Glossary

People

Adler, Victor (1852-1918) – A founder and leader of the Austrian social democracy. He took a social-chauvinist position in the war.

Alexinsky, Grigory (1879-1967) – Early member of the Bolsheviks in Moscow. Became a social-chauvinist in the war. In 1917, Alexinsky joined Plekhanov’s Yedinstvo group. After July, he became a counter-revolutionary and an author of forgeries claiming Lenin was a German agent.

Avilov, Boris (1874-1938) – Left the Bolsheviks in 1917 and joined Vladimir Bazarov, Gavriil Lindov and others to form the United Social-Democrat Internationalists, who aimed to bring together the Menshevik-Internationalists with the more moderate Bolsheviks into a new group. The group’s organ was Novaya Zhizn.

Avksentiev, Nikolai (1878-1943) – A leading SR.

Axelrod, Pavel (1850-1928) – A leading Menshevik.

Bazarov, Vladimir (1874-1939) – Attended first meetings of St. Petersburg Bolshevik committee after February 1917 before breaking with the Bolsheviks. Held a position close to the Menshevik-Internationalists.

Bernstein, Eduard (1850-1932) – German Social-Democrat who tried to revise Marx’s revolutionary theory on the lines of bourgeois liberalism. Bernsteinism, the opportunist trend in German and International Social-Democracy, hostile to Marxism, derives its name from his ideas.

Blanc, Louis (1811-1882) – French petty-bourgeois socialist and historian. He opposed the proletarian revolution, and wanted a compromise with the bourgeoisie. Lenin frequently used his name as an epithet to denote the opportunist and conciliatory tactics of the Mensheviks and other traitors to the cause of the revolution and the interests of the working class.

Blanqui, Louis-Auguste (1805-1881) – French socialist who put forward that the revolution must be carried out, not by the masses, but as a coup de main of a small revolutionary minority. The term ‘Blanquism’, as properly used for example by Marx, Engels and Lenin, denotes this conspiratorial conception of the revolution. However, the term was often falsely used by reformists and conciliators to denote the idea of insurrection. See Lenin’s ‘Letters on Tactics’ and ‘Marxism and Insurrection’.

Breshko-Breshkovskaya, Catherine (1844-1934) – Narodnik and a founding SR member. She returned to Russia from exile in 1917. Supported the Provisional Government, and was elected to the Pre-parliament in October.

Buchanan, Sir George William (1854-1924) – British diplomat and ambassador to Russia (1910-1918). Supported Kornilov’s revolt.

Cavaignac, Louis-Eugène (1802-1857) – Notorious French general who, as Minister of War, led the suppression of the Paris workers’ uprising in June 1848. Appointed Chief of the Executive Power in France from June-December 1848.

Chernov, Victor (1873-1952) – A founder and the main theoretician of the SRs. Minister of Agriculture in the first and second Provisional Government.

Chkheidze, Nikolai (1864-1926) – Georgian Menshevik. President of the EC of the Soviet of Petrograd until September 1917.

Chkhenkeli, Akaki (1874-1959) – Georgian Menshevik.

Dan, Fyodor (1871-1947) – A founding member of the Mensheviks who took a defencist position. Member of the EC of the Petrograd Soviet after February 1917. Dan and Mikhail Liber were together ironically nicknamed ‘Liberdan’.

David, Eduard (1863-1930) – Reichstag member for the German SPD after 1903, leading the social-chauvinist majority.

Grimm, Robert (1881-1958) – A leader of the Swiss Social-Democratic Party, belonging to the centrist trend.

Guchkov, Alexander (1862-1936) – Moscow landowner and industrialist. He was the founder and leader of the Octobrists. Minister of War and Navy in the Provisional Government from March-May 1917. He was forced to resign in the wake of public unrest when Milyukov’s Note was revealed.

Gvozdev, Kuzma (1859-1932) – Menshevik, on the Petrograd Soviet EC from February. Minister of Labour in the third Provisional Government.

Kaledin, Alexey (1861-1918) – Tsarist General.

Kamenev, Lev (1883-1936) – Joined the Bolshevik faction in 1903, elected to the CC in 1907. After the February Revolution, Kamenev sided with Zinoviev and Stalin and pursued a policy of conciliation with the Provisional Government. In October, Kamenev and Zinoviev went to the public press and disclosed the plans for an insurrection, for which Lenin called for their immediate expulsion.

Kamkov, Boris (1885-1938) – A leading SR. Elected to the Petrograd Soviet in April 1917. Joined the Left SRs.

Kautsky, Karl (1854-1938) – One of the leading theoreticians of the Social Democratic Party of Germany and the Second International. By the outbreak of the First World War, he had abandoned revolutionary Marxism and took up an indecisive position between revolutionary opposition to the war and patriotic support for the German bourgeoisie. As such, he became the theoretician of this ‘centrism’ in the socialist movement, and a bitter opponent of the Russian Revolution.

Kerensky, Alexander (1881-1970) – Lawyer and nominal member of the SRs. After the February Revolution, he became the outstanding representative of petty-bourgeois conciliationism, first as Minister of Justice, then as War Minister. Kerensky then headed the Provisional Government from July-October 1917, at which point he fled the country.

Kishkin, Nikolai (1864-1930) – A leading Cadet. Minister of Healthcare and Minister of Public Charities in the third Provisional Government.

Klembovsky, Vladislav (1860-1921) – Supreme Commander-in-chief of the Russian Army in August 1917, replacing Kornilov.

Konovalov, Aleksandr (1875-1949) – Cadet and one of Russia’s biggest textile manufacturers. Minister of Trade and Industry in the first Provisional Government, maintaining the post when he became Vice-President in the third.

Kornilov, Lavr (1870-1918) – Siberian Cossack and Commander on the South Western Front in 1917. Appointed Commander-in-Chief by the Provisional Government in July 1917. Kornilov was arrested after his attempted counter-revolutionary uprising against the Provisional Government on 28-31 August (10-13 September) which was repelled by the workers, headed by the Bolsheviks. He later escaped and led the White Volunteer Army.

Kutler, Nikolai (1859-1924) – Cadet and prominent politician in Russia from 1904.

Legien, Carl (1861-1920) – Reichstag member of the German SPD. Leader of the right wing of the SPD and a virulent social-chauvinist.

Liber, Mikhail (1880-1937) – A leading Menshevik, with a defencist position. Supported Kerensky’s Provisional Government. Liber and Fyodor Dan were together ironically nicknamed ‘Liberdan’.

Liberdan – An ironical nickname which stuck to the Mensheviks Mikhail Liber and Fyodor Dan and their followers.

Liebknecht, Karl (1871-1919) – German socialist and internationalist. In 1914, together with Luxemburg, Mehring and Zetkin, he publicly opposed the German SPD’s support for the war. He co-organised the Spartacus League from 1915 and was expelled from the SPD parliamentary group the following year. Liebknecht was imprisoned for anti-war agitation. On the day of his trial, 50,000 munitions workers downed tools, as demonstrations and strikes spread across the country. He was murdered during the Spartacist Uprising in January 1919.

Lloyd George, David (1863-1945) – Welsh MP for the Liberal Party from 1890-1945. British Prime Minister from 1916-22.

Luxemburg, Rosa (1871-1919) – Joined the social-democratic movement in Poland in 1887 and joined the SPD in Germany 1898. She was on the bureau of the Second International from 1903. She was a leader of the left wing against the revisionist right in Germany and, after 1910, against the Kautskyist group. A leading revolutionary opponent of war and a founding member of the Spartacus group.

Lvov, Prince Georgy (1861-1925) – Aristocrat and Cadet. First Prime Minister of the first Provisional Government and Minister of the Interior until his resignation in July.

Maclean, John (1879-1923) – Scottish schoolteacher and revolutionary socialist, arrested for his opposition to the war.

Maklakov, Vasily (1869-1957) – Moscow landowner, lawyer and Cadet. A member of the Provisional Committee of the State Duma formed by the Provisional Government in February 1917. Supported Kornilov’s revolt.

Martov, Yuri (Julius) (1873-1913) – A leading Menshevik, on its left wing. He advocated against Mensheviks joining the Provisional Government. He strongly criticised Mensheviks such as Irakli Tsereteli and Fyodor Dan who, as members of the Russian government, supported the war effort.

Milyukov, Pavel (1859-1943) – A founder and leader of the Cadets, ideologue of the imperialist bourgeoisie. Foreign Minister in the first Provisional Government. He advocated continuing the war effort at all costs. On 20 April (3 May), his Note to the Allied governments was made public, in which the Provisional Government reaffirmed its intention to honour all the treaties of the tsarist government and to carry on the war to a victorious end. This provoked mass demonstrations and a governmental crisis. He resigned shortly after, remaining the leader of the Cadets. Supported Kornilov’s revolt.

Nekrasov, Nikolai (1879-1940) – A founder and leader of the Cadets. Transportation Minister in the first and Vice-president and Minister of Finance in the second Provisional Government. Supported Kornilov’s revolt.

Nicholas II, (Nikolai Romanov) (1868-1918) – Last tsar of Russia, reigning from 1894 until his abdication on 2 (15) March 1917.

Nikitin, Alexey (1876-1939) – Menshevik. Post and Telegraph Minister in the second and third Provisional Government, as well as Minister for Internal Affairs in the third.

Pereverzev, Pavel (1871-1944) – SR. Justice Minister in the first Provisional Government. During the July Days, he published documents allegedly showing the connections between Lenin and the German General Staff.

Peshekhonov, Alexey (1867-1933) – Member of the Popular Socialist Party. Minister of Food in the first and second Provisional Government.

Plekhanov, Georgi (1856-1918) – The founder of Russian Marxism and a leading member of the RSDLP. After joining the Menshevik faction in 1903, he became extremely hostile to Lenin and the Bolsheviks. He took a defencist, social-chauvinist position in the war. He initially opposed the February Revolution on the grounds that it disorganised the war effort, before supporting the Provisional Government. Founded and edited Yedinstvo in 1917, which had a small group of supporters. Denounced Lenin as a German agent in the July Days.

Potresov, Alexander (1869-1934) – A leading Menshevik, on the extreme right. He held a defencist position to the war, advocating its continuation at all costs in 1917.

Rakitnikov, Nikolai (b. 1864) – A leading SR.

Rasputin, Grigori (1869-1916) – Russian Orthodox mystic in the tsarist court, close with the family of Nicholas II and exercising colossal power through his ties with the tsarina. He was a divisive figure both outside and within the court, and was assassinated by a group of noblemen.

Renaudel, Pierre (1871-1935) – A founder and leader of the Socialist Party of France, on its right wing.

Ribot, Alexandre (1842-1923) – Four-time French Prime Minister including during 1914 and March-September 1917.

Ryabushinsky, Pavel (1871-1924) – Industrialist and founder of the liberal Progressive Party along with Aleksandr Konovalov. Supported Kornilov’s revolt.

Savinkov, Boris (1879-1925) – SR and Assistant Minister of War in the Provisional Government from July-August. Supported Kornilov’s revolt.

Scheidemann, Philipp (1865-1939) – Leader of the extreme right-wing section of the German SPD. Chairman of the SPD parliamentary group together with Hugo Haase. Voted for war credits at the outbreak of the war.

Shingarev, Andrei (1869-1918) – A leading Cadet. Minister of Agriculture in the first and Minister of Finance in the second Provisional Government.

Skobelev, Matvey (1885-1938) – Menshevik and a leader of the Petrograd Soviet after the February Revolution. Elected deputy chairman of the All-Russia Soviet EC at the first Soviet Congress in June 1917. Minister of Labour in the first and second Provisional Governments.

Sonnino, Sidney (1847-1922) – Prime Minister of Italy in 1909-10 and Minister of Foreign Affairs in 1914-1919.

Spiridonova, Maria (1884-1941) – Prominent SR, joining the Left SRs in October 1917, siding with the Bolsheviks. Broke with the Bolsheviks in 1918.

Stalin, Joseph (1878-1953) – Joined the Bolshevik faction of the RSDLP in 1904 and was co-opted onto the CC in 1912. After the February Revolution, Stalin, Kamenev and Zinoviev pursued a policy of conciliation with the Provisional Government.

Stolypin, Pyotr (1862-1911) – Landowner who was appointed Prime Minister and Minister of the Interior from 1906 until his assassination in 1911. He oversaw the counter-revolutionary terror after the 1905 Revolution, for which he was nicknamed ‘Stolypin the Hangman’.

Sukhanov, Nikolai (1882-1940) – Initially an SR. In February was elected to the Petrograd Soviet EC as an independent. He helped to negotiate the formation of Provisional Government, and became a member of the Contact Commission. Became a left Menshevik, on the editorial board of their paper Novaya Zhizn.

Tereshchenko, Mikhail (1886-1956) – Major Ukrainian landowner and factory owner. Finance Minister in the first Provisional Government, and then Foreign Minister from the second until the October Revolution.

Trotsky, Leon (Lev Davidovich Bronstein) (1879-1940) – Ukrainian-born revolutionary who joined the socialist movement in 1897. Growing close to Lenin in his youth, he ended up supporting the Mensheviks at the RSDLP Congress in 1903, upset at Lenin’s sharp approach. He vacillated amongst the various groups during the period of reaction after 1905, but consistently took an internationalist position. He was in exile in New York at the time of the February Revolution, and independently formulated the same perspectives as Lenin. He now recognised the impossibility of unity with the left-wing of the Mensheviks. With Lenin’s complete agreement, Trotsky did not immediately join the Bolshevik Party, but instead joined the 4,000-strong Petrograd Inter-District Committee – the Mezhraiontsy – in order to win them over to Bolshevism. He formally joined the Bolsheviks at the Sixth Congress in late-July to early-August (Old Style) along with the Mezhraiontsy, and was elected to the CC. Together with Lenin, he was one of the main leaders of the Russian Revolution. As leader of the Revolutionary Military Committee, he was responsible for co-ordinating the insurrection on the night of 24-25 October (6-7 November).

Tsereteli, Irakli (1881-1959) – Menshevik who had a leading position in the Petrograd Soviet from February 1917. Minister of Post and Telegraph (and part of Prince Lvov’s ‘inner cabinet’) in the first and Minister of the Interior in the second Provisional Government.

Volodarsky, V (1891-1918) – Joined the Bund in 1905, before joining the Mensheviks. Exiled in 1911, Volodarsky returned to Russia in May 1917 and joined the Mezhraiontsy (Inter-District Group). This group joined the Bolsheviks in July and he quickly became one of the best agitators in the party, focusing his work around the Putilov Ironworks.

Wilhelm II (1859-1941) – German Emperor and King of Prussia from 1888 until his abdication in 1918.

Zarudny, Alexander (1863-1934) – Petrograd lawyer and member of the Popular Socialists. Minister of Justice in the second Provisional Government. He issued orders for the arrest of Lenin, Trotsky, Kamenev and Zinoviev.

Zinoviev, Grigory (1883-1936) – Joined the Bolshevik faction in 1903, elected to the CC in 1907. After the February Revolution, Zinoviev sided with Kamenev and Stalin and pursued a policy of conciliation with the Provisional Government. Zinoviev and Kamenev went to the public press and disclosed the plans for an insurrection in October, for which Lenin called for their immediate expulsion.

Groups, periodicals and other terms

Birzhevka (abb.), Birzhevyie Vedomosti (Stock-Exchange Recorder) – A bourgeois daily published in St. Petersburg from 1880. Its abbreviated name, ‘Birzhevka’ became a generic term for the unscrupulous and venal bourgeois press.

Black Hundreds (Union of the Russian People) – Ultra-reactionary terrorist bands, loyal to the tsar, responsible for state-sanctioned pogroms against Jews and social-democrats.

Blanquism – Theory named after the French nineteenth century socialist Louis-Auguste Blanqui, who put forward that the revolution must be carried out, not by the masses, but as a coup de main of a small revolutionary minority. The term Blanquism, as properly used for example by Marx, Engels and Lenin, denotes this conspiratorial conception of the revolution. However, the term was often falsely used by reformists and conciliators to denote the idea of insurrection. See Lenin’s ‘Letters on Tactics’, and ‘Marxism and Insurrection’.

Bolsheviks – The revolutionary faction in the RSDLP. The word Bolshevik means ‘majority’ in Russian, a reference to the fact that the Bolsheviks made up a majority at the 1903 Congress. They defended the class independence of the working class in relation to bourgeois parties, implacable firmness in questions of theory, as well as tactical and organisational flexibility. Until 1918, the party went under the name Russian Social-Democratic Labour Party (Bolsheviks), abbreviated as RSDLP(B).

Cadets (Constitutional-Democratic Party) – The chief party of the Russian liberal-monarchist bourgeoisie. Founded in October 1905, it was composed chiefly of capitalists, zemstvo leaders, landlords and bourgeois intellectuals. Actively supported the tsarist government’s predatory policies and the ambitions of the imperialist bourgeoisie in the war. Attempted to save the monarchy during the February Revolution. They were the dominant force in the Provisional Government, following a policy advantageous to US, British and French imperialism.

Duma – During the reign of Nicholas II the State Duma was the name given to the national parliament, which only had an advisory role. There were also local dumas, the equivalent of local councils.

Dyelo Naroda (People’s Cause) – Daily organ of the Centrist group of the SRs from March 1917, becoming the organ of the CC in June. The paper took a defencist and conciliatory stand and supported the Provisional Government.

Internationale, Die – See ‘Spartacus League’.

Izvestia – Daily paper of the Petrograd Soviet of Workers’ and Soldiers’ Deputies, which in July 1917 became the organ of its Central Executive Committee led by the SRs and Mensheviks. After the October Revolution, the paper became the official organ of the Soviet government.

Listok ‘Pravdy’ (A Leaf of Truth) – A renaming of Pravda due to the Provisional Governments persecution of the paper.

Menshevik-Internationalists – Menshevik adherents of Martov and non-aligned intellectuals of a semi-Menshevik trend.

Mensheviks – Originated as the opposition faction in the RSDLP. They pursued a policy of class collaboration with the bourgeoisie. Their leading body was the Organising Committee (OC).

Mezhraiontsy (Inter-District Group) – A non-Party organisation in Petrograd. With Lenin’s complete agreement, Trotsky did not immediately join the Bolshevik Party on his return to Russia in 1917, but instead joined the Mezhraiontsy in order to win them over to Bolshevism. They formally joined the Bolsheviks at the Sixth Congress in late-July to early-August (Old Style).

Narodniks – A revolutionary movement active in the 1860s and 1870s, led by students and the intelligentsia. Believing the peasantry was the revolutionary class that would overthrow the monarchy, they regarded the village commune as the embryo of socialism. This tactic eventually proved to be a dead end, which provoked the movement to enter into crisis. In 1917, Lenin often used the term ‘Narodnik’ to denote the three petty-bourgeois parties of the Narodnik trend, namely, the Trudoviks, the SRs and the Popular Socialists.

Novaya Zhizn (New Life) – Daily newspaper of a Menshevik trend, organ of a group of Social-Democrats known as Menshevik-Internationalists, adherents of Martov and non-aligned intellectuals.

Novoye Vremya (New Times) – Daily newspaper, published in St. Petersburg from 1868. In 1905 it became an organ of the Black Hundreds. Lenin called it a model of a corrupted newspaper. After the February Revolution, Novoye Vremya fully supported the policy of the Provisional Government and the Black Hundreds.

Octobrists (The League of October Seventeenth) – Party of the big merchants, industrialists and big landowners who ran their estates on capitalist lines. Their name derives from their support for the tsar’s ‘October Manifesto’ in 1905.

Organising Committee (OC) – See Mensheviks.

Peaceful Renovation Party – Constitutional-monarchist organisation of the big bourgeoisie and landlords.

Popular Socialist Party – Formed in 1906 from right-wing elements of the SRs who stood for a bloc with the Cadets. After the February Revolution they merged with the Trudoviks and actively supported the Provisional Government, in which it was represented.

Pravda – Main organ of the Bolsheviks.

Proletarskoye Dyelo – Organ of the Bolsheviks in Kronstadt.

Rabochaya Gazeta (Workers’ Newspaper) – Central organ of the Mensheviks, published as a daily in Petrograd from March-November 1917. It supported the Provisional Government and fought against the Bolshevik Party.

Rabochy Put (The Workers’ Path) – The central organ of the Bolshevik Party, from 3 (16) September to 26 October (8 November) 1917 in place of Pravda, which was closed down by the Provisional Government.

Rech (Speech) – Central organ of the Cadets.

Russian Social-Democratic Labour Party (RSDLP) – The Russian Marxist party formed in 1898 in Minsk. It united the various isolated revolutionary groups in Russia into a single, unified party based on the principles of Marxism. At its Second Congress, the party was divided into the Bolshevik and Menshevik factions, before forming separate parties in 1912. Until 1918, the Bolsheviks went under the name Russian Social-Democratic Labour Party (Bolsheviks), abbreviated as RSDLP(B).

Russkaya Volya (Russian Freedom) – Daily newspaper founded and run by the big banks in Moscow from December 1916. Lenin called it one of the most disreputable bourgeois newspapers.

Russkoye Slovo (Russian World) – Daily newspaper published in Moscow from 1895. Ostensibly independent, it aligned with the Russian bourgeoisie. In 1917 the paper sided with the Provisional Government.

Socialist-Revolutionary Party (SRs) – Petty-bourgeois party of agrarian socialists, who based themselves on the peasantry. They were the ideological heirs of the Narodniks. In the summer of 1917 they split into the Left SRs and Right SRs.

Sotsial-Demokrat – Central organ of the RSDLP, published as an underground newspaper from February 1908 to January 1917. It featured more than eighty articles and other items by Lenin, who became its editor in December 1911.

Spartacus League (Spartacists, Internationale group) – The Internationale group, who produced the organ Die Internationale, was formed by the German Left Social-Democrats Karl Liebknecht, Rosa Luxemburg, Franz Mehring, Clara Zetkin and others at the beginning of the First World War. Soon after, the group denounced the SPD, and formed the Spartacus League. They carried out propaganda among the masses against the imperialist war, exposing the aggressive policy of German imperialism and the treachery of the leaders of Social-Democracy. In 1917 they became affiliated to the centrist Independent Social-Democratic Party of Germany, preserving their organisational independence.

Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) – Considered the leading party in the Second International, with over 1 million members in 1914. The near-unanimous vote for war credits amongst its members in the Reichstag at the opening of the First World War signified the death of the International.

Trudoviks – Party formed in a split from the SRs in 1906, with an agrarian peasant programme. Alexander Kerensky, later Prime Minister of the Provisional Government in 1917, was elected to the Fourth Duma as a Trudovik in 1912. In 1917 they supported the Provisional Government.

Yedinstvo (Unity) – Organ of the extreme-right Mensheviks, led by Plekhanov.

Zimmerwald Conference – The first conference of internationalists held in Zimmerwald from 5-8 September 1915. During the conference a struggle developed between the revolutionary internationalists led by Lenin and the Kautskyite majority. Lenin formed and led the Zimmerwald Left group.

Zimmerwald Left – Formed by Lenin at the first socialist conference of internationalists at Zimmerwald, Switzerland, in early September 1915. It was, Lenin said, the first step in the development of the internationalist movement against the war. The group also included a number of inconsistent internationalists.