The application of Red Terror as a weapon of government policy was indicated in the earliest days of the Bolshevik government. Described as having been officially announced on September 2, 1918, this was a campaign of mass arrests, executions and atrocities conducted by the political police. It thus possessed the role of eliminating counter-revolutionaries who belonged to the former ruling class. The chosen instrument enforced to inflict this hostile terror was the Cheka. After its establishment in December 1917, the Communist party was subsequently enabled to maintain power through the execution of decrees on the Courts. This abolished the existing legal system and replaced it with counter-revolutionary activities. In August 1918 the Cheka’s occupations intensified following an attempt on Lenin’s life. Party newspapers provoked propaganda, calling for “rivers of blood” and “wholesale executions” that resulted in the deaths of thousands of hostages, prisoners and class enemies. The Red Terror was unleashed to virtually all elements of the population to enforce under unpopular decrees and to stifle discontent, especially to the peasants for their resistance to the government’s policy of requisitioning grain to supply the war effort. Within a year the Cheka had emerged as an equally terrifying successor, executing over 200, 000 civilians. These ruthless measures were however successful in quenching open hostility. It led to a gain in support for the Bolshevik party that thus authorized a consolidation of power.
War Communism destroyed the old ruling elite, fulfilled the promises contained in the Bolshevik Party program and was ideologically progressive. Adopted in June 1918, it can be defined as a term for the economic and social policies that existed in Soviet Russia during the civil war. According to Lenin some of these policies were ideologically inspired and designed to develop a state-managed socialist economy, which the regime portrayed as being the first step towards Communism. Others were pragmatic responses to the pressing economic issues. The policies thus entailed requisitioning of agricultural products, nationalisation of industry, state control of all trade, along with the central control of production and distribution. It can be reflected that the induction of War Communism was successful to an extent in the consolidation of Bolshevik power. It resulted in the continuous supply of food to military personal and town civilians, along with the long-term victory accomplished in the war. However, from the economic, social and humanitarian perspectives, the policies of War Communism catastrophically aggravated the hardships experienced by the population. These measures negatively affected both agricultural and industrial production. With no incentives to grow surplus grain, starvation and disease contaminated civilians, resulting in the death of 5 million victims. The uncontrolled inflation rendered paper currency worthless and by early 1921 public discontent with the state of the economy had spread. It subsequently resulted in numerous strikes and protests that culminated towards the Kronshtadt rebellion in March of that year. In response, the Bolsheviks adopted the New Economic Policy to maintain a state of power and thus, temporarily abandon their attempts to achieve a socialist economic system by government decree.
The Bolsheviks felt isolated and trapped in the cities surrounded by a suspicious peasant sea, although the Communist Party had maintained their power, the economic and social issues continued to wreak havoc on the political sphere. The induction of the New Economic Policy (NEP) in March 1921 adopted a state of capitalism. It was introduced to revitalize the country’s economy by liberalising trade and production in agriculture and industry, while ensuring the consolidation of Bolshevik power was being pursued. It thus represented a temporary retreat from its previous policy of extreme centralisation and doctrinaire socialism. While retaining the key sections of the economy in state control, including the banking, steel and transport industries, the Bolsheviks enabled small businesses to operate, along with the employment of civilians and the reintroduction of money back into the economy. In the countryside grain requisitioning was abolished and peasants could once again sell their surplus crops in the marketplace for profit. While many Communist supporters opposed the new policy, Lenin justified NEP as a short term compromise of ideology aimed at a long term realisation of that ideology. Subsequently the New Economic Policy established a measure of stability to the economy. It allowed Soviet civilians to recuperate from years of war, civil war, and governmental mismanagement, while further empowering the Bolsheviks to maintain a state of power in the Soviet Union.
It can be concluded that the Communist Party had survived severe challenges to its authority, however despite these issues the Bolsheviks were enabled to maintain power throughout the years of 1917-1921. This was achieved through a combination of pragmatic social and political reforms. The Leadership of Leon Trotsky and the Red Army, the enforcement of obedience by strict control over their ideologies was made vigilant by the Cheka, along with the introduction of War Communism and the New Economic Policy. In the Bolsheviks attempt to consolidate power, they were however ultimately forced to compromise the Communist ideology, leading them far from their original aspirations.
By Emma Brookes