Mikhail Grigoryevich Tskhakaya ( ka, მიხეილ გრიგოლის ძე ცხაკაია, ; 4 May 1865 – 19 March 1950), also known as Barsov, was a Georgian revolutionary and Soviet politician. Barsov was a senior leader in the

Bolshevik 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, ...

movement in Georgia, having been active in revolutionary politics since 1880. He was one of the five signatories of the Document that formed the Soviet Union. He was born in 1865 in Martvili Municipality. In 1892, he helped found Mesame Dasi (third group), the first Georgian Socialist party. When the

Russian Social Democratic Labour Party The Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (RSDLP), also known as the Russian Social Democratic Workers' Party (RSDWP) or the Russian Social Democratic Party (RSDP), was a socialist political party founded in 1898 in Minsk, Russian Empire. The ...

was founded, he joined it. He saved the young

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 ...

from expulsion for Georgian nationalism in 1904. However, Tskhakaya made Stalin write a credo renouncing his views and attend a series of his lectures on Marxism. Despite this, they remained friends. In July 1906, Tskhakaya was Stalin's witness at his wedding to Kato Svanidze. On September 9, Tskhakaya and Stalin were among just six Bolsheviks at the Social Democratic conference 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 ( ...

(the other 36 were Mensheviks). They shared a room at the 5th Congress of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

. Neither were allowed to vote owing to Bolshevism's weakness in Georgia. In 1907, after a series of arrests and deportations, he went into exile in

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

, where he visited

Lenin Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov ( 187021 January 1924), better known as Vladimir Lenin, was a Russian revolutionary, politician and political theorist. He was the first head of government of Soviet Russia from 1917 until Death and state funeral of ...

Geneva Geneva ( , ; ) ; ; . is the List of cities in Switzerland, second-most populous city in Switzerland and the most populous in French-speaking Romandy. Situated in the southwest of the country, where the Rhône exits Lake Geneva, it is the ca ...

. He returned to Russia in 1917, alongside Lenin on the famous sealed train. From that point onwards, he was an influential leader of the Communist Party of Georgia. In June 1919 he was arrested in Kutaisi by the Menshevik government and released in May 1920. He became a member of the Central Committee of the Communist Party (Bolsheviks) of Georgia. He was the representative of the Georgian SSR under the government of the RSFSR. From 1923 to 1930 Tskhakaya served as Chairman of the Presidium of the Central Executive Committee of the Georgian SSR and one of the chairmen of the Central Executive Committee of the Transcaucasian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic while also being member of the Presidium of the Central Executive Committee of the Soviet Union. From 1920 he was member of the Executive Committee of the Communist International. In 1922 he signed the Treaty on the formation of the Soviet Union, representing the Transcaucasian SSR. He died in Moscow after a serious illness on March 19, 1950, shortly after his election as a deputy to the

Soviet of Nationalities The Soviet of Nationalities; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; was the upper chamber of the Supreme Soviet of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, elected on the basis of universal, equal and direct suffrage in accordance with the principles of S ...

of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union. In the 1980s, he was reburied at the Mtatsminda Pantheon.

References

Bibliography

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Tskhakaya, M. G. 1865 births 1950 deaths Burials at Mtatsminda Pantheon Executive Committee of the Communist International Communist Party of Georgia (Soviet Union) politicians Revolutionaries from Georgia (country) Members of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union Mingrelians Old Bolsheviks People from Kutais Governorate People from Samegrelo-Zemo Svaneti Recipients of the Order of Lenin Russian Social Democratic Labour Party members Transcaucasian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic People