# Bolsheviks and Mensheviks split (1903)

URL: https://history-russia.com/timeline/1903-bolsheviks-and-mensheviks-split
Categories: main-event

At the RSDLP's Second Congress in Brussels and London, Lenin's supporters, calling themselves Bolsheviks (majority), split from the Mensheviks over party organisation. The Kishinev pogrom of April 1903 also drew international condemnation. Lenin favoured a party of professional revolutionaries. The split created the party that seized power in 1917.

## Why it matters
The split created the party that seized power in 1917.

Ruler at the time: [Nicholas II](https://history-russia.com/rulers/nicholas-ii)

## Sources
- [Wikipedia — 2nd Congress of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2nd_Congress_of_the_Russian_Social_Democratic_Labour_Party)
- [Wikipedia — Bolsheviks](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bolsheviks)
- [Wikipedia — Russian Empire](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_Empire)
- [Encyclopaedia Britannica topic lookup — Bolsheviks and Mensheviks split](https://www.britannica.com/search?query=Bolsheviks+and+Mensheviks+split)
- [Wikipedia — Timeline of Russian history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_Russian_history)