Mensheviks

The Mensheviks (Russian: ??????????) were a faction of the Russian revolutionary movement that emerged in 1903 after a dispute between Vladimir Lenin and Julius Martov, both members of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party. At the 2nd Congress of the RSDLP, Lenin argued for a small party of professional revolutionaries with a large fringe of non-party sympathizers and supporters. Martov disagreed, believing it was better to have a large party of activists. A majority of party members, including Fedor Dan, agreed with Martov and formed the Mensheviks, while Lenin's faction became known as the Bolsheviks. Although a majority of rank and file party members agreed with Martov, they formed a minority among the party leadership, and hence Menshevik is a Russian word meaning "minority" while Bolshevik means majority. They were often also called "The Whites", as opposed to "The Reds".

Related Topics:
Russia - Revolution - 1903 - Vladimir Lenin - Julius Martov - Russian Social Democratic Labour Party - 2nd Congress of the RSDLP - Fedor Dan - Bolsheviks

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The Mensheviks swung to the left in the 1905 Revolution and were particularly active in the Soviets and the emerging trade union movement. This had the result that they reunited with the

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Bolshevik faction and the RSDLP was able to function as a single grouping for some years.

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The split between the two factions was long standing, and had to do both with pragmatic issues based in history such as the failed revolution of 1905, and theoretical issues of class leadership, class alliances, and bourgeois democracy. Both factions believed that Russia was not developed to a point at which socialism was possible and believed that the revolution for which they fought to overthrow the Tsarist regime would be a bourgeois democratic revolution. The Bolsheviks felt that the working class should lead the revolution in an alliance with the peasantry with the aim of establishing the democratic dictatorship of the proletariat and the peasantry, where the Party acts as extreme revolutionary opposition. On the other hand, the Menshevik vision was one of a bourgeois democratic revolution in which they could take part in government.

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