Gegechkori, in a major foreign-policy address, monopolised proceedings of the second session. He accused the Sovnarkom of negotiating a settlement that would transform Russia into a colony of German imperialism. It was thus the sacred obligation of all disciples of democracy to shield the Transcaucasian region of Russia from that doom. 114 On February 28 the "fractions" of Seim presented their programs. Speaking for Dashnaktsoutiun, Hovhannes Kachaznouni began, "The dream of generations – the All-Russian Constituent Assembly, became a reality for one day." While mourning the assassination of that promising child, Transcaucasia had nonetheless to prove its stamina by facing and solving the imposing, ponderous problems. As a healthy limb, Transcaucasia would invigorate the "One All-Russian Democratic Federative Republic." The frail white-haired orator then offered his party's principles and legislative plans:
- conclusion of warfare on the bases proclaimed by the Great Russian Democracy – a non-annexationist peace and the right to self-determination, meaning autonomy for Western Armenia;
- formation of Transcaucasia's government along purely socialist lines, for only such a regime could satisfy the workers, resolve the economic crisis, and restore communications throughout every province;
- abolition of private land ownership, followed by immediate free distribution of the fields on the principle of equal opportunity to benefit from the blessings of the soil;
- implementation of the party's minimal economic program – an eight-hour workday, government supervision of labour, and protection of the toilers;
- nationalisation of the larger financial, industrial, and commercial establishments essential to the state for socialist production;
- creation of just provincial boundaries within a federated Transcaucasia;
- determination to strive and collaborate with all other democratic elements in the Seim to attain these goals. 115
The second point was especially significant, for its adoption would have excluded the powerful non-socialist Musavat fraction from the administration.
The pronounced Russian orientation mirrored in Kachaznouni's declaration contrasted sharply with the statement read by Musavatist Hasan Bek Aghaev. The most powerful Moslem organisation of Transcaucasia maintained that the Seim had the jurisdiction of a constituent assembly and that, because the region had been severed from Russia, it must determine its own destiny without dependence upon the areas north of the Caucasus Mountains. Agreeing to the principle of a democratic peace without annexation or indemnities, the Musavat spokesman added, with obvious reference to Western Armenia, "We should not mix in the internal affairs of our neighbouring governments." Further, only coalition government based on proportional representation was acceptable. Aghaev passed silently over the question of provincial reorganisation. 116
Then Noi Zhordania, the personification of Menshevism, rose to the podium. He decried the Sovnarkom's shameful acceptance of the February 21 German ultimatum, which enslaved Russia politically and economically and slashed the bonds between Transcaucasia and the Russian heartlands. The benches of Dashnaktsoutiun scowled when the heard the eloquent orator exclaim, "And our Seim must now shoulder the primary task of transforming with its own strength that young land, Transcaucasia, into a legally organised Transcaucasian Republic." Such words smacked too much of separatism for the Armenian palate. Peace would be negotiated with Turkey, continued Zhordania, but it would not be an ignominious settlement such as that sanctioned by the Sovnarkom. "We will not sign such a peace; we believe it is better to die in our trenches with honour than to be scandalised and subjected to the curses of generations." 117 Prudently, the Menshevik spokesman avoided the issue of the government's composition. He wished to offend neither the Soviet Regional Centre and Dashnaktsoutiun on the one hand nor the Moslem fractions on the other. In principle Zhordania agreed with Kachaznouni that the repartition of Transcaucasia should follow ethnic lines but noted that, except for the Georgian provinces, large national-territorial divisions were impossible. Because of the extensive racial interspersion in southern and eastern Transcaucasia, a checkerboard of small national cantons was required.
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