Q. Consider the following statements:

1. Socialist Revolutionary Party was divided into the Bolsheviks and Mensheviks.
2. Bolsheviks wanted that the party membership should be open to all.

Which of the above is / are correct?
Answer: Neither 1 nor 2
Notes: The Russian Social Democratic Workers Party was founded in 1898 by socialists who respected Marx's ideas.Some Russian socialists felt that the Russian peasant custom of dividing land periodically made them natural socialists. So peasants, not workers, would be the main force of the revolution, and Russia could become socialist more quickly than other countries. They formed the Socialist Revolutionary Party in 1900. This party struggled for peasants' rights and demanded that land belonging to nobles be transferred to peasants. The Social Democratic Workers Party disagreed with the Socialist Revolutionary Party about peasants. Lenin, a leader of the Social Democratic Workers Party, felt that peasants were not one united group. The Social Democratic Workers Party was also divided over the strategy of organisation. Vladimir Lenin (who led the Bolshevik group) thought that in a repressive society like Tsarist Russia the party should be disciplined and should control the number and quality of its members. So, statement 1 is incorrect. Others (Mensheviks) thought that the party should be open to all (as in Germany). Thus, statement 2 is incorrect.