Word: mensheviki
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...words Bolsheviki and Mensheviki (bolshinstvó and menshinstvó) are the Russian for majority and minority. The apparent anomaly?the Bolsheviki being an actual minority in Russia?is accounted for by the Socialist Conference of Brussels, July, 1903, from which the Bolshevik and Menshevik Parties derived their names...
...Brussels Conference was due to the merest accident of party mismanagement. At the Conference, which began in Brussels and finished in London, the extremist minority was more strongly represented than the moderate majority; the tables were turned and hence forth the party factions became known as Bolsheviki and Mensheviki, although in reality these were misnomers...