SD Split

• The SDs split into two factions in 1903.

  • The Bolsheviks who were led by Lenin.
  • The Mensheviks who were led by Martov.
• Bolshevik is a translation of "majority group" and Menshevik is a translation of "minority group".
• Lenin wanted a small group of professional revolutionaries working to undermine the Tsarist system.

  • He argued that the bourgeois and socialist revolutions of Marxist theory could happen simultaneously.
  • Martov disagreed and argued that the bourgeois stage of Marxist theory must be allowed to run its course.
• In the meantime, Martov perceived the role of the SDs to be one of educating workers and increasing party membership as widely as possible.
• The majority of the party backed Lenin, the minority of the party backed Martov.
• Martov was prepared to work within a democratic system.

  • Lenin wanted nothing to do with liberal democracy and aimed to overthrow both tsarism and democracy at the same time.
• The SD movement was weakened because of the split between the Bolsheviks and Mensheviks which had existed since 1903.

  • They disagreed about how to respond to the creation of the Duma.
• The Mensheviks were prepared to stand for Duma elections as they saw it as part of the democratic phase of Marxist historical development.

  • The Bolsheviks boycotted the first two Duma elections as they only saw revolution as the way forward.
• When Stolypin changed the voting system in 1907, the Mensheviks refused to participate in Duma elections in protest.

  • The Bolsheviks saw an opportunity to gain support from working class voters, decided to stand in the elections for the Third and Fourth Dumas in 1907 and 1912.