Egnate Ninoshvili Sculpture on Rustaveli Avenue

Egnate Tomas dze Ninoshvili (17 February 1859 – 12 May 1894) was a Georgian writer and

social democratic Social democracy is a Social philosophy, social, Economic ideology, economic, and political philosophy within socialism that supports Democracy, political and economic democracy and a gradualist, reformist, and democratic approach toward achi ...

activist.

Early life and education

Ninoshvili was born in a poor peasant family in Kela village,

Guria Guria ( ka, გურია) is a region (''mkhare'') in Georgia (country), Georgia, in the western part of the country, bordered by the eastern end of the Black Sea. The region has a population of 104,338 (2023), with Ozurgeti as the regional cap ...

region in western

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States Georgia may also refer to: People and fictional characters * Georgia (name), a list of pe ...

. He studied at the Ozurgeti seminary but was expelled following a student protest. He then worked as a school teacher, telegraphist, typesetter, in a refinery and in a mine. For a brief period he studied in

Montpellier Montpellier (; ) is a city in southern France near the Mediterranean Sea. One of the largest urban centres in the region of Occitania (administrative region), Occitania, Montpellier is the prefecture of the Departments of France, department of ...

, France.

Professional activities

His literary career started in 1887, with publications in ''Iveria'', a literary and political newspaper. His short stories and novels, relating the hard life of Georgian peasants and their oppression by tsarist officials, include ''Gogia Uishvili'' (1890), ''Lake Paliastomi'' (1891), ''Simona'' (1892) and ''Kristine'' (1893). In 1892, Ninoshvili was one of the founders of '' Mesame Dasi'' ("Third Generation"), a Marxist organisation based in

Tbilisi Tbilisi ( ; ka, თბილისი, ), in some languages still known by its pre-1936 name Tiflis ( ), ( ka, ტფილისი, tr ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Georgia (country), largest city of Georgia ( ...

that no other than

Joseph Stalin Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Dzhugashvili; 5 March 1953) was a Soviet politician and revolutionary who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until Death and state funeral of Joseph Stalin, his death in 1953. He held power as General Secret ...

joined in 1898. It was through his involvement with ''Mesame Dasi'' that Stalin was first introduced to the ideas of

Karl Marx Karl Marx (; 5 May 1818 – 14 March 1883) was a German philosopher, political theorist, economist, journalist, and revolutionary socialist. He is best-known for the 1848 pamphlet '' The Communist Manifesto'' (written with Friedrich Engels) ...

. However, the group was too moderate for Stalin's taste and he became discontented with the viewpoints of the majority. Because of Stalin's sympathies toward

Bolsheviks The Bolsheviks, led by Vladimir Lenin, were a radical Faction (political), faction of the Marxist Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (RSDLP) which split with the Mensheviks at the 2nd Congress of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party, ...

, he found himself constantly at odds with the others in the group.

Death and legacy

Ninoshvili died of tuberculosis in 1894, aged 35. His historical novel ''The Guria Uprising'', about the 1841 peasant rebellion in Guria, was published posthumously in 1902. The first Georgian feature film, ''Kristine'' (1916-1918) was based on his short story of the same name. In 1948, a house that he had lived in at Archeuli village, Guria was converted into a museum.

References

External links

1859 births 1894 deaths Novelists from Georgia (country) 19th-century writers from Georgia (country) Marxists from the Russian Empire People from Guria Independence activists from Georgia (country) Writers from the Russian Empire {{Georgia-writer-stub