Anarchism in Georgia

Georgian anarchists Mikheil Tsereteli and Varlam Cherkezishvili[1] played a major role in the development of anarchist ideas in the world, but unlike European and Russian anarchists, Georgians actively fought for national liberation.

This ideology against statehood was supported by those Georgian politicians who led the struggle for the liberation of the Georgian people and fought for national self-determination throughout their lives. Mikheil Tsereteli was one such distinguished politician. Along with him, the anarchist party included: Varlam Cherkezishvili, Shalva and Commando Gogelia and others.[2] The anarchist organization began to form in 1895, strengthened during the 1905 Russian Revolution, and weakened during World War I, as its Georgian members were working abroad. From 1917, anarchism was no longer a relevant political force. Georgian anarchists uncompromisingly fought against Leninism, condemning all forms of violence, including its expression as a state. In their view, only free people could achieve progress. They fought the dictatorship of the proletariat brought by the Red Army invasion of Georgia.

As for the anarchist theory of the extinction of the state, the outcry against centralism and for the decentralization of government was the ideal of all progressive-minded people in Georgia and the basis of the country's success. They fought for the autonomy of Georgia, and went even further: in the 1910s they demanded full independence for the country. They defended the slogan of "equality of all nations" and they believed that only after achieving national independence could the nation take care of its social situation.

• Rekhviashvili, T.; Chiaureli, V. (2006). ფილოსოფია (in Georgian). Tbilisi. p. 233.
• Gvianishvili, Nanuli Valerianovna (1990). Mesto sot︠s︡ialʹno-politicheskikh vozzreniĭ anarkhistov v istorii gruzinskoĭ obshchestvennoĭ mysli (in Russian). Tbilisi: Institut istorii, arkheologii i ėtnografii. p. 17. OCLC 30869691.