Menshevik

American  

[men-shuh-vik, myin-shi-vyeek] / ˈmɛn ʃə vɪk, myɪn ʃɪˈvyik /

Or menshevik

noun

plural

Mensheviks, Mensheviki

1. a member of the Russian Social-Democratic Workers' Party in opposition to the Bolsheviks: advocated gradual development of full socialism through parliamentary government and cooperation with bourgeois parties; absorbed into the Communist party formed in 1918.

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Menshevik British  

/ ˈmɛnʃɪvɪk /

noun

1. a member of the moderate wing of the Russian Social Democratic Party, advocating gradual reform to achieve socialism Compare Bolshevik

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Other Word Forms

• Menshevism noun
• Menshevist adjective

Etymology

Origin of Menshevik

1905–10; < Russian menʾshevík, equivalent to ménʾsh ( iĭ ) lesser (comparative of málenʾkiĭ small; compare menʾshinstvó minority) + -evik, variant of -ovik noun suffix

Example Sentences

The government in Georgia was heavily Menshevik and resisted Bolshevik rule, but in 1921 the Red Army took control of this region as well.

From Textbooks • Dec. 14, 2022

Menshevik Kerensky was present in Petrograd when there began a curiously leaderless and random series of riots and disorders among the people and local soldiery.

From Time • Jan. 18, 2015

A onetime Menshevik, he came through unscathed when the Bolsheviks put the Mensheviks out of business in 1921.

From Time Magazine Archive

In 1899 he joined the Social Democrat Party, before it split into Bolshevik and Menshevik factions, actively plotted against the Tsar.

From Time Magazine Archive

The United Executive Committee, which had been elected in June, was, of course, dominated by anti-Bolsheviki—that is, by Menshevik Social Democrats and by Socialist-Revolutionists.

From Bolshevism The Enemy of Political and Industrial Democracy by Spargo, John