Who are the Bolsheviks and Mensheviks? Who are the Bolsheviks and what did they stand for

In the understanding of the layman, Soviet power is traditionally associated with the Bolsheviks. But along with them, the Mensheviks also played a significant role in the political development of Russia. What are the features of both ideological trends?

Who are the Bolsheviks?

The Bolsheviks and Mensheviks are representatives of one political group, the Russian Social Democratic Labor Party, or the RSDLP. Consider how they both stood out from a single association. Let's start with the Bolsheviks.

In 1903, the 2nd Congress of the RSDLP was held, which took place in Brussels and London. It was during this period that there were disagreements between party members that caused the formation of two ideological trends - the Bolsheviks and the Mensheviks, which finally took shape by 1912.

The main issue of the 2nd Congress of the RSDLP was the coordination of the program, as well as the charter of the political association. The main provisions of the RSDLP program were based on the proposals of well-known ideologists of the social-democratic direction - Lenin and Plekhanov. The approval of this document, as noted by many historians, as a whole took place without special difficulties, which cannot be said about the RSDLP charter - the procedure for its discussion resulted in a fierce discussion.

One of the most difficult points of the document was the approval of the definition of membership in the RSDLP.

In Lenin's version, a party member should be understood as any person who recognized the RSDLP program and supported it both financially and through personal participation in the party organization. Another ideologist of the social democratic direction, Martov, was given a different definition. Martov proposed to understand as a party member any person accepting the RSDLP program, supporting it financially, and also providing it with assistance on a regular basis under the leadership of one of the organizations.

It may seem that the discrepancy between the formulations of Lenin and Martov is very small. But in the version of Lenin, the role of a party member is characterized by a slightly more revolutionary character, suggesting that he will have a high level of organization and discipline. The party, represented in such a structure, could not become too large, since in principle there are not so many public activists among the population who are ready to take the initiative, to be in the rank of leaders, and not led, to directly participate in revolutionary activities.

In turn, in the RSDLP, on the model of Martov, the participation of more moderate activists was allowed, ready to act under the leadership of a party organization and represented by significantly wider segments of the population, who at least sympathize with the RSDLP, but are not necessarily ready to take a direct part in revolutionary activities.

After intense discussions, party ideologists voted in favor of Martov’s concept, according to which the definition of a party member was fixed in the Charter of the RSDLP. The remaining provisions of the Charter were adopted without disagreement. However, the confrontation between the supporters of Lenin and Martov during the meetings of the 2nd Congress of the RSDLP continued.

The RSDLP published the Iskra newspaper, established by Lenin back in 1900. Membership in the Iskra editorial board was an essential party privilege. At the congress of the RSDLP, it was proposed to include Plekhanov, Lenin and Martov in the Iskra editorial board, and two not the most influential figures in the Central Committee of the RSDLP. As a result, the Iskra editorial board would have the opportunity to exert a tremendous influence on the party.

The appointment of the Iskra editorial board of 3 people was supported by a majority vote - 25 for, 2 against and 17 abstentions. But immediately at the stage of approving the candidacies of Plekhanov, Lenin and Martov as members of the editorial board of the newspaper, Martov resigned from his post at Iskra. Some representatives of the RSDLP refused to elect to the Central Committee, which as a result was formed from revolutionary-minded members of the Iskra. Plekhanov became the head of the council of the RSDLP.

The ideologists of the RSDLP, who occupied key positions in the Central Committee of the party and became followers of Lenin's concepts, became known as the Bolsheviks. Their opponents, who were supporters of Martov, were Mensheviks.

What was the further development of the ideology of Bolshevism?

By 1912, the RSDLP was finally divided into Bolsheviks and Mensheviks, the paths of ideologists of both directions diverged. The Bolshevik Party became known as the RSDLP (b).

Before the February Revolution of 1917, the Bolsheviks were engaged in both legal and illegal forms of social and political activity. They established the newspaper Pravda. The Bolsheviks received several seats in the State Duma of the Russian Empire.

After the outbreak of World War I, repressions began against the Bolsheviks - their faction in the State Duma was disbanded. The illegal structures of the RSDLP (b) were closed.

But after the February Revolution, the Bolsheviks got a chance to return to the political arena. In March 1917, Pravda began to print again.

In the first months after the overthrow of the tsarist regime, the role of the Bolsheviks was not yet noticeable. Russian activists of the RSDLP (b) had little contact with the leaders of the movement who were abroad, in particular, Lenin.

The main ideologist of the Bolsheviks arrived in Russia in April 1917. In the fall of 1917, a civil war broke out in the country, which lasted until 1922. During it, the Bolsheviks managed to remove other organizations from the political arena. RSDLP (b) became the only legitimate source of power in the state. Subsequently, it was renamed the RCP (b), then - to the CPSU (b), and in 1952 - to the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.

Facts about the Mensheviks

The Mensheviks almost immediately after the 2nd Congress of the RSDLP began to carry out activities independent of the Bolsheviks - in particular, they did not take part in the next, 3rd Congress of the RSDLP, which was held in London in 1905.

The Mensheviks, like their opponents, who were supporters of Lenin's ideas, were engaged in political activities, were able to get several seats in the Russian State Duma.

After the February Revolution of 1917, the Mensheviks teamed up with the Socialist Revolutionaries (representatives of the Socialist Revolutionary Party, or the AKP) and, together with them, began to participate in the formation of new organs of state power — the Soviets. The Mensheviks were also in the Provisional Government.

At the beginning of the Civil War in 1917, the Mensheviks entered into a confrontation with the Bolsheviks, but were able to join along with them the All-Russian Central Executive Committee, or the All-Russian Central Executive Committee, the main authority in the country in the first years after the revolution.

In June 1918, the Mensheviks were expelled from the All-Russian Central Executive Committee. However, they preferred to prevent an escalation of the conflict with the authorities, announcing in August 1918 that they had no intention of opposing the power of the Soviets and the Bolsheviks.

Subsequently, the Menshevik party was subjected to repression. In the early 1920s, Martov and other leaders of the movement left the country. The activities of the Mensheviks began to acquire an illegal character. By the mid-1920s, they almost completely disappeared from the political arena.

Comparison

The main difference between the Bolsheviks and the Mensheviks from the point of view of ideology is the degree of revolutionism. The former, who were supporters of Lenin, considered it correct to include mainly those activists in the RSDLP who were not ready in theory, but in practice, to fight for social democratic ideals. Since there are relatively few such people in any society, the RSDLP in Lenin's ideas should not have become too large a structure.

Despite the fact that in the Charter of the RSDLP the definition of membership in the party was approved by Martov, the greatest amount of authority in the Central Committee of the RSDLP was still received by Lenin's supporters. This event gave rise to new leaders of the RSDLP to declare themselves representatives of the majority, that is, the Bolsheviks. In this sense, one more difference can be traced between the two currents of the RSDLP - the amount of authority in the party structure at the end of the 2nd Congress of the RSDLP.

The Mensheviks, who were supporters of Martov, admitted a lesser degree of revolution in the mood of party members. Therefore, the RSDLP, corresponding to this concept, could be a sufficiently large-scale party, formed at the expense of not only ardent activists, but also people who only sympathize with social democratic ideas.

The Bolsheviks managed to play the most important role in the political development of Russia, to form a communist system of state power, and to help spread the ideas of communism in the world. The Mensheviks played an important role in the political development of Russia between the February Revolution and the Civil War, but subsequently could not acquire stable positions in the new system of state power.

Having determined what the difference between the Bolsheviks and Mensheviks is fundamentally traced, we fix the main conclusions in the table.

Table

The Bolsheviks	Mensheviks
What do they have in common?
Until 1903 they were one political organization - the RSDLP
Both were adherents of social democratic ideas.
What is the difference between the two?
They were supporters of the views of Lenin	They were supporters of Martov’s views
We acquired the bulk of the powers in the Central Committee of the RSDLP following the results of the 2nd Congress	The bulk of the powers of Lenin’s supporters in the RSDLP management system following the results of the 2nd Congress
Mostly revolutionary activists and the formation of a small-scale party admitted membership in the RSDLP	Also moderate activists and the formation of a large-scale party organization were admitted to the RSDLP
They were not visible in the political arena in the first months after the February Revolution of 1917, but gained power following the results of the Civil War	They played an important role in the political arena between the February Revolution of 1917 and the outbreak of the Civil War, but lost their influence by the early 1920s

The Russian Social Democrats loudly declared themselves in the mid-90s. XIX century Loud polemic with liberal populism. In December 1900, the first issue of the all-Russian Iskra Social Democratic newspaper went abroad. The RSDLP program adopted at the congress consisted of 2 parts. The minimum program determined the tasks of the party at the stage of bourgeois-democratic revolution. It provided: in the sphere of political transformations, the overthrow of the autocracy and the establishment of a democratic republic; in the working matter -8 hour slave day; in the peasantry, the return to the peasants of cuts and the abolition of redemption payments. The maximum program, which defined the establishment of the dictatorship of the proletariat as the main, ultimate goal of the party, put the RSDLP in a completely special position, turning it into an extreme, extremist organization, not prone to concessions and compromises. The fact that the program was adopted by the congress maximum solemnly marked the victory of Lenin and his supporters. When the central organ — the Iskra newspaper — was elected to the Central Committee and the editors, the supporters of V. I. Lenin received the majority and began to be called “Bolsheviks,” and their opponents “Mensheviks.” Bolsheviks.Bolshevism was a continuation of the radical line in the Russian liberation movement and incorporated elements of the ideology and practice of revolutionaries in the second half of the 19th century. (N.G. Chernyshevsky, P.N. Tkachev, S.G. Nechaev, "Russian Jacobins"); at the same time, he absolutized (following not so much the ideas of K. Marx as K. Kautsky and G.V. Plekhanov) the experience of the Great French Revolution, primarily of the period of the Jacobin dictatorship. The composition of the leadership of the Bolsheviks was not stable: the history of Bolshevism is characterized by constant changes in the immediate environment of Lenin, the only leader and ideologist recognized by all Bolsheviks. At the first stage of the formation of Bolshevism, G.M. Krzhizhanovsky, L.B. Krasin, V.A. Noskov, A.A. Bogdanov, A.V. Lunacharsky and others; almost all of them at different times were declared insufficiently consistent by the Bolsheviks or “conciliators”.

Mensheviks . The most prominent figures of Menshevism were Yu.O. Martov, P. B. Axelrod, F.I. Dan, G.V. Plekhanov, A.N. Potresov, N.N. Zhordania, I.G. Tsereteli, N.S. Chkheidze, however, their tactical and organizational views at various stages of the revolutionary movement often did not coincide. The faction lacked strict organizational unity and single-handed leadership: the Mensheviks constantly split into groups that occupied various political positions and waged an intense struggle between themselves. The most important task of the Social Democrats, the Mensheviks considered the organization of workers on a broad class basis. With the beginning of the Russo-Japanese War of 1904 - 1905 the Menshevik Iskra put forward the slogans of the struggle for the immediate conclusion of peace and the convening of a Constituent Assembly. At the heart of the tactics of the Mensheviks in the period 1905-1907. lay views on the bourgeoisie as the driving force of the revolution, which should lead the liberation movement in the country. In their opinion, the proletariat should not strive for power, since objective conditions for this have not yet developed. According to the Mensheviks, the revolution of 1905-1907. was bourgeois in its socio-economic content. However, unlike the Bolsheviks, the Mensheviks declared that any removal of the bourgeoisie from the revolutionary movement would lead to its weakening. In their view, in the event of the victory of the revolution, the proletariat must support the most radical part of the bourgeoisie. The Mensheviks warned the workers against a possible attempt to seize power, which, they claimed, would be a tragic mistake. The key point of the Menshevik concept of revolution was the opposition of the bourgeoisie to the peasantry. The peasantry, in the opinion of the Mensheviks, although it is capable of “moving” the revolution, will greatly complicate the achievement of victory by its spontaneous rebellion and political unconsciousness. Thus, the Mensheviks put forward the provision of two "parallel revolutions" - urban and rural. The Mensheviks saw the solution of the agrarian question in the municipalization of land: they proposed to legalize private ownership of allotments belonging to peasants when transferring landowner land to the possession of local governments (municipalities). The Mensheviks believed that, firstly, with a similar solution to the peasant question, agrarian reform could be carried out regardless of the outcome of the revolution, resolving the issue of power and, secondly, transferring land to municipalities (zemstvos or newly created territorial authorities) would strengthen them financially, contributed to democratization and increase their role in public life. The Mensheviks believed that the victory of the revolution can be achieved not only as a result of a popular uprising, the possibility of which they allowed, but also as a result of the actions of a representative institution that would take the initiative to convene a nationwide Constituent Assembly. The second path seemed preferable to the Mensheviks.

The Bolsheviks are those who, along with the Mensheviks, were once members of the Social Democratic Party. But in one thousand nine hundred and third year at the Second Congress, which was held in Brussels, Lenin and Martov disagreed on the rules of membership. Which led to the separation of the Bolsheviks, who demanded more active action.

The perspectives of the two main leaders

Vladimir Ilyich advocated small parties of professional revolutionaries. Julius Osipovich did not agree, believing that it was better to have a large group of activists. He based his ideas on experiences that existed in other European countries.

Vladimir Lenin argued that the situation in the Russian state was completely different. There it was impossible to form political parties under the autocratic rule of the emperor. At the end of the discussion, Julius Osipovich still won. But Vladimir Ilyich did not want to admit defeat and organized his own faction, and the Bolsheviks were those who joined her. Those who remained faithful to Martov began to be called Mensheviks.

Each batch needs cash

The Bolsheviks play a very insignificant role in the revolution of one thousand nine hundred and five, because most of their leaders live in exile and mainly abroad. And the Mensheviks are making tremendous successes, both in the councils and in the trade union movements. Already at one thousand nine hundred and seventh Vladimir Ilyich renounced the hope of an armed uprising.

He calls on like-minded people to Russia to participate in the elections to the third State Duma. The Bolsheviks are a party that was supposed to somehow exist, and Vladimir Lenin spent a lot of time searching for fundraising for the further development of his faction. Big donations were from Maxim Gorky and Sava Morozov, the famous Moscow millionaire.

Ways to make money in split fractions

When the parties split, and further separation became apparent, one of the most significant differences between them was how each faction decided to fund its revolution. The Mensheviks settled on collecting membership dues. And the Bolsheviks are those who resorted to more radical methods.

One of the most common ways was bank robbery. A similar attack, which was committed in one thousand nine hundred and seventh year, brings the party of Vladimir Ilyich about two hundred and fifty thousand rubles. And, unfortunately, this was not the only case. The Mensheviks, of course, resented such a way of earning.

What did the revolutionaries get money for

But the Bolsheviks constantly needed money. Vladimir Ilyich was convinced that the revolution can bring maximum results if people who devote their entire lives to the cause participate in it. And to compensate for the time and effort spent, he handed them a good salary for the sacrifice and dedication. This measure was specially taken to guarantee the revolutionaries and focus on their duties, as well as to force them to do their job.

Moreover, Vladimir Lenin constantly used party money for which was distributed in various cities and at rallies to expand activities. Such methods of financing became the obvious difference between the Bolsheviks and the Mensheviks and their beliefs.

Did the Bolsheviks have principles

By the beginning of one thousand nine hundred and ten years, support for the principles of the Bolsheviks was becoming almost non-existent. On Vladimir Ilyich lived in Austria. At a meeting of the Bolsheviks in Bern, he outlined his views on the war. Lenin stigmatized the war itself and all those who supported it, since, in his opinion, they had betrayed the proletariat.

He was shocked by the decision of most socialists in Europe to endorse hostilities. Now Vladimir Ilyich has devoted all the forces of his party to transforming the imperialist war into a civil war. The most exceptional difference between the parties was that the Bolsheviks were those who, with ferocious stubbornness, were pursuing their goals.

And in order to achieve them, Vladimir Ilyich Lenin often even deviated from his political ideas if he saw a guarantee of long-term benefits for his party. And this practice was widely used by him when trying to recruit peasants and illiterate workers. He convincingly promised them that a glorious life would come after the revolution.

The strongest propaganda on German means

And, of course, today many people have the question of whether the Bolsheviks are who? A group of like-minded people who deceived the common people to achieve their own goals? Or, after all, those who worked to create more optimal living conditions for the Russian proletariat?

First of all, it was which was the overthrow of the interim government and the creation of a new one. Moreover, the Bolsheviks really had loud slogans that promised significant changes in living conditions for the common people. Their agitation was so strong that they received public support.

The facts are known that the Bolsheviks are communists sponsored by the Germans, as they knew that Vladimir Ilyich wanted to pull Russia out of the war. And it was this money that helped develop such advertising campaigns that promoted a better life and other benefits for the population.

A few questions arising in connection with the advent of the Bolsheviks

In politics, those areas that embody the ideas of social equality or improve the lives of ordinary people are called leftists. They seek to create a level playing field, independent of national origin or ethnicity. Therefore, answering the question of whether the Bolsheviks are right or left, it is safe to attribute them to this particular direction.

As for the white movement, it was already created during the Civil War, which began in one thousand nine hundred and seventeen, and the Bolshevik party at that time was already formed. And the first task of the whites was the struggle against the Bolshevik ideology. Therefore, if someone has a question about whether the Bolsheviks are red or white, then based on these facts it is easy to find an answer to it.

Metro Bolsheviks, features of architectural design

What distinguishes this station in the first place is the main symbol of the proletariat of rather impressive dimensions - the Hammer and Sickle. It was opened on the thirtieth of October, one thousand nine hundred and eighty-fifth. And the metro called the Bolsheviks, which is located in St. Petersburg, "Prospect Bolsheviks."

The walls of the station are very beautifully decorated with light gray marble. The floor is laid with granite slabs of gray and red. And the arch of the station is illuminated by powerful lamps that create an atmosphere of airiness. The lobby is no less beautifully decorated.

And yet, the Bolsheviks-who is this? How necessary was the creation of this party for the country? First of all, Vladimir Ilyich himself and the faction organized by him (which they began to call the Bolsheviks) are part of the history of the Russian state. Whether they made mistakes or acted for the good of the people and the country, these people should take their place on the pages of textbooks and related literature. And only he who does nothing is not mistaken.

According to the "History of social movements and political parties"

TOPIC: “The historical split of the RSDLP. Bolsheviks and Mensheviks

Prepared by: 1st year student,

Group No. 2

Checked:

Minsk 2004

LESSERISM.

Menshevism occupied a prominent place on the left flank of the Russian liberation movement — the current within Marxism and the Russian labor movement, the RSDLP faction, and then, in the spring of 1917, an independent Social Democratic party.

As already noted, Menshevism was born as a result of the split that occurred first among the delegates of the Second Congress of the RSDLP (June-August 1903), and then in emigrant groups and social democratic organizations in Russia itself. Its forerunners were the appearance of the so-called economists at the turn of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries and disagreements on programmatic and tactical issues within the editorial board of the Marxist newspaper Iskra. Supporters of “economism”, in particular, believed that the primary task of the Russian Marxists was to help the economic struggle of the proletariat and the participation of liberals in the opposition. They proclaimed the slogan "workers for workers", called for fighting not for the sake of future generations, but "for themselves and their children."

However, at the final stage of the 2nd Congress of the RSDLP in London, the delegates of the congress “stumbled” on organizational issues (conditions for party membership; election of a new editorial board of Iskra and the Central Committee of the RSDLP), divided into Lenin’s supporters - Bolsheviks and Martov’s supporters (Julia Osipovich Tsiderbaum ) - Mensheviks. At the same time, at the beginning it seemed that everything that had happened was the result of some tragic misunderstandings and clashes of personal ambitions of the party leaders, that something like this had happened more than once in the 11th International and soon everything would be "formed." However, as the conflict developed, it became obvious that it was based on deep and very serious reasons: different views on the proletarian party and its role in the labor movement, a different approach to the issue of the mechanism of social development and prospects for the implementation of the socialist ideal in Russia, different attitudes towards Marxist teaching. To this must be added numerous tactical differences, which were especially clearly revealed during the revolution. and in the subsequent period.

The natural pluralism of approaches to resolving all issues, multiplied by the differences in the individual, social and national psychology of the participants in the revolutionary movement, as well as the extreme inconsistency and complexity of Russian reality, largely explain the incredible acuteness of the factional struggle within the RSDLP that began in the summer of 1903.

The generators of the internal party struggle were, as a rule, small emigrant colonies of Russian Marxists scattered throughout the cities of Western Europe, with their narrow group interests, petty squabbles and squabbles, which inevitably left their mark on the solution of all fundamental issues. At the same time, at first, the fractional watershed passed through intellectual circles, and then through the working environment, which was drawn into conflict with great internal resistance and tried its best to maintain the unity of the party, which was so necessary for the struggle against the autocracy and the bourgeoisie. The workers often did not understand the essence of the differences that arose or considered them completely secondary, blaming the party intelligentsia for the split.

Both factions (during the split) published "revealing" literature directed against their recent comrades in struggle, sent emissaries to Russia to win the local committees of the RSDLP to their side. At the same time, with the help of Plekhanov, the Mensheviks managed to gain a foothold in the Iskra editorial board, to get two seats in the Party Council, and to achieve representation at the Amsterdam Congress of the 11th International (1904). On their side were many prominent figures in the international socialist movement, including Kautsky and Rosa Luxemburg.

After the 11th Congress of the RSDLP, the issue of party building was brought to the fore. The Mensheviks believed that German Social-Democracy could be taken as an example of a workers' party. The RSDLP, according to Axelrod, is still the proletarian party only in name and program, but not in the composition of its organizations, where the intelligentsia sets the tone. If in the West, Axelrod wrote, the processes of self-development and self-education of the working class prevail, in Russia the influence of workers of the radical intelligentsia, united in the organization of professional revolutionaries, acquires a special role. At the same time, the entire Social Democratic Party is turning into a pyramid built on a strictly hierarchical principle, at the top of which are the party "clerks", and below are disenfranchised ordinary members, a kind of "cogs" and "wheels", which the ubiquitous leader manages at his own discretion center.

An even darker forecast of the uncontrolled management of the party of the Central Committee of the Leninist type was given by Plekhanov, who in November 1903 switched to the Menshevik side. He predicted, in particular, that the Bolshevik Central Committee would plant his creations everywhere and secure for himself at the new congress a completely submissive majority that would shout “Hurray!” Together and approve of any of his plans and actions.

By the way, the Mensheviks themselves were also avid centralists at that time, they did not differ in particular tolerance for the opinion of the Bolsheviks, and clearly did not rush to form party committees on the basis of electivity from below with the participation of workers. The Mensheviks went very slowly towards the model of democratic socialism that was later associated with Menshevism. The situation was like this: when the revolutionary movement was on the rise, the Mensheviks, trying to keep up with the mood of the workers, also began to speak and act “Bolshevik”, and, conversely, during the period of the recession of the revolution, the Bolsheviks, though belatedly, took weapons of political realism and the reasonable care of their rivals.

In addition, the Mensheviks and Bolsheviks had different types of social behavior. The former were characterized, for example, by great caution and caution in actions, a quick change of mood, a lack of strong-willed principles, and moral scrupulousness. The latter were distinguished by the well-known straightforwardness of their views and actions, impatience and assertiveness, great self-confidence, an inclination toward command methods of leadership, and illegibility in the means of achieving the goal. Of course, these differences cannot be absolutized, but the noted psychological traits can be quite clearly traced by the example of ordinary members of both factions of the RSDLP and especially their leaders.

Gradually, the differences between the Mensheviks and the Bolsheviks began to spread to the field of tactics. At the end of 1904, Iskra, on the initiative of Axelrod, the greatest tactic of Menshevism (Plekhanov later also agreed with him), suggested that his supporters in Russia support the Zemstvo and urban liberal-democratic opposition by organizing working demonstrations and speeches by social democratic speakers at banquets. In contrast to the Bolsheviks, who recognized only one way of revolutionaries influencing the liberals - merciless, furious criticism, the Mensheviks sincerely sought to build bridges between the participants in the liberation movement.

Thus, by 1905, Menshevism approached as a fully formed political trend with its own ideological and organizational center (Iskra editorial office), its own newspaper, a special factional discipline, and at least several thousand supporters. In 1905, Lenin was forced to admit that "the Mensheviks have more money, more literature, more transport, more agents, more names, more employees."

It would seem that the matter went to the final formation in Russia of two independent Marxist workers parties. However, under the influence of the upsurge of the revolution and the mood of ordinary social democrats from the working environment, this process began to reverse, as it were: from the summer of 1905. among the Bolsheviks and Mensheviks a strong unification movement began, and a joint congress, scheduled for December, was prevented only by a powerful wave of strikes and armed uprisings, which swept at that time in many regions of the country. Then the united Central Committee of the RSDLP was created. In April 1906, at the fourth congress of the RSDLP, the long-awaited but, as it turned out, largely formal unification of the main part of the Russian Social Democrats, including the Bolsheviks, Mensheviks, the Jewish Bund, the Social Democracy of Poland and Lithuania, as well as the Latvian Social Democracy, took place. But even after this, the Bolsheviks and Mensheviks continued to exist as independent factions, or rather, semi-parties, within the framework of the externally unified RSDLP.

Data on numbers in the underground are purely indicative, since until the spring of 1917. in the RSDLP there were not even party tickets. Nevertheless, taking as a basis the materials of the credentials committee of the Fifth Congress of the RSDLP, we can assume that in the spring of 1907 there were about 45 thousand Mensheviks in Russia, and the main centers of Menshevism were Tiflis (up to 5 thousand), Petersburg (2.8 thousand) , Kiev (2 thousand), Moscow, Kutaisi, Yuzovka (approximately 1.5 thousand each), Baku, Yekaterinoslav, Poltava, Gorlovka (1 thousand each), Rostov-on-Don (0.7 thousand)

The data on the national and social composition of the Menshevik delegates of the Fifth Congress of the RSDLP are also indicative (37% - Russians, 29% - Georgians, 23% - Jews, 6% - Ukrainians, among the Bolsheviks - Russians - 78%, Jews - 11%). Workers among the Mensheviks of the same congress were 32%, and peasant-landowners - 1% (not a single among the Bolsheviks), writers - 19% (14% from the former), people of intelligent "free" professions - 13%, students and commerce -industrial employees - 5% each.

In 1917, after the Social Democracy left the underground, both the Mensheviks and the Bolsheviks quickly became mass parties. The number of Mensheviks then reached 200 thousand people (among the Bolsheviks - 350 thousand).

The Mensheviks were drawn to that part of the literate, socially active and politicized workers who wanted to implement the Marxist revolutionary doctrine, using at the same time a minimum of violence and a maximum of legal opportunities, relying on the consciousness and initiative of the working masses themselves, and not on the actions of a narrow group of professional revolutionaries. Among the Menshevik workers, the so-called “working intelligentsia” prevailed, but among them were middle-class workers, and even a part of low-skilled workers, whom this or that local Menshevik leader was able to entice.

The most favorable period for the growth of reformist sentiments in the working environment was the period that began after the defeat of the revolution of the years, especially the time of the prewar industrial upsurge, when more and more features began to appear in the proletarian movement of Russia that brought it closer to the working movement in the West. Of great interest from this point of view is the data on labor camps for the publication and distribution of the Bolshevik, Menshevik and Socialist Revolutionary party press in 1913, which accounts for the peak in the development of Russian capitalism. Of the 3.1 thousand collective contributions, the Mensheviks account for 21%, compared with 70% for the Bolsheviks and 9% for the Social Revolutionaries. The most popular was the Mensch. The Luch newspaper was held by miners (51% of the fees), followed by metal workers and printers (26% each) and workers at railway depots and workshops (24%), while Mensheviks received only 9% from textile workers.

However, the bulk of the Mensheviks were radical intelligentsia (doctors, journalists, teachers, lawyers, etc.), students, and employees. This situation was the result of the Russian specifics of the process of combining Marxist ideology with the mass labor movement. It was held under the undivided leadership of the Social-Democratic intelligentsia, which, due to the low level of the general and political culture of the workers, immediately seized leading positions in the RSDLP, and the Bolsheviks were not much different from the smaller.

The program, strategy and tactics of the Mensheviks.

According to the program adopted at the Second Congress of the RSDLP in 1903, both factions of the Russian Social Democratic Labor Party set as their goal a revolutionary transition from capitalism to socialism, which would, in their opinion, ensure the well-being and all-round development of all members of society, and destroy its division into classes and eliminate the exploitation of man by man. The path to socialism was to begin with the proletarian revolution and the establishment of the dictatorship of the proletariat - the most organized, connected with large-scale machine production and sharing the basic socialist principles of the class of society, called upon to administer the state through its Marxist party during the entire transition period from capitalism to the new social system. Dictatorship was necessary to suppress the resistance of the exploiting classes leaving the historical arena. The proletarian revolution was conceived as a global phenomenon. Marx, Engels, and after them the theoreticians of the 2nd International believed that it would be held at short intervals in all developed European states.

However, before solving the tasks included in the maximum program of the RSDLP, it was necessary to carry out the minimum program: to achieve the establishment of a democratic republic in Russia and put an end to all the remnants of serfdom. Transfer landowner land to the peasants, eliminate national oppression and give all peoples the right to decide their own fate (the right to self-determination). The Social Democrats promised to improve the situation of workers: an 8-hour working day, state insurance for sickness and old age, the elimination of the system of fines, etc. All Russian citizens had to gain freedom of speech, assembly, and union.

The program developed by the Iskra editorial board was adopted almost unanimously at the second congress of the RSDLP, even before the split. In 1906, at the 4th congress, a revision (initiative of a smaller one) of the agrarian part of the program, it was about transferring landlord, treasury, specific and monastic lands to the disposal of democratically elected local governments without specifying the specific mechanism of peasant land use. In addition, in recent years before the World War, the Mensheviks showed a definite shift towards recognizing the requirements of cultural-national extraterritorial autonomy for national minorities. However, this was not officially included in the RSDLP program.

The strategy and tactics of the Mensheviks were based on the following basic principles:

1. The Marxist Labor Party sets itself only those practical tasks for which objective conditions have ripened, and do not strive, therefore, to prematurely seize power or participate in it, preferring to remain in the role of the extreme left opposition at the democratic stage of the revolution (in May 1917. they departed from this principle, becoming part of the Provisional Government)

2. The socialist revolution in Russia is a matter of a very distant future and can be accelerated only by the victory of the proletariat in the West.

3. the national front of the struggle against autocracy should include the liberal bourgeoisie, whose opposition potentials are far from exhausted

4. The peasantry, with its private-ownership instincts and tsarist illusions, cannot be a reliable long-term ally of the proletariat in the democratic revolution, not to mention the socialist revolution, although it can make a significant contribution to undermining the autocratic system.

5. The working class acts as the main force of the revolution, its initiator and example for other democratic sectors of society.

6. The party’s tactics are built in relation to the political situation in the country and provides for the possibility of using all forms of struggle, including violent ones, although preference is given to legal activity in the Duma, trade unions, cooperation, etc. Expropriation of money for the needs of the revolution and political terrorism morally -ethical considerations are recognized as unacceptable.

Denying any forms of political extremism and adventurism, the Mensheviks tried to act by constructive dialogue with any possible ally from a revolutionary or liberal camp. However, in the Russian political arena the Mensheviks until the spring of 1917. they did not meet with understanding from either the liberals or the neo-Narodniks.

The revolutionary practice of Menshevism in

Revolution raised the activities of the Mensheviks to a qualitatively new level, allowing them to leave the underground and take an active part in the leadership of the mass movement, as well as the councils of workers' deputies, in the activities of the State Duma, many trade unions and other legal organizations. They paid much attention to the leadership of the strike movement, including strikes on economic grounds. As for the village, here the successes of the Mensheviks were not great: neither the forces nor the money were enough for work among the peasantry, and the village world itself remained alien and incomprehensible to the Mensheviks. With the exception of the Ukrainian Spilka, which successfully operated in the countryside and was closely associated with the Mensheviks.

Regarding armed uprisings, the Mensheviks believed that the Social Democrats still could not arm everyone, the uprisings broke out spontaneously, and therefore it was necessary to prepare the masses for them psychologically and politically. Everything else is the work of a small group of people specially allocated by the party who will be engaged in military-technical preparation of the uprising.

Moreover, they did not shy away from specific military combat work. Iskra printed in 1905. materials with practical advice on how to conduct street battles with government troops. In addition, in the days of the Moscow December Uprising 905g. Among the 1.5-2 thousand combatants there were about 250 Mensheviks. In the future, the Mensheviks took the prospect of rebellion rather coolly, although in July 1906 at some point they again succumbed to rebel sentiments, which very soon died out.

The main line of activity of the Mensheviks was ideologically organized work among the proletarian masses. Awaken the consciousness of workers, increase the level of their political culture, stimulate initiative and creative activity.

The struggle of currents within Menshevism in the inter-revolutionary period

M. very hard experienced the victory of the counter-revolution. Their ranks were greatly thinned, organizations disintegrated, many of them were forced to leave for emigration again. Reigned apathy, despondency, disappointment in revolutionary ideals. Under these conditions, in a part of the Mensheviks that was less stable in ideological understanding, there was a desire to permanently break with underground work, to gain a foothold in legal organizations at any cost and wait there until better times. Supporters of this movement were called “liquidators” (Potresov, Axelrod, Levitsky, Cherevanin, Gavri, etc.)

The leaders of the Menshevik faction, Martov and Dan, and the official foreign organ of Menshevism, the newspaper Golos Social-Democrat, did not share the extremes of "liquidationism", they understood that they could not do without an underground organization, but they did not question organizational unity with the liquidators. At the same time, small groups of Mensheviks (under the leadership of Plekhanov), called the Menshevik party members and demanding that the illegal Social-Democratic Party be preserved at all costs, opposed the liquidators. As for Trotsky, he called for the elimination of factionalism and the unity of all currents of the RSDLP. This idea was the basis for the formation of the bloc consisting of several social-democratic organizations - the August bloc.

As a result, Menshevism approached the beginning of the First World War, largely losing its former positions in the labor movement, in particular in the trade unions. His orientation was clearly visible, his desire to imitate the European labor movement and give priority to legal proletarian organizations.

The Mensheviks did not manage to take any active part in the stormy and fleeting February events of 1917. However, the revolution quickly brought them to the forefront of political life: they seized leading positions in the executive committee of the Petrograd Soviet of Workers 'and Soldiers' Deputies, which largely determined the political situation in the country then, and in May 1917 joined the coalition Provisional Government.

In May 1917, the All-Russian Conference of the Menshevik and United Organizations of the RSDLP was held in Petrograd, and in August a unification congress was held at which the creation of the RSDLP (united) was proclaimed, although even after that several separate movements remained in the ranks of the Mensheviks: the right, headed by Potresov, centrist - Tsereteli, and left - Martov.

The Mensheviks did not succumb to the temptation to irresponsibly promise millions of people a socialist paradise on earth, knowing that Russia was clearly not ready for such an experiment.

As a result, M., retaining their doctrinal purity, turned out to be “out of the game” in the historical October days of 1917. War and devastation, the rampant anarchist moods, the decomposition of the army, the decline in the authority of the authorities suppressed and broke them.

Bolsheviks

Bolshevism became a synthesis of the ideas of Marxism and the Russian revolutionary tradition. In his pedigree, it is necessary to include not only the Western Utopian socialists, Marx, Engels, Kautsky, but also the Russian revolutionaries Pestel, Chernyshevsky, Lavrov, Tkachev, Nechaev, members of the People’s Will, the Emancipation of Labor group.

A huge role in the creation of Bolshevism was played by its main ideologist. Back in the 90s of the 19th century, Lenin was actually preparing the ideological platform for the future of Bolshevism and pondering its organizational principles.

Lenin devoted particular attention to the question of the Marxist party as the organizer and leader of the class struggle of the proletariat for a radical reorganization of society. His book “What to Do” (1902, Stuttgart) became widely known.

He highlighted the creation of an organization of professional revolutionaries who mastered the foundations of Marxist theory and skillfully conducted conspiratorial work. Under a tyrannical regime, he wrote, the smaller and more disciplined the organization, the more difficult it is to track it down, the more difficult it is to arrest its members. “Give us an organization of revolutionaries — and we will turn Russia over!” - so, to paraphrase Archimedes, Lenin formulated his answer to the question of what to do.

Severe for Lenin were. Plekhanov departed from the Bolsheviks, with his help the Mensheviks took control of the Iskra editorial board, on the pages of which Plekhanov wrote desperately about Leninist Bonapartism. In addition, Martov published a pamphlet criticizing the direction of Bolshevism towards a "state of siege". So, by 1904, Lenin remained in the minority both in the Central Committee and in the Party Council. In July 1904, the Bolshevik-conciliators and the Mensheviks made a kind of "coup" against Lenin, forbidding him to speak on behalf of the Central Committee. The conflict ended with a resolution of the Central Committee of February 7, 1905 on the exclusion of Lenin from the Central Committee and the Party Council.

At the end of 1904, a Bolshevik center arose - the Bureau of Majority Committees with its newspaper Vperyod. Thus ended the design of the Bolshevik faction of the RSDLP.

The revolution of the years began as a natural explosion, for which the leadership of the RSDLP was unprepared. Against this background, the initiative of the Leninists, stubbornly fighting for the convening of a new party congress, impressed those who longed for decisive, energetic action.

In April 1905, delegates gathered in London for the congress, which Lenin’s supporters called the 111th congress of the RSDLP, and the Mensheviks considered it illegal.

Lenin introduced into the charter his wording of the conditions for membership in the RSDLP. The system of central organs of the Bolshevik faction changed - a single authoritative body was created - the Central Committee (Lenin, Krasin, Bogdanov, Postolovsky, Rykov). A new Bolshevik newspaper, the Proletarian, has been created.

The congress adopted all Leninist theoretical principles. The revolution taking place in Russia is bourgeois in nature, but not the bourgeoisie, but the proletariat, is most interested in its complete success. The congress called for the confiscation of landlords, state, monastic, and specific lands and for the immediate organization of revolutionary peasant committees. A course was outlined for mass political strikes and the arming of workers.

The Bolshevik congress in London and the Menshevik conference in Geneva reflected not only the fact of the split of the RSDLP. The leaders of the factions felt the disastrous confrontation, the rejection of factional policies in the field. Therefore, it was decided to unite. Moreover, the Mensheviks quickly leveled, and the Bolsheviks in the spring of 1905 started a company for the democratization of inner-party life.

At the same congress, the question was raised about the eternal Russian disease, such as bureaucracy (due to the fact that there was not a single worker at the congress, only committee leaders). Party functionaries tended to break away from the masses. They are used to commanding rank-and-file party members, looking down on workers. With this in mind, Lenin demanded more involvement of workers from the machine tool in leading party bodies at all levels, reliance on youth, developing an elective beginning in the party and curbing bureaucratic tendencies. It was partially possible to do this, but the weakening of repressions by the tsarist authorities was short-lived, and the situation in the underground soon nullified all efforts to establish more democratic orders.

During the revolution, the Bolsheviks were on the rise. The revolutionary euphoria that swept the working masses, the maximization of demands, and the awareness of their strength were very consonant with the Bolshevik sentiments, who tried in every possible way to support and inflame the masses of revolutionary impatience, the desire for an armed struggle with the autocracy.

The Bolsheviks most seriously, unlike other organizations, approached the preparation of an armed uprising, exhibiting the largest number of combatants in the days of the December battles in Moscow. In addition, they actively participated in the leadership of the strike movement. They prevailed in the leadership of more than 40 councils of workers' deputies that arose in 1905, including Moscow, and did a lot for the development of a young trade union movement in the country.

In 1905 The federal committees of the RSDLP began to appear, at the end of December 1905 the Bolshevik Central Committee and the Menshevik Organizing Commission merged, the general newspaper Party News began to appear.

However, after the defeat of the December armed uprisings, the situation in the RSDLP began to change in favor of the Mensheviks, and already at the 4th Congress of the RSDLP in Stockholm (1906) it was already clear that there would be no peace in the party. Of the 112 delegates with a casting vote, 62 were Mensheviks. An indicator of the great changes in the RSDLP was the fact that a quarter of the delegates to the congress were represented by workers.

The 4th Congress of the RSDLP opened almost simultaneously with the start of work of the 1st State. Duma, elections to which the Bolsheviks actively boycotted. Only later did Lenin recognize this boycott as a mistake, since he did not take into account the possibility of a retreat of the revolution.

In the 11th Duma of 1907, abandoning the tactics of boycotting, the Bolsheviks received 18 deputy mandates. They considered the Duma not as an organ of constructive legislative work, but only as a platform for the propaganda of their views.

The 5th Congress of the RSDLP ended its meetings a few days before the June 3 coup. The struggle for leadership, for submission, and other similar issues again came to the fore. 300 delegates have been discussing these issues for more than two weeks. A lot of time was spent on checking mandates, working out the agenda, and muttering on private issues. The congress did not support Lenin and condemned the expropriation. Lenin tried not to tie his hands, acting according to the rule: in the name of the victory of the revolution, you can use any means. In addition, the Bolsheviks still retained the slogan of armed insurrection, although the situation in the country precluded the holding of such actions.

The largest centers of Bolshevism: Moscow (6.2), Petersburg (6), Ivanovo-Voznesensk (5), Kostroma (3), Kiev and Yekaterinburg (1.5 each), Vladimir, Yaroslavl, Bryansk (1), Saratov (850) )

The repression that hit the RSDLP after the defeat of the revolution caused the party the hardest damage. The lack of professionals has opened up additional opportunities for penetration into the party of provocateurs and their rapid advancement up.

In an atmosphere of ideological vacillation and organizational disintegration, even the Lanin team could not resist. Bogdanov posed an open challenge to Lenin, accusing him of curtailing the revolutionary banner and transferring to reformist positions. Lenin was accused of excessive enthusiasm for legalization of activities, loss of interest in the squad and propaganda in waxes, as well as personal control over the party box office. A part of the Bolsheviks organized the Forward group, opposition to Lenin. The break with Lenin turned out to be complete and final. However, the group itself soon broke up.

Later in 1910 another group broke away from the Leninists - the Bolshevik party members (Lozovsky, Rykov, Nogin, Dubrovinsky)

In January 1910 - the last attempt to unite all organizations of the RSDLP. As a result, it was decided to stop publishing the factional bodies, create a unified newspaper, Social Democrat, and transfer the money to the Central Committee. However, the implementation of these decisions did not follow, since the participants did not trust each other.

In 1911, a course was taken to revive the disintegrated organizations. They convened a general party conference. In Prague - 1912. Less than 20 delegates arrived. All national organizations, Plekhanov, and the majority of the Menshevik party members refused to participate. Trotsky was not invited to Prague at all. Nevertheless, the meeting confidently declared itself the 6th All-Party Conference of the RSDLP. Lenin almost single-handedly led its meetings. The conference noted the commitment of revolutionary Social Democracy to the basic requirements of the minimum program. Lenin always attached particular importance to the election of leading party organs. This time the Central Committee for the first time in the history of congresses and conferences of the RSDLP was unanimously elected. (Lenin, Zinoviev, Ordzhonikidze, Spandaryan, Malinovsky *, Goloshchekin, Shvartsman).

Despite the fact that the majority of Russian Social Democrats did not recognize the decisions of the Prague Conference, the resonance from it was great. Since the spring of 1912 the newspaper Pravda is published.

During World War II, dissensions were relegated to the background and the deputies of the 4th Duma adopted a general declaration condemning the war. "War to war!"

Later, Lenin and the Bolsheviks were generally accused of anti-patriotism, treason, betrayal of national interests (Lenin's Appeals on the Transformation of an Imperialist War into a Civil War). But there was no confirmation of this.

There was only one course — the building of socialism in the USSR, the belief in the possibility of a complete victory of socialism within the framework of one country — is greater than ever.

Their main work is going deep underground. It was hard to get in touch with Lenin, who was in exile. The Bolsheviks were not leaders of the February Revolution of 1917. Lenin found out about this as an after-fact.

Under the Bolshevik Central Committee, a Bureau of Front Front Military Organizations was formed. The Bolshevik factions acted in the soviets. Particular attention is given to factories.

The offensive on the front that failed on June 18 undermined the authority of the Provisional Government. On July 2, the cadets decided to secede from the government. The government crisis began. Part of the Bolsheviks, anarchists and some military units that were threatened with sending to the front, began to incline to an attempted armed overthrow of the Provisional Government. As a result, the demonstration on July 3-4, 1917 was not without casualties. The persecution of Lenin by the authorities began.

The strength of the Bolsheviks was that they put forward very close and understandable slogans to the majority: peace for the peoples, land for the peasants, factories for the workers, power for the soviets ...

Having shown himself in October 1917. good tactics, the Bolsheviks soon encountered great difficulties associated with their tragic miscalculations. The well-known formula of Lenin with reference to Napoleon: “First you need to get involved in a serious battle, and it will be visible there” was fraught with a huge risk, without which, incidentally, nothing great can be done in history. But another thing was also clear: after the October victory, the Bolsheviks faced severe trials.

The Russian Social Democratic Party was founded in March 1898 in Minsk. At the 1st congress, only nine delegates attended. After the congress, the RSDLP Manifesto was issued, in which the participants expressed the idea of \u200b\u200bthe need for revolutionary changes, and the question of the dictatorship of the proletariat was included in the party program. The charter, fixing the organizational structure of the party, was adopted during the Second Congress, which took place in Brussels and London in 1903. Then the party split into Bolsheviks and Mensheviks.

The leaders of the groups were V.I. Lenin and Martov. The contradictions between the groups were as follows. The Bolsheviks sought to include in the party program a demand for the dictatorship of the proletariat and demands on the agrarian question. And Martov’s supporters suggested excluding from it the requirement for the rights of nations to self-determination and did not approve that each member of the party permanently worked in one of its organizations. As a result, the Bolshevik program was adopted. It included such requirements as the overthrow of the autocracy, the proclamation of a democratic republic, clauses on improving the lives of workers, etc.

In the elections to the governing bodies, most of the seats were given to Lenin’s supporters, and they began to be called Bolsheviks. However, the Mensheviks left no hope of seizing the leadership, which they managed to do after Plekhanov sided with the Mensheviks. During 1905-1907 members of the RSDLP took an active part in the revolution. However, later the Bolsheviks and Mensheviks diverged in their assessments of the events of those years.

In the spring of 1917, during the April conference, the Bolshevik party broke away from the RSDLP. The leader of the Bolsheviks at the same time put forward a number of theses, known as the April Theses. Lenin sharply criticized the ongoing war, put forward demands for the elimination of the army and police, and also spoke about the need for radical agrarian reform.

By the fall of 1917, the situation in the country worsened. Russia stood on the brink of chaos. The coming to power of the Bolsheviks was due to many reasons. First of all, this is the apparent weakness of the monarchy, its inability to control the situation in the country. In addition, the reason was the decline in authority and indecision of the Provisional Government, the inability of other political parties (Cadets, Socialist Revolutionaries, etc.) to unite and become an obstacle for the Bolsheviks. The Bolshevik revolution was supported by the intelligentsia. The situation in the country was also affected by the First World War.

The Bolsheviks skillfully took advantage of the situation that had developed by the fall of 1917. Using utopian slogans (“Factories to the workers!”, “Earth to the peasants!”, Etc.), they drew the broad masses to the side of the Bolshevik party. Although there were disagreements in the leadership of the Central Committee, preparations for the uprising did not stop. During November 6-7, Red Guard units captured the strategically important centers of the capital. On November 7, a congress of workers 'and soldiers' deputies began. Decrees “On Peace”, “On Earth”, “On Power” were adopted. The All-Russian Central Executive Committee was elected, which until the summer of 1918 included the Left Socialist Revolutionaries. On November 8, the Winter Palace was taken.

The most important demand of the socialist parties was the convening of the Constituent Assembly. And the Bolsheviks agreed to this, since it was rather difficult to maintain power, relying solely on the Soviets. Elections were held at the end of 1917. More than 90% of the deputies were representatives of socialist parties. Even then, Lenin warned them that, in opposition to Soviet power, the Constituent Assembly would doom itself to political death. The Constituent Assembly opened on January 5, 1918 in the Tauride Palace. But the speech of its chairman, Socialist-Revolutionary Chernov, was perceived by Lenin's supporters as a desire for an open confrontation. Although a party debate was launched, the guard commander Sailor Zheleznyak demanded that the deputies leave the room because the "guard was tired." The very next day, the Council of People's Commissars adopted the thesis on the dissolution of the Constituent Assembly. It is worth noting that the dispersal of the Constituent Assembly by the Bolsheviks was not accepted by most of society. Four days later, on January 10, the 3rd Congress of Workers 'and Soldiers' Deputies began in the Tauride Palace.

After the seizure of power, the policy of the Bolsheviks was aimed at satisfying the demands of the workers and peasants who supported them, since the new government needed their further support. Decrees were issued “On an eight-hour working day in industrial production”, “On the destruction of estates, civilian, court military ranks”, etc.

During the 20s. a one-party system was fully formed. All parties of the monarchist and liberal type, as well as the Socialist Revolutionaries and Mensheviks, were liquidated.