The Democratic Republic of Georgia and the Second International
Abstract
The ruling political force of the Democratic Republic of Georgia, the Social Democratic Labor Party, expressed its desire to join the Second International in February 1919 at the Berne Conference of the International. In April of that year, the Amsterdam Conference granted this request and admitted the Georgian party to the Second International.
This article covers the visit of the leaders of this international organization (Karl Kautsky, James Ramsay MacDonald, Pierre Renaudel, Emile Vandervelde, and others) to Georgia in the fall of 1920 and the delegation's meetings with representatives of the public from across the country. The guests learned about Georgia's past, culture, and traditions, as well as the achievements and challenges of state building. They emerged with the impression that a new model of democratic socialism was taking root in this small republic in the South Caucasus, one that could serve as an example for other small nations seeking independence. The members of the delegation rendered good service to the Georgian state in their countries, spoke out in defense of its rights and made serious efforts to ensure international recognition of the Democratic Republic of Georgia.
Keywords
Full Text:
PDFReferences
Lenin, V. (1969). The Collapse of the Second International, Collected Works, 5th edition, vol. 26, pp. 209-265, Moscow.
https://www.booksite.ru/fulltext/1/001/008/055/641.htm
Newspaper Sakartvelo’s Respublika (Republic of Georgia), June 5, 1919. It is noteworthy that the issue of territorial disputes between Armenia and Georgia was also discussed at the Bern and later Lucerne conferences (the ruling Armenian Dashnaktsutyun party was a member of the International). See Kazemzade, F. (1951). The Struggle for Transcaucasia, 1917-1921, pp. 182. New York: Philosophical Library; Oxford: G. Ronald,
Georgian National Archive, Central Historical Archive, Fund 1825, Inventory 1, File 47, p. 1; also Vashakmadze, N. (2014). The Social-Democratic Republic of Georgia (1918-1921) and the International Socialist Movement, p. 72. Kutaisi
Georgian National Archive, Central Historical Archive, Fund 1864, Inventory 2, File 119, p. 1; newspaper Sakartvelo’s Respublika, June 5, 1919.
Chkhenkeli, (2021). Diaries, Volume One, p. 93, Tbilisi.
Kostyuk, R. (2009). Social Democracy and Versailles, Bulletin of St. Petersburg University, Series 6, Issue 3, pp. 144-145.
Newspaper Sakartvelo (Georgia), October 1, 1920.
Newspaper Ertoba (Unity), July 28, 1920.
The Visit of European Socialists to Georgia, 1920 (2020). Vol. I, p. 16, Tbilisi.
Karl Kautsky did not accompany the delegation due to illness and remained in Rome; however, at the end of September 1920, he arrived in Tbilisi with his wife and stayed for three months.
Lee, E. (2018). “The Socialist International Delegation to Georgia, 1920,” in Remembering the Democratic Republic of Georgia One Hundred Years Later: A Model for Europe? p. 208, Tbilisi.
Newspaper Sakartvelo’s Respublika, September 4, 1920.
Newspaper Ertoba, September 5, 1920; in the Georgian Constituent Assembly, representatives of the Second International were referred to as “the conscience and leaders of Europe’s working class” and “elder brothers and teachers.” See The Constituent Assembly of Georgia (2019)., Minutes of Sessions, 7 vols., Vol. VII, July 9 – December 31, 1920, p. 442, Tbilisi.
Newspaper Ertoba, September 5, 1920.
Zhordania, N. (1990). My Past, p. 118, Tbilisi,
Newspaper Sakartvelo, September 17, 1920.
Newspaper Sakartvelo, September 15, 1920.
Shvelidze, D. (2018). “Prefatory Notes for the New Edition”, in K. Kautsky, Georgia: The Social-Democratic Republic of the Peasants – Impressions and Observations, p. 5, Tbilisi.
Newspaper Sakartvelo’s Respublika, September 17, 1920.
The Constituent Assembly of Georgia (2019). Minutes of Sessions, 7 vols., Vol. VII, July 9 – December 31, 1920, p. 441, Tbilisi.
Janelidze, O. (2024). The International Recognition of the Democratic Republic of Georgia, https://gfsis.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Geo.pdf
Newspaper Sakartvelo’s Respublika, September 18, 1920.
Newspaper Ertoba, November 21, 1920.
Suni, R. (2018). “Socialism in a Bourgeois Republic: The Georgian Experiment, 1918–1921,” in Remembering the Democratic Republic of Georgia One Hundred Years Later: A Model for Europe? p. 334, Tbilisi.
Kautsky, K. (2018). Georgia: The Social-Democratic Republic of the Peasants – Impressions and Observations, pp. 136, 115, Tbilisi.
Newspaper Sakartvelo’s Respublika, September 25, 1920.
Newspaper Ertoba, September 23, 1920.
Newspaper Ertoba, November 30, 1920.
Kikodze, G. (2003). Contemporary Notes, pp. 36–37 Tbilisi. It is possible that this last passage reflects Soviet influence. See also Saitidze, G. (2010). The First Universal International Organization – The League of Nations and Independent Georgia (1918-1921), p. 61, Tbilisi.
Kautsky, K. 1920). Problems and Perspectives of Socialism in Georgia, p. 30, Tbilisi.
Avalishvili, Z. (1926). Georgia’s Independence in International Politics, 1918–1921, pp. 359-360, Tbilisi.
Newspaper Sakartvelo, November 19, 1920; Newspaper Ertoba, November 16, 1920.
For example, Eric Lee argues that the British government was compelled by MacDonald to recognize Georgia (12, 218).
Shvelidze, D. (2018). The Second Socialist International, in The Democratic Republic of Georgia (1918-1921): Encyclopedia-Dictionary, p. 271, Tbilisi.
Newspaper Ertoba, February 1, 1921.
Kobakhidze, B. (2015). The Georgian Question at the Paris Peace Conference, doctoral dissertation for the degree of Doctor of History, pp. 56-57, Tbilisi (with manuscript permission).
Janelidze O., 2020). Essays on the History of the National-Democratic Party of Georgia, pp. 398-400, Tbilisi.
Jones, S. (2020). “Georgia, European Socialism, and the Second International,” in The Visit of European Socialists to Georgia, 1920, Vol. I, p. 16, Tbilisi.
Newspaper Sakartvelo, September 14, 1920.
Newspaper Sakartvelo, September 15, 1920.
Newspaper Sakheljo Sakme (People's cause), September 18, 1920
The Constituent Assembly of Georgia (2020). Minutes of Sessions, 7 vols., Vol. VIII, January 1 – March 17, 1921, p. 28, Tbilisi.
Newspaper Akhali Kommunisti (New Communist), September 14, 1920.
Newspaper Akhali Kommunisti, September 17, 1920.
Refbacks
- There are currently no refbacks.