Bolsheviks

The Bolsheviks were a radical political faction within the Marxist Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (RSDLP). Emerging as the dominant group under the leadership of Vladimir Lenin, they became central to the revolutionary transformation of Russia in the early twentieth century. The name Bolshevik, derived from the Russian term for “majority”, reflected their temporary numerical advantage during key votes at the party’s Second Congress in 1903. By 1912, the faction had formally separated from the Mensheviks and went on to seize power during the October Revolution of 1917. Their ideology, grounded in Leninism and later Marxism–Leninism, shaped the political structure of the Soviet state throughout the twentieth century.

Origins and Ideological Foundations

The split between Bolsheviks and Mensheviks originated at the Second Congress of the RSDLP, held in 1903 in Brussels and London. The disagreement centred on party organisation. Lenin argued for a tightly disciplined party composed of full-time, dedicated revolutionaries who would operate under strict centralised authority. Julius Martov, by contrast, supported a broader membership that included sympathisers and loosely connected activists. This clash over membership criteria reflected deeper differences regarding revolutionary strategy, party culture, and the role of leadership.
Lenin’s pamphlet What Is to Be Done?, written in 1901, foreshadowed these divisions. He criticised what he considered amateurish or “artisanal” revolutionary work and advocated for an organised vanguard of professional revolutionaries capable of guiding the working class. He insisted that without firm ideological leadership, workers’ movements would drift towards reformism rather than revolutionary socialism. Although he acknowledged Marxist goals, such as the eventual withering away of the state, Lenin emphasised the immediate necessity of disciplined leadership during the revolutionary struggle.
These organisational principles—vanguardism and democratic centralism—became hallmarks of Bolshevik political practice. Democratic centralism required open discussion within the party but strict obedience to decisions once adopted. The Bolsheviks were also willing to employ illegal methods, including expropriations, to finance their activities, which further distinguished them from their Menshevik counterparts.

The Second Party Congress and the Growing Divide

At the Second Congress, Lenin and Martov’s disagreement over membership rules crystallised the emerging factions. Although Lenin’s supporters won several significant votes, Martov’s formulation of party membership initially prevailed. The Congress was marked by shifting alliances, personal disputes, and deepening mistrust. What began as a minor procedural disagreement soon hardened into an ideological split.
Internal unrest persisted over broader strategic questions, including attitudes towards centralisation and the future role of revolutionary leadership. Critics such as Martov, Georgi Plekhanov, Vera Zasulich, Leon Trotsky, and Pavel Axelrod objected to Lenin’s rigid organisational model. A major contention between Lenin and Plekhanov concerned the nationalisation of land: Lenin advocated full nationalisation in preparation for collectivisation, while Plekhanov argued that allowing peasants to retain property would maintain motivation and productivity.
Those who opposed Lenin’s stricter policies came to be known informally as “softs”, while his supporters were labelled “hards”. The tension between these groups indicated deeper ideological rifts regarding the nature of socialist transition, party democracy, and leadership. Some contemporaries criticised Lenin’s inflexibility and perceived hostility toward dissent, with Trotsky famously comparing him to Maximilien Robespierre.

Development of Bolshevism and Revolutionary Strategy

Throughout the years following the split, the relative influence of the two factions fluctuated. The experience of the 1905 Revolution and subsequent repression shaped Bolshevik tactics. By the time of the First World War, Lenin had concluded that Russia’s economic and political weaknesses made it a suitable site for the first socialist revolution, challenging the prevailing Marxist expectation that revolution would first occur in advanced industrial societies.
Lenin also reconsidered the role of the peasantry. While classical Marxism viewed peasants as a non-revolutionary class, Lenin saw poorer peasants as potential allies of the urban working class. This strategic realignment strengthened the Bolshevik appeal beyond the industrial centres.
During the February Revolution of 1917, the Tsarist regime collapsed and a Provisional Government was established. Lenin, returning from exile, issued the April Theses, demanding no support for the new government and advocating for “all power to the Soviets”. His radical stance initially shocked other socialist leaders but resonated with increasingly militant workers and soldiers.

The October Revolution and Consolidation of Power

In the summer of 1917, events such as the July Days and the Kornilov affair contributed to rising discontent and further boosted Bolshevik support. By autumn, the party had gained majorities in key Soviet councils. Under the direction of Lenin and Lev Trotsky, the Bolsheviks organised the October Revolution, overthrowing the Provisional Government and establishing Bolshevik authority in Petrograd.
Initially, the Bolsheviks governed in coalition with the Left Socialist-Revolutionaries, but the alliance soon collapsed. During the Russian Civil War (1917–1922), the Bolsheviks centralised authority, suppressed opposition, and created the security apparatus that became a defining feature of Soviet governance. By 1921, they were the sole legal political party in the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (RSFSR). In 1922, with the founding of the Soviet Union, they became the leading force in the emergent one-party state.

Transformation under Stalin

Following Lenin’s death, Joseph Stalin consolidated control of the party and state. Under his leadership, Bolshevism became associated with policies such as socialism in one country, rapid industrialisation, collectivised agriculture, and extensive centralisation. These policies fundamentally reshaped Soviet society and redefined the ideological legacy of the Bolshevik movement.

Etymology and Terminology

The terms Bolshevik (majority) and Menshevik (minority) derived from the voting outcomes at the 1903 Congress. Despite this, neither faction consistently held a majority throughout the meeting, as delegate numbers shifted. Early English-language sources occasionally used the labels “Maximalist” and “Minimalist”, adding to confusion, particularly because the Socialist Revolutionary Party also included a separate Maximalist faction.
Over time, the Bolshevik label became firmly attached to Lenin’s faction, which later evolved into the Russian Communist Party, then the All-Union Communist Party, and ultimately the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.

Demographics of the Factions

The composition of the factions revealed notable social patterns. Around 1907, the Bolshevik membership was comparatively young: 22 per cent were under twenty, 37 per cent were aged twenty to twenty-four, and 16 per cent were aged twenty-five to twenty-nine. Industrial workers made up a substantial majority of the Bolshevik membership, representing 62 per cent by 1905. Their social background differed somewhat from that of the Mensheviks: 22 per cent of Bolsheviks were from the gentry and 38 per cent from peasant origins, compared with 19 per cent and 26 per cent respectively among Mensheviks.
Ethnically, roughly 78 per cent of Bolsheviks in 1907 were Russian, and around 10 per cent were Jewish. Membership grew rapidly in the early twentieth century, rising from around 8,400 in 1905 to over 46,000 by 1907. Although the Mensheviks also expanded, the Bolsheviks increasingly attracted radical workers and militant activists, forming the core of the revolutionary movement that would ultimately shape the future Soviet state.

Revolutionary Legacy

The Bolsheviks occupy a central place in the history of modern political revolutions. Their organizational discipline, strategic flexibility, and ideological innovations enabled them to succeed in conditions that seemed unfavourable for a socialist uprising. Their seizure of power in 1917 and the creation of the Soviet Union profoundly altered global politics, contributing to the spread of communist movements worldwide and shaping international relations throughout the twentieth century.