Shendrikov Organization

a Menshevik organization formed by the brothers Lev, Il’ia, and Gleb Shendrikov in Baku in August 1904. Initially called the Organization of Balakhany and Bibi-Eibat Workers, it was renamed the Union of Baku Workers in May 1905.

The organization spread the ideas of economism among politically backward strata of workers, waged a slanderous campaign against the Bolsheviks, and broke up political demonstrations; it employed anarchic and provocative methods of struggle, such as setting fire to oil fields, thus giving the authorities cause for massive repression and the use of armed force against the workers. In late 1904 the Party Council, which was in Menshevik hands, recognized the Shendrikov organization as a party organization.

During the Revolution of 1905–07, the Shendrikov organization obstructed preparations for an armed uprising, exacerbated national differences among the workers, and carried on schismatic activities in the Baku soviet of workers’ deputies. The Bolsheviks considered the actions of the Shendrikov organization akin to the tsarist government’s policy of Zubatovshchina, and the organization’s actions later became known as Shendrikovshchina.

L. Shendrikov was brought before a party court on charges of antiparty activity, and in the summer of 1906 he was expelled from the RSDLP. The Shendrikov organization, having lost its influence among the workers, disbanded.