37-758: Vpered (Russian: Вперёд , IPA: [fpʲɪˈrʲɵt] , Forward ) was a subfaction within the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (RSDLP). Although Vpered emerged from the Bolshevik wing of the party, it was critical of Lenin . The group was gathered by Alexander Bogdanov in December 1909 and was active until 1912. Other notable members of the group were Maxim Gorky , Anatoly Lunacharsky , Mikhail Pokrovsky , Virgil Shantser , Grigory Aleksinsky , Stanislav Volski , and Martyn Liadov . Vpered developed in
74-582: A conference in Prague and expelled the liquidators, ultimatists and recallists from the RSDLP, which officially led to the creation of a separate party, known as the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (Bolsheviks) , while the Mensheviks continued their activities establishing the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (Mensheviks) . In August 1912, Trotsky's group tried to reunite all the RSDLP factions into
111-530: A greater and deserved role in the leadership of the party. Otherwise, with the departure of many intellectuals from the party, those remaining in its ranks would form the new party leadership. Meanwhile, Lenin had distanced himself from this work. Vpered began when Zhdanov presented a statement to the editors of Proletarii ( Workers , the Bolshevik journal). In a meeting with the editorial board in late June 1908, Lenin succeeded in having Bogdanov excluded from
148-407: A political atmosphere of counterrevolution and squabbling for political control, authenticity and funds within the RSDLP. Philosophically, Bogdanov and his supporters envisaged a strong role for intellectuals in the party, along the lines of Lenin 's What Is To Be Done? . They advocated ways for intellectuals of the party to systematise the socialist education of workers, in order to allow workers
185-570: A political party. Political factions can represent voting blocs . Political factions require a weaker party discipline . Research indicates that factions can play an important role in moving their host party along the ideological spectrum. The first president of the United States, George Washington , warned of political factions in his famous farewell address from 1796. He warned of political parties generally, as according to Washington, political party loyalty when prioritized over duty to
222-482: A report, which appeared in July 1909. This delineated Vpered's agenda: that Lenin and his allies had fundamentally deviated from "revolutionary Marxism" and the centrality of the hegemonic role of the proletariat in the coming democratic revolution. Bogdanov and Krasin complained that Proletarii had failed to produce even one pamphlet in 18 months, and, that the party had abandoned socialist propaganda work. The failure of
259-419: Is a group of people with a common political purpose, especially a subgroup of a political party that has interests or opinions different from the rest of the political party. Intragroup conflict between factions can lead to schism of the political party into two political parties. The Ley de Lemas electoral system allows the voters to indicate on the ballot their preference for political factions within
296-654: Is one who accepts its programme and who supports the Party both financially and by personal participation in one of the Party organizations". Martov's big tent definition of party membership initially won the vote 28–23. However, his majority was short-lived, given the exit from the party, for separate reasons, of its Bundist and Economist members who had supported his definition. That left in the majority those in favour of Lenin's definition of party members as, in effect, professional revolutionaries- centrally directed, tightly disciplined, and therefore capable of operating effectively in
333-500: The Okhrana (imperial secret police). Before the 2nd Party Congress in 1903, a young intellectual named Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov (better known by his pseudonym, Vladimir Lenin ) joined the party. In 1902, he had published What Is To Be Done? , outlining his view of the party's proper task and methodology: to form "the vanguard of the proletariat ". He advocated a disciplined, centralized party of committed activists who would fuse
370-524: The Bolsheviks (derived from bolshinstvo —Russian for "majority"), headed by Lenin; and the Mensheviks (from menshinstvo —Russian for "minority"), headed by Julius Martov . Confusingly, the Mensheviks were actually the larger faction, but the names Menshevik and Bolshevik were taken from a vote held at the 1903 Party Congress for the editorial board of the party newspaper, Iskra ( Spark ), with
407-723: The Russian Empire into one party, the RSDLP split in 1903 into Bolshevik ("majority") and Menshevik ("minority") factions, with the Bolshevik faction eventually becoming the Communist Party of the Soviet Union . The RSDLP was not the first Russian Marxist group; the Emancipation of Labour group had been formed in 1883. The RSDLP was created to oppose the revolutionary populism of the Narodniks , which
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#1732771715231444-861: The Russian Social Democratic Workers' Party or as the Russian Social Democratic Party , was a socialist political party founded in 1898 in Minsk . Members of the RSDLP became popularly labelled as esdeki ( Russian : эсдеки , singular: Russian : эсдек , romanized : esdek ) - from the Russian-language names of the initial letters S ( Russian : С ) and D ( Russian : Д ) standing for "Social Democrats" ( Russian : социал-демократы , romanized : sotsial-demokraty ). Formed to unite various revolutionary organizations of
481-444: The "Liquidators", whose most prominent advocates were Pavel Axelrod , Fyodor Dan , Nikolai Aleksandrovich Rozhkov and Nikolay Chkheidze , who wished to pursue purely legal activities and who now repudiated illegal and underground work. The Menshevik Julius Martov was formally also considered a liquidator, partly because most of his closest political allies were part of the liquidator subfaction. The Bolsheviks split threeways into
518-582: The Bolsheviks being the majority and the Mensheviks being the minority. These were the names used by the factions for the rest of the party Congress and these are the names retained after the split at the 1903 Congress. Lenin's faction later ended up in the minority and remained smaller than the Mensheviks until the Russian Revolution . A central issue at the Congress was the question of
555-668: The Proletary group led by Lenin, Grigory Zinoviev and Lev Kamenev , who waged a fierce struggle against the liquidators, ultimatists and recallists; the Ultimatist group led by Grigory Aleksinsky , who wished to issue ultimatums to the RSDLP Duma deputies to follow the party line or to resign immediately; and the Recallist group led by Alexander Bogdanov and Anatoly Lunacharsky and supported by Maxim Gorky , who called for
592-766: The RSDLP. In 1902, the Tallinn organization of the RSDLP was founded, which in 1904 was converted into the Tallinn Committee of the party. In November, a parallel (that is, also directly under the CC of RSDLP) Narva Committee was created. Amongst other radicals, the Estonian RSDLP cadres were active in the 1905 Revolution. At the conference of the Estonian RSDLP organizations in Terijoki , Finland in March 1907,
629-642: The Russian Revolution of 1905 gave rise to bourgeois liberalism during the Duma period , rule by elected members, in the Social Democratic movement. Bogdanov and his allies accused Lenin and his partisans of allowing this through " parliamentarism at any price." Although the actions of the Otzovists , (those promoting decentralisation which Lenin feared would lead to the liquidation of
666-513: The board (but not from the party). and to the conference of the extended editorial board called by Lenin in June 1909 in Paris . In this context, Bogdanov raised the issue of the "practical work" of "widening and deepening the fully socialist propaganda" among the working class. He argued that the editors of Proletarii had not adequately addressed the intellectual development of the workers. He said that
703-457: The coming revolution would be "bourgeois-democratic" within Russia, but while the Mensheviks viewed the liberals as the main ally in this task, the Bolsheviks opted for an alliance with the peasantry as the only way to carry out the bourgeois-democratic revolutionary tasks while defending the interests of the working class. Essentially, the difference was that the Bolsheviks considered that in Russia
740-610: The definition of party membership. Martov proposed the following formulation: "A member of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party is one who accepts the Party's programme, supports the Party financially, and renders it regular personal assistance under the direction of one of its organizations". On the other hand, Lenin proposed a more strict definition: "A member of the Russian Social-Democratic Labour Party
777-539: The editorial board of Proletarii and disassociated it from "proletarian culture and science". However, Vpered lost momentum and eventually stalled in 1912. Evidently, perhaps soon after the February Revolution, Vpered began being published as a Menshevik journal. In 1917, I. Iurenev, a Mezhraionka leader, published a three-part history of the underground movement which was founded in 1913. (See .I. lurenev, Borba za edinstvo partii, Petrograd, 1917. For
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#1732771715231814-447: The immediate recall of all RSDLP Duma deputies and a boycott of all legal work by the RSDLP, in favour of increased radical underground and illegal work. There was also a non-faction group led by Leon Trotsky , who denounced all the "factionalism" in the RSDLP, pushed for "unity" in the party and focused more strongly on the problems of Russian workers and peasants on the ground. In January 1912, Lenin's Proletary Bolshevik group called
851-590: The lack of any "theoretical and historical" elaboration of the peoples' armed struggle against the autocracy meant the absence of "conscious leaders" in workers' organizations and that the intelligentsia were necessary to train workers as "conscious leaders". Bogdanov aimed to meet this challenge by organizing proletarian universities. Bogdanov hoped to nurture an "influential nucleus of workers" who could act as "conscious leaders" in all forms of proletarian struggle. A 1909 Paris conference rejected Bogdanov's proposal outright, at which point Bogdanov left. Bogdanov then wrote
888-625: The nation and commitment to principles, was considered to be a major threat to the survival of a democratic constitutional republic : Without looking forward to an extremity of this kind (which nevertheless ought not to be entirely out of sight), the common and continual mischiefs of the spirit of party are sufficient to make it the interest and duty of a wise people to discourage and restrain it [the formation and loyalty to partisan interests, over loyalty to principles or one's country]. Russian Social Democratic Labour Party The Russian Social Democratic Labour Party ( RSDLP ), also known as
925-589: The party), including Bogdanov, did constitute a reassertion of revolutionary Marxism, and may have been a point of unity, the recall of RSDLP delegates from the Duma was seen by Bogdanov as impractical. Vpered organised an experimental proletarian university on the Isle of Capri which operated from August to December 1909 (from Gorky 's home on the island). Another operated in Bologna from November 1910 to March 1911. Lenin argued that Vpered had used 80,000 rubles for
962-619: The proceedings. The 5th Party Congress was held in London, England, in 1907. It consolidated the supremacy of the Bolshevik faction and debated strategy for communist revolution in Russia. The Social Democrats (SDs) boycotted elections to the First Duma (April–July 1906), but they were represented in the Second Duma (February–June 1907). With the SRs, they held 83 seats. The Second Duma
999-514: The publication details of this pamphlet, see: (8) 'K svedeniiu T.T.!', Vpered , I, 15(2) June 1917, p. 15; Vpered , 3, 28(15) June 1917, p. 16; Vpered , 8, 12 August (30 July) 1917, p. 16. Vpered continued to be published 'in the first half of 1918 when socialist newspapers such as the Menshevik Vpered , Gorki's Novaia zhizn , and Delo naroda were tolerated.' Political faction A political faction
1036-770: The same party at a conference in Vienna, but he was largely rebuffed by the Bolsheviks. The Bolsheviks seized power during the October Revolution in 1917 when all political power was transferred to the soviets and in 1918 changed their name to the All-Russian Communist Party . They later banned the Mensheviks after the Kronstadt rebellion of 1921. The Interdistrictites , known as the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (Internationalists), emerged in 1913 as another faction originating from
1073-487: The tasks of the bourgeois democratic revolution would have to be carried out without the participation of the bourgeoisie . The 3rd Party Congress was held separately by the Bolsheviks. The 4th Party Congress was held in Stockholm , Sweden and saw a formal reunification of the two factions (with the Mensheviks in the majority), but the discrepancies between Bolshevik and Menshevik views became particularly clear during
1110-402: The tsarist police state. From this was derived the faction names: "Majority" ("Bolshevik") and "Minority" ("Menshevik"). Despite a number of attempts at reunification, the split proved permanent. As time passed, ideological differences emerged in addition to the original organizational differences. The main difference that emerged in the years after 1903 was that the Bolsheviks believed that only
1147-592: The underground struggle for political freedom with the class struggle of the proletariat. In 1903, the 2nd Party Congress met in exile in Brussels to attempt to create a united force. However, after unprecedented attention from the Belgian authorities the Congress moved to London, meeting on 11 August in Charlotte Street . At the Congress, the party split into two irreconcilable factions on 17 November:
Vpered - Misplaced Pages Continue
1184-456: The undertaking and that the group should be expelled from the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (RSDLP). While Bogdanov and Lunacharsky had become disenchanted with party politics and sought to focus on education and proletarian culture , Alexinsky saw Vpered as perpetuating the "illegals" tradition which sought to use traditional means of subversion. Joined by Pokrovsky and Vyacheslav Menzhinsky , this redefined group gained control of
1221-491: The workers, backed up by the peasantry, could carry out the bourgeois-democratic revolutionary tasks in Russia, which would then provide incentive to socialist revolution in Germany, France and Britain, while the Mensheviks believed that the workers and peasants must seek out enlightened people from the liberal bourgeoisie to carry out the bourgeois-democratic revolutionary tasks in Russia. The two warring factions both agreed that
1258-418: The years of Tsarist repression that followed the defeat of the 1905 Russian Revolution , both the Bolshevik and Menshevik factions faced splits, causing further splits in the RSDLP, which manifested themselves from late 1908 and the years immediately following. The Mensheviks split into the "Pro-Party Mensheviks" led by Georgi Plekhanov , who wished to maintain illegal underground work as well as legal work; and
1295-433: Was based strictly on the theories of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels . Specifically, that despite Russia's agrarian nature at the time, the true revolutionary potential lay with the industrial working class. At this time, there were three million Russian industrial workers, just 3% of the population. The RSDLP was illegal for most of its existence. Within a month after the Congress, five of the nine delegates were arrested by
1332-674: Was dissolved on the pretext of the discovery of an SD conspiracy to subvert the army. Under new electoral laws, the SD presence in the Third Duma (1907–1912) was reduced to 19. From the Fourth Duma (1912–1917), the SDs were finally and fully split. The Mensheviks had seven members in the Duma and the Bolsheviks had six, including Roman Malinovsky , who was later uncovered as an Okhrana agent. In
1369-1057: Was later represented by the Socialist Revolutionary Party (SRs). The RSDLP was formed at an underground conference in Minsk in March 1898 . There were nine delegates: from the Jewish Labour Bund , and from the Robochaya Gazeta ("Workers' Newspaper") in Kiev , both formed a year earlier in 1897; and the League of Struggle for the Emancipation of the Working Class in Saint Petersburg . Some additional social democrats from Moscow and Yekaterinburg also attended. The RSDLP program
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