Becoming A Revolutionary
In 1902, Kamo joined a secret Social Democratic organization in Tiflis. He was given the tasks of distributing leaflets, organizing meetings, gathering outlawed publications, and moving illegal printing presses. After the Batumi uprising, Kamo was imprisoned along with Stalin.
In February 1903, the organization asked Kamo along with other revolutionaries to hand out leaflets at a local theatre. Though Kamo's colleagues did not show up to hand out leaflets, Kamo proceeded to the theater by himself and hurled 500 leaflets out of the balcony of the darkened theater before the curtain went up. He then left the theatre before the police arrived. Kamo then watched from across the street as the police proceeded to search everyone exiting the theatre and arrest suspects. Because of his daring during this episode, the revolutionary organization entrusted Kamo with more dangerous tasks.
In December 1903, a gendarme stopped Kamo, searched his bag, and found outlawed revolutionary literature. Kamo was arrested and imprisoned. For his first four months in prison, Kamo was put in solitary confinement, and then moved to the general prison population. After being moved, Kamo caught malaria and as part of his therapy, was allowed to walk in the prison yard during the morning. One day while walking through the prison yard, he noticed that his guard was not looking and scaled the nearby prison wall. After escaping from the prison, Kamo quickly hailed a passing carriage and was able to meet up with fellow revolutionaries. Kamo described this experience later:
I shall never forget the sensation of freedom which I experienced after scaling that wall. The sun shone, the waves sparkled, I had freedom at last. I wanted to run. Never did I experience such joy.
During the 1905 revolution he never wrote anything. Instead he trained new revolutionaries. He claimed the best places to hide from the Okhrana were brothels. He had affairs with his landlady, a Jewish nurse and other women just to get money to survive. He became friends with the Georgian Bolshevik Ordzhonikidze, begging him to "become my assistant." In late 1905 he fatally shot an Armenian three times for stealing money he was meant to guard.
After the 1905 Russian Revolution, the Russian government demanded that all radical groups disarm. The Russian Social Democratic Labour Party ("RSDLP") were split between more moderate Mensheviks who favored disarming, and the hard line Bolsheviks, who kept their weapons. State security forces then moved to confiscate Bolshevik arms and suppress the group. Kamo led the defense of the Bolshevik stronghold in Tiflis against the police and army, commanded by General Fyodor Griiazonov. On January 18/31 1906, state forces crushed the rebels in the Tiflis workers' district. Kamo was almost killed in the firefight, and was captured. He was tortured by the Cossacks who nearly cut off his nose, but he said nothing. Stalin said: "He could bear any pain, an astonishing person." Kamo soon escaped from prison a second time by "exchanging identity papers with an ignorant peasant." After his escape, Kamo went to the bomb factory of Leonid Krasin, a fellow Bolshevik revolutionary. On July 15/28 he was present at Stalin's wedding reception.
Read more about this topic: Kamo (Bolshevik)