Bolshevik-Menshevik Split 1903

• 1903 2nd Congress of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (SD) was held in London and Brussels saw a split within the SDs
• One side of the faction was led by Vladimir Lenin and became known as the Bolsheviks
• The other side of the faction was led by Julius Martov and became known as the Mensheviks

Mensheviks

• Believed Russia was not yet ready for a true Revolution and that the bourgeois stage had to occur first

Bolsheviks

• Bolsheviks believed that the both the proletarian and bourgeois stage could be telescoped into one Revolution bringing about historical change within Russia

Bolsheviks

• Seize power on behalf of the workers

Mensheviks

• Educate the workers so that they too could take part in the Revolution

Bolsheviks

• Tight-knit, well-educate organisation made up of political revolutionaries known as a vanguard

Mensheviks

• Mass organisation open to all revolutionaries

Bolsheviks

• Decisions to be made by the central committee through democratic centralism

Mensheviks

• Decisions to be made through vots by every party-member through open democratic discussion

Bolsheviks

• Dismiss economism as it played into the hands of the bourgeoise
• Turn all workers into revolutionaries

Mensheviks

• An alliance with all other revolutionary and bourgeoise liberal parties
• All trade unions should be legalised in Russia to provide workers with better working conditions and wages