Bolshevism

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   historical and political: the revolutionary Marxist doctrine and strategy of the Bolshevik faction led by Lenin

   Bolshevism advocated a disciplined revolutionary party capable of seizing political power.

2. 2
   noun

   historical: the political system or communist ideology established by the Bolsheviks after the Russian Revolution

   Opponents used Bolshevism as a broad label for the new Soviet order.

3. 3
   noun

   dated, loose, and often disparaging: radical, revolutionary, or socially disruptive behavior

   The servant jokingly called the guest's rude intrusion Bolshevism.

Borrowed from Russian bolshevizm, from bolshevik, 'member of the majority faction,' ultimately from bolshinstvo, 'majority.' The faction took its name after divisions at the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party's 1903 congress.

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