Iosif Grishashvili’s National and Political Creed

Abstract

Despite the fact that the free expression of opinion by the citizens of our country was strictly limited during every part of Russian rule in Georgia, the situations during the Tsarist Russia and the Soviet Union nevertheless differed significantly from one another. In particular, in the pre-Soviet period there was greater freedom of expression than during communist rule. One clear manifestation of this is the fact that Georgian literature of the pre-Soviet era was far less shaped by political expediency than that of the following period. Unfortunately, this was the case with a large number of writers active during the Soviet era. This fact also left its mark on the work of Iosif Grishashvili (1889-1965). More specifically, in his poems written from the 1930s onward, a significant place was occupied by verses that glorified Soviet reality in a form consistent with the ideological demands of the time. In contrast to these poems, in the works created in the 1910s-1920s, Iosif Grishashvili expressed his national outlook radically differently. In particular, through the poetic texts written during that period, he uncompromisingly revealed his oppositional attitude toward Soviet authority and Russian occupation. Although at the time only some of these poems were published, his poetic works expressing such a spirit were widely spread among the people. Because of the creation of these poems, the poet was repeatedly subjected to oppression. The repressive attitude of the authorities and of critics serving Soviet ideology toward Iosif Grishashvili ultimately resulted in his creative work, beginning in the 1930s, clearly falling under the grip of Soviet ideology.