How far do you agree that Bolsheviks were able to survive because they controlled more resources and had access to more weapons?

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        How far do you agree that Bolsheviks were able to survive because they controlled more resources and had access to more weapons?

There are many factors to consider when deciding what enabled Bolsheviks to survive until 1921.Their control of resources and access to more weapons were definitely significant.

        Firstly, the Bolsheviks controlled more resources as they were situated in the center of the country where there were most of the Russia’s factories. Having plenty of resources brought along numerous advantages ranging from effective transport through well fed soldiers to better morale. Good transport played a major role in helping Bolsheviks maintain power during the Russian Civil War. The well operating trains proved to be essential in providing the army with provisions, they also made the communication between parts of the Red Army and Trotsky much more effective. Hence the leaders’ orders could be sent quicker and had better chance of arriving at the destination. It facilitated the organisation of the troops and enabled them to be transported swiftly and in large numbers to the critical areas of defence and offence.

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         Apart from the access to factories there was one major cause for Bolsheviks’ having plentiful resources - the war communism. Former bourgeois specialists were brought to the factories because  of their experience and knowledge on how to enhance production and manage people (although they were under control of political commissars). People’s work was organised to suit the war’s needs. In the cities the major industrial enterprises were brought under central government control and the production was shifted to weapons and war equipment.The large Red Army needed large amounts of food hence the Bolsheviks introduced grain requisitioning forcing all the peasant ...

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