Leaders of the Menshevik Party at Norra Bantorget in Stockholm, Sweden, May 1917. Pavel Axelrod, Julius Martov and Alexander Martinov

The Mensheviks (Russian: Меньшевики IPA: [mʲɪnʲʂɨˈvʲikʲɪ]) 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 in August of 1903, 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 with broad representation. A majority of delegates agreed with Martov and formed the Mensheviks, while Lenin's faction became known as the Bolsheviks. Lenin, through a series of political maneuvers, lock-outs and the eventual storming out of the Congress by the Jewish Bund managed to secure an artificial majority within the Congress in favor of his position. The majority of the Central Committee and other central Party organs elected at the Congress supported Lenin's position, and hence Menshevik is derived from the Russian word меньшинство (menshinstvo, "minority") while Bolshevik is derived from большинство (bolshinstvo, "majority"). Image File history File links Mensevikii. ... Image File history File links Mensevikii. ... The LO-building at Norra Bantorget Norra Bantorget (The Northern Railway Square) is an area in central Stockholm. ...   (IPA: ; UN/LOCODE: SE STO) is the capital of Sweden, and consequently the site of its Government and Parliament as well as the residence of the Swedish head of state, King Carl XVI Gustaf. ... Pavel Borissovich Axelrod (1850-1928). ... Julius Martov or L. Martov (Ма́ртов, real name Yuli Osipovich Zederbaum (Russian Ю́лий О́сипович Цедерба́ум)) (November 24, 1873 – April 4, 1923) was born in Constantinople in 1873. ... Alexander Martinov (1865 - 1935) was a Right-wing Menshevik before 1917 and for a few years after the revolution an opponent of the Soviet government. ... For information on how to read IPA transcriptions of English words see here. ... The storming of the Bastille, 14 July 1789 during the French Revolution. ... 1903 (MCMIII) was a common year starting on Thursday (link will display calendar) of the Gregorian calendar or a common year starting on Friday of the 13-day slower Julian calendar. ... Lenin redirects here. ... Julius Martov or L. Martov (Ма́ртов, real name Yuli Osipovich Zederbaum (Russian Ю́лий О́сипович Цедерба́ум)) (November 24, 1873 – April 4, 1923) was born in Constantinople in 1873. ... Social Pyramid. Reads top to bottom - We rule you; We fool you; We shoot you; We eat for you; and finally; We work for all - We feed all The Russian Social-Democratic Labour Party, or RSDLP (Росси́йская Социа́л-Демократи́ческая Рабо́чая Па́ртия = РС-ДРП), also known as the Russian Social-Democratic Workers Party and the Russian Social-Democratic... The 2nd Congress of the RSDLP (Russian Social Democratic Labor Party) was held during July 30 - August 23 (July 17 - August 10, O.S.), 1903, starting in Brussels, Belgium (until August 6) and ending in London, because Belgian police forced the delegates to leave the country. ... Bolshevik Party Meeting. ... A Bundist demonstration, 1917 The General Jewish Labour Union of Lithuania, Poland and Russia, in Yiddish the Algemeyner Yidisher Arbeter Bund in Lite, Poyln un Rusland (אלגמײנער ײדישער ארבײטרסבו&#1504... Central Committee most commonly refers to the central executive unit of a communist party, whether ruling or non-ruling. ...

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. The Russian Revolution of 1905 was an empire-wide struggle of both anti-government and undirected violence. ... Bourgeois at the end of the thirteenth century. ... Imperial Russia is the term used to cover the period of history from the expansion of Russia under Peter the Great, through the expansion of the Russian Empire from the Baltic Sea to the Pacific Ocean, to the deposal of Nicholas II of Russia, the last tsar, at the start... Categories: 1911 Britannica | Historical stubs | Feudalism ... The dictatorship of the proletariat is a term employed by Karl Marx in his 1875 Critique of the Gotha Program that refers to a transition period between capitalist and communist society in which the state can be nothing but the revolutionary dictatorship of the proletariat. The term refers to a... Bourgeois at the end of the thirteenth century. ...

After the split

1903–17

Many Mensheviks left the party after the defeat of 1905 and joined more legal opposition organisations. After a while, Lenin's patience wore out with their compromising and in 1908 he called Mensheviks "liquidationists". This eventually led to the Bolsheviks declaring their faction to be the party in 1912 with the aid of a handful of Mensheviks. The Menshevik faction proper further split in 1914 at the beginning of World War I. Most Mensheviks opposed the war, but a vocal right-wing minority supported it in terms of "national defense". Combatants Allied Powers: Russian Empire France British Empire Italy United States Central Powers: Austria-Hungary German Empire Ottoman Empire Bulgaria Commanders Nicholas II Aleksei Brusilov Georges Clemenceau Joseph Joffre Ferdinand Foch Robert Nivelle Herbert Henry Asquith Sir Douglas Haig Sir John Jellicoe Victor Emmanuel III Luigi Cadorna Armando Diaz Woodrow...

1917 Revolution

After the overthrow of the Romanov dynasty by the February Revolution in 1917, the Menshevik leadership led by Irakli Tsereteli demanded that the government pursue a "fair peace without annexations", but in the meantime supported the war effort under the slogan of "defense of the revolution". Along with the other major Russian socialist party, the Socialist Revolutionaries, the Mensheviks led the emerging network of Soviets, notably the Petrograd Soviet in the capital, throughout most of 1917. The House of Romanov (Рома́нов, pronounced Ro-MAH-nof), the second and last royal dynasty of Russia, which ruled Muscovy and the Russian Empire for five generations from 1613 to 1762. ... The February Revolution (N.S.: March Revolution) of 1917 in Russia was the first stage of the Russian Revolution of 1917. ... Irakli Tsereteli (also spelled Irakly Tsereteli) (Georgian: ირაკლი წერეთელი) commonly known as Kaki Tsereteli (1881–1959) was a Georgian politician, one of the leaders of the Russian Social-Democratic Labour Party and the Georgian Mensheviks. ... Annexation (Latin ad, to, and nexus, joining) is the legal incorporation of some territory into another geo-political entity (either adjacent or non-contiguous). ... Socialist-Revolutionary election poster, 1917. ... Soviet redirects here. ... An assembly of the Petrograd Soviet, 1917 The Petrograd Soviet, or the Petrograd Soviet of Workers and Soldiers Deputies, was the council set up in Petrograd (Saint Petersburg, Russia) in March 1917 as the representative body of the citys workers. ...

With the collapse of the monarchy, many social democrats viewed previous tactical differences between the Mensheviks and the Bolsheviks as a thing of the past and a number of local party organizations were merged. When Bolshevik leaders Lev Kamenev, Joseph Stalin and Matvei Muranov returned to Petrograd from Siberian exile in early March 1917 and assumed the leadership of the Bolshevik party, they began exploring the idea of a complete re-unification of Bolsheviks and Mensheviks at the national level, which Menshevik leaders were willing to consider. However, Lenin and his deputy Grigory Zinoviev returned to Russia from their Swiss exile on April 3, 1917 and re-asserted control of the Bolshevik party by late April 1917, taking it in a more radical, anti-war direction. They called for an immediate socialist revolution, which made any re-unification impossible. Lev Borisovich Kamenev   (Russian: Лев Борисович Каменев, born Rosenfeld, Розенфельд) (July 18 [O.S. July 6] 1883 – August 25, 1936) was a Bolshevik revolutionary and a prominent Soviet politician. ... The examples and perspective in this article or section may not represent a worldwide view. ... Matvei Konstantinovich Muranov (29 November 1873 — 9 December 1959) was a Ukrainian-born Bolshevik revolutionary and a Soviet politician. ... Siberian Federal District (darker red) and the broadest definition of Siberia (red) arctic northeast Siberia Udachnaya pipe Siberia (Russian: , Sibir; Tatar: ) is a vast region of Russia constituting almost all of Northern Asia and comprising a large part of the Euro-Asian Steppe. ... Grigory Zinoviev Grigory Yevseevich Zinoviev (Григо́рий Евс́еевич Зин́овьев, alternative transliteration Grigorii Ovseyevish Zinoviev, real name Ovsei-Gershon Aronovich Radomyslsky (Радомысльский), also known as Hirsch Apfelbaum, primary revolutionary pseudonym Grigory, privately Grisha), (September 23 [O.S. September 11] 1883 - August 25, 1936) was a Bolshevik revolutionary and a Soviet Communist politician. ...

In March–April 1917 the Menshevik leadership conditionally supported the newly formed liberal Russian Provisional Government. After the collapse of the first Provisional Government on May 2, 1917 over the issue of annexations, Tsereteli convinced the Mensheviks to strengthen the government for the sake of "saving the revolution" and enter a socialist-liberal coalition with Socialist Revolutionaries and liberal Constitutional Democrats, which they did on May 4, 1917 (Old Style). With Martov's return from European exile in early May, the Left wing of the party challenged the party's majority led by Tsereteli at the first post-revolurionary party conference on May 9, but the Right wing prevailed 44–11. From that point on, the Mensheviks had at least one representative in the Provisional Government until it was overthrown by the Bolsheviks during the [October Revolution] of 1917. State emblem of the Russian Provisional Government The Russian Provisional Government was formed in Petrograd after the deterioration of the Russian Empire and the tsars abdication. ... Constitutional Democrats or Cadets were a bourgeois liberal party in Tsarist Russia that was eventually banned by the Bolsheviks after the October Revolution. ...

With the Mensheviks and the Bolsheviks clearly diverging, Russian Mensheviks and non-factional social democrats returning from European and American exile in spring-summer of 1917 were forced to take sides. Some re-joined the Mensheviks. Some, like Alexandra Kollontai, joined the Bolsheviks directly. A significant number, including Leon Trotsky and Adolf Joffe, joined the non-factional Petrograd-based anti-war group called Mezhraiontsy, which merged with the Bolsheviks in August 1917. A small but influential group of social democrats associated with Maxim Gorky's newspaper Novaya Zhizn (New Life) refused to join either party. Alexandra Mikhailovna Kollontai (Алекса́ндра Миха́йловна Коллонта́й — born Domontovich, Домонто́вич) (March 31 [O.S. March 19] 1872 - March 9, 1952) was a Russian Communist revolutionary, first as a member of the Mensheviks, then from 1914 on as a Bolshevik. ... Note: This page is very long. ... Adolf Abramovich Joffe (Адольф Абрамович Йоффе) (October 10, 1883 – November 16, 1927) was a Russian revolutionary and an associate of Leon Trotsky. ... Mezhraiontsy or Mezhraoinka (Russian: межрайонцы), usually translated as the interdistrictites (from the Russian mezh-, i. ... Aleksei Maksimovich Peshkov (In Russian Алексей Максимович Пешков) (March 28 [O.S. March 16] 1868–June 18, 1936), better known as Maxim Gorky (Максим Горький), was a Soviet/Russian author, a founder of the socialist realism literary method and a political activist. ... Novaya Zhizn (Russian: , New Life) was the first legal newspaper of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party. ...

Georgian Mensheviks

Noe Zhordania, menshevik leader and Prime Minister of Georgia

The Democratic Republic of Georgia was a stronghold of the Mensheviks. In parliamentary elections held on February 14, 1919 they won 81.5% of the votes. The Menshevik leader Noe Zhordania became Prime minister. Image File history File links Noe_Zhordania. ... Image File history File links Noe_Zhordania. ... Noe Zhordania Noe Zhordania (January 2, 1868 – January 11, 1953) was a Georgian journalist and politician. ... Anthem: Dideba Zetsit Kurtheuls (Praise Be To The Heavenly Bestower of Blessings) Map of the Democratic Republic of Georgia from November 1918 to May 1920. ... The term stronghold may refer to: stronghold, a defensive structure an area of strength generically, such as a safe seat Stronghold (1993 game), a computer game by Stormfront Studios Stronghold (2001 game), a computer game (and sequels) by Firefly Studios Stronghold (software), a commercial version of Apache Web Server Stronghold... February 14 is the 45th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1919 (MCMXIX) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar). ... Noe Zhordania Noe Zhordania (January 2, 1868 – January 11, 1953) was a Georgian journalist and politician. ... A prime minister is the most senior minister of a cabinet in the executive branch of government in a parliamentary system. ...

Prominent members of Georgian Menshevik Party were Noe Ramishvili, Evgeni Gegechkori, Meliton Kartsivadze, Akaki Chkhenkeli, Nikolay Chkheidze and Alexandre Lomtatidze. After the occupation of GDR by the Bolsheviks in 1921, many Georgian Mensheviks along with their leader Noe Zordania fled to France. In Leuville-sur-Orge they acquired a small castle where the set up of Government in exile was commenced. In 1930 Noe Ramishvili, one of the leaders of Georgian Mensheviks, was assassinated by a Bolshevik spy in Paris. Menshevik Flag of Georgia, created by Iakob Nikoladze The Social Democratic Party of Georgia was a leading political party in pre-Soviet Georgia. ... Noe Ramishvili Noe Ramishvili (Georgian: ; his name is also transliterated as Noah or Noi) (1881 - December 7, 1930) was a Georgian politician and one of the leaders of the Menshevik wing of a Russian Social Democratic movement. ... Evgeni Gegechkori (Evgeny Petrovich Gegechkori in Russian manner) (1881_1954) was a prominent Georgian politician and Menshevik leader. ... Akaki Chkhenkeli (Georgian: ) (1874-1959) was a Georgian Marxist politician and publicist who acted as one of the leaders of the Menshevik movement in Russia and Georgia. ... Nikolay (Karlo) Chkheidze (1864-1926) was a Georgian revolutionary and politician, one of the founders and leaders of the Social-Democratic (Menshevik) Party of Georgia. ... Year 1921 (MCMXXI) was a common year starting on Saturday (see link for full calendar). ... Leuville-sur-Orge is a small town 25 km south of Paris, France. ... Noe Zhordania remained the head of the government in its French exile. ... Year 1930 (MCMXXX) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link is to a full 1930 calendar). ... Noe Ramishvili Noe Ramishvili (Georgian: ; his name is also transliterated as Noah or Noi) (1881 - December 7, 1930) was a Georgian politician and one of the leaders of the Menshevik wing of a Russian Social Democratic movement. ... City flag City coat of arms Motto: Fluctuat nec mergitur (Latin: Tossed by the waves, she does not sink) Paris Eiffel tower as seen from the esplanade du Trocadéro. ...

After the 1917 Revolution

This split in the party crippled the Mensheviks' popularity, and they received less than 3% of the vote during the Russian Constituent Assembly election in November 1917 compared to the Bolsheviks' 25% and the Socialist Revolutionaries' 57%. The right wing of the Menshevik party supported right-wing actions against the Bolsheviks, while the left wing, the majority of the Mensheviks at that point, supported the Left in the ensuing Russian Civil War. However, Martov's leftist Menshevik faction refused to break with the right wing of the party with the result that their press was sometimes banned and only intermittently available. The Russian Constituent Assembly (Всероссийское Учредительное Собрание, Vserossiyskoye Uchreditelnoye Sobranie) was a democratically elected constitutional body convened in Russia after the overthrow of Tsar Nicholas II. It met for 13 hours, 4 p. ... Combatants Red Army (Bolsheviks) White Army (Monarchists, SRs, Anti-Communists) Green Army (Peasants and Nationalists) Black Army (Anarchists) Commanders Leon Trotsky Mikhail Tukhachevsky Semyon Budyonny Lavr Kornilov, Alexander Kolchak, Anton Denikin, Pyotr Wrangel Alexander Antonov, Nikifor Grigoriev Nestor Makhno Strength 5,427,273 (peak) +1,000,000 Casualties 939,755...

Menshevism was finally made illegal after the Kronstadt Uprising of 1921. A number of prominent Mensheviks emigrated thereafter. Martov who was suffering from ill health at this time went to Germany, where he died in 1923. However, before his death he established the paper Socialist Messenger. The Socialist Messenger would move along with the Menshevik centre from Berlin to Paris in 1933 and then in 1939 to New York City where it was to be published up until the early 1970s. Red Army troops attack Kronstadt The Kronstadt rebellion was an unsuccessful uprising of Soviet sailors against the government of the early Russian SFSR. It proved to be the last major rebellion against Bolshevik rule. ... Nickname: Big Apple, Gotham, NYC, City That Never Sleeps, The Concrete Jungle, The City So Nice They Named It Twice Location in the state of New York Coordinates: Country United States State New York Boroughs The Bronx Brooklyn Manhattan Queens Staten Island Settled 1676  - Mayor Michael Bloomberg (R) Area    - City...

See also

• Bolshevik
• History of the Soviet Union

Bolshevik Party Meeting. ... The History of the Soviet Union begins with the Russian Revolution of 1917. ...

Further reading

• Haimson, Leopold H: The Mensheviks : From the Revolution of 1917 to the Second World War
• Haimson, Leopold H: The Making of Three Russian Revolutionaries: Voices from the Menshevik Past
• Liebich, André: From the other shore: Russian social democracy after 1921. Cambridge, Mass., London 1997
• Moorehead, Alan: The Russian Revolution. Harper & Brother, New York, New York 1958.