1888: he warned the Tsar's aides, to their faces, that using two freight locomotives to speed the imperial train was reckless. Days later the Borki derailment proved him right. Alexander III remembered — and made him Director of State Railways.
Architect of the empire's modernization: the Trans-Siberian railway, the gold standard. In 1905 he made peace with Japan and wrung the October Manifesto from a cornered Tsar, who never forgave him for it. He died sidelined, writing his memoirs.
Chairman of the Petrograd Soviet in the dual-power era, face of revolutionary defencism
"Deprived of direct contact with his people, he lost his power of resistance. Even a mighty oak, overturned by a storm and torn from the soil that fed it, withers. So it was with Chkheidze." — Irakli Tsereteli at his funeral, 1926
A Georgian nobleman and Menshevik who produced the first Georgian translation of the Communist Manifesto. In 1917 he chaired the Petrograd Soviet during dual power but opposed the October Revolution; he went on to lead Georgia's independence and its government-in-exile in Paris.
Career timeline
1890sJoined Mesame-dasi; first Georgian translation of the Communist Manifesto
1898–1907Batumi city duma deputy, municipal hospital inspector; joined RSDLP (1898), Menshevik from 1903
1907–1917Deputy, Third and Fourth State Dumas (Tiflis); head of the Menshevik faction
1917.02–09Chairman, Petrograd Soviet; Chairman, All-Russian Central Executive Committee (from June)
1918–1921Chairman, Transcaucasian Seim and Georgian Constituent Assembly; signed independence declaration
1919Georgian delegate to the Paris Peace Conference
1921–1926Exile in France; head of the Georgian government-in-exile
Architect of Revolutionary Defencism and the man to whom Lenin replied, 'There is such a party!'
At the First Congress of Soviets on 4 June 1917, Tsereteli declared that 'there is no party in Russia that says: give us power.' Lenin rose from his seat and answered: 'There is such a party!'
A Georgian Menshevik leader who championed Revolutionary Defencism in 1917 and served as Interior Minister in the Provisional Government. He is remembered for drawing Lenin's famous retort, 'There is such a party!' After the October Revolution he helped found an independent Georgia.
Career timeline
1900–1902Entered Moscow University law faculty; arrested as student-movement leader, exiled to Siberia
1903–1906Joined RSDLP, aligned with Mensheviks; editor of Kvali weekly. Studied in Berlin, returned 1906
1907Deputy, Second Duma (Kutaisi); head of SD faction. After dissolution, 5 years' hard labour, Siberian exile
1915–1917.02Led Siberian Zimmerwaldism; edited Siberian Journal. Joined Irkutsk Revolutionary Committee
1917.03–09Petrograd Soviet Executive Committee; leading voice of Revolutionary Defencism
1917.05–08Minister of Post and Telegraph (May–July), concurrently Minister of Interior (July–August)
1918–1921Co-signed Georgian independence declaration; Constituent Assembly deputy; Paris Peace Conference delegate
1921–1959Exile in France; executive member of the Second International. Moved to USA 1940; died in New York, 1959
1849–1915
○ Natural causes