A Historical Perspective on Soviet Language Policy: Educational and Cultural Projects for the Laz Population Living in Abkhazia (in the 1920s-1930s)

Abstract

The Laz appeared on the territory of modern Abkhazia in the 1870s. As a result of the Russo-Turkish War of 1877-1878, by the Treaty of Berlin of 1878, all of southern Georgia (historical Tao-Klarjeti) and part of Lazeti – the Gonio-Makriali region – became part of the Russian Empire, and the center of the Ottoman Sanjak moved from Batumi to the city of Rize. At this time, intensive migration of Laz people began from the remaining Laz regions in the Ottoman Empire – Atina, Vitse, Arkave, Khopa – to the Black Sea coast of Georgia: on the one hand, towards Batumi, on the other hand, towards Samegrelo – towards Poti and Anaklia, and on the third hand, towards the port cities of Abkhazia: Sukhumi, Ochamchire.

After Sovietization, Abkhazia became an “interesting” testing ground for the implementation of Bolshevik language policy, and consequently, the Laz community became a target of this policy. It should be noted that the study of the Laz of Abkhazia was a taboo topic during the Soviet period, and recently this issue has become relevant for Abkhazian, Russian and European researchers, both from a historical-demographic-geographical perspective, as well as from the perspective of studying the consequences of the Bolshevik terror and linguistic-ethnic policy.

The aim of this study is to bring greater clarity to the overall picture of perspectives reflecting the real goals and results of the language policy implemented towards the Abkhazian Laz. In our opinion, the majority of studies are based only on historical documents or research, and almost nowhere do they take into account the main witnesses of the events themselves - the Laz people and their language, the narratives embedded in the texts. On the other hand, the linguistic foundations of language policy are not taken into account - the artificially ideologized confrontation of the "Marists" and the so-called "Indo-Europeanist" linguists by the Bolsheviks, the consequences of using science as a political instrument on the fate of individual peoples or languages. We will try to at least partially illustrate these issues through educational, cultural and scientific projects implemented for the Laz language in Abkhazia in the 1930s.