Socialism in Georgian Colors

“This is the first detailed study in English of Georgian social democracy based on archival and secondary sources in the Georgian language as well as in Russian. For this reason alone, it should hold a lasting place in the growing literature on the regional and ethnic revolutionary movements in the Russian Empire.”—Alfred J. Rieber, Journal of Modern History

“A splendid account, which breaks new ground. Stephen Jones brings Georgian Marxism back to life on its own terms and in its own time. He is brilliant at setting the national, social, and cultural context, and he succeeds in relating the Georgian movement to the wider frame of Russian imperial and indeed global history.”—Robert Service, author of Stalin: A Biography

“This fine book breaks new ground in its original and persuasive narrative of a unique social movement. Georgian Social Democracy was the first Marxist movement in the world to gain massive peasant support, something later achieved in China and Vietnam, but in the Georgian case also established a successful democratic socialist government in a time of revolution and civil war. The Georgians managed to marry socialism, democracy, and a moderate, tolerant form of nationalism. There are lessons to be learned in this history.”—Ronald Grigor Suny, author of The Soviet Experiment