The Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (Mensheviks), later renamed the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (United), was a

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular area's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific political ideology, ...

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

. It emerged in 1912 as the

Russian Social Democratic Labour Party The Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (RSDLP), also known as the Russian Social Democratic Workers' Party (RSDWP) or the Russian Social Democratic Party (RSDP), was a socialist political party founded in 1898 in Minsk, Russian Empire. The ...

was divided into two, the other group being the

Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (Bolsheviks) The Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU),. Abbreviated in Russian as КПСС, ''KPSS''. at some points known as the Russian Communist Party (RCP), All-Union Communist Party and Bolshevik Party, and sometimes referred to as the Soviet ...

. However, the

Mensheviks The Mensheviks ('the Minority') were a faction of the Marxist Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (RSDLP) which split with Vladimir Lenin's Bolshevik faction at the Second Party Congress in 1903. Mensheviks held more moderate and reformist ...

and

Bolsheviks The Bolsheviks, led by Vladimir Lenin, were a radical Faction (political), faction of the Marxist Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (RSDLP) which split with the Mensheviks at the 2nd Congress of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party, ...

had existed as factions of the original party since 1903.Kowalski, Werner.
Geschichte der sozialistischen arbeiter-internationale: 1923 - 19
'. Berlin: Dt. Verl. d. Wissenschaften, 1985. pp. 336–337.

History

After the 1912 split, the

General Jewish Labour Bund in Lithuania, Poland and Russia The General Jewish Labour Bund in Lithuania, Poland and Russia (), generally called The Bund (, cognate to , ) or the Jewish Labour Bund (), was a secular Jewish socialist party initially formed in the Russian Empire and active between 1897 and 1 ...

became a federated part of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (Menshevik) as by this time the Mensheviks had accepted the idea of a federated party organization. August 19-26, 1917 a 'unification congress' was organized by the party in Petrograd seeking to unite different social democratic factions, at which Menshevik Defencists (Plekhanovites and Potresovites), Menshevik Internationalists (followers of Martov) and '' Novaya Zhizn'' group took part. 220 delegates, representing 193,172 party members, took part in the proceedings. At the 1917 congress, a party Central Committee consisting of Raphael Abramovich, I. Akhmatov, I. Astrov,

Pavel Axelrod Pavel Borisovich Axelrod (; 25 August 1850 – 16 April 1928) was an early Russian Marxist revolutionary. Along with Georgi Plekhanov, Vera Zasulich, and Leo Deutsch, he was one of the members of the first organization of Russian Marxists, Ema ...

, B. Gurevich, E. Broido, F. Lipkin,

Fyodor Dan Fyodor Ilyich Dan (; 19 October Old_Style_and_New_Style_dates.html" ;"title="nowiki/>Old Style and New Style dates">O.S. 7 October1871 – 22 January 1947), original surname Gurvich, was a Russian political activist and journalist who helped fou ...

Henryk Ehrlich Henryk Ehrlich , sometimes spelled ''Henryk Erlich''; 1882 – 15 May 1942) was an activist of the General Jewish Labour Bund in Poland, a member of the Petrograd Soviet, and a member of the executive committee of the Second International. Socia ...

, V. Ezhov, K. G. Gogua, B. Gorev,

Ivan Maisky Ivan Mikhailovich Maisky (also transliterated as "Maysky"; ) (19 January 1884 – 3 September 1975) was a Soviet diplomat, historian and politician who served as the Soviet Union's ambassador to the United Kingdom from 1932 to 1943, includi ...

Julius Martov Yuliy Osipovich Tsederbaum (24 November 1873 – 4 April 1923), better known as Julius Martov, was a Russian revolutionary, politician, and a leader of the Mensheviks, a faction of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (RSDLP). A close ...

, Alexander Martinov, A. Frumson, Pinkevich, S. Semkovskii and I. Volkov was elected. The name of the party was changed to 'RSDLP (United)'. After the

October Revolution The October Revolution, also known as the Great October Socialist Revolution (in Historiography in the Soviet Union, Soviet historiography), October coup, Bolshevik coup, or Bolshevik revolution, was the second of Russian Revolution, two r ...

, differences emerged inside the party. In 1921, the party issued the "Platform of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party", calling for liquidating the political monopoly of the Communist Party, which was identified as something quite different from the dictatorship of the proletariat, privatizations of large sectors of industry and giving full voting rights to the peasantry and those treated by the Soviet government as the

bourgeois The bourgeoisie ( , ) are a class of business owners, merchants and wealthy people, in general, which emerged in the Late Middle Ages, originally as a "middle class" between the peasantry and Aristocracy (class), aristocracy. They are tradition ...

class. From the beginning of 1921 after the suppression of the Kronstadt garrison revolt, the 10th Communist Party Congress and the introduction of the

New Economic Policy The New Economic Policy (NEP) () was an economic policy of the Soviet Union proposed by Vladimir Lenin in 1921 as a temporary expedient. Lenin characterized the NEP in 1922 as an economic system that would include "a free market and capitalism, ...

(NEP) and ending of forcible confiscation of grain from the peasantry, the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party was forced to operate underground in

Soviet Russia The Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (Russian SFSR or RSFSR), previously known as the Russian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic and the Russian Soviet Republic, and unofficially as Soviet Russia,Declaration of Rights of the labo ...

and openly only in exile in Europe and North America. The Foreign Delegation of the party had been established in 1920 and was at first located in

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

(until 1933), then shifted to Paris and in 1940 moved to New York City. In exile, the party consisted of small groups in

Geneva Geneva ( , ; ) ; ; . is the List of cities in Switzerland, second-most populous city in Switzerland and the most populous in French-speaking Romandy. Situated in the southwest of the country, where the Rhône exits Lake Geneva, it is the ca ...

Liège Liège ( ; ; ; ; ) is a City status in Belgium, city and Municipalities in Belgium, municipality of Wallonia, and the capital of the Liège Province, province of Liège, Belgium. The city is situated in the valley of the Meuse, in the east o ...

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

Bern Bern (), or Berne (), ; ; ; . is the ''de facto'' Capital city, capital of Switzerland, referred to as the "federal city".; ; ; . According to the Swiss constitution, the Swiss Confederation intentionally has no "capital", but Bern has gov ...

and

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

. Martov and Abramovich chaired the Foreign Delegation until 1923, when it was chaired by Fyodor Dan and Abramovich. Aron Jugov was the secretary of the Foreign Delegation. In 1921, the party formed part of the Vienna International, with Martov and Abramovich being two of the organizers. At the founding Congress of the

Labour and Socialist International The Labour and Socialist International (LSI) was an international organization of socialist and labourist parties, active between 1923 and 1940. The group was established through a merger of the rival Vienna International and the Berne Intern ...

(LSI) in 1923, eleven Menshevik delegates participated. The party was a member of the LSI from 1923–1940. Abramovich represented the party in the LSI executive during this entire period, being a member of the LSI bureau until May 1939.Kowalski, Werner.
Geschichte der sozialistischen arbeiter-internationale: 1923 - 19
'. Berlin: Dt. Verl. d. Wissenschaften, 1985. p. 294. The party published ''Socialist Courier'' from 1921 to 1965 (from 1 February 1921 to 1933 in Berlin, then in Paris until 1940 and in New York from then until 1965).

Notes

References

{{Reflist 1912 establishments in the Russian Empire Banned socialist parties Defunct socialist parties in Russia Factions of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party Marxism Members of the Labour and Socialist International Political parties established in 1912 Political parties in the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic Political parties of the Russian Revolution Social democratic parties in the Soviet Union Soviet opposition groups Russian diaspora organizations Political parties disestablished in 1965