 Complete the following phrase:  Born in the province of Guria then part of Kutais Governorate, Imperial Russia, he engaged in local peasant movement and was a member of the Georgian Social Democratic Menshevik Party. He played a prominent role in the 1903-06 Gurian Republic, the first social-democratic self-governing territory within the Russian Empire. After the Russian Revolution of 1917, Georgia became an independent democratic republic in 1918 and Khomeriki was elected to the Constituent Assembly of Georgia. He then assumed the position of Minister for Agriculture in the Georgian government. During his tenure, Khomeriki authored a successful land reform January 1919, which redistributed the land as private property, retaining only forests, rivers and some pastureland as state property. The 