How were the Mensheviks different from the Bolsheviks?

Answer 1

They were both factions of the Marxist Russian Social and Democratic Labor Party, so their basic policies were more or less the same. The main differences were regarding the interpretation of Marx's "historical stages". Marx argued that all societies MUST go through certain economic stages of development; feudal, capitalist, socialist and communist.

The Mensheviks thought that as Russia had only just got out of the feudal stage and only had policies that could be described as capitalist since the 1905 Revolution the country should be encouraged along the road of capitalism and that the proletariat taking over would be premature.

The Bolsheviks came up with the idea of "telescoping" the stages of economic development. They argued that the proletariat could take power, as the capitalist stage had already happened.

They were not all that different and they pursued the same ideals, but as with all political matters, neither of them quite saw eye to eye with each other on how it should be achieved.

The Bolsheviks and the Mensheviks were both factions of the same political party prior to 1904.

The differences that split the two groups were petty and almost childish.

The Mensheviks were a little more moderate than the Bolsheviks.

Menshevik is derived from a Russian word meaning "minority".

Bolshevik is derived from a Russian word meaning "majority".

Answer 2

They were both factions of the Marxist Russian Social and Democratic Labor Party, so their basic policies were more or less the same. The main differences were regarding the interpretation of Marx's "historical stages". Marx argued that all societies MUST go through certain economic stages of development; feudal, capitalist, socialist and communist.

The Mensheviks thought that as Russia had only just got out of the feudal stage and only had policies that could be described as capitalist since the 1905 Revolution the country should be encouraged along the road of capitalism and that the proletariat taking over would be premature.

The Bolsheviks came up with the idea of "telescoping" the stages of economic development. They argued that the proletariat could take power, as the capitalist stage had already happened.

They were not all that different and they pursued the same ideals, but as with all political matters, neither of them quite saw eye to eye with each other on how it should be achieved.

The Bolsheviks and the Mensheviks were both factions of the same political party prior to 1904.

The differences that split the two groups were petty and almost childish.

The Mensheviks were a little more moderate than the Bolsheviks.

Menshevik is derived from a Russian word meaning "minority".

Bolshevik is derived from a Russian word meaning "majority".

Answer 3

The Bolsheviks and Mensheviks were groupings in the All Russian Social Democratic Workers Party, an illegal organisation founded to overthrow the Emperor of Russia. The question was how was Marx's theory of revolution, which they believed in, to be applied to Russia. According to the Mensheviks (leader Martov) a correct reading of Marx's works implied that Russia should undergo a period of rule by businessmen and entrepreneurs to develop industries and wealth. Only then would the working classes have the motivation to achieve a seizing of power for themselves. The Bolsheviks (leader Lenin) believed that neither the business or working classes in Russia could develop in time to overthrow the Emperor, before the whole country disintegrated in chaos. The Bolsheviks asserted that a hard-edged dynamic party was necessary to form 'a Dictatorship of the proletariat', which would promise to bring about the fact of common ownership that was at the heart of Marx's opinions on the future of mankind.

The groupings first split officially in 1903 during a party meeting which began at Brussels and ended in London. Their names refer to the result of a vote taken at the time, those in the majority (russian bolsheviki), those in the minority (russian mensheviki). The Bolsheviks and Mensheviks reunited briefly in 1906, before the Bolsheviks split and began to refer to themselves as the 'All Russian Communist Party (Bolsheviks)'. True to Lenin's interpretation of Marx they found no one who effectively opposed their rise to power as the rulers of Russia, which continued until the late 1980s. The Mensheviks did not give up, maintaining their arguments in the teeth of opposition from the All Russian Communist Party through the early years of the latter's rule. In 1922 Lenin on behalf of the Bolsheviks outlawed the Mensheviks and those who were able to left Russia. When the then Communist Party Secretary, Joseph Stalin, arranged a public trial of the Menshevik faction in Moscow in 1931, his agents could find only one individual who answered the description.

Seen through a magnifying glass the Mensheviks appear disunited. Martov and his colleagues in the Menshevik faction disagreed on the question whether they should continue fighting Germany and Austria after the abdication of the Emperor in 1917. But such disunity is more normal in political parties than the single voice, usually Lenin's, with which the Bolsheviks delivered their policies to the Russian people. The evidence suggests that among those who supported the Marxist solution for Russia, there was more enthusiasm for the Menshevik position than for alternatives.