Julius Martov
1873 – 1923 Russian Leader of the Menshevik faction
The Menshevik leader and Lenin's old friend turned principled rival.
- Religion
- Born to a Jewish family; a secular atheist and Marxist.
- Affiliations
- Menshevik leader after the 1903 split with Lenin; opposed the one-party Bolshevik state.
Martov was once close to Lenin but split with him in 1903, leading the more moderate Menshevik wing that wanted a broad, democratic workers' party. He opposed the Bolshevik seizure of power and their repression while refusing to take up arms against them. Ill and disillusioned, he left Russia and died in Germany.
Connections
- ally of Georgi Plekhanov — Fellow Menshevik after the 1903 party split.
- ally of Georgi Plekhanov — Fellow Menshevik leader.
- rival of Vladimir Lenin — A close early comrade who became his main Menshevik opponent.
In the timeline
- 1907 The Stuttgart Congress and the war question mentioned