 Such measures failed to curb the movement, however.New influential young dissidents such as Tamar Chkheidze, Avtandil Imnadze, later Giorgi Chanturia, and Irakli Tsereteli, emerged in support of the jailed leaders, and several underground publications (samizdat) were founded.During this period Georgia acquired the position of the republic with the highest level of per capita higher education in the Soviet Union, and the increasing number of students, especially the rural youth with higher education and with little connection to the Communist Party and Nomenklatura, formed a ground for anti-Soviet sentiments.