The Bolshevik’s now began a series of decree’s and reforms in rapid succession. The land decree broke up the large estates belonging to the Crown, Church and Land Owners. This land was then re-distributed to the peasants. This as well as being part of the Bolshevik party line was also an intelligent move by Lenin considering the peasants were the largest group in Russia making up 90% of the population in 1900. Lenin knew that for now the peasants must be controlled and what better way than to give them land whilst continuing the policy of Marx.
The legal system was abolished, giving the Bolshevik’s the freedom to continue their consolidation of power without the fear of legal problems.
Workers were given control over the factories where they worked. Again another intelligent move as the Bolshevik’s controlled the workers and hence the factories.
State control over the economy was imposed and in January 1918 Lenin nationalised the banks and all national debt was repudiated.
These decrees and constitutional changes were all steps along Lenin’s path of consolidation of Bolshevik power.
Lenin was beginning to control every facet of Russian life, from the smallest farm holder to factory workers and up through the lawyers and bankers. All were falling under complete Bolshevik control.
This need for total control can be attributed to Lenin’s and the Bolshevik’s insecurity, they had no other model of revolution to work from and follow, everything was new and untried, so the more total the control they had over everything the less likely it was that the revolution would fail. This incessant need for control would continue right up until the fall of communism in 1989.
Finally on the 3rd March 1918 peace terms were agreed with the German’s at, Brest-Litovsk. Its terms were humiliating; Poland and the Baltic States were given to Germany and Finland and the Ukraine were recognised as being independent. The Bolshevik’s also agreed to pay huge reparations to Germany. Although Lenin had to reach this humiliating agreement with Germany his eye was on the bigger picture. He believed that eventually the German’s would be defeated by the combined might of Great Britain, France and more recently America, making any previous agreements with Germany null and void. This was still a huge gamble for Lenin to take and very unpopular with his followers, but one that paid off with Germany’s defeat on 11th November 1918.
With the peace with Germany concluded, Lenin and the Bolshevik’s could again look to further consolidate their power in Russia.
To excerpt complete control over the masses some kind of policing organisation was needed and on the 7th December 1917 the CHEKA, a forerunner of the KGB was formed to act as the Government’s secret police force and terror organisation. Led by the ruthless Felix Dzerzhinsky, the CHEKA was used as the party’s police force. Between 1917 and 1922 several hundred thousand victims were arrested, imprisoned, tortured and executed. The CHEKA were imperative to the Bolshevik’s hold on power and the Bolshevik’s used the organisation to great effect in removing any opposition to their power.
Within a few short months of seizing power the Bolshevik’s, who from March 1917 had renamed themselves the Communist’s were faced with widespread opposition to their regime and Civil War. Their opponents, a mixture of various parties were called the White’s. There were three elements that made up the White Armies: The Russian’s who opposed Bolshevism, subject nationalities like the Pole’s and Ukrainian’s who sought independence from Russian control and intervention by foreign powers, Britain, Canada, America and Japan, who were afraid the revolution would spread to other countries and also wanted to recoup businesses they owned but had lost when Lenin nationalised all banks and businesses in the USSR. All those who fought the Communist’s were termed the White’s whilst the Communist’s were known as the Red’s.
The White Russian contingent was made up of many party’s opposed to Lenin and at first enjoyed considerable successes, but due to the Red’s holding the central industrialised areas with good communications and transport links and the fact that the White forces all had their own agenda’s and had a fragmented leadership that had little if any communication between White Armies by 1921 and mainly due to Trotsky’s efforts as War Commissar the various White Armies had been defeated or returned to their own countries.
Due to the problems of the Civil War; destruction of factories and farms and the foreign Whites blockade of Russian ports, the USSR was suffering from a shortage of raw materials and goods, and production had fallen dramatically.
Stewart Ross wrote in his book The Russian Revolution; ‘The Communist’s first response was to print more Roubles which caused prices to rise and inflation soared making the Rouble virtually worthless. The peasants therefore cut production to provide sufficient only for themselves and their families.’
Faced with this crisis the Communist Government took complete control over the economy and all major industries and productions. All land was deemed to belong to the State and each village was made responsible for achieving a quota of produce to feed the factory workers so that the Communist’s industrialisation could continue.
Life became unbearably difficult for the Russian peasants under Lenin’s ‘War Communism’. Production and agricultural targets had to be met even if the peasants and workers were starving due to rationing, strikes were made illegal and people were told when to go to work. Any dissenters were dealt with by Dzerzhinsky’s feared CHEKA.
Lenin later said of War Communism; “There was no other way out, we had no other alternative”
‘Although the Communist’s had won the Civil War the ordinary Russian people paid a heavy price, it is estimated that between 1917 and 1921 10 million people died (5 million from famine, 2.5 million from disease and 2.5 million in combat)’
With the emergence of opposition after the Civil War, in the form of strikes and peasant uprisings, even Lenin recognised that a change was needed.
The previous 3 years of grain requisitioning and wholesale nationalisation described by Lenin as War Communism in 1921, had clearly failed. With falling production, strikes, famine and hyper-inflation Lenin decided in February 1921 that a New Economic Policy or N.E.P was needed.
Because of the Kronstadt Mutiny in late February Lenin was able to persuade the party to accept it, at the 10th Party Congress.
Lenin realised that the peasants held the key to the Bolshevik’s retaining power as they supplied the food needed to feed the workers in the factories. “Let the peasants have their little bit of Capitalism, as long as we keep the power”.
The N.E.P consisted of an end to grain requisitioning and a free market economy was established in the countryside, in the cities small businesses were legalised but heavy industry was to remain in State hands. The N.E.P took a step away from Communism to a more mixed economy. Lenin compared the N.E.P to the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk. Something he didn’t want to do but had to be done, but wouldn’t last forever.
During the N.E.P there was also widespread political repression.
Censorship became even more repressive during the N.E.P. Russian intellectuals were deported to Siberian Gulags and all books articles and poetry were examined by a Government censor before publication was allowed, eradicating any opposing voice to Communism. Only party rhetoric and publications deemed fit for publications were allowed.
Other political party’s were put under pressure and arrests, torture, deportations and executions were widespread. This was the first step in removing all political opposition to the regime and led to the eventual one party State.
Peasant villages that didn’t support the Government were dealt with harshly. Whole villages were massacred in brutal countryside campaigns to regain control of the countryside through fear and intimidation.
The Communist’s launched a fierce attack on the Russian Orthodox Church as even this was seen as a rival to Communist power. Executions and imprisonment followed for countless Priests and Church officials.
On 21st January 1924 Lenin died after suffering since the 1918 assassination attempt on his life and after suffering several strokes. He finally died from a fatal stroke.
The next 4 years would see a battle for power between various high ranking party members, finally ending with the rise to power of Stalin.
So in conclusion how were the Bolshevik’s able to hold on to and consolidate their power? The Bolshevik’s displayed a messianistic self-belief that they knew best and once a policy decision was adopted the Bolshevik’s followed it through no matter what the cost in human lives. The Bolshevik’s saw the continuation of the Revolution and the total Bolshevisation of the Country as their number one priority and human life came second to their ideology. As Graham Darby wrote in his book The Russian Revolution; “They were motivated by utopianism, by a desire to transform the World, by a vision of World Socialism”.
All this translated into a ruthless determination to hold on to power at all costs. To achieve this the Bolshevik’s restored a centralised, elitist, authoritarian Government backed up by force, terror and bureaucratic control over all aspects of Russian life. It was not dissimilar to the old Tsarist system but far crueler. The Bolshevik’s had no compunction in shooting thousands of people in their consolidation of power. Thus they did not see themselves as servants of the people but as their teachers.
To start with the Bolshevik’s enjoyed the support of the majority of the people. Only gradually did they show their true colours as appointments replaced elections, directives and decrees replaced discussions and other party’s were eradicated.
How the Bolshevik’s/Communist’s managed to dupe the Russian people and hold on to power is a remarkable achievement, and much of the credit for this must go to Lenin.
Bibliography
Literature Sources:
Ross. Stewart. The Russian Revolution; Witness History Series. Hove:
Wayland Publishing. 1988.
Darby. Graham. The Russian Revolution; Longman History Series. Essex:
Longman Publishing. 1998.
Schapiro. Leonard. 1917 The Russian Revolutions & the Origins of Present Day Communism. Middlesex: Maurice Temple Smith Publishing. 1984.
Shukman. Harold. The Russian Revolution; Sutton Pocket Histories. Gloucestershire: Sutton Publishing. 1998.
Grant. Jim. Stalin & the Soviet Union; Longman History Series. Essex:
Longman Publishing. 1998.
Other Sources:
Burke. Joe. College Lectures & Notes. Tameside College. 2004.
College Handouts. Tameside College. 2004.
Ross.S. The Russian Revolution. Hove: Wayland Publishing. 1988. p.30.
The Social Revolutionary’s, Cadet’s, Monarchist’s, Army Officer’s, Cossack’s and the Middle Classes were amongst the conglomeration of opposing Russian White Forces.
Ross.S. The Russian Revolution. Hove: Wayland Publishing. 1988. p.30.
Darby. Graham. The Russian Revolution. Longman. Essex. 1998. p.76.
Kronstadt Sailors had previously supported the Bolshevik’s but felt betrayed and mutinied. Red Army General Marshall Tukhachevsky put down the revolt with 50,000 Red Army Troops.
Lenin, 10th Party Congress, February 1921.
