Faction

faction \FAK-shuhn\, noun:
1. A usually contentious or self-seeking group within a larger group, party, government, etc.
2. Party strife and intrigue; internal dissension.

For most of his colleagues, Leonid Ilich Brezhnev, who had succeeded Khrushchev as First (later General) Secretary, was a far more reassuring figure -- affable, lightweight and patient in reconciling opposing factions, though skillful in outmaneuvering his political rivals.
-- Christopher Andrew and Vasili Mitrokhin, The Sword and the Shield