The split of the Menshevist party in 1918

The article provides a detailed analysis of the fierce discussions between the leaders of the «internationalist» and «defensist» trends of the Menshevik party, which took place before and after the Bolsheviks came to power. The author argues that these discussions seriously prevented the Mensheviks from uniting against Communist dictatorship established at the end of 1917, from occupying a more influential position as a single monolithic structure in the new revolutionary government and, ultimately, led to the final split of Menshevism after that its leaders were doomed to the role of powerless and almost tacit opposition to the Bolshevik rulers.