Bolsheviks

The Bolsheviks were a revolutionary Marxist faction led by Vladimir Lenin that seized power in Russia in October 1917 and became the ruling Communist Party of the Soviet Union.

Russian Social Democratic Labour Party: A Marxist political party founded in the Russian Empire in 1898. The Bolsheviks began as one faction within this party.
Democratic centralism: A principle combining internal party debate with binding decisions once a policy is adopted. It provided a model for coordinating Bolshevik members and enforcing party decisions.
Leon Trotsky: A Marxist revolutionary who organized the October 1917 insurrection and later led the Red Army. His role in Petrograd’s Military Revolutionary Committee helped coordinate the takeover.
Russian Civil War: The armed conflict from 1917 to 1922 between the Bolshevik-led Reds and their varied opponents. Bolshevik power survived through victory in this prolonged conflict.
Socialist Revolutionary Party: A Russian socialist party with a largely peasant base that advocated land socialization. Its popular support and agrarian program challenged Bolshevik claims to represent the revolution.
Second Congress of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party: The 1903 party congress at which Russian Marxists split into Bolshevik and Menshevik factions. The faction’s name and initial division arose from this congress.
April Theses: Lenin’s April 1917 program calling for Soviet power, an end to the war, and land redistribution. The theses redirected Bolshevik strategy after Lenin returned to Russia.
Joseph Stalin: A Bolshevik revolutionary who became general secretary of the Communist Party and Soviet leader. His rise shows how the party’s organizational offices could become sources of political power.
War Communism: The Soviet government’s emergency economic policies during the Russian Civil War, including nationalization and grain requisitioning. The Bolsheviks imposed these measures to supply the state and Red Army.
Constituent Assembly: An elected Russian legislature convened in January 1918 and dissolved by the Bolshevik government after one session. Its dissolution exposed the conflict between electoral legitimacy and Bolshevik claims of soviet power.

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