Compromisers (Soglashateli)
협조주의자 (소글라샤텔리)
A Bolshevik political epithet first used by Lenin at the First All-Russian Congress of Soviets in June 1917 to denounce the Menshevik and Socialist Revolutionary (SR) majority that supported coalition with the Provisional Government and the bourgeoisie rather than transferring all power to the soviets. The term replaced the foreign-derived 'opportunist' in Russian revolutionary vocabulary, carrying the accusation of betraying working-class interests through compromise with the bourgeoisie. In Bolshevik discourse, soglashatelstvo was not merely a political disagreement but a counterrevolutionary tendency that substituted class struggle with negotiation.
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Sources
- Russian Wikipedia, Июльские дни: Lenin coined 'соглашатели' at the First All-Russian Congress of Soviets when the Menshevik-SR majority rejected Bolshevik resolutions on ending the war and transferring power to the soviets —
- Russian Wikipedia, I Всероссийский съезд Советов: delegates rejected Bolshevik resolutions 'за что были названы Лениным «соглашателями»' —
- V. I. Lenin, On Compromises (September 1917): Lenin's theoretical treatment of compromise in revolutionary politics, distinguishing forced from voluntary compromises and explaining the Bolshevik critique of the Menshevik-SR bloc —
- Популярный политический словарь (1923), entry 'Соглашатели': defines the term as the Bolshevik label for Mensheviks and SRs who 'betray the interests of the working class and peasants to please agreement with capitalists and landowners,' and notes it replaced the foreign word 'opportunist' —