Menshevik
English
[edit]
Etymology
[edit]Borrowed from Russian меньшеви́к (menʹševík), derived from меньшинство́ (menʹšinstvó, “minority”), formed in turn from Russian ме́ньше (ménʹše), the comparative of ма́лый (mályj, “little”).[1]
Pronunciation
[edit]Noun
[edit]Menshevik (plural Mensheviks or Mensheviki)
- (now chiefly historical) A member of the gradualist or moderate wing of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party during the years preceding the Russian Revolution, when they split with the Bolsheviks; or a member of a later independent moderate-Marxist party formed in 1917. [from 20th c.]
- 1967 [1905 March 23 (10)], Владимир Ленин [Vladimir Lenin], “Пора кончить”, in В. И. Ленин – Полное собрание сочинений, volume 9, page 145; English translation from “Time to Call a Halt!”, in V. I. Lenin – Collected Works, volume 8, translation of original in Russian, 1977, page 36:
- For the last five or six months the representative of one district has been a ‘Menshevik’. Due to the fact that it has been out of touch with the general activity, this district has lost ground terribly.
- [original: В одном районе в последние 5—6 месяцев представителем был «меньшевик». Благодаря оторванности от общей работы этот район страшно ослаб.]
- V odnom rajone v poslednije 5—6 mesjacev predstavitelem byl «menʹševik». Blagodarja otorvannosti ot obščej raboty etot rajon strašno oslab.
- 1985, Peter Carey, Illywhacker, Faber and Faber 2003, page 259:
- ‘Better an ultra-leftist than a Menshevik,’ said Rosa Kaletsky.
- 2015 October 28, Ted Cruz, quotee, “Transcript: Read the Full Text of the CNBC Republican Debate in Boulder”, in Time[1]:
- Let me be clear. The men and women on this stage have more ideas, more experience, more common sense than every participant in the Democratic debate. That debate reflected a debate between the Bolsheviks and the Mensheviks.
Translations
[edit]member of a minority faction of the Russian revolutionary movement
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