# Mensheviks The "minority" faction of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party, opposed to [[Vladimir Lenin]]'s [[Bolsheviks]] on the fundamental question of revolutionary strategy. The Mensheviks — led by Julius Martov — favored a broad-based workers' party, gradual development of capitalism before socialist revolution, and democratic participation within the movement. Lenin insisted on a small, disciplined vanguard party that would seize power on behalf of the working class without waiting for historical conditions to ripen. The Mensheviks initially had majority support but were outmaneuvered organizationally by Lenin's faction. After the [[Russian Revolution]], the Mensheviks briefly participated in democratic governance under [[Alexander Kerensky]]'s Provisional Government before being suppressed by the Bolsheviks. By 1921, the party was banned entirely. The Menshevik-Bolshevik split matters analytically as the original template for a pattern the vault tracks across political movements: the tension between gradualist reformers who want to work within existing systems and revolutionary vanguardists who view institutional capture or destruction as the only path to real change. ## See Also - [[Bolsheviks]] — the rival faction that won - [[Vladimir Lenin]] — the Bolshevik leader - [[Alexander Kerensky]] — the Menshevik-aligned head of the Provisional Government - [[Russian Revolution]] — the contest they lost