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

The Mensheviks (Russian: Меньшевики) 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 with broad representation. A majority of delegates agreed with Martov and formed the Mensheviks, while Lenin's faction became known as the Bolsheviks. 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 men'shinstvo ("minority") while Bolshevik is derived from bol'shinstvo ("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. ... The Old town in Stockholm from the air (help· info) is the capital of Sweden, located on the east coast at the entrance of lake Mälaren. ... Pavel Borissovich Axelrod (1850-1928). ... Julius Martov Julius Martov or L. Martov (Ма́ртов, real name Yuli Osipovich Zederbaum (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. ... It has been suggested that Revolutionary be merged into this article or section. ... 1903 (MCMIII) was a common year starting on Thursday (see link for calendar). ... (help· info) (Владимир Ильич Ленин) IPA: born Ulyanov (April 22 [O.S. April 10] 1870 – January 21, 1924), was a Communist revolutionary of Russia, the leader of the Bolshevik party, the first Premier of the Soviet Union, and the main theorist of Leninism, which he described as an adaptation of Marxism to the... Julius Martov Julius Martov or L. Martov (Ма́ртов, real name Yuli Osipovich Zederbaum (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... Bolshevik Party Meeting. ... 16th Central Committee meeting of the Communist Party of China 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 spasm 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...

After the split

1903-1917

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 Allies: • Serbia, • Russia, • France, • Romania, • Belgium, • British Empire and Dominions, • United States, • Italy, • ...and others Central Powers: • Germany, • Austria-Hungary, • Ottoman Empire, • Bulgaria Casualties Military dead: 5 million Civilian dead: 3 million Total: 8 million Full list Military dead: 3 million Civilian dead: 3 million Total: 6 million Full...

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 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. ... This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ... Socialist-Revolutionary election poster, 1917 The Socialist-Revolutionary Party (the PSR, the SRs, or Esers; Партия социалистов-революционеров (ПСР), эсеры in Russian) was a Russian political party active in the early 20th century. ... 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 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. ... (help· info) (Russian, in full: Иосиф Виссарионович Сталин (Iosif Vissarionovich Stalin), né: Иосиф Виссарионович Джугашвили (Joseph Vissarionovich Dzhugashvili), Georgian: იოსებ ჯუღაშვილი (Ioseb Jughashvili); (December 18 [O.S. December 6 (although the date on his death certificate is December 21, 1879)] 1878) – March 5, 1953) was the leader of the Soviet Union from mid-1920s to his death in... Matvei Konstantinovich Muranov (29 November 1873 — 9 December 1959) was a Ukrainian-born Bolshevik revolutionary and a Soviet politician. ... Siberia is also an album by Echo & The Bunnymen. ... Grigory Zinoviev Grigory Yevseevich Zinoviev (Григо́рий Евсе́евич Зино́вьев, alternative transliteration Grigorii Ovseyevish Zinoviev, real name Ovsel Gershon Aronov Radomyslsky (Радомысльский), also known as Hirsch Apfelbaum, primary revolutionary pseudonym Grigory, privately Grisha), (September 23 [September 11, Old Style], 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. ... The October Revolution, also known as the Bolshevik Revolution, was the second phase of the Russian Revolution of 1917, the first having been instigated by the events around the February 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. ... (help· info) (Russian: Лев Давидович Троцкий; also transliterated Leo, Lev, Trotskii, Trotski, Trotskij and Trotzky) (November 7 [O.S. October 26] 1879 – August 21, 1940), born Lev Davidovich Bronstein (Лев Давидович Бронштейн), was a Bolshevik revolutionary and Marxist theorist. ... Adolf Abramovich Joffe (Адольф Абрамович Йоффе) (October 10, 1883 – November 16, 1927) was a Russian revolutionary and an associate of Leon Trotsky. ... A very small Russian Social Democratic Labour Party group which was neither Bolshevik or Menshevik. ... Gorkys autographed portrait Aleksei Maksimovich Peshkov (In Russian Алексей Максимович Пешков) (March 28; March 16 Old Style, 1868–June 14, 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. ...

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 pm - 5 am, January 5-6, 1918 (all dates in the article are Old Style aka Julian Calendar until February 1918... The Russian Civil War was fought from 1918 to 1922. ...

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 reportedly with funds supplied by his old comrade Lenin^{[citation needed]}. 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: The Big Apple Official website: City of New York Government Counties (Boroughs) Bronx (The Bronx) New York (Manhattan) Queens (Queens) Kings (Brooklyn) Richmond (Staten Island) Mayor Michael Bloomberg (R) Geographical characteristics Area Total 468. ...

See also

• History of the Soviet Union