iran, Shah of Persia , ruled Iran from 16 September 1941 until his overthrow by the Iranian Revolution on 11 February 1979...
. In parallel, the Soviet Red Army
Red Army
The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army started out as the Soviet Union's revolutionary communist combat groups during the Russian Civil War of 1918-1922. It grew into the national army of the Soviet Union. By the 1930s the Red Army was among the largest armies in history.The "Red Army" name refers to...
troops in Iran made the transit of Iranian forces
Military of Iran
The Armed Forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran include the IRIA and the IRGC and the Police Force .These forces total about 545,000 active personnel . All branches of armed forces fall under the command of General Headquarters of Armed Forces...
difficult, and were present during a large-scale Tudeh demonstration in front of the Majlis
Majlis of Iran
The National Consultative Assembly of Iran , also called The Iranian Parliament or People's House, is the national legislative body of Iran...
building.
It was largely as a result of these maneuvers that Sa'ed ultimately resigned on 9 November 1944, being replaced by Morteza Gholi Bayat
Morteza Gholi Bayat
Morteza Gholi Bayat was a Prime Minister of Iran.Born in Arak, Iran into a family of Irans' ancient tribal nobility, Chieftains of the Bayat tribe, to Haj Abbas Qoli-Khan Saham al-Molk Araki, he first founded the Democratic party of Arak.He was heavily involved in the termination of the Qajar...
. In December, despite Tudeh opposition, Mohammed Mosaddeq successfully advanced legislation preventing any government official from granting Iranian fields to any foreign investor without explicit approval from the Majlis. Kavtaradze protested the change, claiming that it was aimed against the Soviet Union, but the Bayet cabinet refused to renegotiate and he returned to Moscow without having registered any gain. In June 1945, Molotov, Kavtaradze and Azerbaijan SSR
Azerbaijan SSR
The Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic , also known as the Azerbaijan SSR for short, was one of the republics that made up the former Soviet Union....
leader Mir Jafar Baghirov
Mir Jafar Baghirov
Mir Jafar Baghirov Abbas oglu was the communist leader of Azerbaijan SSR from 1932 till 1953, under the Soviet leadership of Joseph Stalin.-Early life:Born in Quba of Baku Governorate in 1896, Baghirov studied pedagogy in Petrovsk....
were instructed by the Soviet Central Committee to secretly prepare a separatist
Separatism
Separatism is the advocacy of a state of cultural, ethnic, tribal, religious, racial, governmental or gender separation from the larger group. While it often refers to full political secession, separatist groups may seek nothing more than greater autonomy...
insurrection in the Iranian Azerbaijan
Azerbaijan (Iran)
Azerbaijan or Azarbaijan , also Iranian Azerbaijan, Persian Azarbaijan is a region in northwestern Iran. It is also historically known as Atropatene and Aturpatakan....
. This resulted in Ja'far Pishevari's Azerbaijan People's Government
Azerbaijan People's Government
The Azerbaijan People's Government was a short-lived, Soviet-backed client state in northern Iran. Established in Iranian Azerbaijan, the APG's capital was the city of Tabriz...
, while agitation among the Kurdish people
Kurdish people
The Kurdish people, or Kurds , are an Iranian people native to the Middle East, mostly inhabiting a region known as Kurdistan, which includes adjacent parts of Iran, Iraq, Syria, and Turkey...
gave way to Qazi Muhammad
Qazi Muhammad
Qazi Muhammad was a nationalist and religious Kurdish leader and the Head of the Republic of Kurdistan, the second modern Kurdish state in the Middle East ....
's Republic of Mahabad
Republic of Mahabad
The Republic of Mahabad , officially known as Republic of Kurdistan and established in Iranian Kurdistan, was a short-lived, Kurdish government that sought Kurdish autonomy within the limits of the Iranian state. The capital was the city of Mahabad in northwestern Iran...
(both regimes were crushed within months by Iranian interventions).
During early autumn, together with the Armenian SSR
Armenian SSR
The Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic The Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic The Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic The Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic The Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic The Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic The Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic The Armenian Soviet...
's Foreign Commissariat, Kavtradze analyzed the border issues between Turkey and the Caucasian Soviet Republics (see Tao-Klarjeti
Tao-Klarjeti
Tao-Klarjeti is the term conventionally used in modern history writing to describe the historic south-western Georgian principalities, now forming part of north-eastern Turkey and divided among the provinces of Erzurum, Artvin, Ardahan and Kars...
, Wilsonian Armenia
Wilsonian Armenia
Wilsonian Armenia refers to the boundary configuration of the Armenian state in the Treaty of Sèvres, drawn by US President Woodrow Wilson State Department. The Treaty of Sèvres was a peace treaty that had been drafted and signed between the Western Allied Powers and the defeated government of the...
). In a report to Molotov, he estimated that the Turkish state owed 20,500 km² in territory to the Armenian SSR and 5,500 km² to the Georgian SSR. With his backing, the Armenian leadership unsuccessfully proposed that the Ardahan Province
Ardahan Province
Ardahan Province is a province in the far north-east of Turkey, at the very end of the country, where Turkey borders with Georgia . The provincial capital is the city of Ardahan.- Geography :...
and the area around Oltu
Oltu
Oltu is a town and district of Erzurum Province in the Eastern Anatolia region of Turkey. The mayor is İbrahim Ziyrek . The population is 19,969 .-History:...
be demanded from Turkey and granted to the Armenian SSR. The two regions had been part of the Democratic Republic of Armenia
Democratic Republic of Armenia
The Democratic Republic of Armenia was the first modern establishment of an Armenian state...
following the 1920 Treaty of Sèvres
Treaty of Sèvres
The Treaty of Sèvres was the peace treaty between the Ottoman Empire and Allies at the end of World War I. The Treaty of Versailles was signed with Germany before this treaty to annul the German concessions including the economic rights and enterprises. Also, France, Great Britain and Italy...
, but were also claimed by Georgia. In contrast, the Georgian leaders proposed that Ardahan and Oltu become part of their republic.
Activities in Romania and final years
During the war's final stage, Kavtaradze was sent to the Romanian KingdomKingdom of Romania
The Kingdom of Romania was the Romanian state based on a form of parliamentary monarchy between 13 March 1881 and 30 December 1947, specified by the first three Constitutions of Romania...
, whose alliance with the Axis Powers
Axis Powers
The Axis powers , also known as the Axis alliance, Axis nations, Axis countries, or just the Axis, was an alignment of great powers during the mid-20th century that fought World War II against the Allies. It began in 1936 with treaties of friendship between Germany and Italy and between Germany and...
was ended by the King Michael Coup of August 1944 (see Romania during World War II
Romania during World War II
Following the outbreak of World War II on 1 September 1939, the Kingdom of Romania officially adopted a position of neutrality. However, the rapidly changing situation in Europe during 1940, as well as domestic political upheaval, undermined this stance. Fascist political forces such as the Iron...
). His office as Ambassador, like the Soviet military presence
Soviet occupation of Romania
The Soviet occupation of Romania refers to the period from 1944 to August 1958, during which the Soviet Union maintained a significant military presence in Romania...
, was instrumental in providing guidance and assistance for the Romanian Communist Party
Romanian Communist Party
The Romanian Communist Party was a communist political party in Romania. Successor to the Bolshevik wing of the Socialist Party of Romania, it gave ideological endorsement to communist revolution and the disestablishment of Greater Romania. The PCR was a minor and illegal grouping for much of the...
(PCR). He took over his post in 1945, and kept it until 1952.
At the time, he was especially close to the PCR's so-called "Muscovite faction", and to its leader, Ana Pauker
Ana Pauker
Ana Pauker was a Romanian communist leader and served as the country's foreign minister in the late 1940s and early 1950s...
. This came at a time when Pauker won the trust of Soviet leaders such as Molotov, Kaganovich and Kliment Voroshilov
Kliment Voroshilov
Kliment Yefremovich Voroshilov , popularly known as Klim Voroshilov was a Soviet military officer, politician, and statesman...
—in contrast, her main rival, Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej
Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej
Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej was the Communist leader of Romania from 1948 until his death in 1965.-Early life:Gheorghe was the son of a poor worker, Tănase Gheorghiu, and his wife Ana. Gheorghiu-Dej joined the Communist Party of Romania in 1930...
, sought support from Georgy Malenkov
Georgy Malenkov
Georgy Maximilianovich Malenkov was a Soviet politician, Communist Party leader and close collaborator of Joseph Stalin. After Stalin's death, he became Premier of the Soviet Union and was in 1953 briefly considered the most powerful Soviet politician before being overshadowed by Nikita...
and Beria. At a lower level, Pauker's relations with Kavtaradze were replicated by the close relationship between Gheorghiu-Dej and Mark Borisovich Mitin, the Cominform
Cominform
Founded in 1947, Cominform is the common name for what was officially referred to as the Information Bureau of the Communist and Workers' Parties...
activist and Stalinist
Stalinism
Stalinism refers to the ideology that Joseph Stalin conceived and implemented in the Soviet Union, and is generally considered a branch of Marxist–Leninist ideology but considered by some historians to be a significant deviation from this philosophy...
theorist.
During September 1945, as Soviet specialists on Romanian issues, Kavtaradze and his fellow diplomat, former prosecutor Andrey Vyshinsky
Andrey Vyshinsky
Andrey Januaryevich Vyshinsky – 22 November 1954) was a Soviet politician, jurist and diplomat.He is known as a state prosecutor of Joseph Stalin's Moscow trials and in the Nuremberg trials. He was the Soviet Foreign Minister from 1949 to 1953, after having served as Deputy Foreign...
, were present in Moscow at a meeting between a Romanian delegation and Stalin. The Romanian side, overseen by Ploughmen's Front
Ploughmen's Front
The Ploughmen's Front was a Romanian left-wing agrarian-inspired political organisation of ploughmen, founded at Deva in 1933 and led by Petru Groza. At its peak in 1946, the Front had over 1 million members.-History:...
leader and Premier
Prime Minister of Romania
The Prime Minister of Romania is the head of the Government of Romania. Initially, the office was styled President of the Council of Ministers , when the term "Government" included more than the Cabinet, and the Cabinet was called The Council of Ministers...
Petru Groza
Petru Groza
Petru Groza was a Romanian politician, best known as the Prime Minister of the first Communist Party-dominated governments under Soviet occupation during the early stages of the Communist regime in Romania....
, also comprised Foreign Minister and Vice-Premier Gheorghe Tătărescu
Gheorghe Tatarescu
Gheorghe I. Tătărescu was a Romanian politician who served twice as Prime Minister of Romania , three times as Minister of Foreign Affairs , and once as Minister of War...
, Romanian Social Democrat
Romanian Social Democratic Party (defunct)
The Romanian Social Democratic Party was a social-democratic political party in Romania. It published the magazine România Muncitoare, and later Socialismul, Lumea Nouă, and Libertatea.-Early party:...
leader Ştefan Voitec
Stefan Voitec
Ştefan Voitec was a Romanian socialist and communist journalist, politician, and statesman of Communist Romania.-Biography:...
, and Mihail Ghelmegeanu. The discussions were centered on Romania's agreement to seal a final armistice
Armistice
An armistice is a situation in a war where the warring parties agree to stop fighting. It is not necessarily the end of a war, but may be just a cessation of hostilities while an attempt is made to negotiate a lasting peace...
with the Soviet Union. The Minister of Justice
Ministry of Justice (Romania)
The Ministry of Justice of Romania is one of the fifteen ministries of the Romanian Government. It administers the judicial system.The current minister of justice is Cătălin Predoiu, an independent.-External links:* *...
and prominent PCR member, Lucreţiu Pătrăşcanu
Lucretiu Patrascanu
Lucreţiu Pătrăşcanu was a Romanian communist politician and leading member of the Communist Party of Romania , also noted for his activities as a lawyer, sociologist and economist. For a while, he was a professor at Bucharest University...
, was conspicuously absent from the talks, in what was seen as an early sign of his downfall.
In autumn 1946, Kavtaradze, who regularly instructed Pauker, played a part in the electoral fraud
Electoral fraud
Electoral fraud is illegal interference with the process of an election. Acts of fraud affect vote counts to bring about an election result, whether by increasing the vote share of the favored candidate, depressing the vote share of the rival candidates or both...
that brought the PCR-created Bloc of Democratic Parties to power under Groza's leadership (see Romanian general election, 1946
Romanian general election, 1946
The Romanian general election of 1946 was a general election held on November 19, 1946, in Romania. Officially, it was carried with 79.86% of the vote by the Romanian Communist Party , its allies inside the Bloc of Democratic Parties , and its associates — the Hungarian People's Union , the...
).
In January 1947, as Romania prepared to sign the Paris Peace Treaty
Paris Peace Treaties, 1947
The Paris Peace Conference resulted in the Paris Peace Treaties signed on February 10, 1947. The victorious wartime Allied powers negotiated the details of treaties with Italy, Romania, Hungary, Bulgaria, and Finland .The...
, he played a part in negotiating, with Premier
Prime Minister of Romania
The Prime Minister of Romania is the head of the Government of Romania. Initially, the office was styled President of the Council of Ministers , when the term "Government" included more than the Cabinet, and the Cabinet was called The Council of Ministers...
Groza, Foreign Minister Tătărescu, and PCR activist Emil Bodnăraş
Emil Bodnaras
Emil Bodnăraş was an influential Romanian Communist politician, an army officer, and a Soviet agent...
, the Soviet takeover of islands on the Danube
Danube
The Danube is a river in the Central Europe and the Europe's second longest river after the Volga. It is classified as an international waterway....
's Chilia branch
Chilia branch
The Chilia or Kilia branch is a distributary of the river Danube, that contributes in forming the Danube Delta. It is named after the two towns having this name, located on its two shores: Kilia, on the northern, Ukrainian bank and Chilia Veche on the southern, Romanian bank.The other two main...
. While Groza asked for Romania to receive the Hertza region
Hertza region
Hertza region is the territory of an administrative district of Hertsa in the southern part of Chernivtsi Oblast in southwestern Ukraine, on the Romanian border...
and a small area north of Siret
Siret
Siret is a town in Romania, Suceava County, one of the oldest towns in, and a former capital of, the former principality of Moldavia. It is located 2 km from the border with Ukraine, being one of the main border passing points in the North of the country, having both a road border post and a...
in exchange, Tătărescu opposed any change in the status quo
Status quo
Statu quo, a commonly used form of the original Latin "statu quo" – literally "the state in which" – is a Latin term meaning the current or existing state of affairs. To maintain the status quo is to keep the things the way they presently are...
, and Bodnăraş asked for promises of compensation to be made. Kavtaradze relayed his government's position that no guarantees were to be made, and the islands were ceded to the Soviet Union as part of the Paris Treaty system.
Since the Soviet-dominated Allied Commission
Allied Commission
Following the termination of hostilities in World War II, the Allied Powers were in control of the defeated Axis countries. Anticipating the defeat of Germany and Japan, they had already set up the European Advisory Commission and a proposed Far Eastern Advisory Commission to make recommendations...
ended its mandate (October 1947) and until his recall, Kavtaradze replaced Red Army
Red Army
The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army started out as the Soviet Union's revolutionary communist combat groups during the Russian Civil War of 1918-1922. It grew into the national army of the Soviet Union. By the 1930s the Red Army was among the largest armies in history.The "Red Army" name refers to...
general Ivan Susaykov as the most important representative of his country in relations with the Groza government, and, later, with Communist Romania
Communist Romania
Communist Romania was the period in Romanian history when that country was a Soviet-aligned communist state in the Eastern Bloc, with the dominant role of Romanian Communist Party enshrined in its successive constitutions...
. He retired in 1954, one year after Stalin's death, and in 1961, was a delegate to the 22nd Party Congress. He died ten years later in Tbilisi, where his descendants were still residing in 2003.
Legacy
Stalin's forgiveness for Kavtaradze has drawn interest from historians, as did the fact Stalin's attitudes toward his friend remained ambiguous after he was released from prison. In his Let History Judge, Roy MedvedevRoy Medvedev
Roy Aleksandrovich Medvedev |Georgia]]) is a Russian historian renowned as the author of the dissident history of Stalinism, Let History Judge , first published in English in 1972...
cites an episode occurring circa 1939, reported to him by Kavtaradze himself: during dinner at the Kremlin, Kavtaradze was addressed by Stalin the words "And yet you wanted to kill me". Medvedev notes: "Some historians may see this comment as proof of Stalin's paranoia
Paranoia
Paranoia [] is a thought process believed to be heavily influenced by anxiety or fear, often to the point of irrationality and delusion. Paranoid thinking typically includes persecutory beliefs, or beliefs of conspiracy concerning a perceived threat towards oneself...
. But Stalin knew well that Kavtaradze never tried to kill him. However, he could not admit this openly, for then he would have had to reconsider the execution of Budu Mdivani
Polikarp Mdivani
Polikarp "Budu" Mdivani was a veteran Georgian Bolshevik and Soviet government official energetically involved in the Russian Revolutions and the Civil War. In the 1920s, he played an important role in Sovietization of the Caucasus, but later led Georgian Communist opposition to Joseph Stalin's...
and many other Communists involved in the case. It was much simpler to 'forgive' Kavtaradze alone." In his view, the case was similar to that of Alyosha Svanidze (the brother of Stalin's first wife Ekaterina Svanidze
Ekaterina Svanidze
Ekaterina "Kato" Svanidze was the Georgian first wife of Joseph Stalin. They were married in 1906.She was a daughter of Semon Svanadze and Sephora...
), who was shot after refusing to confess similar crimes. He concluded: "All these actions reveal a misanthropic
Misanthropy
Misanthropy is generalized dislike, distrust, disgust, contempt or hatred of the human species or human nature. A misanthrope, or misanthropist is someone who holds such views or feelings...
tyrant
Tyrant
A tyrant was originally one who illegally seized and controlled a governmental power in a polis. Tyrants were a group of individuals who took over many Greek poleis during the uprising of the middle classes in the sixth and seventh centuries BC, ousting the aristocratic governments.Plato and...
, not a mentally ill person who did not know what he was doing." Reportedly, Sergey Kavtaradze himself believed that the conversation showed Stalin to be "sick". Simon Sebag Montefiore
Simon Sebag Montefiore
Simon Jonathan Sebag Montefiore is a British historian and writer.-Family history:Simon's father, a doctor, is descended from a famous line of wealthy Sephardic Jews who became diplomats and bankers all over Europe...
, who places this event right after the Kavtaradzes' liberation, cites the line as: "Nevertheless, you all wanted to kill me?", and gives Kavtaradze's reply to it as "Do you really think so?" He also records an exchange between Stalin and Sofia Kavtaradze: Stalin, looking at her hair (which had turned white in prison), commented "We have tortured you too much."
In this context, Stalin charged Sergey Kavtaradze with editing a Russian-language translation of Shota Rustaveli
Shota Rustaveli
Shota Rustaveli was a Georgian poet of the 12th century, and one of the greatest contributors to Georgian literature. He is author of "The Knight in the Panther's Skin" , the Georgian national epic poem....
's The Knight in the Panther's Skin
The Knight in the Panther's Skin
The Knight in the Panther's Skin is an epic poem, consisting of over 1600 shairi quatrains, was written in the 12th century by the Georgian epic-poet Shota Rustaveli, who was a Prince and Treasurer at the royal court of Queen Tamar of Georgia. The Knight in the Panther's Skin is often seen as...
, which he was to complete together with the academic Shalva Nutsibidze. Nutsibidze was himself a former inmate, and he had begun work on the translation in his cell—Stalin had personally reviewed his work and found it impressive, ordering Nutsibidze to be released. Reportedly, the Soviet dictator even corrected part of the manuscript and his personal translation of a section probably made it into the final edition.
Following his release, Stalin kept Kavtaradze in his circle of intimates, and nicknamed him Tozho—in reference to his slant eyes, which, Stalin believed, made him look like the Japanese prime minister Hideki Tōjō
Hideki Tōjō
Hideki Tōjō was a general of the Imperial Japanese Army , the leader of the Taisei Yokusankai, and the 40th Prime Minister of Japan during most of World War II, from 17 October 1941 to 22 July 1944...
. He also confided in him: at some point after the Great Purge, Stalin allegedly told his friend that "we had to shoot" Nikolai Yezhov
Nikolai Yezhov
Nikolai Ivanovich Yezhov or Ezhov was a senior figure in the NKVD under Joseph Stalin during the period of the Great Purge. His reign is sometimes known as the "Yezhovshchina" , "the Yezhov era", a term that began to be used during the de-Stalinization campaign of the 1950s...
. On one occasion in 1945, speaking in Georgian, Stalin told the Mingrelian Lavrentiy Beria
Lavrentiy Beria
Lavrentiy Pavlovich Beria was a Georgian Soviet politician and state security administrator, chief of the Soviet security and secret police apparatus under Joseph Stalin during World War II, and Deputy Premier in the postwar years ....
he considered him a "traitor" in front of Kavtaradze.
According to Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej
Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej
Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej was the Communist leader of Romania from 1948 until his death in 1965.-Early life:Gheorghe was the son of a poor worker, Tănase Gheorghiu, and his wife Ana. Gheorghiu-Dej joined the Communist Party of Romania in 1930...
's political ally, Alexandru Bârlădeanu, Kavtaradze was also on good terms with his faction, and, while in Romania, furnished them details on his youth and relations with Stalin and his earlier fall from grace. Bârlădeanu remembered Kavtaradze telling him that he was present at the 17th Party Congress
17th Congress of the All-Union Communist Party (b)
The 17th Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union was held during 26 January - 10 February 1934. The congress was attended by 1,225 delegates with a casting vote and 736 delegates with a consultative vote, representing 1,872,488 party members and 935,298 candidate members.Nicknamed "The...
of 1934, where he claimed to have cast his vote in favor of Sergey Kirov
Sergey Kirov
Sergei Mironovich Kirov , born Sergei Mironovich Kostrikov, was a prominent early Bolshevik leader in the Soviet Union. Kirov rose through the Communist Party ranks to become head of the Party organization in Leningrad...
and against Stalin's choices for the Central Committee
Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union
The Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union , abbreviated in Russian as ЦК, "Tse-ka", earlier was also called as the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party ...
. The ballot was secret, but Stalin later ordered the voting majority to be purged, which would have left Kavtaradze among the very few survivors of that vote.