Georgian koba or soviet ‘father of peoples’? The stalin cult and ethnicity

Abstract

Stalin came from the periphery of the multiethnic Russian empire. Yet for most of his century he was seen as embodying the supraethnic Bolsheviks. Only recently a pronounced trend in scholarship has begun to emphasise Stalin’s Georgian background and to regard him as a product of Transcaucasia rather than internationalist Marxism. This trend, which one might call the ‘Georgianization’ of Stalin, stresses the formative impact of his region on his behavioural patterns, rhetorical style and personality structure. Specifically, Georgianising scholars have foregrounded the role of Georgian literary models in shaping his rhetoric,2 the socialising impact of the lower-class culture of violence of the Georgian village,3 the continuing dominance of the Caucasian principle of blood vendetta, and the power of personal networks along the lines of Transcaucasian clan relations.4.