ABSTRACT
This chapter gives a month by month account both of the persecution of Mensheviks and of the resistance they put up. It is based on memoirs, reports, articles and books written by Mensheviks themselves. In November-December 1918, with the outbreak of the revolution in Germany, an unexpected thaw set in the political life of Russia, most of the imprisoned Mensheviks were released and Mensheviks were once again allowed to stand for elections to the soviets. The newspaper of the Menshevik Central Committee, Vsegda Vpered, resumed publication on 22 January 1919 under L. Martov's editorship and was 'spectacularly successful'. The departure of so many prominent leaders threatened the very survival of the party in Russia, and an enlarged plenum of the Menshevik Central Committee was urgently called to discuss the situation. The Menshevik Central Committee instructed all party members to give the most essential information at the time of arrest, and to refuse to answer any further questions except in court.
