At the same time, the revolutionaries now constituting the regime worked to secure power inside and outside the government. Deeming parliamentary democracy irrelevant, Lenin argued for a "dictatorship of the proletariat" based on single-party Bolshevik rule. The Bolsheviks wanted to share power with no-one. Having made the Constituent Assembly, which finally had been elected in November with the Bolsheviks winning only a quarter of the seats, the Soviet government dissolved the assembly in January after a one-day session, ending a short-lived experiment in parliamentary democracy.
In foreign affairs, the Soviet government, seeking to pull Russia from WWI, called on the allied powers for a peace. The allied powers rejected this appeal, but Germany and its allies agreed to a cease-fire. Negotiations began in December 1917. After dictating harsh terms that the Soviet government would not accept Germany resumed its offensive in February 1918. Meeting little resistance from the crumbling Russian armies. Lenin, after bitter debate with leading Bolsheviks who favoured prolonging the war, persuaded a slim majority of the Bolshevik Central Committee that peace must be made at any cost. Russia had nothing to gain by prolongation On March 3, Soviet government officials signed the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, giving Poland, the Baltic lands, Finland, and Ukraine to German control and giving up a portion of the Caucasus region to Turkey. With the new border dangerously close to Petrograd, the government was soon transferred to Moscow. An enormous part of the population and resources of the Russian Empire was lost by this treaty, but Lenin understood that no other alternative could ensure the survival of the fledgling Soviet state. The people of Russia had their promise fulfilled but at a great cost to Russia. The cost led to 80% of coal production and 50% of industrial production lost. This created dismay in the Russia and even amongst most Bolsheviks. Morale was down and this was not going to help with the civil war approaching.
Fearing counter-revolution and sabotage, the Bolsheviks created a commission to be known by the Cheka. The new government created the secret police agency, the Cheka, to persecute enemies of the state and to combat "counter revolution". The Soviet leadership became convinced that there was a wide ranging conspiracy of foreign enemies and counter-revolutionaries. Therefore they poured resources into the intelligence service to combat this conspiracy. The Cheka quickly succeeded in destroying any remaining counter revolutionary groups. Also, the Cheka played a significant role in destroying criminal gangs too.
The Soviet Government found Russian money, the ruble, falling in value on the world currency market, and, rather than adopt the anarchist dream of abolishing money, the Bolsheviks responded by nationalizing all banking institutions. In February 1918, all shareholders in banks were expropriated for the Bolsheviks, and all foreign debts denied.
Problems were emerging for the Bolsheviks and although some of the measures taken to maintain power were successful most were not. Civil war was approaching and something had to be done quickly to address the problems created.