The Bolsheviks and Mensheviks split essentially because the Mensheviks were reformists and the Bolsheviks were revolutionaries. The Bolsheviks said that when the revolution finally came, the Mensheviks would sooner or later only hinder it and would betray the revolution.
They were both groups of socialists.
The name of the followers of Lenin was "Bolsheviks" to be distinguished from the opposing group known as the "Mensheviks." Both groups were factions of the Marxist Russian Social Democratic Party, but the Bolsheviks wanted more radical changes than the Mensheviks. After the Revolution, the Bolsheviks changed their name to the Communist Party.
bolsheviks and mensheviks
Mensheviks and bolsheviks
The Bolsheviks always had their eyes on workers, soldiers and peasants.
Somewhat. Russia tried establishing Western models but usually ended up creating its own thing. For example, during the Russian Revolution (actually prior to so), the two major political groups were Mensheviks and Bolsheviks. The Mensheviks wanted to establish a democratic government based on a Western model. The Bolsheviks wanted socialism and ended up creating (or more so what they falsely called) communism, which was based on Karl Marx's ideas. However, Marxism was developed in Western Europe, however, has not been established there.
Factions are opposing groups that challenge rule, order and power.
the opposing side is whoever was fighting them
In 1903, two major groups of Marxists were the Mensheviks and the Bolsheviks. These groups became divided over ideological and strategic differences, with the Mensheviks advocating for a more gradual approach to revolution and the Bolsheviks calling for a more aggressive, revolutionary stance. This split would play a crucial role in the Russian Revolution of 1917.
They were both factions of the Marxist Russian Social and Democratic Labor Party, so their basic policies were more or less the same. The main differences were regarding the interpretation of Marx's "historical stages". Marx argued that all societies MUST go through certain economic stages of development; feudal, capitalist, socialist and communist. The Mensheviks thought that as Russia had only just got out of the feudal stage and only had policies that could be described as capitalist since the 1905 Revolution the country should be encouraged along the road of capitalism and that the proletariat taking over would be premature. The Bolsheviks came up with the idea of "telescoping" the stages of economic development. They argued that the proletariat could take power, as the capitalist stage had already happened. They were not all that different and they pursued the same ideals, but as with all political matters, neither of them quite saw eye to eye with each other on how it should be achieved. The Bolsheviks and the Mensheviks were both factions of the same political party prior to 1904. The differences that split the two groups were petty and almost childish. The Mensheviks were a little more moderate than the Bolsheviks. Menshevik is derived from a Russian word meaning "minority". Bolshevik is derived from a Russian word meaning "majority".
factions and opposing groups.
By passing legislation to that effect.