Menshevik - Citizendia

A Menshevik (Minority) (Russian: Меньшевик, Russian pronunciation: [mʲɪnʲʂɨˈvʲik]) was a member of 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 Second Congress of that party, ostensibly over minor issues of party organization. Russian ( transliteration:,) is the most geographically widespread language of Eurasia, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages Russia (Россия Rossiya) or the Russian Federation ( Rossiyskaya Federatsiya) is a transcontinental Country extending A revolutionary when used as a noun is a person who either actively engages in some kind of Revolution, or advocates the revolution with recognition from some government or Julius Martov or L Martov ( Ма́ртов, real name Yuli Osipovich Zederbaum ( Russian Ю́лий О́сипович Цедерба́ум The Russian Social-Democratic Labour Party, or RSDLP ( Росси́йская Социа́л-Демократи́ческая Рабо́чая The 2nd Congress of the RSDLP ( Russian Social Democratic Labor Party) was held during July 30 – August 23 ( July 17 – August 10, Martov's supporters, who were eventually left in the minority at congress, came to be called "Mensheviks", derived from the Russian word меньшинство (men'shinstvo, "minority"), whereas Lenin's adherents were known as "Bolsheviks", from bol'shinstvo ("majority"). The Bolsheviks, originally also Bolshevists ( Большевик Большевист (singular, derived from bolshe, "more" were a faction The split proved to be 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. See also Russian Revolution (1917 The 1905 Russian Revolution also known as the Failed Russian Revolution of 1905 was an empire-wide struggle of Democracy is a form of government in which the supreme power is held completely by the people under a free electoral system While both factions believed that a bourgeois democratic revolution was necessary, the Mensheviks generally tended to be more moderate and were more positive towards the "mainstream" liberal opposition. In Politics and Religion, a moderate is an individual who holds an intermediate position between two viewpoints neither to be extreme or radical by those applying The Bolsheviks, on the other hand, preferred collaboration with other radicals and with the peasantry. A peasant is an agricultural worker who subsists by working a small plot of ground

After several attempts at reunification and new splits, with many figures changing sides between the two groups, the struggle between them reached a new peak in the months before and after the October Revolution, as the Mensheviks were aligned with the Provisional Government, while the Bolsheviks were seeking to topple it. The October Revolution (Октябрьская революция Oktyabrskaya revolyutsiya) also known as the Soviet Revolution The Russian Provisional Government was formed in Petrograd in 1917 after the February Revolution and the Abdication After the Revolution, with the Bolsheviks in power, the Mensheviks were left in an ambiguous position and were divided between supporting the White and the Red side in the Civil War. A civil war is a War between a State and domestic political actors that are in control of some part of the territory claimed by the state The party was eventually outlawed by the Soviets in 1921; some of its former members (including most leaders) emigrated and others joined the Russian Communist Party (Bolsheviks), as it had been called since 1918.

1 The split
2 After the split
- 2.1 1903–17
- 2.2 1917 Revolution
3 Georgian Mensheviks
4 After the 1917 Revolution
5 See also
6 Further reading

The split

At the 2nd Congress of the RSDLP in August 1903, Lenin and Martov disagreed, first about which persons should be in the editorial committee of the party newspaper Iskra, and then about the definition of a "party member" in the future party statute. The 2nd Congress of the RSDLP ( Russian Social Democratic Labor Party) was held during July 30 – August 23 ( July 17 – August 10, Iskra (Russian Искра means Spark, was a political Newspaper of Russian Socialist emigrants established as the official While the difference in the definitions was very small, with Lenin's being slightly more exclusive (Lenin's formulation required the party member to be a member of one of the party's organizations, whereas Martov's only stated that he should work under the guidance of a party organization), it was indicative of what became an essential difference between the philosophies of the two emerging factions: Lenin argued for a small party of professional revolutionaries with a large fringe of non-party sympathizers and supporters, whereas Martov believed it was better to have a large party of activists with broad representation. Martov's proposal was accepted by the majority of the delegates. After several delegates, including representatives of the Jewish Bund, stormed out of the Congress in protest for unrelated reasons, Lenin's supporters won a slight majority, which was reflected in the composition of the Central Committee and the other central Party organs elected at the Congress. Central Committee most commonly refers to the central executive unit of a Leninist (commonly also Trotskyist) or Communist party, whether ruling or That was also the reason for the above-mentioned names of the factions. Despite the outcome of the congress, the following years saw the Mensheviks gathering considerable support among regular Social Democrats and effectively building up a parallel party organization. Social democracy is a Political ideology of the left and centre-left

After the split

1903–17

In 1906, at the 4th Congress of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party, a reunification was formally achieved. The Fourth (Unity Congress of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party that took place in Stockholm, Sweden, from April 10-25 (April 23 to May 8 1906 In contrast to the Second Congress, the Mensheviks were in the majority from start to finish; yet, Martov's definition of a party member, which had prevailed at the First Congress, was replaced by Lenin's. On the other hand, numerous disagreements regarding alliances and strategy emerged. The two factions kept their separate structures and continued to glide apart.

Just as before, 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 Russian Empire ( Pre-reform Russian: Pоссійская Имперія Modern Russian: Российская Империя translit: Rossiyskaya Both believed that the working class had to contribute to this revolution. Working class is a term used in academic Sociology and in ordinary conversation to describe depending on context and speaker those employed in specific fields or types However, after 1905, the Mensheviks were more inclined towards collaboration with liberal bourgeois parties such as the Constitutional Democrats, because these would be the "natural" leaders of a bourgeois revolution; in contrast, the Bolsheviks didn't believe that the Constitutional Democrats were capable of sufficiently radical struggle and tended to advocate alliances with peasant representatives and other radical socialist parties such as the Socialist Revolutionaries. The Constitutional Democratic Party ( Constitutional Democrats, formally Party of Popular Freedom, informally Kadets) was a liberal Political Socialism refers to a broad set of economic theories of social organization advocating state or collective ownership and administration of the Means of production and distribution The Socialist-Revolutionary Party (the PSR the SRs, or Esers; Партия социалистов-революционеров (ПСР эсеры was a Russian In the event of a revolution, this was meant to lead to a dictatorship of the proletariat and the peasantry, which would carry the bourgeois revolution to the end. The " dictatorship of the proletariat " or workers' state is a term employed by Marxists that refers to what they see as a temporary state between the Later, the Mensheviks came to use predominantly legal methods and trade union work, while the Bolsheviks had a more favourable stance towards armed insurrection.

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 these Mensheviks "liquidationists". Eventually, the Bolsheviks declared their faction to be the party in 1912 with the aid of a handful of Mensheviks; thus, the split was official again. The Menshevik faction split further in 1914 at the beginning of World War I. World War I (abbreviated WWI; also known as the First World War, the Great War, and the War to End All Most Mensheviks opposed the war, but a vocal right-wing minority supported it in terms of "national defense". In Politics, right-wing, the political right, and the Right are positions that uphold traditional values and/or authorities

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". The House of Romanov (Рома́нов rʌˈmanəf was the second and last imperial Dynasty of Russia, which ruled the country from 1613 to 1917 The February Revolution (Февральская революция in 1917 in Russia was the first stage of the Russian Revolution of 1917. Irakli (Kaki Tsereteli (ირაკლი წერეთელი Ира́клий Гео́ргиевич Церете́ли ( 20 November 1881 &ndash 20 May Annexation ( Latin ad, to and nexus, joining is the legal incorporation of some territory into another geo-political entity (either adjacent or non-contiguous Along with the other major Russian socialist party, the Socialist Revolutionaries (эсеры), the Mensheviks led the emerging network of Soviets, notably the Petrograd Soviet in the capital, throughout most of 1917. The Socialist-Revolutionary Party (the PSR the SRs, or Esers; Партия социалистов-революционеров (ПСР эсеры was a Russian A soviet (сове́т, "council" originally was a workers' local council in late Imperial Russia. The Petrograd Soviet of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies, usually called the Petrograd Soviet, was the soviet (workers' council in Petrograd (Saint

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. A monarchy is a Form of government in which supreme power is actually or nominally lodged in an individual who is the Head of state, often for life or 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. ( Russian: Лев Борисович Каменев born Rosenfeld, Розенфельд ( – August 25, 1936) was a Bolshevik Joseph Stalin ( ნამდვილი გვარი ჯუღაშვილი|Iosif Vissarionovich Dzhugashvili; March 5 1953 was General Secretary of the Communist Party Matvei Konstantinovich Muranov ( 29 November 1873 — 9 December 1959) was a Ukrainian -born Bolshevik revolutionary and Siberia (Сиби́рь Sibir) is the name given to the vast region constituting almost all of Northern Asia and for the most part currently serving 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. Gregory Yevseevich Zinoviev (Григо́рий Евс́еевич Зин́овьев alternative transliteration Grigorii Ovseyevish Zinoviev born Ovsei-Gershon Aronovich Switzerland (English pronunciation; Schweiz Swiss German: Schwyz or Schwiiz Suisse Svizzera Svizra officially the Swiss Confederation They called for an immediate revolution and the transfer of all power to the Soviets, which made any re-unification impossible. A soviet (сове́т, "council" originally was a workers' local council in late Imperial Russia.

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

Leaders of the Menshevik Party at Norra Bantorget in Stockholm, Sweden, May 1917. Norra Bantorget ( The Northern Railway Square) is an area in central Stockholm. ('stɔkhɔlm is Sweden 's Capital and its largest City. It is the site of the national Swedish government, the parliament, and the "Sverige" redirects here For other uses see Sweden (disambiguation and Sverige (disambiguation. Pavel Axelrod, Julius Martov and Alexander Martinov

In March–April 1917 the Menshevik leadership conditionally supported the newly formed liberal Russian Provisional Government. Pavel Borisovich Axelrod (Павел Борисович Аксельрод ( August 25 1850 &ndash April 16 1928) was a Russian Julius Martov or L Martov ( Ма́ртов, real name Yuli Osipovich Zederbaum ( Russian Ю́лий О́сипович Цедерба́ум Alexander Martinov (1865 &ndash 1935 was a Menshevik before the Russian revolutions of 1917 and for a few years after the revolution an opponent of the Soviet government The Russian Provisional Government was formed in Petrograd in 1917 after the February Revolution and the Abdication 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-revolutionary 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. The October Revolution (Октябрьская революция Oktyabrskaya revolyutsiya) also known as the Soviet 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. Alexandra Mikhailovna Kollontai (Алекса́ндра Миха́йловна Коллонта́й &mdash born Domontovich, Домонто́вич ( - March 9, 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. Leon Trotsky ( Russian:, Lev Davidovich Trotsky, also transliterated Leo, Lyev, Trotskii, Trotski, Trotskij Adolph Abramovich Joffe ( Russian: Адольф Абрамович Иоффе alternative transliterations Adolf Ioffe or rarely Yoffe) (October 10 1883 Saint Petersburg ( tr: Sankt-Peterburg,) is a city and a federal subject of Russia located on the Neva River Mezhraiontsy or Mezhraionka ( Russian: межрайонцы) usually translated as the interdistrictites (from the Russian "mezh-" A small but influential group of social democrats associated with Maxim Gorky's newspaper Novaya Zhizn (New Life) refused to join either party. Aleksey Maksimovich Peshkov ( In Алексе́й Макси́мович Пешко́в ( &ndash June 18, 1936) better known as Maxim Gorky (Максим Novaya Zhizn (Новая Жизнь 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. Noe Zhordania (ნოე ჟორდანია also transliterated as Jordania) ( January 2, 1868 – January 11, 1953) was a The Democratic Republic of Georgia ( DRG; Georgian: საქართველოს დემოკრატიული რესპუბლიკა Sakartvelos In parliamentary elections held on February 14, 1919 they won 81. A parliamentary system, also known as parliamentarianism (and parliamentarism in American English) is a System of government in which Events 842 - Charles the Bald and Louis the German swear the Oaths of Strasbourg in the French and German Year 1919 ( MCMXIX) was a Common year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common 5 percent of the votes. The Menshevik leader Noe Zhordania became Prime minister. Noe Zhordania (ნოე ჟორდანია also transliterated as Jordania) ( January 2, 1868 – January 11, 1953) was a This article is about the government position For other uses see Prime Minister (disambiguation.

Prominent members of Georgian Menshevik Party were Noe Ramishvili, Evgeni Gegechkori, Akaki Chkhenkeli, Nikolay Chkheidze and Alexandre Lomtatidze. The Social Democratic Party of Georgia was a leading political party in pre- Soviet Georgia Noe Ramishvili (ნოე რამიშვილი his name is also transliterated as Noah or Noi) ( 1881 - December 7, 1930) was Evgeni Gegechkori (ევგენი გეგეჭკორი (1881-1954 was a Georgian politician and Social Democratic revolutionary Akaki Chkhenkeli (აკაკი ჩხენკელი (1874-1959 was a Georgian Marxist politician and publicist who acted as one of the leaders of the Nikoloz Chkheidze ( Georgian: ნიკოლოზ ჩხეიძე transliterated Russian: Nikolay Semyonovich Chkheidze, commonly known After the occupation of GDR by the Bolsheviks in 1921, many Georgian Mensheviks led by Zhordania fled to Leuville-sur-Orge, France where they set up, in a small castle, the Government of the Democratic Republic of Georgia in Exile. Leuville-sur-Orge is a small French town 25km south of Paris, France. This article is about the country For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic France topics. The Government of the Democratic Republic of Georgia (DRG continued to function as the Government in exile (National Government of Georgia NGG after the Soviet In 1930 Ramishvili was assassinated by a Soviet spy in Paris. Paris (ˈpærɨs in English; in French) is the Capital of France and the country's largest city

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 percent and the Socialist Revolutionaries' 57 percent. The All Russian Constituent Assembly (Всероссийское Учредительное Собрание Vserossiiskoe Uchreditelnoe Sobranie was a democratically elected constitutional 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. The Russian Civil War (1917–1923 was a multi-party war that occurred within the former Russian Empire after the Russian provisional government collapsed 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.

Menshevism was finally made illegal after the Kronstadt Uprising of 1921. This article is about the historical event known as the Kronstadt rebellion 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. Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany ( ˈbʊndəsʁepuˌbliːk ˈdɔʏtʃlant is a Country in Central Europe. 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. Berlin is the capital city and one of sixteen states of Germany. Paris (ˈpærɨs in English; in French) is the Capital of France and the country's largest city The City of New York

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