How was the Menshevik idea of party different from the Bolshevik idea?

Correct answer: Mensheviks favoured broad and open party membership

The direct answer is Option A: Mensheviks favoured broad and open party membership. The disagreement arose over how a revolutionary party should be organised. Lenin and the Bolsheviks wanted a smaller, disciplined party of active professional revolutionaries. The Mensheviks preferred a larger organisation that could include a wider body of workers and sympathisers. Option A is correct because it states this organisational difference. Option B is wrong because the Mensheviks were a socialist faction, not the Tsar’s secret police. Option C is wrong because the Land Decree was associated with the later revolutionary government and does not describe the Menshevik membership principle. Option D is wrong because War Communism was a Bolshevik policy during the Civil War, not a Menshevik foundation. Memory cue: Mensheviks meant a broader party; Bolsheviks stressed a tighter disciplined party.