Menshevism

MENSHEVISM. - By M. Soviet theory sometimes means the Second International, revisionist and reformist, but in the strict sense it means the faction of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party led by Plekhanov, Martov and others and opposed to the Bolshevik faction. Already at the founding of the Party, at the Second Congress held in London in 1903, a split came about between the Menshevik and the Bolshevik wings; the occasion for the split was provided by the statute of the organization (v. LENIN).

The following ten years were taken up by discussions bearing above all on tactical problems: against Lenin's thesis of an alliance between workers and peasants, the Mensheviks preferred an alliance with the bourgeoisie, since they were of the opinion that, before it could pass over, in Russia, to socialism, a capitalist evolution was necessary; when, after the failed revolution of 1905-1906, the Duma (parliament) was convened, broad Menshevik circles held for the liquidation of the illegal organizations (or liquidationism). The definitive split between the two factions came about at the Party Conference held in Prague in 1912; from then on they each went their own way as separate parties until, after the victory of the October Revolution, with the dissolution of all the other parties, the Menshevik Party too was dissolved. A part of its adherents emigrated: the organ «Socialističeskij Vestnik» (U.S.A.) constitutes a spiritual centre of M.

Gustavo A. Wetter