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Clientelism and Nationality in an Early Soviet Fiefdom: The Trials of Nestor Lakoba by Timothy K. Blauvelt (review)

2023; Ab Imperio; Volume: 2023; Issue: 3 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1353/imp.2023.a915241

2164-9731

Ian Lanzillotti,

Russia and Soviet political economy

Reviewed by: Clientelism and Nationality in an Early Soviet Fiefdom: The Trials of Nestor Lakoba by Timothy K. Blauvelt Ian Lanzillotti (bio) Timothy K. Blauvelt, Clientelism and Nationality in an Early Soviet Fiefdom: The Trials of Nestor Lakoba (Milton Park, UK: Routledge, 2021). 248 pp., ill. Index ISBN: 978-1-032-01000-7. In Clientelism and Nationality in an Early Soviet Fiefdom: The Trials of Nestor Lakoba, Timothy Blauvelt uses the case of Abkhazia, an autonomous republic on Soviet Georgia's Black Sea coast, and its long-tenured leader Nestor Lakoba, to examine the role of patron-client networks and nationality in governance and power in the early Soviet era. Blauvelt argues that nationality, which Lakoba "us[ed] to rally potential Abkhaz allies and to sideline non-Abkhaz rivals" (P. 225), was essential to his ability to establish and retain his personal rule for fifteen years. The Soviet nationalities policy of indigenization (korenizatsiia), which mandated the use of representatives from titular nationalities to implement and maintain Soviet power in non-Russian regions, allowed Lakoba to position himself as the only trustworthy ethnic Abkhaz who could command the allegiance of the Abkhaz peasantry in support of Soviet rule. Moreover, the layered ethno-federal structure of the Soviet Union and Abkhazia's particular situation within it "created unique opportunities" (P. 224). Most of the Soviet Union's autonomous republics and regions were located within the Russian Soviet Socialist Federative Republic. However, Abkhazia, administratively situated within Georgia, first as a uniquely defined "treaty republic" then after 1931 as an autonomous republic, was among the minority of autonomies that were located within non-Russian union republics. As such, it enjoyed "the advantage of a trilateral relationship [that] allow[ed its leaders] to play the union republic center off of the all-union center in Moscow" (P. 224). Abkhazia's administrative status within the Transcaucasian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic until its dissolution in 1936 added a further institutional layer that Lakoba utilized to his advantage. Rather than diminishing Abkhazia's autonomy, these various administrative layers "could be leveraged for advantage and provided avenues for enhanced political sovereignty … as well as economic opportunity (P. 224)." For example, Lakoba's patrons in the Georgian and Transcaucasian Party leadership came to his aid to protect him from numerous investigations into purported abuses of power (corruption, graft, and even murder). Blauvelt also recognizes the importance to Lakoba's success of factors not unique to the context [End Page 301] of a non-Russian republic. His charisma and interpersonal skills helped him to form close connections with Party elites (Orjonikidze and Stalin) and to endear himself to the local population as an essential patron for those seeking upward mobility within his Soviet fiefdom. Additionally, Abkhazia's distinct combination of resources – resorts that brought a steady flow of Party elites to the region and tobacco and citrus farming – gave Abkhazia great patronage value. Blauvelt's introduction explains key concepts and raises central questions related to the intersection of clientelism and Soviet nationalities policy before concluding with essential ethnographic and political background on Abkhazia and Lakoba's biographical details. The book is then structured chronologically. The initial chapters chart Lakoba's rise. Chapter 2 focuses on the social and political situation in Abkhazia during the Revolution and Civil War years and highlights Lakoba's role in organizing the Abkhaz peasantry, cultivating relationships with Georgian Bolsheviks, and establishing Soviet power in Abkhazia. Chapter 3 explores Lakoba's consolidation of his power base and client network. Chapters 4–7 chart specific cases of Lakoba's deft use of clientelism and nationalities policy to stave off mounting threats from rivals and aggrieved locals coming in the form of investigations into abuses of power. Chapters 8 and 9 explore the demise of Lakoba and his network at the hands of his former client Lavrentiy Beria, whose rise to the leadership of the Transcaucasus party organization Lakoba facilitated through his connections to Stalin. Though the exact cause of Lakoba's death in 1936 remains a mystery, Blauvelt concurs with the consensus in implying that Beria likely had Lakoba poisoned because he had come to resent Lakoba's influence with Stalin and the independence that that gave him...