What Bolsheviks wanted?

The Bolsheviks, or party of the majorities, were a Russian political group that faced, at the beginning of the 20th century and within the framework of the Russian Revolution , the prevailing monarchy, achieving with the October Revolution of 1917 come to power and dissolve autocracy.

This political organization was led by Vladimir Lenin and consisted mainly of peasants and workers , who, as a result of a long period of economic crisis and social problems, began to carry out strikes and protests to confront the tsarist empire of Russia, ruled by Nicholas II. of the Romanov dynasty.  

In 1903, after the second congress of the Russian Workers ‘Party and given the ideological differences that its leaders began to present, the Socialist Workers’ Party split into two:

• Bolsheviks : led by Vladimir Lenin, who fought for the dictatorship of the proletariat and the seizure of political power.
• Mensheviks: led by Yuli Martov, who proposed a peaceful struggle and wanted to carry out the revolution together with the bourgeoisie.

In November 1917, the Bolshevik party and its leaders seized power. Then, in January 1918, after several political confrontations with opponents, the Bolsheviks dissolved the National Assembly.

The organization changed its name several times, but finally gave rise to the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, in 1952, which mutated and remains today as the Communist Party of the Russian Federation. 

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The ideology

Within the ideology of the Bolsheviks, we can highlight the following ideas:

• They were based on the communist proposals of Karl Marx.
• They wanted to eliminate the landed upper class and the prevailing feudal system to give land to those who had the least, the peasants.
• They sought to eliminate all vestige of the imperial power of the tsars.
• They supported the dictatorship of the proletariat through the union of workers and peasants, with the aim of dominating the aristocracy and the privileged classes.
• They accepted the use of weapons or violent methods to gain access to political power.

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Differences between Bolsheviks and Mensheviks

The Bolsheviks believed in a single leader, Lenin, while the Mensheviks, although they had a main leader, implemented a policy with more participation of the intellectual class, in this case the bourgeoisie.

Furthermore, the Mensheviks did not accept the use of arms to seize power, so they were a more moderate group, seeking to implement capitalist ideas for economic development and modernization. They wanted to form a legal political party and then, from the government, achieve a revolution against the aristocracy.

Finally, the Menshevik group was made up of urban dwellers and to a lesser extent peasants, which is why it was considered the socialist minority group, while the Bolsheviks were mainly peasants and workers.