Bolshevik

A Bolshevik ("??????????", derived from a Russian word loosely translated as "majority") was a member of a faction of Bolsheviks of the Russian Social Democratic Labor Party (RSDLP), a Marxist political party. Bolsheviks led by Vladimir Lenin seized power in Russia in 1917, a world-historical event known as the October Revolution.

Origins

At the 2nd Congress of the RSDLP, held in Belgium in 1903, Lenin put forward his ideas on the question of organizing the party on a democratic centralist model as a small party of "professional revolutionaries" who actively worked to overthrow the Tsarist government. (Lenin's arguments are expressed in the essay One Step Forward, Two Steps Back.) His opponents, notably Julius Martov, favored a more open membership policy, where anyone in agreement with the party's goals could join, even if they did not actively work for revolution. Lenin lost, by a vote of 28 to 23, and the party split over the issue. The faction supporting Lenin became the Bolsheviks, and those who preferred Martov's model became the Mensheviks. Lenin's faction took the name Bolshevik (derived from the Russian word bol'she (??????) meaning "more" or "bigger") despite losing the vote and actually being the numerically smaller faction. It can be explained from the fact that they had won a vote at the congress on the composition of the Iskra editorial board. Though the term Bolshevik originated due to a procedural vote, it acquired an additional connotation as Lenin's faction "wanted more", i.e. were more radical than Mensheviks, who "wanted less". This was the way the terms were generally understood abroad. In English, for instance, the press for a number of years translated "Bolsheviks" as "Maximalists" and "Mensheviks" as "Minimalists".

Related Topics:
2nd Congress of the RSDLP - Belgium - 1903 - Democratic centralist - One Step Forward, Two Steps Back - Julius Martov - Iskra

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The two factions of the RSDLP attempted to reunify in 1907, and maintained the fiction that they were one party for several more years. The factions permanently broke off relations after the Bolsheviks failed in an attempt to take over the RSDLP in 1912. As a result, they ceased to be a faction in the RSDLP and instead declared themselves an independent party though they retained the name RSDLP (Bolshevik).

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The Bolsheviks believed in organizing the party in a strongly centralized hierarchy that sought to overthrow the Tsar and achieve power. Although the Bolsheviks were not completely monolithic, they were characterized by a rigid adherence to the leadership of the central committee, based on the notion of democratic centralism. The Mensheviks favored open party membership and espoused cooperation with the other socialist and some non-socialist groups in Russia. Bolsheviks generally refused to co-operate with liberal or radical parties (which they labeled "bourgeois") or even eventually other socialist organizations, although Lenin sometimes made tactical alliances.

Related Topics:
Central committee - Democratic centralism - Bourgeois - Socialist

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Leon Trotsky was initially a Menshevik in 1903 but soon became an independent and was not a member of either faction until 1917. In that year he lined up behind Lenin and became a Bolshevik after the February Revolution, as he came to believe that events were confirming Lenin's analysis.

Related Topics:
Leon Trotsky - February Revolution

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The Bolsheviks played a minor role in the 1905 revolution, and were a minority in the St. Petersburg Soviet of Workers' Deputies led by Trotsky. The less significant Moscow soviet, however, was dominated by the Bolsheviks. These soviets became the model for the soviets that were formed in 1917.

Related Topics:
1905 - St. Petersburg Soviet of Workers' Deputies - Soviet

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During the First World War, the Bolsheviks took an internationalist stance that emphasized solidarity between the workers of Russia, Germany, and the rest of the world, and broke with the Second International when its leading parties ended up supporting their own nations in the conflict.

Related Topics:
First World War - Second International

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