Bolshevik

See also: bolshevik

English

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Bolshevik

Wikipedia

Alternative forms

• bolshevik

Etymology

Borrowed from Russian большеви́к (bolʹševík), from большинство́ (bolʹšinstvó, “majority”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈbɒlʃəvɪk/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈboʊlʃəvɪk/, /ˈbɑl-/, /ˈbol-/, /ˈbɔl-/
• Rhymes: -ɒlʃəvɪk, -əʊlʃəvɪk

Noun

Bolshevik (plural Bolsheviks or (literary) Bolsheviki)

1. (historical) A Russian communist revolutionary, a member of the Bolshevik Party in the Communist Revolution of Russia in 1917.
   • 1967 [1905 February 3], Владимир Ленин [Vladimir Lenin], “Письмо к Грейлиху”, in Краткий очерк раскола в РСДРП (В. И. Ленин – Полное собрание сочинений; 9), page 239; English translation from “The Letter to Greulich”, in Bernard Isaacs, Isidor Lasker, transl., A Brief Outline of the Split in the R.S.D.L.P. (V. I. Lenin – Collected Works; 8), translation of original in Russian, 1977, page 130:

     We Bolsheviks maintain that we have on our side the majority of real Party workers active in Russia.

     [original: Мы, большевики, утверждаем, что на нашей стороне большинство настоящих, русских, партийных деятелей.]

     My, bolʹševiki, utverždajem, što na našej storone bolʹšinstvo nastojaščix, russkix, partijnyx dejatelej.

   • 1968, Robert Conquest, “The Problem of Confession”, in The Great Terror: Stalin's Purge of the Thirties‎, Macmillan Company, →LCCN, →OCLC, →OL, page 124:

     But such points were on the whole lost in the picture as it appeared in gross: everyone had confessed, the Old Bolsheviks had publicly avowed disgraceful plans and actions. The whole business almost passed belief. Were the confessions true? How had they been obtained? What did it all signify? We are told that the confessions were as little believed in Russia as abroad, ‘or even less’, but that the average Soviet citizen who had not been in jail found them as puzzling as foreigners did.

2. (historical) A member of the Communist Party that ruled the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.

Related terms

• anarcho-Bolshevik
• Bolshevism

Translations

a member of the majority faction of the Russian Social Democratic Party, which seized power in the October Revolution of 1917

Albanian: bolshevik (sq) m Arabic: بُلْشِفِيك m (bulšifīk), بُلْشِفِيّ m (bulšifiyy) Armenian: բոլշևիկ (bolšewik) Azerbaijani: bolşevik Belarusian: бальшаві́к m (balʹšavík), бальшаві́чка f (balʹšavíčka) Bulgarian: болшеви́к (bg) m (bolševík) Catalan: bolxevic m or f Chinese: Mandarin: 布爾什維克 / 布尔什维克 (zh) (bù'ěrshíwéikè) Czech: bolševik (cs) m Danish: bolsjevik c Dutch: bolsjewiek (nl) m Esperanto: bolŝeviko Estonian: enamlane, bolševik Finnish: bolševikki (fi) French: bolchevik (fr) m, bolchévique (fr) m, bolchevique (fr) m Galician: bolxevique m Georgian: ბოლშევიკი (bolševiḳi) German: Bolschewik (de) m, Bolschewikin (de) f, Bolschewist (de) m, Bolschewistin (de) f Greek: μπολσεβίκος (el) m (bolsevíkos) Greenlandic: bolschevikki Hindi: बोलशेविक m (bolśevik) Hungarian: bolsevik (hu) Icelandic: bolsévik m Irish: Boilséiveach m Italian: bolscevico (it) m, bolscevica f Japanese: ボリシェヴィキ (ja) (borisheviki) Kannada: ಬೋಲ್ಶೆವಿಕ್ (bōlśevik), ಬೊಲ್ಶೆವಿಕ್ (bolśevik) Kazakh: большевик (bolşevik) Korean: 볼셰비키 (bolsyebiki) Kyrgyz: большевик (ky) (bolşevik) Latvian: boļševiks m Lithuanian: bolševikas m Macedonian: болшевик m (bolševik) Marathi: बोलशेव्हिक (bolśevhik) Mongolian: большевик (mn) (bolʹševik) Norwegian: bolsjevik m Ottoman Turkish: بولشه‌ویك (Bolşevik) Persian: بلشویک (fa) (bolševik) Polish: bolszewik (pl) m, bolszewiczka f Portuguese: bolchevique (pt) m Romanian: bolșevic (ro) m Russian: большеви́к (ru) m (bolʹševík), большеви́чка (ru) f (bolʹševíčka) Serbo-Croatian: Cyrillic: бољшѐвӣк m Roman: boljšèvīk (sh) m Slovak: boľševik m Slovene: boljševik (sl) m Spanish: bolchevique (es) m Swedish: bolsjevik (sv) c Tajik: болшевик (bolševik) Telugu: బోల్శెవిక్ (bōlśevik), బొల్శెవిక్ (bolśevik) Thai: บอลเชวิค (bɔɔn-chee-wík) Turkish: Bolşevik (tr) Turkmen: bolşewik (tk) Ukrainian: більшови́к m (bilʹšovýk), більшови́чка f (bilʹšovýčka) Urdu: بالشویک m (bālśevik) Uzbek: bolshevik (uz) Vietnamese: Bôn-sê-vích, bôn-sê-vích Yakut: бассабыык (bassabıık) Yiddish: באָלשעוויק m (bolshevik), באָלשעוויסט m (bolshevist)

See also

• Menshevik