Tuhia he haere tonu mo tenei irava - I te tau 1948 i te rua tekau o ona tau, ka uru a Shevardnadze ki te Rōpū Kaunihera o Georgia (GCP) me te Rōpū Kaunihera o te Soviet Union (CPSU). I piki haere ia i roto i nga rarangi o te Komsomol o Georgia, a, i muri i tana mahi hei Hekeretari Tuarua, ka riro ia hei Hekeretari Tuatahi. I a ia e noho ana hei Hekeretari Tuatahi o Komsomol, i tutaki a Shevardnadze ki a Mikhail Gorbachev mo te wa tuatahi. I kii a Shevardnadze kua ngoikore ia ki te punaha torangapu a Soviet whai muri i te "Korero huna" a Nikita Khrushchev ki te 20th CPSU Congress. Ka rite ki te tokomaha o nga tangata o te Soviet, i whakamataku a Shevardnadze i nga hara i mahia e Joseph Stalin, me te urupare a te kāwanatanga o Soviet ki nga whakaaturanga o 1956 o Georgia
nui ake te ohorere ki a ia. I whakahekehia ia i te tau 1961 e te Politburo o te Rōpū Communist o Georgia i muri i tana whakahe i tetahi rangatira rangatira.