--- title: 2016 Republican Debate: Ted Cruz's Russian History Lesson description: What did the candidate mean by comparing Democratic contenders to Bolsheviks and Menshiviks? canonical: https://time.com/4092545/ted-cruz-debate-russia/ author: Lily Rothman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-10-29T17:35:03.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T12:11:24.325Z article:section: History og:title: 2016 Republican Debate: Ted Cruz's Russian History Lesson og:description: What did the candidate mean by comparing Democratic contenders to Bolsheviks and Menshiviks? og:url: https://time.com/4092545/ted-cruz-debate-russia/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltbac777dc0fd7e7b8/69886ebe0b72e3347f6e68ee/cruz.jpeg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Republican Presidential Candidates Hold Third Debate In Colorado og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: 2016 Republican Debate: Ted Cruz's Russian History Lesson twitter:description: What did the candidate mean by comparing Democratic contenders to Bolsheviks and Menshiviks? twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltbac777dc0fd7e7b8/69886ebe0b72e3347f6e68ee/cruz.jpeg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # A Russian History Lesson From Ted Cruz  by [Lily Rothman](/author/lily-rothman/)  ## Lily Rothman Rothman is managing editor at TIME. Oct 29, 2015 5:35 PM CUT  Presidential candidate Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) speaks during the CNBC Republican Presidential Debate at University of Colorados Coors Events Center Oct. 28, 2015 in Boulder, Colo. Presidential candidate Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) speaks during the CNBC Republican Presidential Debate at University of Colorados Coors Events Center Oct. 28, 2015 in Boulder, Colo.Justin Sullivan—Getty Images  by [Lily Rothman](/author/lily-rothman/)  ## Lily Rothman Rothman is managing editor at TIME. Oct 29, 2015 5:35 PM CUT At Wednesday night’s Republican primary debate, Sen. Ted Cruz took the opportunity to say that he felt the debate was being engineered to paint the candidates in a negative light. In contrast, he said, the Democrats’ debate had been full of softballs and did little to highlight the differences between the candidates. “The men and women on this stage have more ideas, more experience, more common sense than every participant in the Democratic debate,” he [said](http://time.com/4091301/republican-debate-transcript-cnbc-boulder/ "undefined"). “That debate reflected a debate between the Bolsheviks and the Mensheviks.” Though the line drew some laughs in the auditorium, Cruz’s reference might have baffled anyone not up to date on their early-20th-century Russian history. It seems most likely that Cruz meant to imply that the Democrats are all basically Soviet-esque Communists to one degree or another. It’s an apt metaphor for making that particular point, but not for saying that the Democratic candidates don’t disagree: historically, the two Russian factions _were_ quite different from one another—though in a way that, thanks to their names, can be easily confused. Allow TIME, in 1923, to [explain](http://time.com/vault/issue/1923-08-20/page/11/ "undefined"): --- > “” --- ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4092545/ted-cruz-debate-russia/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4092545/ted-cruz-debate-russia/"},"headline":"A Russian History Lesson From Ted Cruz","datePublished":"2015-10-29T17:35:03.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T12:11:24.325Z","description":"What did the candidate mean by comparing Democratic contenders to Bolsheviks and Menshiviks?","url":"https://time.com/4092545/ted-cruz-debate-russia/","keywords":["politics","russia","Election","ted cruz"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltbac777dc0fd7e7b8/69886ebe0b72e3347f6e68ee/cruz.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Lily Rothman","jobTitle":"Rothman is managing editor at TIME.","url":"https://time.com/author/lily-rothman/"}],"articleSection":"History","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltbac777dc0fd7e7b8/69886ebe0b72e3347f6e68ee/cruz.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Republican Presidential Candidates Hold Third Debate In Colorado","caption":"Republican Presidential Candidates Hold Third Debate In Colorado","creditText":"Justin Sullivan—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/history/","name":"History"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/politics/","name":"politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4092545/ted-cruz-debate-russia/","name":"A Russian History Lesson From Ted Cruz"}}]}] ```