How did the Bolsheviks consolidate their power: 1917 - 1924?

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How did

the Bolsheviks consolidate

their power:

1917 - 1924?

" The remarkable feature about November 1917 is the way the Bolshevik leader, Lenin moved to the centre stage of Russian history, a position he maintained until his death in 1924".1

By the early 1920's Russia was in the authoritarian grip of a one party dictatorship. The Communist Party as the Bolshevik's had become. It had a ruthless leadership which was ideologically motivated to hold on to power at any cost. This was a dramatic change from the Bolshevik party's position in 1917 when the party enjoyed widespread support amongst the peasants, workers and soldiers who saw in the Bolshevik's the best hope for popular revolution. By the early 1920's however this had all changed. The Bolshevik's had lost the majority of its popular support after a ferocious Civil War and several economic disasters, political failures and mismanagement. Throughout the period 1917 to 1924 the Bolshevik's tried desperately to consolidate their power and regain control of the Country.

Lenin had been in hiding in Finland since July 1917, and then on 23rd October 1917 he returned to Petrograd in disguise. He was convinced