Irakli Tsereteli
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Irakli Tsereteli (also spelled Irakly Tsereteli) (Georgian: ირაკლი წერეთელი) commonly known as Kaki Tsereteli (1881–1959) was a Georgian politician, one of the leaders of the Russian Social-Democratic Labour Party and the Georgian Mensheviks.
Born to a family of the esteemed Georgian writer, Giorgi Tsereteli, he studied law at Moscow University where he became involved in the reform movement. After taking part in a student demonstration he was sentenced to five years exile in Siberia. On his release from prison Tsereteli joined the Social Democratic Labour Party (SDLP) and at the party's 1903 congress in London sided with Julius Martov against Lenin by becoming a Menshevik, opposed to Lenin's Bolsheviks. Tsereteli became editor of the pro-Menshevik publication Kvali (Track in Georgian), but decided to move to Germany to escape increasing harassment from the authorities.He returned to Russia during the 1905 Revolution and was elected to the second Duma, emerging as a leading Menshevik. On the dissolution of the Duma, Tsereteli was exiled to Siberia.
He returned to Petrograd after the February Revolution headed the Petrograd Soviet from late March and joined the cabinet of the Provisional Government in May as Minister of Post and Telegraphs. After the October Revolution Lenin ordered Tsereteli's arrest so he remained in Georgia where he obtained a seat in the Parliament of the Democratic Republic of Georgia (1918-1921).
In February to March, 1921 Georgia was occupied by the Russian SFSR's Red Army. Tsereteli decided to leave for France, later emigrating to the United States where he died in 1959.
