Bolshevik

The name of the representatives of a political faction of the RSDRP after 1903, and, after April 1917, the name of the political party headed by Vladimir Lenin. This name goes back to the second convention of the RSDRP in 1903, when, in the course of voting for party leadership positions, Lenin’s supporters received a majority (in Russian, “bol’shinstvo”, hence “bol’sheviki”.) After this, their opponents at the convention came to be known as “men’sheviki”, from the Russian word “men’she” (less). From 1912 to 1952, the word “bol’shevikov” (a declension of “bol’shevik”) was part of the official name of the party, indicated by the “b” that appears in parentheses in RSDRP (b), RCP (b) and VCP (b).