Menshevik
/ˈmɛnʃɪvɪk
/noun historical
A member of the moderate non-Leninist wing of the Russian Social Democratic Workers' Party, opposed to the Bolsheviks and defeated by them after the overthrow of the tsar in 1917.A strong Social Democrat Party of Mensheviks emerged in Georgia in the early 20th century, which formed a brief republic, under British protection....
- It was June 1917 and Kerensky had formed a provisional government that included the Mensheviks and Social Revolutionaries - but also representatives of the capitalist parties such as the Cadets.
- Here he is referring to the revolutionary socialist party which was split between the Mensheviks on the right and the Bolsheviks on the left.
Origin
From Russian Menʹshevik 'a member of the minority', from menʹshe 'less'. Lenin coined the name at a time when the party was (untypically) in a temporary minority.