It was a scary person. The authorities were even afraid of him when they were able to put him in shackles and put him in a prison cell.
Sometimes the craving for knowledge opens a way for people to scientific discoveries, and sometimes it leads him to the scaffold. It all depends on the rules that prevail in society. The glory of a noble robber may seem enviable, but the ending for such persons is always tragic.
Childhood
In the Caucasus, the birth of a son is a great happiness. In 1876, the priest of the village of Tkhviavi, Zakhary Ketskhoveli, became a father. The newborn was called Vladimir. Relatives called the baby in the Georgian manner of Lado. The family was big - the wife gave six children to Zakharia, which did not pass without a trace for her. In 1883, a mother with many children died, and all worries about the heirs fell on the widower's shoulders.
Landscape near the village of Thiavi in the Gori district of Georgia
Lado watched his parent's character deteriorate. So that children do not starve, he increased fees from the parishioners of his church. When one of the poor could not pay the tax, Zakhariy called for help from the soldiers and they defeated the house of the disobedient. The boy expressed his indignation in the face of his father, he was offended and told him to pack up. It was unprofitable to feed the child, and the holy husband no longer wanted to endure the shrew.
Youth
Independent life in a teenager began very early. He was sent to the Gori Theological College. The teachers did not like him at once - he asked too many tricky questions and stated that the ministers of the church were not always fair. The news that the older brother of Vladimir Niko contacted the Narodniks added fuel to the fire. These guys did not do anything criminal, but they loved to read forbidden literature and often slipped it to the peasants.
Lado rarely saw his brother, but the stories about the fact that he has some terrible books worried the imagination of the boy. He was able to get something from what was called forbidden. The creativity of the authors, whom the editors of the school ranked as the servants of Satan, turned out to be interesting, and the discussion there was not about black masses, but about the need to fight for their rights.
Dangerous dating
Volodya began to conduct educational work among his comrades. He organized a literary circle where the children read and discussed books, including those not rejected by censorship of imperial Russia. Meetings were attended by both peers Lado, and students in junior and senior classes. Among them was Joseph Dzhugashvili, who later became famous under the party pseudonym Stalin.
So that everyone could practice their own political journalism, Ketskhoveli began to publish the Gantiadi magazine. The title of the publication translates as "Dawn." This handwritten collection of sedition fell into the hands of one of the teachers, and the authors were promised great problems with their future careers. Only the intervention of his father saved the freethinker from expulsion and in 1891 allowed him to continue his education at the Tiflis Theological Seminary.
Insurrection
Seminary practices were brutal. Some teachers allowed themselves Nazi statements, humiliating poor students. Here our hero could not continue the activities of an underground literary circle, which could only criticize tyrants exposed by power. The young man gathered like-minded people and invited them to arrange a strike. In December 1893, seminarians raged for several days, demanding the exclusion of sadistic and Nazi teachers from the staff.
The riot resulted in the exclusion of 23 students. Among them was the organizer of the uprising - Lado Ketskhoveli. He returned to Thiavi to his parental home. Zachary loved his son and urged him to think about the future. He insisted that a convinced atheist continue his studies and receive dignity. It was impossible to do this in Georgia - the young rowdy became too famous, I had to send Lado to Kiev.
Lado Ketskhoveli. Engraving
Underground
Each mountaineer respects the elders, but he also has his own pride. The young man formally fulfilled all the orders of his daddy - in 1894 he arrived in Kiev, entered the theological seminary, but instead of studying religious texts, he began to seek contacts with revolutionaries. In the city there was a cell of social democrats. Soon Lado joined the ranks of this illegal organization. In 1897, searches began at apartments of underground members, and our hero was forced to flee.
The arrest of the propagandist. Ilya Repin
It was a shame to return home, because Ketskhoveli found refuge with his like-minded people in Tiflis. There he met an old friend of Dzhugashvili. Young people fought against the tsarist regime. Lado's contribution was the organization of the printing house that issued the leaflets. The necessity of constantly hiding put an end to his personal life, therefore, when it was necessary to transfer someone to Baku, they chose a bachelor Ketskhoveli.
