He was involved in the Marxist movement in Georgia (then part of the Russian Empire) at the beginning of the 20th century. After the split within the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party, to which he was a member, Jugheli sided with the Bolsheviks, but later defected to the Menshevik faction and became an influential member. After the Russian Revolution of 1917, he organized the Red Guard detachment which was later renamed into the People's Guard of Georgia. On November 29, 1917, he successfully commanded a raid on the Tiflis military arsenal guarded by the pro-Bolshevik Russian soldiers led by Stepan Shahumyan, the ethnic Armenian Bolshevik. In May 1918, he was reluctant to support the proclamation of Georgia's independence, but still retained his post. As a commander of the People's Guard, he was commonly assigned to retain an internal order in the country. During his tenure, he gained a reputation of a ruthless suppressor of agrarian disturbances in various regions of Georgia.
