Index: > A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
Business Industries Finance Tax

Home > Russian Social Democratic Labour Party


The Russian Social Democratic Labour Party, or RSDLP (Росси́йская Социа́л-Демократи́ческая Рабо́чая Па́ртия = РСДРП) was a revolutionary socialist Russian political party formed in 1898 in Minsk to unite the various revolutionary organisations into one party. The RSDLP later split into Bolshevik and Menshevik factions, with the Bolsheviks eventually becoming the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.

It was not the first Russian Marxist group; the Group for the Liberation of Labour was formed in 1883. At the first party congress in 1898, all nine delegates were arrested. The RSDLP was created to oppose narodnichestvo (наро́дничество), revolutionary populism, the program of the Social Democrats (SDs), who later joined the Socialist-Revolutionary Party (SRs; Esers, эсе́ры). The RSDLP program was based on the theories of Karl Marx and Friedrich EngelsFriedrich Engels ( November 28 1820 August 5 1895) was a German Socialist philosopher and the co-founder of modern Communist theory with Karl Marx. In 1848, they published The Communist Manifesto together. Engels edited several volumes of Das Kapital Capi - that, despite Russia's agrarian nature, the true revolutionary potential lay with the industrial working class.

Before the Second Congress, a young intellectual called Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov (Влади́мир Ильи́ч Улья́нов) joined the party, better known by his pseudonym - Lenin (Ле́нин). In 1902Events January-April January 28 The Carnegie Institution is founded in Washington, DC with a $10 million gift from Andrew Carnegie. France, Loisy's L'evangile et l'Eglise which inaugurates the Modernist Crisis February 11 Police beat up universal suffrage he had published What is to be Done?, outlining his view of the party's task and methodology - to form 'the vanguard of the proletariatThe proletariat (from Latin proles offspring) is a term used to identify a lower social class; a member of such a class is called a proletarian . Originally it was identified as those people who have no other wealth than their sons; the term was initially' needed a disciplined, centralised party of committed activists.

In 19031903 has the latest occurring solstices and equinoxes for 400 years, because the Gregorian calendar hasn't had a leap year for seven years or a century leap year since 1600. Events January 1 Edward VII of the United Kingdom is proclaimed Emperor of India, the Second Congress of the party met in BelgiumFor alternate meanings, see Belgium (disambiguation). Belgian redirects here. For the horse breed commonly used as a draft horse, see Belgian. The Kingdom of Belgium ( Dutch: Belgi French: Belgique German: Belgien is a country in Western Europe, bordered to attempt to create a united force. At the congress, the party split into two irreconcilable factions on November 17November 17 is also the name of a Marxist group in Greece. November 17 is the 321st day of the year (322nd in leap years), with 44 remaining. Events The Leonids are visible each year around this day. 1292 ( Julian calendar) John Balliol becomes King of Sc: the Bolsheviks (большеви́к; from Bolshinstvo - Russian for "majority"), headed by Lenin, and the Mensheviks (меньшеви́к; from Menshinstvo - Russian for "minority"), headed by Julius Martov. Confusingly, the Mensheviks were actually the larger faction however the names Menshevik and Bolshevik were taken from a vote held at the 1903 party congress for the editorial board of the party journal, Isrka with the Bolsheviks being the majority and the Mensheviks being the minority. These were the names used by the factions for the rest of the party congress which debated Lenin's proposals on party organisation and these are the names retained after the split at the 1903 congress even though Lenin's faction ended up in the minority and remained smaller than the Mensheviks until the Russian Revolution.

It was Lenin's position on democratic centralism, and on restricting party membership that caused the split. Lenin argued that creating a successful revolution required that party membership be limited only to professional full-time revolutionaries; whereas the Mensheviks favored an open membership policy. Despite a number of attempts at reunification, the split proved permanent.

The SDs boycotted elections to the First Duma (April-July 1906), but were represented in the Second Duma (February-June 1907). With the SRs, they held 83 seats. The Second Duma was dissolved on the pretext of the discovery of a SD conspiracy to subvert the army. Under new electoral laws, the SD presence in the Third Duma (1907-12) was reduced to 19. From the Fourth Duma (1912-17), the SDs were finally and fully split. The Mensheviks had five members in the Duma and the Bolsheviks had seven, including Roman Malinovski , who was later uncovered as an Okhrana agent.

The Bolsheviks seized power during the Russian Revolution and, in 1918, changed their name to the Communist Party. They banned the Mensheviks after the Kronstadt Uprising of 1921.

Socialist parties CPSU Political parties of Russian Revolution



Non User