Mesame Dasi
Encyclopedia
Mesame Dasi was the first social-democratic party in the Caucasus
, based in Tbilsi, Georgia
. It was founded in 1892 by E. F. Ninoshvili and M. G. Tskhakaya
as a literary-political group, and became affiliated with the international socialist-Marxist movement in 1893. The name, meaning "third group," was coined by G. E. Tsereteli
during his speech at the funeral for Ninoshvili and it was printed in the newspaper Kvali.
to the workers at various oil refineries and oil fields, along with the railway workers working on the Transcaucasian railway. All of their disseminations were done legally, through various legal channels.
They, in doing so, found two men, Afanas'ev and Stanislaw Reniger, also distributing revolutionary works to the workers. With the joining of these two, the Mesame Dasi created reading and study circles in which they taught the workers. They even translated the Russian
texts into Georgian
for those who could read that. Much like the other propaganda circles that were being done in Russia
, the Mesame Dasi put their own spin on their teachings, from Russian history
to biology. In order to keep away from legal trouble, the Dasi kept away from discussing the movement and did not attend any of the sporadic strikes among the workers.
joined the Mesame Dasi in 1898 when he was 20, while he was attending the Tiflis Theological Seminary. Through the Mesame Dasi, he was first introduced to the ideas of Karl Marx
. He was in charge of one of the study circles, but became discontented with the viewpoints of the majority. Because of Stalin's sympathies toward Bolsheviks and the irritating manner in which he presided, he found himself constantly at odds with the others in the group. Stalin began to form an opposition group in response to this composed of Lado Ketskhoveli
, S. Tsulukidze, and himself, which was firmly in the minority. This group, as stated by Lavrentiy Beria
, was the beginning of the Leninist Bolshevik
organization that would be created in 1904. In working against the majority, the group was finally able, in 1900, to move the entire organization more into propaganda and acts of mass agitation. But the actions of Stalin and his minority continued to irk the leaders of the Mesame Dasi. Finally, in December 1901, they expelled him from the group.
However, Stalin's minority group would have a lasting effect on some of the leaders. Mikha Tskhakaya
, one of the founders of the Mesame Dasi, would end up becoming Georgia's first Bolshevik and support Vladimir Lenin
's ideology, along with defending Stalin in his later activities.
In 1902, a massive strike began in a plant in Batumi
. Almost four hundred workers were dismissed from the plant and arrests occurred afterwards. When the workers began to march against the police, they were forced to fire into the crowd, killing fourteen workers in the process. The Dasi quickly created a Batumi committee, made up of two intellectuals and three workers. In the end, nearly six hundred workers were made to leave the city and many then returned to their farms and villages in Guria
. It was this process that created even more revolution, as the workers met up with other social revolutionaries in Guria and created boycotts against the landlords late in the spring. Because the protests continued to spread, the Mesame Dasi were forced to lend their support to the workers.The original meaning of the boycotts had been about the poor harvest in 1901. But when the military and the police intervened, working for the case of the landlords, the boycotts became large political protests against Russian supremacy
in Georgia and even against autocracy
itself.
for the Georgians, instead of the Russians as had been done before.
Caucasus
The Caucasus, also Caucas or Caucasia , is a geopolitical region at the border of Europe and Asia, and situated between the Black and the Caspian sea...
, based in Tbilsi, Georgia
Georgia (country)
Georgia is a sovereign state in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. Located at the crossroads of Western Asia and Eastern Europe, it is bounded to the west by the Black Sea, to the north by Russia, to the southwest by Turkey, to the south by Armenia, and to the southeast by Azerbaijan. The capital of...
. It was founded in 1892 by E. F. Ninoshvili and M. G. Tskhakaya
M. G. Tskhakaya
Mikhail Grigoryevich Tskhakaya , a.k.a. Barsov, was a Georgian communist. Barsov was a senior leader in the Bolshevik movement in Georgia, having been active in revolutionary politics since 1880. In 1892 he helped found Mesame Dasy , the first Georgian Socialist party. When the Russian Social...
as a literary-political group, and became affiliated with the international socialist-Marxist movement in 1893. The name, meaning "third group," was coined by G. E. Tsereteli
Irakli Tsereteli
Irakli Tsereteli was a Georgian politician, one of the leaders of the Russian Social-Democratic Labour Party and later the Georgian Mensheviks....
during his speech at the funeral for Ninoshvili and it was printed in the newspaper Kvali.
Early years
The Georgian Social Democrats were the ones who took over the name Mesame Dasi (Third Group) in 1893, in order to differentiate themselves from the other two groups, the Pirveli Dasi (First Group) and the Meori Dasi (Second Group). These were two other groups of intellectuals that had been active in the earlier two decades. The Mesame Dasi began their activities by disseminating Marxist propagandaPropaganda
Propaganda is a form of communication that is aimed at influencing the attitude of a community toward some cause or position so as to benefit oneself or one's group....
to the workers at various oil refineries and oil fields, along with the railway workers working on the Transcaucasian railway. All of their disseminations were done legally, through various legal channels.
They, in doing so, found two men, Afanas'ev and Stanislaw Reniger, also distributing revolutionary works to the workers. With the joining of these two, the Mesame Dasi created reading and study circles in which they taught the workers. They even translated the Russian
Russian language
Russian is a Slavic language used primarily in Russia, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. It is an unofficial but widely spoken language in Ukraine, Moldova, Latvia, Turkmenistan and Estonia and, to a lesser extent, the other countries that were once constituent republics...
texts into Georgian
Georgian language
Georgian is the native language of the Georgians and the official language of Georgia, a country in the Caucasus.Georgian is the primary language of about 4 million people in Georgia itself, and of another 500,000 abroad...
for those who could read that. Much like the other propaganda circles that were being done in Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
, the Mesame Dasi put their own spin on their teachings, from Russian history
History of Russia
The history of Russia begins with that of the Eastern Slavs and the Finno-Ugric peoples. The state of Garðaríki , which was centered in Novgorod and included the entire areas inhabited by Ilmen Slavs, Veps and Votes, was established by the Varangian chieftain Rurik in 862...
to biology. In order to keep away from legal trouble, the Dasi kept away from discussing the movement and did not attend any of the sporadic strikes among the workers.
Stalin's involvement
Joseph StalinJoseph Stalin
Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin was the Premier of the Soviet Union from 6 May 1941 to 5 March 1953. He was among the Bolshevik revolutionaries who brought about the October Revolution and had held the position of first General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union's Central Committee...
joined the Mesame Dasi in 1898 when he was 20, while he was attending the Tiflis Theological Seminary. Through the Mesame Dasi, he was first introduced to the ideas of Karl Marx
Karl Marx
Karl Heinrich Marx was a German philosopher, economist, sociologist, historian, journalist, and revolutionary socialist. His ideas played a significant role in the development of social science and the socialist political movement...
. He was in charge of one of the study circles, but became discontented with the viewpoints of the majority. Because of Stalin's sympathies toward Bolsheviks and the irritating manner in which he presided, he found himself constantly at odds with the others in the group. Stalin began to form an opposition group in response to this composed of Lado Ketskhoveli
Lado Ketskhoveli
Lado Ketskhoveli was a writer and revolutionary who was one of the first people to introduce Joseph Stalin to Marxism. He was one of the few people that Stalin looked up to because of his "astonishing, outstanding talents" and a person whom Stalin called himself a "disciple" to.-Early years:The...
, S. Tsulukidze, and himself, which was firmly in the minority. This group, as stated by Lavrentiy Beria
Lavrentiy Beria
Lavrentiy Pavlovich Beria was a Georgian Soviet politician and state security administrator, chief of the Soviet security and secret police apparatus under Joseph Stalin during World War II, and Deputy Premier in the postwar years ....
, was the beginning of the Leninist Bolshevik
Trotskyism
Trotskyism is the theory of Marxism as advocated by Leon Trotsky. Trotsky considered himself an orthodox Marxist and Bolshevik-Leninist, arguing for the establishment of a vanguard party of the working-class...
organization that would be created in 1904. In working against the majority, the group was finally able, in 1900, to move the entire organization more into propaganda and acts of mass agitation. But the actions of Stalin and his minority continued to irk the leaders of the Mesame Dasi. Finally, in December 1901, they expelled him from the group.
However, Stalin's minority group would have a lasting effect on some of the leaders. Mikha Tskhakaya
M. G. Tskhakaya
Mikhail Grigoryevich Tskhakaya , a.k.a. Barsov, was a Georgian communist. Barsov was a senior leader in the Bolshevik movement in Georgia, having been active in revolutionary politics since 1880. In 1892 he helped found Mesame Dasy , the first Georgian Socialist party. When the Russian Social...
, one of the founders of the Mesame Dasi, would end up becoming Georgia's first Bolshevik and support Vladimir Lenin
Vladimir Lenin
Vladimir Ilyich Lenin was a Russian Marxist revolutionary and communist politician who led the October Revolution of 1917. As leader of the Bolsheviks, he headed the Soviet state during its initial years , as it fought to establish control of Russia in the Russian Civil War and worked to create a...
's ideology, along with defending Stalin in his later activities.
Strengthening nationalism
As time went by, the activists among the group, those who participated in the Dasi's illegal activities, began to want to do more. By 1901, the nationalist movement had spread across Georgia, becoming more violent in nature. The old intellectuals of the Dasi continued to oppose the actions of the activists, but their words accomplished nothing. The core of the group began to be made up of workers instead of intellectuals, pushing the group and Georgia further down a socialist path.In 1902, a massive strike began in a plant in Batumi
Batumi
Batumi is a seaside city on the Black Sea coast and capital of Adjara, an autonomous republic in southwest Georgia. Sometimes considered Georgia's second capital, with a population of 121,806 , Batumi serves as an important port and a commercial center. It is situated in a subtropical zone, rich in...
. Almost four hundred workers were dismissed from the plant and arrests occurred afterwards. When the workers began to march against the police, they were forced to fire into the crowd, killing fourteen workers in the process. The Dasi quickly created a Batumi committee, made up of two intellectuals and three workers. In the end, nearly six hundred workers were made to leave the city and many then returned to their farms and villages in Guria
Guria
Guria is a region in Georgia, in the western part of the country, bordered by the eastern end of the Black Sea. The region has a population of 143,357 and Ozurgeti is a regional capital.-Geography:...
. It was this process that created even more revolution, as the workers met up with other social revolutionaries in Guria and created boycotts against the landlords late in the spring. Because the protests continued to spread, the Mesame Dasi were forced to lend their support to the workers.The original meaning of the boycotts had been about the poor harvest in 1901. But when the military and the police intervened, working for the case of the landlords, the boycotts became large political protests against Russian supremacy
Supremacy
Supremacy may refer to:* Supremacism, a philosophy that one is superior to others, so dominate, control or rule those who are not* Acts of Supremacy, 16th century laws in England concerning King Henry VIII and the church...
in Georgia and even against autocracy
Autocracy
An autocracy is a form of government in which one person is the supreme power within the state. It is derived from the Greek : and , and may be translated as "one who rules by himself". It is distinct from oligarchy and democracy...
itself.
Later years
By 1920, the Mesame Dasi had begun pushing out the older generations of national patriots, the first two groups. They began redirecting Georgian hostility toward the dominant local group, the ArmeniansArmenians
Armenian people or Armenians are a nation and ethnic group native to the Armenian Highland.The largest concentration is in Armenia having a nearly-homogeneous population with 97.9% or 3,145,354 being ethnic Armenian....
for the Georgians, instead of the Russians as had been done before.