The Georgian Socialist-Federalist Revolutionary Party () was a Georgian nationalist party, founded in April 1904. The party's program demanded the national autonomy of Georgia, within the framework of a Russian

federal state A federation (also known as a federal state) is a political entity characterized by a union of partially self-governing provinces, states, or other regions under a central federal government ( federalism). In a federation, the self-governi ...

, and advocated for a

democratic socialist Democratic socialism is a left-wing political philosophy that supports political democracy and some form of a socially owned economy, with a particular emphasis on economic democracy, workplace democracy, and workers' self-management within a ...

system. Mainly based in the rural areas, the party's membership was almost entirely drawn from the peasantry and the petty gentry. Luxemburg, Rosa.
The National Question
' (1909) The political profile of the party had an appeal amongst moderately nationalist intellectuals, schoolteachers and students. The party strived that agricultural issues not be decided by central authorities, but by autonomous national institutions. The party published the periodical ''Sakartvelo'' (the

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 ...

term Term may refer to: * Terminology, or term, a noun or compound word used in a specific context, in particular: **Technical term, part of the specialized vocabulary of a particular field, specifically: ***Scientific terminology, terms used by scient ...

for "Georgia"). According to

Boris Souvarine Boris Souvarine (1 November 1895 – 1 November 1984), also known as Varine, was a French Marxist, communist activist, essayist and journalist. A founding member of the French Communist Party, Souvarine is noted for being the only non-Russian com ...

, the party accepted arms from

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

to fight against the Russian state during the Russo-Japanese war. The party was one of very few oppositional groups in the Russian empire to accept such aid. The party conducted a series of robberies in the Caucasus. In April 1906 the party managed to rob the

Dusheti Dusheti () is a town in Georgia (country), Georgia, the administrative center of Dusheti Municipality, in the Mtskheta-Mtianeti mkhare, region, 54 km northeast of the nation's capital of Tbilisi. History Dusheti is on both banks of the small ...

treasury, taking a bounty of 315,000

rubles The ruble (American English) or rouble (Commonwealth English) (; rus, рубль, p=rublʲ) is the currency unit of Belarus and Russia. Historically, it was the currency of the Russian Empire and of the Soviet Union. , currencies named ''rub ...

. The bulk of the stolen money stayed with Kereselizde, the organizer of the robbery, who took it with him as he went into exile. Geifman, Anna.
Thou Shalt Kill: Revolutionary Terrorism in Russia, 1894–1917
'.

Princeton, New Jersey Princeton is a municipality with a borough form of government in Mercer County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It was established on January 1, 2013, through the consolidation of the Borough of Princeton and Princeton Township, both of whi ...

: Princeton University Press, 1993. pp. 159-160 In November 1904, the party took part in a conference of oppositional groups in

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 ...

, where the 'Paris agreement' of struggle against autocracy was adopted. The party was represented at the conference by Dekanozov and Gabuniya. Other participating organizations were the

Socialist-Revolutionary Party The Socialist Revolutionary Party, or the Party of Socialist-Revolutionaries (the SRs, , or Esers, russian: эсеры, translit=esery, label=none; russian: Партия социалистов-революционеров, ), was a major politi ...

, the

Polish Socialist Party The Polish Socialist Party ( pl, Polska Partia Socjalistyczna, PPS) is a socialist political party in Poland. It was one of the most important parties in Poland from its inception in 1892 until its merger with the communist Polish Workers' P ...

, the

Polish National League National League ( pl, Liga Narodowa) was a conspirational Polish organization active in all three partitions. It was founded in April 1893 from the transformed Polish League. National League was the first organization of the nascent National Demo ...

, the

Finnish Party of Active Resistance Finnish may refer to: * Something or someone from, or related to Finland * Culture of Finland * Finnish people or Finns, the primary ethnic group in Finland * Finnish language Finnish ( endonym: or ) is a Uralic language of the Finnic bra ...

, the Latvian Social Democratic Workers Party, the

Armenian Revolutionary Federation The Armenian Revolutionary Federation ( hy, Հայ Յեղափոխական Դաշնակցութիւն, ՀՅԴ ( classical spelling), abbr. ARF or ARF-D) also known as Dashnaktsutyun (collectively referred to as Dashnaks for short), is an Armenian ...

, the

Union of Liberation The Union of Liberation (russian: Союз Освобождения, ''Soyuz Osvobozhdeniya'') was a liberal political group founded in Saint Petersburg, Russia in January 1904 under the influence of Peter Berngardovich Struve, a former Marxist. I ...

. The conference adopted a declaration called for the establishment of a democratic regime in Russia (although not specifying if it was to be monarchic or republican), but could not agree on the formation of a joint central bureau for the oppositional forces. In April 1905, the Socialist-Federalists, the Socialist Union of White Russia and several of the groups that had participated in the Paris conference (Armenian Revolutionary Federation, Socialist-Revolutionaries, Finnish Party of Active Resistance, Latvian Social Democratic Workers Union) met in

Geneva Geneva ( ; french: Genève ) frp, Genèva ; german: link=no, Genf ; it, Ginevra ; rm, Genevra is the List of cities in Switzerland, second-most populous city in Switzerland (after Zürich) and the most populous city of Romandy, the French-speaki ...

and formed the General Fighting Committee, striving to establish

constituent assemblies Constituent or constituency may refer to: Politics * An individual voter within an electoral district, state, community, or organization * Advocacy group or constituency * Constituent assembly * Constituencies of Namibia Other meanings * Const ...

for Russia, Poland and Finland. In the first Duma election, the Socialist-Federalist Iosif Baratov won a seat from

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 ...

. The party had formed an electoral bloc ahead of the polls, together with the Georgian Democratic Party and the Radical Party. Later, the party was able to capture the majority seats from Georgia in the Second Duma. In 1907, the party adopted the policy of extraterritorial national-cultural autonomy, that an individual would enjoy cultural and national autonomy no matter where in the Empire he/she would reside. After the

1917 October Revolution The October Revolution,. officially known as the Great October Socialist Revolution. in the Soviet Union, also known as the Bolshevik Revolution, was a revolution in Russia led by the Bolshevik Party of Vladimir Lenin that was a key moment ...

, the party formed an anti-Soviet bloc along with the

Georgian Mensheviks The Social Democratic Party of Georgia ( ka, საქართველოს სოციალ-დემოკრატიული პარტია, tr), also known as the Georgian Menshevik Party, was a Georgian Marxist and social democr ...

, the

("Dashnaks") and the

Azeri Azerbaijanis (; az, Azərbaycanlılar, ), Azeris ( az, Azərilər, ), or Azerbaijani Turks ( az, Azərbaycan Türkləri, ) are a Turkic peoples, Turkic people living mainly in Azerbaijan (Iran), northwestern Iran and the Azerbaijan, Republi ...

Musavat Party The Müsavat Party ( az, Müsavat Partiyası, from ar, مساواة ''musāwāt'', ) is the oldest existing political party in Azerbaijan. Its history can be divided into three periods: Early Musavat, Musavat-in-exile and New Musavat. Early Musa ...

. The bloc received support from

Central Powers The Central Powers, also known as the Central Empires,german: Mittelmächte; hu, Központi hatalmak; tr, İttifak Devletleri / ; bg, Централни сили, translit=Tsentralni sili was one of the two main coalitions that fought in ...

, and later, by the

Entente Entente, meaning a diplomatic "understanding", may refer to a number of agreements: History * Entente (alliance), a type of treaty or military alliance where the signatories promise to consult each other or to cooperate with each other in case o ...

. Lenin, V.I.
A Contribution to the History of the National Programme in Austria and in Russia
' (1914) In the

1917 Russian Constituent Assembly election Elections to the Russian Constituent Assembly were held on 25 November 1917, although some districts had polling on alternate days, around two months after they were originally meant to occur, having been organized as a result of events in the Feb ...

, the list of the party obtained 22,754 votes (0.93% of the votes in the Transcaucasus electoral district). The party later formed the

Committee for Independence of Georgia The Committee for the Independence of Georgia ( ka, საქართველოს დამოუკიდებლობის კომიტეტი, ''Sak’art’velos damoukideblobis komiteti'') or the Parity Committee (პარი� ...

with the National Democrats and Mensheviks, and attempted to launch an armed uprising against Soviet power in October 1923.
Struggle of the Georgian people against communist regime
''

References

{{Georgian political parties 1904 establishments in the Russian Empire Defunct political parties in Georgia (country) Federalist parties Georgian nationalism Political parties of the Russian Revolution Political parties established in 1904 Political parties of minorities in Imperial Russia Pro-independence parties in the Soviet Union Socialist parties in Georgia (country) Socialist parties in the Soviet Union