Mensheviks Forever!

Let's face it, the Mensheviks were the good guys. Mitchell Cohen has a really excellent article over at Dissent on what the Mensheviks stood for and their conflicts with, and criticisms of, Lenin. Here's one graf from the Cohen article:

No regime identifying with Bolshevism has led, at any time or place, to anything that can be called “liberation.” The contemporary left can gain a useful perspective by revisiting some of the major arguments once made by leftists on behalf of left-wing principles against Leninism. Some on the left and many on the right will find it disconcerting to recall that the first anti-Bolshevik was a Marxist, Julius Martov. Although he was finally defeated by Bolshevism, and while, much as he tried, he could not save Marxism, his politics represented a plausible, intelligent, and humane left alternative to Leninism in Russia—on almost every issue.

 Yep, correct on all counts. Read the whole article; great stuff.