Jumber Patiashvili

Who is Jumber Patiashvili?

Jumber Patiashvili is a Georgian politician. He was the Communist leader of the Georgian SSR from 1985 to 1989.

Born in Lagodekhi, Kakheti, he graduated from Tbilisi Agricultural Institute. From 1966, he worked for Komsomol and subsequently from Communist Party. Patiashvili, a nondescript party loyalist, succeeded Eduard Shevardnadze as the First Secretary of the Georgian Communist Party in 1985. Under Patiashvili, most of Shevardnadze's initiatives atrophied, and no new policy innovations were undertaken. Patiashvili removed some of Shevardnadze's key appointees, although he could not dismiss his predecessor's many middle-echelon appointees without seriously damaging the party apparatus. By isolating opposition groups, Patiashvili forced reformist leaders into underground organizations and confrontational behavior. By the end of 1988, Georgian national movement became more active, several manifestations and hunger strikes were organized by the so-called informal political organizations. The protesters were brutally dispersed by the Soviet troops on April 9, 1989.