Revaz Gabashvili ( ka, რევაზ გაბაშვილი; November 6, 1882 – 1969) was a

Georgian Georgian may refer to: Common meanings * Anything related to, or originating from Georgia (country) ** Georgians, an indigenous Caucasian ethnic group ** Georgian language, a Kartvelian language spoken by Georgians **Georgian scripts, three scrip ...

politician and writer involved in the independence movement and revolutionary journalism in the early 20th century. Gabashvili was born of a noble family in

Tiflis Tbilisi ( ; ka, თბილისი ), in some languages still known by its pre-1936 name Tiflis ( ), is the capital and the largest city of Georgia, lying on the banks of the Kura River with a population of approximately 1.5 million pe ...

(Tbilisi). His mother was the popular writer

Ekaterine Gabashvili Ekaterine Gabashvili ( ka, ეკატერინე გაბაშვილი) née Tarkhnishvili (თარხნიშვილი) (16 June 1851 – 7 August 1938) was a Georgian writer, feminist and public figure who called for social ref ...

. He abandoned his studies at the Montefiore Institute in

Liège Liège ( , , ; wa, Lîdje ; nl, Luik ; german: Lüttich ) is a major city and municipality of Wallonia and the capital of the Belgian province of Liège. The city is situated in the valley of the Meuse, in the east of Belgium, not far from b ...

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

, in 1905 to return to Georgia and take part in the

revolution In political science, a revolution (Latin: ''revolutio'', "a turn around") is a fundamental and relatively sudden change in political power and political organization which occurs when the population revolts against the government, typically due ...

against the

Russian Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including: *Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...

rule. Briefly fleeing police persecution to

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

, he returned in 1907 and enrolled in the

University of St. Petersburg Saint Petersburg State University (SPBU; russian: Санкт-Петербургский государственный университет) is a public university, public research university in Saint Petersburg, Russia. Founded in 1724 by a de ...

, from where he was excluded on charges of being involved in students’ disorders in 1910. On his return to Georgia, Gabashvili engaged in opposition journalism; he founded and edited the newspaper ''klde'' (კლდე; "Rock"). A group of Georgians collaborating with ''klde'' formed the nucleus around which the Georgian National Democratic Party organized. The party held its founding congress in June 1917, in the aftermath of the 1917

February Revolution The February Revolution ( rus, Февра́льская револю́ция, r=Fevral'skaya revolyutsiya, p=fʲɪvˈralʲskəjə rʲɪvɐˈlʲutsɨjə), known in Soviet historiography as the February Bourgeois Democratic Revolution and somet ...

St. Petersburg Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

Stephen F. Jones Stephen F. Jones (born 1953) is an English expert on post- Communist societies in the former Soviet Union and Eastern Europe who currently serves as Chair of Russian and Eurasian Studies at Mount Holyoke College, South Hadley, Massachusetts. Jon ...

(2005), ''Socialism in Georgian Colors: The European Road to Social Democracy, 1883-1917'', p. 354.

Harvard University Press Harvard University Press (HUP) is a publishing house established on January 13, 1913, as a division of Harvard University, and focused on academic publishing. It is a member of the Association of American University Presses. After the retirem ...

, . After Georgia’s

declaration of independence A declaration of independence or declaration of statehood or proclamation of independence is an assertion by a polity in a defined territory that it is independent and constitutes a state. Such places are usually declared from part or all of the ...

(May 26, 1918), Gabashvili was elected to the

Constituent Assembly A constituent assembly (also known as a constitutional convention, constitutional congress, or constitutional assembly) is a body assembled for the purpose of drafting or revising a constitution. Members of a constituent assembly may be elected b ...

for the National Democratic Party. The 1921

Red Army invasion of Georgia The Red Army invasion of Georgia (15 February17 March 1921), also known as the Soviet–Georgian War or the Soviet invasion of Georgia,Debo, R. (1992). ''Survival and Consolidation: The Foreign Policy of Soviet Russia, 1918-1921'', pp. 182, 361� ...

forced Gabashvili into exile to

where he wrote for local press on the politics and society of Georgia and the book ''L’apport de la race caucasienne dans la civilisation mondiale'' (Paris, 1967). His resonant memoirs რაც მახსოვს (''rats’ maxsovs''; "What I Remember") – published in

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the States of Germany, German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the List of cities in Germany by popu ...

in 1959 – was highly critical of the Social Democratic leadership whom Gabashvili accused of incompetence and inability to respond Georgians’ national demands.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gabashvili, Revaz 1882 births 1969 deaths Journalists from Tbilisi Memoirists from Georgia (country) National Democratic Party (Georgia) politicians Politicians from Tbilisi 20th-century journalists 20th-century memoirists