ABSTRACT
The emergence of a Marxist movement occurred mainly in the late 1880s and the 1890s, with the various groups uniting in 1898 to form the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (RSDLP). It derived most of its support from the urban proletariat, or industrial workers. This was in contrast to the Socialist Revolutionaries who were formed in 1900 from the populist groups representing the rural proletariat, or peasantry. By 1903, however, the RSDLP had split into two main factions because of internal differences over the interpretation of Marxist ideology and its relevance to party organisation and revolutionary strategy.
