The Mensheviks - who are they? The Menshevik Party. Menshevik leaders

Today, many experts in the field of promotion of services and goods quite seriously argue that the leader of the proletarian revolution, VI Ulyanov, was the most talented marketer in the world. His genius consisted in the fact that he was able to "sell" the idea of universal equality to the broad masses, using short, biting and lucid slogans. Vladimir Ilyich managed to create laconic and expressive symbols (hammer and sickle, five-pointed star) and determine the required corporate color (red). But the main thing Lenin's achievement was the choice of the brand. In the mass consciousness, the notion that Bolshevism is something large, powerful, inevitable and unshakable is firmly entrenched. But the Mensheviks are a trifle, in general, rubbish.

The creation of the most powerful political party of the XX century was held in London in 1903, in the summer.

When there were Bolsheviks and Mensheviks

The second party congress was held consistently in two cities - Brussels and London. Obviously, the organizers feared persecution and sought to conspire, that's why they went to such an unconventional step as a break and relocation. Lenin and Martov often argued, and the essence of their debate can be reduced to whether it is worth waiting for the apple itself to fall, or is it better to tear it down? At least about these words, the future leader of the Bolsheviks described the pattern of the contradictions that had arisen. One of the oldest members of the RSDLP and a major party theorist Martov did not want any unripe fruits, to cut off greens from branches and, even more so, to shoot down a stick with it did not want to.

Both disputers at that time agreed that the revolution should be a world one, it would happen in the countries with the most advanced industry, and only then it would spread to the backward kingdoms, including the Russian Empire. The question was only what methods to give preference - legal or clandestine. After the vote that led to the victory of the Leninist line, the party split into two parts. Immediately Lenin called his supporters Bolsheviks, adding that the adherents of Martov were Mensheviks. This to some extent determined the history of the twentieth century.

The First Revolution

Special attention should be paid to the fact that the Bolsheviks by no means always obtained overwhelming quantitative superiority during the party polls at the beginning of the turbulent twentieth century. The line chosen by them for clandestine and terrorist work led to the split of the RSDLP. In the work of the Third Congress, held also in London (1905), the supporters of Martov did not want to take part; they perceived the tragic revolutionary events as a movement towards the next stage of social development in Russia, that is, the bourgeois republic, which corresponded to the Marxist theory. Nevertheless, representatives of the March wing joined the armed insurrection, they acted on the battleship Potemkin and during other unrest. Thus, disagreements raged somewhere in the upper party echelons, and at the grassroots level did not play a big role. After the suppression of the disorder, Plekhanov spoke of him as a useless matter, which should not be started. The leader of the Mensheviks, Martov agreed with this opinion.

War with Japan

The Bolsheviks wanted to defeat tsarist Russia and did everything to undermine the defense potential of the country. This aspiration manifested itself most vividly during the German war, but it was first formulated earlier - in the years of the Japanese War. One of the reasons why the Mensheviks refused to participate in the Third London Congress of the RSDLP is the fact of material support from foreign hostile special services known to them. While condemning the war, the Martovites could not allow the thought that freedom would come from abroad, and the Japanese would bring it on their bayonets. In addition, the Land of the Rising Sun at that time was socially and technically a fairly backward state, and the promotion of its victories did not fit into the elementary logic. And in general, the ideology of the Mensheviks, like the Bolsheviks, at that time excluded the possibility of a revolution in one country.

Together again

In 1906, the leaders of both wings of the RSDLP again gathered for the congress, this time it was held in Stockholm. The parties were aware of the need for joint work, and sought to smooth out the contradictions. The disagreements between the Mensheviks and the Bolsheviks at this time seemed not very significant and concerned only the formulation of the first paragraph of the Party Rules. Martov proposed to leave the duty of "promoting" unchanged, and Lenin insisted on "personal participation" in a particular organization. At first glance, the difference is small, but in fact it turned out that it is of great importance. Lenin strove to create a strict hierarchically structured fighting structure, and Martov was perfectly satisfied with the usual intelligentsia talk-house. The Menshevik leader believed that the revolutionary changes were premature, suggesting that he concentrate on the ideological treatment of the backward population of a huge agrarian country that is not ripe for socialism. Nevertheless, the Bolsheviks won another victory: the Lenin version of the first article of the Statute of the Russian Communist Party was adopted.

The Interwar Conflicts

Formally, after the "unifying" Stockholm Congress, the party gained solidity, but the realities revealed the presence of remaining contradictions. The defeat of the revolution forced the Socialist leadership to emigrate, despondency reigned in their ranks. Money was required, but the Bolshevik methods of obtaining them aroused an ambiguous reaction of the eternal opponents - Martov, his brother Levitsky, Potresov, Axelrod and other Mensheviks. There was a movement of "liquidators" who expressed the opinion that it was necessary to completely curtail illegal work, stop the "exs" (that is, robberies), but it covered only a part of the supporters of softer actions (including Plekhanov), the rest took a wait-and-see attitude, declaring the desire for Unity. Trotsky published the Pravda newspaper in Vienna in 1912, in which anti-Leninist articles were published openly, and on the basis of the platform outlined by the main party's press organ, a conference was called called Augustow. The block formed after it suffered the same Menshevik defect, namely internal friction, and soon disintegrated. The general requirements of civil liberties, representation in the Fourth State Duma of all strata of society, etc., did not suit other participants in the revolutionary movement.

Pirates and patriots

After the outbreak of World War II, the program of the Mensheviks went into direct contradiction with Bolshevik policy. Potresov, Plekhanov, and other "defencists" did not consider it right to seek the death of the tsarist regime at the cost of a nationwide tragedy. They came out with condemnation of the war as such, calling it mutually aggressive, and then completely "skipped" to the recognition that the Russian army was only defending its land. The camp of the RSDLP was divided into two parts: "internationalists" and "patriots" differed in their attitude to the possible result of military operations at the front. The most extreme position was the goal of achieving their cessation and the withdrawal of the warring parties "without annexations and indemnities." Defeats and escalation of hostilities in the civil conflict desired the Bolshevik wing of the RSDLP. The Mensheviks believed that the conclusion of peace in this situation could lead to a world revolution. They were wrong.

The February revolution actually became the implementation of the "minimum program", previously declared by the RSDLP as a goal for the coming decades.

The main theses of the Menshevik policy

So what was the difference between the Bolsheviks and the Mensheviks? The program of the party, or rather, of its March wing, consisted of the following points:

A) the seizure of power in a country with undeveloped conditions and prerequisites is useless, only the opposition struggle makes sense;

B) the Russian proletarian revolution will not happen soon, and only after its victory in the countries of Europe and the North American States;

C) the role of the liberal bourgeoisie in the struggle against the autocracy is extremely important, and it is necessary to cooperate with it;

D) the peasantry is a backward class, it should be used as an auxiliary force and ally, but one can not rely on it;

E) the proletariat is the main "locomotive" of the revolution (this point arose under the influence of Bolshevism);

E) preference is given to legal methods of struggle. Terrorism is unacceptable.

February

The Menshevik Party as an independent political force took shape at the beginning of 1917. At first glance, everything went according to the approved plan, the bourgeois republic arose on the ruins of the empire, and now it remains only to wait for the people to ripen and want a new revolution, this time proletarian. The trouble was that the dramatic events of February 1917 took the leadership of the RSDLP by surprise. The Mensheviks, like the Bolsheviks, did not control its course, they did not take part in the organization of the overthrow of the Tsar, and now they tried painfully to use the situation as efficiently as possible to realize their program goals. Quickly oriented Martovtsy. The Provisional Government was formed, and they delegated their representatives to its membership. There were three Mensheviks in the new power structure (AM Nikitin, KA Gvozdev, PN Maliantovich), NS Chkheidze headed the Petrograd Soviet, and then, in June, after the First All-Russian Congress of Soviets, even took up the post of chairman The All-Russian Central Executive Committee. The strengthening of the position of the party, the expansion of the possibility of its influence on the masses continued.

The Menshevik Party, despite its obvious successes, again fell ill with its typical foulness: its forces divided into three streams. The right (represented by Potresov) occupied the extreme patriotic positions, the centrists (Dan, Tsereteli) reserved the right to continue to conduct revolutionary work in the conditions of bourgeois democracy, but only after the victory over the external enemy, and the left (Martov) condemned participation in the Provisional Government, Demanded the immediate distribution of land and the conclusion of peace.

Before the new revolution

Immediately before the October coup, many prominent Mensheviks left the party ranks. The program of the party with its fuzziness repelled possible adherents and waverers, including Yuri Larin, Lev Trotsky and even Plekhanov himself. The process of political migration became massive, about 4,000 Petrograd centrists-"inter-districts" - joined the Leninist wing of the RSDLP in the spring of 1917. The reasons for this behavior were weighty: the ideology of the Mensheviks proved to be a discredited support for the war, from which the population, disoriented by active Bolshevik propaganda, was simply tired. In addition, there was a frequent contradiction between political goals and some honesty of party leadership, which did not dare to promise the people what they could not fulfill. The power game was lost, and in October the Mensheviks understood this fully.

The coup

On October 25, a coup took place and the seizure of power by the Bolsheviks. The Central Committee of the RSDLP (o) immediately worked out a condemning resolution, calling these actions usurpation, but it was too late. Internal unity and consistency of action was still not observed. The calls to create a new government, "homogeneous," representing all political trends on an equal footing, and to support the Constituent Assembly led nowhere. Ten members of the Central Committee and three candidates left the party ranks. An extraordinary extraordinary congress of the RSDLP (o) was convened, but it was also inconclusive, except for the dispersal of the Constituent Assembly by the Bolsheviks at the very beginning of 1918. Then the Civil War began, during which the right-wing Mensheviks, under the leadership of VO Levitsky, VN Rozanov and AN Potresov, took a position extremely hostile to the new authorities.

For or against the Soviet power?

The leaders of the RSDLP (u) took an active part in the power structures created in the territories beyond the control of the Bolsheviks during the Civil War. Then the Mensheviks changed the name of the party and began to call themselves simply Russian Social Democrats, without any letters in the brackets. They occupied ministerial posts in Samara KOMUCH, temporary Siberian government, Tsentrokaspii, Ufa meeting, Ural regional government. In 1918, they (SPD) actually took over power in Georgia after the declaration of a democratic republic there. In response, the Bolsheviks excluded representatives of the RSDLP from all the Soviets. However, already in August 1918 the Menshevik Party was partially rehabilitated as a coalition with bourgeois associations.

The defeat of Menshevism

Repression continued in the spring of 1919, after the fortifications of the Bolshevik positions during the Civil War. In Kiev, Odessa, and later in Georgia, the Cheka conducted large-scale cleansing of the identified members of the RSDLP. In cooperation with the Denikin Volunteer Army they were accused by the Bolsheviks. The Mensheviks, Socialist-Revolutionaries, Cadets and representatives of other parties were isolated, in some cases (not infrequently) shot, and their leaders "resettled" for the purpose of neutralization. What this term meant is not known reliably, but one can guess. Yu Martov and R. Abramovich were lucky: they managed to escape from the country in 1920. Two years later, another leader of the Russian socialist communities, the Menshevik F. Dan, was deported abroad. At the same time, a whole group of the youth wing of the RSDLP was arrested in Moscow, an open trial was being prepared for it, but in the end, Soviet justice was limited to exile. Repression led to the almost complete defeat of Menshevism; Individual cells that had gone underground existed until 1925.

What happened to the Mensheviks then

The fate of the Mensheviks, who found themselves in emigration, is unenviable. Attempts to publish their own periodicals were extremely costly, the "fathers of Russian democracy", established in Germany, in 1933 were forced to move to France and then to America. But the unsuccessful "brand" became a kind of stigma for those who stayed in the USSR and for whatever reason found themselves objectionable to the Stalinist leadership. If necessary, any member of the party could recall his Menshevik past, present or imaginary. The first loud process took place in 1931: on charges of creating a counter-revolutionary organization, 14 employees of the State Planning Committee and the State Bank were sentenced to long terms of imprisonment.

However, not with all the former Mensheviks, the Bolshevik Party cost so severely. Prosecutor General Vyshinsky, diplomats AA Troyanovsky and M. Maisky and some other members of the disgraced organization lived their lives quite well. Although over them their past hung with a sword of Damocles.