1. to convert to or bring under Bolshevik control or communist ideology
Usage: historical; often used in early 20th-century political discourse

Examples

• Western powers feared that Soviet influence would bolshevize Eastern Europe after World War II.
• Anti-communist politicians warned that radical movements threatened to bolshevize the nation.
• The government accused the labor organizers of attempting to bolshevize the working class.
• Historians debate whether Stalin's policies actually bolshevized Soviet society or merely consolidated power.
• Cold War rhetoric often invoked the specter of bolshevizing influences in American institutions.