[pandaman]

My point is that it was the mainstream Left in 20th century. The fact that people insist on calling them "Bolsheviks" instead of "Communists" is, IMHO, an indication that Left still hope to salvage their ideology by implying that "it was not the true Communism!". There were plenty of them in 1970 (6M or so party members) and, even though, the CPSU was officially disbanded in 1991, a new CPSU has been established in 1993 as its successor and still has enough support to win seats in Duma.

[kmonsen]

I don't think Leninism, Bolsheviks or Communism are anything to do with what I understand leftism (or socialism) to be.

The former were all about a minority controlling the majority, while the latter is about the majority being in control (although that does not work out all that well always either).

Note that the it is almost impossible to discuss this due to overloaded terms like liberalism which means the opposite depending on who you ask. I define leftism like this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Left-wing_politics

[aaron-lebo]

I'm getting into semantics, but though I get that the Bolsheviks of 1920 transformed (officially) and eventually into the CPSU in 1952, with that "rebranding", did anyone in the USSR still call themselves Bolsheviks or were they communists or was there a more popular term?

It's just that I've never seen it in (historical) contexts outside of describing the pre 1920s revolutionaries.

[pandaman]

>anyone in the USSR still call themselves Bolsheviks or were they communists or was there a more popular term

They used "bolshevik" as a term of endearment especially in reference to the old party members.

[LoSboccacc]

> that Left still hope to salvage their ideology by implying that "it was not the true Communism!"

don't worry most of the left repackaged the old communism into moral relativism and is no longer trying to win that unwinnable battle to keep communism as an ideology detached from all communist implementations.

it's mostly the older guards that still try that line.