The Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (of Internationalists) (russian: Российской социал-демократической рабочей партии (интернационалистов)), initially known as the United Social Democrats-Internationalists, was a

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular country's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific political ideology ...

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

. The programme of the group was largely similar to that of the

Menshevik-Internationalists The Menshevik-Internationalists were a faction inside the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (Mensheviks). The faction, representing the left-wing inside the party, emerged in May 1917. It was joined by a number of political leaders returning fr ...

, and politically it placed itself between the Menshevik-Internationalists and the

Bolsheviks The Bolsheviks (russian: Большевики́, from большинство́ ''bol'shinstvó'', 'majority'),; derived from ''bol'shinstvó'' (большинство́), "majority", literally meaning "one of the majority". also known in English ...

. They were critical of Bolshevik tactics but would remain supportive of the Soviet government. They were a relatively small organization of leftist intellectuals, largely identified with its newspaper ''

Novaya Zhizn ''Novaya Zhizn'' (, ''New Life'') was the first legal Bolshevik daily newspaper. It was founded by Alexander Bogdanov and its first editor was Nikolai Minsky. It was first published in October 1905 in Petersburg, under the guidance of Lenin. It ...

'' ('New Life'). Whilst the group was quite small, ''Novaya Zhizn'' had a significant readership. It was published by the well-known author

Maxim Gorky Alexei Maximovich Peshkov (russian: link=no, Алексе́й Макси́мович Пешко́в; – 18 June 1936), popularly known as Maxim Gorky (russian: Макси́м Го́рький, link=no), was a Russian writer and social ...

, although Gorky broke with the party in July 1917. Gorky had been the only prominent figure in the organization. In December 1917

Solomon Lozovsky Solomon Abramovich Lozovsky (russian: Соломон Абрамович Лозовский, family birth name: Dridzo russian: Дридзо, 1878–1952) was a prominent Communist and Bolshevik revolutionary, a high-ranking official in the Soviet ...

was expelled from the

Bolshevik Party " Hymn of the Bolshevik Party" , headquarters = 4 Staraya Square, Moscow , general_secretary = Vladimir Lenin (first)Mikhail Gorbachev (last) , founded = , banned = , founder = Vladimir Lenin , newspaper ...

, after which he joined the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (of Internationalists) and became its main leader. Lenin, V. I.
Concerning the Expulsion from the Party of S. A. Lozovsky
' In March 1918 he became the party chairman. He also edited the new party organ ''Proletarii'' ('Proletarian'). In May 1918 the party underwent a split, with a minority group (who favoured closer relations with the Bolsheviks) broke away and formed their own group. At the Second All Russian Trade Union Congress in January 1919, the party delegation supported the call for unions independent from the

Communist Party A communist party is a political party that seeks to realize the socio-economic goals of communism. The term ''communist party'' was popularized by the title of ''The Manifesto of the Communist Party'' (1848) by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. A ...

. In April 1919, the minority that had split in 1918 reunited with the party. The party adopted the name Russian Social Democratic Labour Party and took a more conciliatory approach towards the Bolsheviks. The 4th congress of the party decided to dissolve the party and called on its membership to join the Communist Party. In December 1919 Lozovsky was readmitted to the Communist Party. Soviet historiography labelled the party as "the far left of the petty bourgeoisie", arguing that the party had a contradictory position in calling for a socialist government whilst rejecting the notion of an armed uprising.

References

{{Defunct Russian political parties Defunct socialist parties in Russia Political parties of the Russian Revolution Political parties with year of disestablishment missing Political parties with year of establishment missing Factions of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party