Georgian Social Democratic (Menshevik) Party
Encyclopedia
.svg.png)
Political party
A political party is a political organization that typically seeks to influence government policy, usually by nominating their own candidates and trying to seat them in political office. Parties participate in electoral campaigns, educational outreach or protest actions...
in Georgia
Georgia (country)
Georgia is a sovereign state in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. Located at the crossroads of Western Asia and Eastern Europe, it is bounded to the west by the Black Sea, to the north by Russia, to the southwest by Turkey, to the south by Armenia, and to the southeast by Azerbaijan. The capital of...
. It was founded as the Georgian branch of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (Menshevik) separated itself from the Russian mother-party.
The party dominated political life in the Democratic Republic of Georgia
Democratic Republic of Georgia
The Democratic Republic of Georgia , 1918–1921, was the first modern establishment of a Republic of Georgia.The DRG was created after the collapse of the Russian Empire that began with the Russian Revolution of 1917...
from 1918 to 1921. At parliamentary
Constituent Assembly of Georgia
The Constituent Assembly of Georgia was a national legislature of the Democratic Republic of Georgia which was elected in February 1919 to ratify the Act of Independence of Georgia and enact the Constitution of 1921...
elections
Georgian legislative election, 1919
Constituent Assembly elections were held in the Democratic Republic of Georgia between 14 and 16 February 1919. The result was a victory for the Social Democratic Labour Party of Georgia, which won 81% of the vote, and 109 of the 130 seats...
on February 14, 1919 it garnered 81.5% of the votes. In March 1921 it was overthrown by the Red Army invasion
Red Army invasion of Georgia
The Red Army invasion of Georgia also known as the Soviet–Georgian War or the Soviet invasion of Georgia was a military campaign by the Soviet Russian Red Army against the Democratic Republic of Georgia aimed at overthrowing the Social-Democratic government and installing the Bolshevik regime...
. The party was liquidated during the Soviet repressions predating to the failed anti-Soviet
Anti-Sovietism
Anti-Sovietism and Anti-Soviet refer to persons and activities actually or allegedly aimed against the Soviet Union or government power within the Soviet Union.Three different flavors of the usage of the term may be distinguished....
August Uprising in 1924.
In the words of the modern Armenian American scholar, Ronald Grigor Suny
Ronald Grigor Suny
Ronald Grigor Suny is currently director of the Eisenberg Institute for Historical Studies and the Charles Tilly Collegiate Professor of Social and Political History at the University of Michigan, as well as Emeritus Professor of political science and history at the University of Chicago...
, "Their achievement in building a Georgian political nation was extraordinary. Their support among all classes of the Georgian people was genuine. And however ephemeral their accomplishments in the brief episode of national independence, the most impressive testimony to their successes is the fact that they could not be dislodged from Georgia except by a militarily superior force from outside."
From 1921 onwards, the party began operating in exile, particularly in France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
(until 1933) and the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. A 'Foreign Bureau' was set up as the new leading organ of the party. The party was a member of the Labour and Socialist International
Labour and Socialist International
The Labour and Socialist International was an international organization of socialist and labour parties, active between 1923 and 1940. The LSI was a forerunner of the present-day Socialist International....
between 1923 and 1940.
Notable Georgian Mensheviks
- Shalva Abdusheli
- Akaki Andguladze
- Kote Andronikashvili
- Razhden ArsenidzeRazhden ArsenidzeRazhden Arsenidze was a Georgian jurist, journalist, and politician.He was involved with the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party and sided with its Menshevik wing in 1903...
- Sosipatre Asatiani
- Iona Beliashvili
- Genadi Beltadze
- Silibistro Jibladze
- Nikolay ChkheidzeNikolay ChkheidzeNikoloz Chkheidze was a Georgian Menshevik politician who helped to introduce Marxism to Georgia in the 1890s and played a prominent role in the Russian and Georgian revolutions of 1917 and 1918....
- Akaki ChkhenkeliAkaki ChkhenkeliAkaki Chkhenkeli was a Georgian Marxist politician and publicist who acted as one of the leaders of the Menshevik movement in Russia and Georgia....
- Benia ChkhikvishviliBenia ChkhikvishviliBenia Chkhikvishvili was a Georgian politician who was involved in the Social Democratic movement in the early 20th century. An active member of the Menshevik party, he led the 1905 revolution in Guria , a Georgian province on the Black Sea...
- Valiko Chubinidze
- Seit DevdarianiSeit DevdarianiSeit Devdariani was a Georgian philosopher and political activist who was executed during Stalin's Great Purge.Devdariani graduated from the Tiflis theological seminary in 1898. He was involved in Social Democratic movement since the early 1900s. During the Russian Revolution of 1917, he was a...
- Vladimir DarchiashviliVladimir DarchiashviliVladimir "Lado" Darchiashvili was a Georgian journalist and politician involved with the social democratic movement early in the 1900s....
- Alexandre Dgebuadze
- Giorgi Eradze
- Evgeni GegechkoriEvgeni GegechkoriEvgeni Gegechkori was a Georgian politician and Social Democratic revolutionary.He first entered the leftist student movement in 1903 during his studies at the Moscow University and soon joined the Menshevik wing of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party...
- Grigol GiorgadzeGrigol GiorgadzeGrigol Giorgadze was a Georgian historian, jurist and politician.Born in Kutaisi into the family of a priest, Giorgadze graduated from a local theological seminary in 1902 and from the Kharkiv University in 1909. Returning to Georgia, he practiced law in his native Kutaisi from 1909 to 1917...
- Vladimer Goguadze
- Ivane GomarteliIvane GomarteliIvane Gomarteli was a Georgian physician, political figure, and author involved in the social-democratic movement early in the 20th century....
- Evgen Gvaladze
- Ioseb IremashviliIoseb IremashviliIoseb Iremashvili was a Georgian politician and author. A boyhood friend, and later political adversary, of Joseph Stalin, he is primarily known for his book Stalin und die Tragödie Georgiens , the first memoir of Stalin's childhood.- Biography :Both Stalin and Iremashvili grew up in Gori,...
- Valiko JugheliValiko JugheliVladimir “Valiko” Jugheli was a Georgian politician and military commander.He was involved in the Marxist movement in Georgia at the beginning of the 20th century...
- Noe KhomerikiNoe KhomerikiNoe Khomeriki was a Georgian politician involved in the Social Democrat movement and shot during the Bolshevik Red Terror in the Georgian SSR....
- Mikheil Khundadze
- Alexandre Lomtatidze
- Grigol LordkipanidzeGrigol LordkipanidzeGrigol Lordkipanidze was a Georgian politician and author.During the Russian Revolution of 1917, he was involved in the Georgian independence movement. From 1919 to 1921, he served as a Minister of Education and then as a Defense Minister in the government of Noe Zhordania, a Menshevik leader of...
- Isidore Mantskava
- Sergo Matitaishvili
- Vlasa MgeladzeVlasa MgeladzeVlasa Mgeladze , alias Tria , was a Georgian social democratic revolutionary and a Bolshevik-turned-Menshevik also known as a participant of the Persian Constitutional Revolution of which he wrote a valuable account....
- Kirile Ninidze
- Gogita Pagava
- Ioannis Passalidis
- Isidore RamishviliIsidore RamishviliIsidore Ramishvili was a Georgian Social Democratic politician, journalist, and one of the leaders of Menshevik movement in Imperial Russia....
- Noe RamishviliNoe RamishviliNoe Besarionis dze Ramishvili was a Georgian politician and the first Prime Minister of Georgia. He was one of the leaders of the Menshevik wing of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party. He was also known by his party noms de guerre: Pyotr, and Semyonov N...
- Konstantine Sabakhtarashvili
- Anania Salukvadze
- Pavle Sarjveladze
- Shota Sarjveladze
- David Sharashidze
- Kristine Sharashidze
- Shalva Sharashidze
- Khariton Shavishvili
- Irakli TsereteliIrakli TsereteliIrakli Tsereteli was a Georgian politician, one of the leaders of the Russian Social-Democratic Labour Party and later the Georgian Mensheviks....
- Svimon Tsereteli
- Grigol UratadzeGrigol UratadzeGrigol Uratadze was a Georgian Social Democratic politician, diplomat and author. His name is also spelled Grégoire Ouratadze in a French manner....
- Avtandil Urushadze
- Noe ZhordaniaNoe ZhordaniaNoe Zhordania was a Georgian journalist and Menshevik politician. He played an eminent role in the Social Democratic revolutionary movement in Imperial Russia, and later chaired the government of the Democratic Republic of Georgia from July 24, 1918 until March 18, 1921, when the Bolshevik Soviet...
External links
Leaders of the Georgian Social Democratic Party and results of the parliamentary election in Georgia 1919- Stephen F. Jones, Socialism in Georgian Colors: The European Road to Social Democracy, 1883-1917, ISBN 0674019024