Noe Ramishvili

Noe Ramishvili
1st Prime Minister of Georgia
In office 26 May 1918 – 24 June 1918
President	Nikolay Chkheidze (President of Parliament)
Preceded by	Position Established
Succeeded by	Noe Zhordania
Personal details
Born	1881 Ozurget Uyezd, Kutais Governorate, Russian Empire
Died	7 December 1930(1930-12-07) (aged 48–49) Paris, France
Political party	Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (1902-1918) Social Democratic Labour Party of Georgia (1918-1930)

Noe Besarionis dze Ramishvili (Georgian: ნოე რამიშვილი; his name is also transliterated as Noah or Noi) (1881 - 7 December 1930) was a Georgian politician and the president of the first government of the Democratic Republic of Georgia. He was one of the leaders of the Menshevik wing of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party. He was also known by his party noms de guerre: Pyotr, and Semyonov N.

He joined the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party in 1902 and soon became a prominent spokesman of the Mensheviks.

Political career

Transcaucasia

Karl Kautsky with the Georgian Social-Democrats, Tbilisi, 1920.
In the first row: S. Devdariani, Noe Ramishvili, Noe Zhordania, Karl Kautsky and his wife Luise, Silibistro Jibladze, Razhden Arsenidze;
in the second row: Kautsky's secretary Olberg, Victor Tevzaia, K. Gvarjaladze, Konstantine Sabakhtarashvili, S. Tevzadze, Avtandil Urushadze, R. Tsintsabadze

Following the 1917 Bolshevik October Revolution he became one of the leaders of the Georgian National Soviet and was appointed, on April 22, 1918, an interior minister of the Transcaucasian Democratic Federative Republic, a loose federation of Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan.

Georgia

On 26 May 1918 Georgia became an independent state as the Democratic Republic of Georgia. Ramishvili was elected a chairman of the government and was replaced by his close associate, Noe Zhordania, on 24 July 1918. In a new government, Ramishvili accepted the post of interior minister. From March 1919, he also simultaneously held the posts of education minister and defense minister. He was frequently criticized by the Georgian opposition for his harsh reaction to the peasant disturbances in 1918 and 1919, yet his role in preventing large-scale Bolshevik revolts cannot be overlooked.

Exile in France

After the Soviet Russian forces occupied the country in February–March 1921, Ramishvili emigrated to France, but did not cease his efforts to undermine the Bolshevik dictatorship. He sponsored the preparation for the 1924 August Uprising in Georgia, which ended unsuccessfully and was followed by mass repressions against the Georgian nobility and intellectuals.

Ramishvili was one of the most prominent leaders of the Poland-guided anti-Soviet Prometheism movement. In 1930, he was assassinated in Paris, France, by a Soviet foreign intelligence agent.

External links

• (French) Noé Ramichvili.
• (French) Ière République de Géorgie.
• (French) Ière République de Géorgie en exil.