The Akashi Operations Ë 21
Fig. 2.4.Varlam Cherkezishvili (Varlaam Cherkezov), London, beginning of the twentieth century.
Socialist Party; and Giorgi Dekanozishvili (Dekanozi) (1868–1910), leader of the Geor-
gian Revolutionary Party of Socialist Federalists (sakartvelos socialist-federalisturi
sarevolucio partiia).²⁶(Whether Akashi’s view of Dekanozishvili diered from the
26 The Russian police often referred to Dekanozishvili erroneously as an “Armenian anarchist.” The
Socialist Federalist Party was formed in 1904 of Georgian intellectuals headed by Prince Artshil
Dzhordzhadze. In 1901 these intellectuals formed an initiative group in Georgia aimed at restor-
ing independence to Georgia. The following year the group sent two of its most active members,
Dzhordzhadze and Dekanozishvili (a mining engineer known for his organizational skills), to Paris
to publish a journal,Sakartvelo, in the Georgian and French languages. The French version was used
to acquaint Europe with the Georgian question, while the Georgian version was smuggled into Georgia.
The group advocated an autonomous Georgia within the larger framework of a Caucasian Federation
within the Russian Empire that all peoples of the Caucasus were to join. This was to be the rst step to-
ward the eventual full independence of Georgia. In April 1904, the Sakartvelo group formed the core of
a new Georgian Revolutionary Party of Socialist Federalists. See Giorgi Laskhishvili,memuarebi [Mem-
oirs] (1885–1915)(Tbilisi: [n.p.], 1934), 138–41, 159–61; Dimitri Shvelidze and Giorgi Gaprindashvili,
giorgi dekanozishvili — mamulishvilis dabruneba[Giorgi Dekanozishvili – the patriots return] (Tbilisi: