Who Were the Mensheviks and Bolsheviks

7/25/2019 Who Were the Mensheviks and Bolsheviks

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Who were the Mensheviks and Bolsheviks?

The Menshevik and Bolsheviks were factions within the Russian Social-Democratic WorkersParty. They aimed to rin! revolution to Russia y followin! the ideas of socialist theoretician

"arl Mar#. $ne% the Bolsheviks% successfully sei&ed 'ower in the Russian Revolution of ()(*.

Origins of the Split

+n (,),% Russian Mar#ists had or!anised the Russian Social-Democratic aour Party this wasille!al in Russia itself% as where all 'olitical 'arties.

/ con!ress was or!anised% ut had only nine socialist attendees at most% and these were 0uickly

arrested. +n ()12% the Party held a second con!ress to deate events and actions with 3ust overfifty 'eo'le. 4ere enin ar!ued for a 'arty com'osed only of 'rofessional revolutionaries% to

!ive the movement a core of e#'erts rather than a mass of amateurs he was o''osed y a faction

led y . Martov% which wanted a model of mass memershi' like other% western 5uro'eansocial-democratic 'arties.

The result was a division etween the two cam's. enin and his su''orters !ained a ma3ority on

the central committee and% even thou!h it was only a tem'orary ma3ority and his faction wasfirmly in the minority% they took for themselves the name Bolshevik% meanin! 6Those of theMa3ority.

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Their o''onents% the faction led y Martov% thus ecame known as Mensheviks% 6those of the

Minority% des'ite ein! the overall lar!er faction. This s'lit was not initially seen as either a

'rolem or a 'ermanent division% althou!h it 'u&&led !rass roots socialists in Russia. /lmostfrom the start the s'lit was over ein! for or a!ainst enin% and the 'olitics formed around this.
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Divisions Expand

The Mensheviks ar!ued a!ainst enins centrali&ed% dictatorial 'arty model.

enin and the Bolsheviks ar!ued for socialism y revolution% while the Mensheviks ar!ued for

the 'ursuit of democratic !oals. enin wanted socialism to e 'ut in immediate 'lace with onlyone revolution% ut the Mensheviks were willin! < indeed% they elieved it necessary < to work

with middle class ;our!eois!rou's to create a lieral and ca'italist re!ime in Russia as a firstste' to a later socialist revolution. Both were involved in the ()1= revolution and the St.

Petersur! Soviet% and the Mensheviks tried to work in the resultin! Russian Duma. The

Bolsheviks only 3oined later Dumas when enin had a chan!e of heart they also raised fundsthrou!h overtly criminal acts.

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5uro'ean 4istory

enin Russia

The Democratic Party

Russia Timeline

Political Party

The s'lit in the 'arty was made 'ermanent in ()(> y enin% who formed his own Bolshevik

'arty. This was 'articularly small and alienated many former Bolsheviks% ut re!rew in'o'ularity amon! ever more radicali&ed workers who saw the Mensheviks as too safe. The

workers movements e#'erienced a renaissance in ()(> after the massacre of five hundred

miners at a 'rotest on the ena River% and thousands of strikes involvin! millions of workersfollowed. 4owever% when the Bolsheviks o''osed World War (%and Russian efforts in it% they

were made 'ariahs in the socialist movement.

The Revolution of 11!

Both Bolsheviks and Mensheviks were active in Russia in the lead u' to% and events of% the

7eruary Revolution of ()(*. /t first the Bolsheviks su''orted the Provisional ?overnment and

considered mer!in! with the Mensheviks% ut then enin arrived ack from e#ile and stam'edhis views firmly on the 'arty. +ndeed% while the Bolsheviks were riven y factions% it was enin

who always won and !ave direction. The Mensheviks divided over what to do% and the

Bolsheviks < with one clear leader in enin - found themselves !rowin! in 'o'ularity% aided y

enins 'ositions on 'eace% read and land. They also !ained su''orters ecause they remainedradical% anti-war and se'arate from the rulin! coalition which was seen to fail.
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Bolshevik memershi' !rew from a cou'le of tens of thousands at the time of the first revolution

to over a 0uarter of a million y $ctoer. They !ained ma3orities on key Soviets% and were in a

'osition to sei&e 'ower in $ctoer. +t was these Bolsheviks who would form the new Russian!overnment and transform into the 'arty which ruled until the end of the @old War% althou!h it

went throu!h several name chan!es and shed most of the ori!inal key revolutionaries. The

Mensheviks tried to or!anise an o''osition 'arty% ut they were crushed in the early ()>1s.

Related "rti#les

Why the Mensheviks and Bolsheviks fell out.

Timeline of the Russian Revolutions: ()(* - Part >

/ Timeline of the Russian Revolution9s Ma3or 5vents

+ntroduction to the Russian Revolution of ()(*

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Who Were the Mensheviks and Bolsheviks