The S.D.B.H.K. received fierce criticisms from the other social democratic factions in the Caucasus, both the Bolsheviks (Stalin and Stepan Shaumian) and Mensheviks ( and Noe Zhordania). Ahead of the 3rd Congress of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party in 1905, both the Menshevik leader Zhordania and the Bolshevik leader Lenin argued against a union with S.D.B.H.K. Lenin referred to the group as a 'bundist creature'.