Tsintsadze joined the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party in 1904, and sided with its Bolshevik faction.
During the Russian Revolution of 1905, he was closely associated with the famous revolutionary fighter Simon Petrosian, better known as Kamo and served as head of the Bolshevik armed detachments that engaged in expropriation and robbery organised in the Manganese mine of Chiatura.
As a result, Tsintsadze was denounced as a "national deviationist" and removed from his posts later that year, being replaced by E. A. Kvantaliani, who was more compliant with the centralizers' policy.
[7] Having joined the Left Opposition in 1923, and supported Leon Trotsky in the power struggle that followed Lenin's death, Tsintsadze was expelled from the Communist Party in 1927 and arrested in 1928 and exiled to Bakhchysarai, in Crimea.
[8] Despite his failing health, Tsintsadze resisted every suggestion that he disown the left opposition, denouncing those who did, such as Ivan Smirnov as "worthless revolutionaries".