Britain and Soviet Georgia, 1921-22

Abstract

The terms of the Anglo-Russian trade agreement of 16 March 1921 did not extend to those Soviet republics which had come into being on the territory of the former Russian Empire in the aftermath of revolution, foreign intervention and civil war. But talks on a similar agreement were proposed by Soviet Georgia in September 1922 following exchanges initiated by the Foreign Office. During the civil war, Britain had backed White generals who stood for the restoration of Russia 'One and Indivisible'. After their defeat, Menshevik Georgia was seen as a possible link in a Caucasian cordon sanitaire. The Prime Minister, David Lloyd George, told Georgia's Foreign Minister that he was 'strongly in favour' of an 'independent Georgia' as 'a barrier against Bolshevism'. Britain, he said, would view an attack on Georgia 'with great disfavour' and 'do what it could to assist', though 'it was impossible to say what practical form its sympathy would take'.' Colonel Stokes, Britain's High Commissioner in Tiflis (Tbilisi), transmitting a Menshevik request for 'complete uniform and equipment for 75,000 men', declared his conviction that Georgia would fight for its independence.2 Other observers were, however, less sanguine: 'Bolshevik tendencies have greatly increased during the last few weeks in the Army . . . many officers and men are openly proclaiming their dissatisfaction with the present regime,' said an Intelligence report.3 The overthrow of the Mensheviks in early 1921 led to the precipitant departure of Colonel Stokes and an end to official British representation in Transcaucasia. The exchanges which led to Soviet Georgia's offer of talks were on Britain's side prompted by a desire to regain a foothold in the area and restore something of Britain's commercial position in the face of what was seen as strong competition from US, Italian, French and other rivals. Georgia's new Bolshevik leaders men like Budu Mdivani, chairman of its ruling Revolutionary Committee (Revkom) and Alexander Svanidze, Commissar of Foreign Affairs and Finance