Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (of Internationalists)

The Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (of Internationalists) (Russian: Российской социал-демократической рабочей партии (интернационалистов)), initially known as the United Social Democrats-Internationalists, was a political party in Russia.

Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (of Internationalists) Российской социал-демократической рабочей партии (интернационалистов)
Founded	July 1917 (1917-07)
Dissolved	October 1919 (1919-10)
Newspaper	Novaya Zhizn
Ideology	Socialism
Colours	Red
Party flag
Politics of Russia Political parties Elections

The programme of the group was largely similar to that of the Menshevik-Internationalists, and politically it placed itself between the Menshevik-Internationalists and the Bolsheviks.^[1] They were critical of Bolshevik tactics but would remain supportive of the Soviet government.^[1] They were a relatively small organization of leftist intellectuals, largely identified with its newspaper Novaya Zhizn ('New Life').^[2][1] Whilst the group was quite small, Novaya Zhizn had a significant readership.^[1] It was published by the well-known author Maxim Gorky, although Gorky broke with the party in July 1917.^[2] Gorky had been the only prominent figure in the organization.^[1]

In December 1917 Solomon Lozovsky was expelled from the Bolshevik Party, after which he joined the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (of Internationalists) and became its main leader.^[3][4] In March 1918 he became the party chairman.^[5] He also edited the new party organ Proletarii ('Proletarian').^[5]

In May 1918 the party underwent a split, with a minority group (who favoured closer relations with the Bolsheviks) broke away and formed their own group.^[5] At the Second All Russian Trade Union Congress in January 1919, the party delegation supported the call for unions independent from the Communist Party.^[4][6]

In April 1919, the minority that had split in 1918 reunited with the party.^[5] The party adopted the name Russian Social Democratic Labour Party and took a more conciliatory approach towards the Bolsheviks.^[5] The 4th congress of the party decided to dissolve the party and called on its membership to join the Communist Party.^[4] In December 1919 Lozovsky was readmitted to the Communist Party.^[3]

Soviet historiography labelled the party as "the far left of the petty bourgeoisie", arguing that the party had a contradictory position in calling for a socialist government whilst rejecting the notion of an armed uprising.^[2]