Mensheviks, << MEHN shuh vihks >>, were members of a group in the Russian Social Democratic Labor Party. In 1903, this Marxist party split over a disagreement about membership. V. I. Lenin, a Russian revolutionary, became the leader of the bolshinstvo (majority), or Bolsheviks. His opponents became known as the menshinstvo (minority), or Mensheviks. The Bolsheviks favored party membership restricted to a small number of professional revolutionaries. The Mensheviks wanted fewer limitations on membership. See also Bolsheviks; Lenin, V. I.
