Bolshevik (person)

As hatless so aptly points out, Bolshevik means "the majority," however, the "Bolsheviks" were not only outnumbered, they were greatly outnumbered. The Bolsheviks were followers of Lenin and adhered to a Marxist-Leninist approach to socialism. They believed that the only way to bring about the communist future, the proletariat revolution, was through violent revolution.

The Mensheviks, on the other hand, were cleary the actual "majority" of the Socialists in Russia at the turn of the 20th century. They believed that, in a world where governments were increasingly democratic, therefore far more vulnerable to the will of the people than ever before, that the Socialists could take power and bring about the Revolution through peaceful means - the ballot box.

Ironically, the names given to the respective parties were given by Lenin himself, when, at a significant socialist meeting in 1903 when the Russian Jews, a significant portion of the Mensheviks, walked out (offended by the anti-Semitism that was present in the party, as everywhere else in the world). Because a large portion of the Menshevik faction had abruptly left, Lenin seized his temporary majority, a huge opportunity, and took control of the party.

hatless: Both Lenin and Marx explained the presence of prodominately bourgoise leaders in the Communist party. Because the proletariat is less likely to be exposed to learning (hell, most of them were functionally illiterate in Russia in 1910), they are not likely to easy or immidately understand the ideology of Communism well enough to teach it to the masses without greatly distorting it. Because of this, both Lenin and Marx explain, there is a need, at the beginning of the revolution, for an intellectual leadership of bourgoise, if for no other reason than because they generally had more schooling.