Organization

Bolsheviks

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Overview

The Bolsheviks (, ; from большинство, , 'majority'), led by Vladimir Lenin, were a far-left faction of the Marxist Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (RSDLP) which split with the Mensheviks at the Second Party Congress in 1903. The Bolshevik party seized power in Russia in the October Revolution of 1917, and was later renamed the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. Their ideology and practices, based on Leninist and later Marxist–Leninist principles, are known as Bolshevism. The origin of the split was Lenin's support for a smaller party of professional revolutionaries, as opposed to the Menshevik desire for a broad party membership. The influence of the two factions fluctuated in the years up to 1912, when the RSDLP formally split into Bolshevik and Menshevik parties. The Bolsheviks' political philosophy was based on the Leninist principles of vanguardism and democratic centralism. After the February Revolution of 1917 which overthrew the tsar, Lenin returned to Russia and issued his April Theses, which called for "no support for the Provisional Government" and "all power to the soviets". In the summer of 1917, especially after the July Days and Kornilov affair, large numbers of radicalized workers joined the Bolsheviks, which planned the October Revolution which overthrew the government. The party initially governed in coalition with the Left Socialist-Revolutionaries, but increasingly centralized power and suppressed opposition during the Russian Civil War, and after 1921 became the sole legal party in Soviet Russia and the Soviet Union. Under Joseph Stalin's leadership, the party became linked to his policies of "socialism in one country", rapid industrialization, collectivized agriculture, and centralized state control. History of the split Vladimir Lenin's ideology in What Is to Be Done?

From Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0).

Notable quotes

“The depravity of the Tcheka was a matter of common knowledge. People were shot for slight offences, while those who could afford to give bribes were freed even after they had been sentenced to death.”
— Emma Goldman, My Further Disillusionment in Russia, Chapter I: Odessa (1924).
“Bolshevism, which once aspired to supplant tottering capitalism, is now in a state of incurable degeneration both at home in Russia and internationally.”
— Lucien Laurat, Marxism and Democracy, 1940, published by the , Victor Gollancz Ltd, London; translated by Edward Fitzgerald. Text online at the .
“The celebrated phrase, 'so much the worse for the facts', would satisfy only the high priests of Marxism, for Marxism also has its high priests, and these priests, like all others, daily deny the principles they claim to defend. Bolshevism is a living proof of this.”
— Lucien Laurat, Marxism and Democracy, 1940, published by the , Victor Gollancz Ltd, London; translated by Edward Fitzgerald. Text online at the .
“The origin of Bolshevism is inseparably linked with the struggle of what is known as Economism (opportunism which rejected the political struggle of the working class and denied the latter’s leading role) against revolutionary Social-Democracy in 1897–1902.”
— Vladimir Lenin, On Bolshevism, 1913, published in Among Books, Vol. II, Second Ed; translated by Stepan Apresyan. Text online at the .
“The hopes which inspire communism are, in the main, as admirable as those instilled by the Sermon on the Mount, but they are held as fanatically and are as likely to do as much harm.”
— Bertrand Russell, The Practice and Theory of Bolshevism (1920), Part I, The Present Condition of Russia, Ch. 1: What Is Hoped From Bolshevism.
“The real forces behind Bolshevism in Russia are Jewish forces, and Bolshevism is really an instrument in the hands of the Jews for the establishment of their future Messianic kingdom.”
— Father Denis Fahey, The Rulers of Russia, p. 25

Quotes via Wikiquote (CC BY-SA), each with its original source.

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Overview

The Bolsheviks (, ; from большинство, , 'majority'), led by Vladimir Lenin, were a far-left faction of the Marxist Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (RSDLP) which split with the Mensheviks at the Second Party Congress in 1903. The Bolshevik party seized power in Russia in the October Revolution of 1917, and was later renamed the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. Their ideology and practices, based on Leninist and later Marxist–Leninist principles, are known as Bolshevism. The origin of the split was Lenin's support for a smaller party of professional revolutionaries, as opposed to the Menshevik desire for a broad party membership. The influence of the two factions fluctuated in the years up to 1912, when the RSDLP formally split into Bolshevik and Menshevik parties. The Bolsheviks' political philosophy was based on the Leninist principles of vanguardism and democratic centralism. After the February Revolution of 1917 which overthrew the tsar, Lenin returned to Russia and issued his April Theses, which called for "no support for the Provisional Government" and "all power to the soviets". In the summer of 1917, especially after the July Days and Kornilov affair, large numbers of radicalized workers joined the Bolsheviks, which planned the October Revolution which overthrew the government. The party initially governed in coalition with the Left Socialist-Revolutionaries, but increasingly centralized power and suppressed opposition during the Russian Civil War, and after 1921 became the sole legal party in Soviet Russia and the Soviet Union. Under Joseph Stalin's leadership, the party became linked to his policies of "socialism in one country", rapid industrialization, collectivized agriculture, and centralized state control. History of the split Vladimir Lenin's ideology in What Is to Be Done?

From Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0).

Notable quotes

“The depravity of the Tcheka was a matter of common knowledge. People were shot for slight offences, while those who could afford to give bribes were freed even after they had been sentenced to death.”
— Emma Goldman, My Further Disillusionment in Russia, Chapter I: Odessa (1924).
“Bolshevism, which once aspired to supplant tottering capitalism, is now in a state of incurable degeneration both at home in Russia and internationally.”
— Lucien Laurat, Marxism and Democracy, 1940, published by the , Victor Gollancz Ltd, London; translated by Edward Fitzgerald. Text online at the .
“The celebrated phrase, 'so much the worse for the facts', would satisfy only the high priests of Marxism, for Marxism also has its high priests, and these priests, like all others, daily deny the principles they claim to defend. Bolshevism is a living proof of this.”
— Lucien Laurat, Marxism and Democracy, 1940, published by the , Victor Gollancz Ltd, London; translated by Edward Fitzgerald. Text online at the .
“The origin of Bolshevism is inseparably linked with the struggle of what is known as Economism (opportunism which rejected the political struggle of the working class and denied the latter’s leading role) against revolutionary Social-Democracy in 1897–1902.”
— Vladimir Lenin, On Bolshevism, 1913, published in Among Books, Vol. II, Second Ed; translated by Stepan Apresyan. Text online at the .
“The hopes which inspire communism are, in the main, as admirable as those instilled by the Sermon on the Mount, but they are held as fanatically and are as likely to do as much harm.”
— Bertrand Russell, The Practice and Theory of Bolshevism (1920), Part I, The Present Condition of Russia, Ch. 1: What Is Hoped From Bolshevism.
“The real forces behind Bolshevism in Russia are Jewish forces, and Bolshevism is really an instrument in the hands of the Jews for the establishment of their future Messianic kingdom.”
— Father Denis Fahey, The Rulers of Russia, p. 25

Quotes via Wikiquote (CC BY-SA), each with its original source.