Mariam Vardanian

Mariam Vardanian (center, seated), founding members of the Huntschak party (c. 1887)

Mariam Vardanian , also known as Maro Nazarbek (born 1864 in Tbilisi , Georgia ; died in 1941 there ) was an Armenian political activist and revolutionary in the Russian Empire . In 1887 she was one of the founding members of the Armenian Social Democratic Huntschak party .

Live and act

Mariam Vardanian grew up in Tbilisi. After her high school education, she completed a so-called higher course for women in St. Petersburg between 1881 and 1885 . Since she had already organized herself into left groups at a young age, she left Russia and lived in Paris for the time being. She later moved to Geneva , where she studied at the University of Geneva .

In August 1887, she and seven Russian-Armenian Marxist students founded the first revolutionary party, known as the Social Democratic Huntschak Party, in Geneva . Her name was derived from the Huntschak magazine and figuratively meant fanfare . This Armenian party operated particularly in the Ottoman Empire as well as in Persia. The aim of the political activists was to achieve complete independence of Armenia from the Ottoman Empire.

In 1887 Vardanian became a member of the editorial board of Huntschak magazine and a member of the Central Committee of the Huntschak party. Because of different political views, the party split into two political camps in 1896. From then on, Vardanian led the left, socialist wing together with Avetis Nazarbekian, her temporary husband. In the years 1901–1904 she met several times with Vladimir Ilich Lenin in Paris, about which she later wrote in memoirs that were never published.

From 1904 Vardanian was involved in revolutionary activities in the Russian Empire. In 1910 she was arrested by the tsarist authorities and exiled to Siberia . After the February Revolution of 1917 she was able to return to Tbilisi and made her work available to the newly established Soviet power. In 1925 she was accepted into the Communist Party of the Soviet Union in Tbilisi .

Mariam Vardanian was married to her party colleague Avetis Nazarbekian. The couple had two children. The marriage ended in divorce before 1927.

Individual evidence

↑ Rouben Paul Adalian: Historical Dictionary of Armenia. Scarecrow Press, 2010, ISBN 978-0-8108-7450-3 ( google.de ).
↑ Gönül Pultar, Louis Mazzari, Belma Ötüş Baskett: The Turkish-American Conundrum: Immigrants and Expatriates between Politics and Culture. Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2019, ISBN 978-1-5275-3146-8 ( google.de ).
^ Mariam Vardanian | International Communist Current. Retrieved September 9, 2019 .
^ Maro Nazarbek. genozid.ru, accessed September 5, 2019 (Russian).
^ Louise Nalbandian: The Armenian revolutionary movement: the development of Armenian polit. Parties through the 19th century . University of California Press, 1967 ( google.de ).

personal data
SURNAME	Vardanian, Mariam
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Nazarbek, Maro
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	Armenian political activist and revolutionary, co-founder of a party
DATE OF BIRTH	1864
PLACE OF BIRTH	Tbilisi
DATE OF DEATH	1941
Place of death	Tbilisi

[1] Rouben Paul Adalian: Historical Dictionary of Armenia. Scarecrow Press, 2010, ISBN 978-0-8108-7450-3 ( google.de ).

[2] Gönül Pultar, Louis Mazzari, Belma Ötüş Baskett: The Turkish-American Conundrum: Immigrants and Expatriates between Politics and Culture. Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2019, ISBN 978-1-5275-3146-8 ( google.de ).

[3] Mariam Vardanian | International Communist Current. Retrieved September 9, 2019 .

[4] Maro Nazarbek. genozid.ru, accessed September 5, 2019 (Russian).

[5] Louise Nalbandian: The Armenian revolutionary movement: the development of Armenian polit. Parties through the 19th century . University of California Press, 1967 ( google.de ).