Members of the National Council of Georgia

The National Council of Georgia ( ka, საქართველოს ეროვნული საბჭო, ''sakartvelos erovnuli sabcho'') was the first delegated legislative body formed by

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...

's major political parties and social organizations on November 19, 1917, during the

Russian Revolution The Russian Revolution was a period of political and social revolution that took place in the former Russian Empire which began during the First World War. This period saw Russia abolish its monarchy and adopt a socialist form of government ...

. The Council presided over the

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 th ...

of the

Democratic Republic of Georgia The Democratic Republic of Georgia (DRG; ka, საქართველოს დემოკრატიული რესპუბლიკა ') was the first modern establishment of a republic of Georgia, which existed from May 1918 to F ...

on May 26, 1918, and was renamed into the Parliament of Georgia (საქართველოს პარლამენტი, ''sakartvelos parlament'i'') on October 4, 1918. It was succeeded by the Constituent Assembly of Georgia, a legislative body elected through the nationwide general elections on February 14, 1919.

Formation

The National Council of Georgia (NCG) was elected at the National Congress of Georgia held in the State Treasury Theater 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 ...

(now

Tbilisi Opera and Ballet Theatre The Georgian National Opera and Ballet Theater of Tbilisi ( ka, თბილისის ოპერისა და ბალეტის სახელმწიფო აკადემიური თეატრი), formerly known as the ...

) from November 19 to 23, 1917, and attended by 329 delegates from Georgia’s all major political parties and social organizations, ranging from trade unions to noble assemblies and the

church Church may refer to: Religion * Church (building), a building for Christian religious activities * Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination * Church service, a formalized period of Christian communal worship * Chri ...

. This was the reaction to the Bolshevik coup in

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of which Georgia was formally still a part. The Council was dominated by the

Georgian Social Democratic (Menshevik) Party 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 demo ...

and the Menshevik

Akaki Chkhenkeli Akaki Chkhenkeli ( ka, აკაკი ჩხენკელი) (1874 – 5 January 1959) was a Georgian Social Democratic politician and publicist who acted as one of the leaders of the Menshevik movement in Russia and Georgia. In 1918 he serve ...

was elected its chairman. Jones, Stephen F. (2005), ''Socialism in Georgian Colors: The European Road to Social Democracy, 1883-1917'', pp. 260-261.

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 retir ...

Political role

The Georgian National Council did not initially achieved the influence that its counterparts enjoyed among the

Armenians Armenians ( hy, հայեր, ''hayer'' ) are an ethnic group native to the Armenian highlands of Western Asia. Armenians constitute the main population of Armenia and the ''de facto'' independent Artsakh. There is a wide-ranging diaspora ...

and

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and remained overshadowed by the Tiflis Soviet of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies – dominated by the fragile bloc of the Mensheviks and SRs – until the formation of the

Transcaucasian Commissariat The Transcaucasian Commissariat was established at Tbilisi on 11 November 1917, as the first government of the independent Transcaucasia following the October Revolution in Petrograd. The Commissariat decided to strengthen the Georgian–Armenian� ...

in November 1917. On May 26, 1918, the NCG declared the independence of Georgia in the form of a democratic republic and assumed the role of the republic's legislature to which the provisional government of Georgia – chaired by

Noe Ramishvili Noe Besarionis dze Ramishvili ( ka, ნოე რამიშვილი; his name is also transliterated as ''Noah'' or ''Noi''; 5 April 1881 – 7 December 1930) was a Georgian politician and the president of the first government of the Democ ...

and then by

Noe Zhordania Noe Zhordania ( ka, ნოე ჟორდანია /nɔɛ ʒɔrdɑniɑ/; russian: Ной Никола́евич Жорда́ния; born (or ) — January 11, 1953) was a Georgian journalist and Menshevik politician. He played an eminent ro ...

– was accountable. The expanded NCG was converted into the Parliament of Georgia on October 4, 1918, and

Karlo Chkheidze Nikoloz Chkheidze ( ka, ნიკოლოზ (კარლო) ჩხეიძე; russian: Никола́й (Карло) Семёнович Чхеи́дзе, translit=Nikolay (Karlo) Semyonovich Chkheidze) commonly known as Karlo Chkheidze ( � ...

became its new chairman. Under its guidance, the general elections for the Constituent Assembly were prepared and organized in February 1919. Kazemzadeh, Firuz (1951), ''The Struggle for Transcaucasia, 1917-1921'', pp. 119-121. The New York Philosophical Library Lang, David Marshall (1962), ''A Modern History of Georgia'', p. 209.

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: Weidenfeld and Nicolson

References

External links

Collection of documents adopted by the NCG
Regionalism Research Center 1917 in Georgia (country) Defunct unicameral legislatures Government agencies established in 1917 1919 disestablishments 1918 in Georgia (country) {{Georgia-hist-stub