Russian Social Democratic Labor Party

   Founded in 1898 in Minsk, Russia, the Russian Social Democratic Labor Party (Rossiiskaia Sotsial-demokraticheskaia Rabochaia Partiia—RSDRP) initially lacked rules, a program and much in the way of organization until its second congress in 1903. Here the party both established itself in terms of both doctrinal and organizational substance, and here it also split into two rival factions that became known as the Bolsheviks and the Mensheviks. The two factions were led by Vladimir Ilich Lenin and Yuli Martov respectively and they split over the issue of party organization with Lenin favoring a tighter, more active and committed party membership and Martov advocating a broader, looser and less participatory one. Lenin’s faction gained control of the Central Committee and ultimately of the party. In 1917 the party changed its name to Russian Social Democratic Labor Party (Bolsheviks), and again in 1918 to Russian Communist Party (Bolsheviks). In 1925 yet another name change saw the party labeled the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks), and finally in 1952 the party became the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.