The Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (Mensheviks) (russian: Российская социал-демократическая рабочая партия (меньшевиков)), later renamed as Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (United) (russian: Российская социал-демократическая рабочая партия (объединенная)), 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 ideological or p ...

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-ei ...

. It emerged in 1912 as the

Russian Social Democratic Labour Party The Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (RSDLP; in , ''Rossiyskaya sotsial-demokraticheskaya rabochaya partiya (RSDRP)''), also known as the Russian Social Democratic Workers' Party or the Russian Social Democratic Party, was a socialist pol ...

was divided into two, the other group being the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (Bolsheviks). However, the

Mensheviks The Mensheviks (russian: меньшевики́, from меньшинство 'minority') were one of the three dominant factions in the Russian socialist movement, the others being the Bolsheviks and Socialist Revolutionaries. The factions em ...

and

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 ...

had existed as factions of the original party since 1903.Kowalski, Werner.
Geschichte der sozialistischen arbeiter-internationale: 1923 - 19
'. Berlin: Dt. Verl. d. Wissenschaften, 1985. pp. 336–337.

History

After the 1912 split, the General Jewish Labour Bund in Lithuania, Poland and Russia became a federated part of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (Menshevik) as by this time the Mensheviks had accepted the idea of a federated party organization. August 19-26, 1917 a 'unification congress' was organized by the party in Petrograd seeking to unite different social democratic factions, at which Menshevik Defencists (Plekhanovites and Potresovites), Menshevik Internationalists (followers of Martov) and ''

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 w ...

'' group took part. 220 delegates, representing 193,172 party members, took part in the proceedings. At the 1917 congress, a party

Central Committee Central committee is the common designation of a standing administrative body of communist parties, analogous to a board of directors, of both ruling and nonruling parties of former and existing socialist states. In such party organizations, the ...

consisting of Raphael Abramovich, I. Akhmatov, I. Astrov,

Pavel Axelrod Pavel Borisovich Axelrod (russian: Па́вел Бори́сович Аксельро́д; 25 August 1850 – 16 April 1928) was an early Russian Marxist revolutionary. Along with Georgi Plekhanov, Vera Zasulich, and Leo Deutsch, he was one ...

, B. Gurevich, E. Broido, F. Lipkin,

Fyodor Dan Fyodor Ilyich Dan (surname at birth: Gurvich) (died 22 January 1947) was a political activist and journalist who helped found the Menshevik faction of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party. Background Fyodor Dan was born to a Jewish family ...

, Henryk Ehrlich, V. Ezhov, K. G. Gogua, B. Gorev, Ivan Maisky,

Julius Martov Julius Martov or L. Martov (Ма́ртов; born Yuliy Osipovich Tsederbaum; 24 November 1873 – 4 April 1923) was a politician and revolutionary who became the leader of the Mensheviks in early 20th-century Russia. He was arguably the close ...

, Alexander Martinov, A. Frumson, Pinkevich, S. Semkovskii and I. Volkov was elected. The name of the party was changed to 'RSDLP (United)'. After the

October Revolution The October Revolution,. officially known as the Great October Socialist Revolution. in the Soviet Union, also known as the Bolshevik Revolution, was a revolution in Russia led by the Bolshevik Party of Vladimir Lenin that was a key mom ...

, differences emerged inside the party. In 1921, the party issued the "Platform of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party", calling for liquidating the political monopoly of 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 Engel ...

, which was identified as something quite different from the

dictatorship of the proletariat In Marxist philosophy, the dictatorship of the proletariat is a condition in which the proletariat holds state power. The dictatorship of the proletariat is the intermediate stage between a capitalist economy and a communist economy, whereby the ...

, privatizations of large sectors of industry and giving full voting rights to the peasantry and those treated by the Soviet government as the

bourgeois The bourgeoisie ( , ) is a social class, equivalent to the middle or upper middle class. They are distinguished from, and traditionally contrasted with, the proletariat by their affluence, and their great cultural and financial capital. ...

class. From the beginning of 1921 after the suppression of the Kronstadt garrison revolt, the 10th Communist Party Congress and the introduction of the

New Economic Policy The New Economic Policy (NEP) () was an economic policy of the Soviet Union proposed by Vladimir Lenin in 1921 as a temporary expedient. Lenin characterized the NEP in 1922 as an economic system that would include "a free market and capitalism, ...

(NEP) and ending of forcible confiscation of grain from the peasantry, the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party was forced to operate underground in

Soviet Russia The Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, Russian SFSR or RSFSR ( rus, Российская Советская Федеративная Социалистическая Республика, Rossíyskaya Sovétskaya Federatívnaya Soci ...

and openly only in exile in Europe and North America. The Foreign Delegation of the party had been established in 1920 and was at first located in

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitu ...

(until 1933), then shifted to Paris and in 1940 moved to New York City. In exile, the party consisted of small groups in

Geneva Geneva ( ; french: Genève ) frp, Genèva ; german: link=no, Genf ; it, Ginevra ; rm, Genevra is the second-most populous city in Switzerland (after Zürich) and the most populous city of Romandy, the French-speaking part of Switzerland. Situa ...

Liège Liège ( , , ; wa, Lîdje ; nl, Luik ; german: Lüttich ) is a major city and municipality of Wallonia and the capital of the Belgian province of Liège. The city is situated in the valley of the Meuse, in the east of Belgium, not far fro ...

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. Si ...

Bern german: Berner(in)french: Bernois(e) it, bernese , neighboring_municipalities = Bremgarten bei Bern, Frauenkappelen, Ittigen, Kirchlindach, Köniz, Mühleberg, Muri bei Bern, Neuenegg, Ostermundigen, Wohlen bei Bern, Zollikofen , website ...

and

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. Martov and Abramovich chaired the Foreign Delegation until 1923, when it was chaired by Fyodor Dan and Abramovich. Aron Jugov was the secretary of the Foreign Delegation. In 1921, the party formed part of the Vienna International, with Martov and Abramovich being two of the organizers. At the founding Congress of the

Labour and Socialist International The Labour and Socialist International (LSI; german: Sozialistische Arbeiter-Internationale, label=German, SAI) was an international organization of socialist and labour parties, active between 1923 and 1940. The group was established through a me ...

(LSI) in 1923, eleven Menshevik delegates participated. The party was a member of the LSI from 1923–1940. Abramovich represented the party in the LSI executive during this entire period, being a member of the LSI bureau until May 1939.Kowalski, Werner.
Geschichte der sozialistischen arbeiter-internationale: 1923 - 19
'. Berlin: Dt. Verl. d. Wissenschaften, 1985. p. 294. The party published ''Sotsialisticheskii vestnik'' (''Socialist Courier'') from 1921–1965 (from 1 February 1921 to 1933 in Berlin, then in Paris until 1940 and in New York from then until 1965).

References

{{Reflist 1912 establishments in the Russian Empire Anti-communist organizations Banned socialist parties Defunct socialist parties in Russia Factions of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party Members of the Labour and Socialist International Mensheviks Political parties established in 1912 Political parties of the Russian Revolution Social democratic parties in the Soviet Union Soviet opposition groups