Nationalists, Minority Battle in Soviet Georiga

His voice practically hoarse from denouncing Gamsakhurdia at public meetings, Chanturia describes the Georgian president as "a maniac," a "fascist," a "robot," a "psychopath" -- and a one-time "KGB agent," for good measure. He claims Moscow is using Gamsakhurdia to discredit the Georgian nationalist movement, calculating that his rule will swiftly lead to political and economic chaos.

After boycotting last fall's elections on hard-line nationalist grounds, Chanturia now criticizes Gamsakhurdia for the persecution of ethnic minorities, such as the Ossetians. He also claims there are more than 70 political prisoners in Georgia, the highest figure since Stalin's day.

The biggest and most startling change in Tbilisi is the disappearance of Lenin. His towering granite statue -- once the obligatory focal point of any Soviet city -- has vanished. Lenin Square has been renamed Freedom Square.

"The Communists' role is zero," said Gamsakhurdia in an interview. "They practically don't exist. All they have is a huge 11-story building occupied by 70 bureaucrats. Their chief will come here soon, and I will demand that he give it to us. If he doesn't, we will take it by law."

Formally, the Communists are the main opposition group in the parliament. But they are so demoralized that they end up voting with Gamsakhurdia's Round Table on most major issues, for fear of offending the predominantly Georgian electorate. The party has gone through three leaders in six months.

Several leading Georgian Communists have left Tbilisi for Moscow to become advisers to former foreign minister Eduard Shevardnadze, who was Georgia's party boss throughout the 1970s. Gamsakhurdia says they are plotting "the second occupation of Georgia" by the Kremlin. "The great democrat Shevardnadze would like to return here, but nobody supports him," he says with a sneer.

Chanturia also suspects that Shevardnadze, who resigned as foreign minister in December warning of an "approaching dictatorship," wants to meddle in Georgian politics. "Shevardnadze is a very clever politician, very calculating. He never bets on just one person, always two or three. He is waiting to see what happens here," he said.

In public, the Kremlin has displayed political restraint in Georgia, turning down repeated Ossetian calls for the declaration of a state of emergency. Gorbachev clearly fears that a crackdown in this most volatile region could provoke massive bloodshed. At the same time, he is probably calculating that continued turmoil among the Ossetians and other ethnic minorities will pressure the Georgian independence movement into making concessions. Force can always be used as a last resort.