The Bolsheviks really lacked majority support in the country as a whole. So the question at this time was, how they were to keep themselves in power, and yet still allow free elections. One of Lenin’s first orders was nationalizing all land in order for it to be redistributed to all the peasants. This was done in hope of gaining their favour. Lenin was obligated to allow these elections so that he wouldn’t appear to be contradictive to his opposing views to Kerensky when he postponed the elections. However, he realized that the Bolshevik Majority in the Constituent Assembly was highly unlikely. Anyhow, he went ahead with the elections as planned, and his worst fears were realized as they had only won 175 seats out of approximately 700. The Social Revolutionaries had won the majority of the seats, which was 370.
Therefore, the Social Revolutionaries were to make up the government, however, Lenin’s determination to secure his power prevailed and he had absolutely no will to hand over his power to the Social Revolutionaries; after all the hard work the Bolsheviks went through to abolish the provisional government. The Constituent Assembly only met once, and after it held some anti-Bolshevik speeches, Bolshevik Red Guards closed it down and was “crushed by all means”, as the Bolsheviks warned in the Izvestva. Lenin’s Cheka was already on the verge of moving against his enemies. Lenin’s anti-democratic act shows that the success of this revolution was more important than democracy and therefore justified his use of violence to achieve power. He clearly was resolute to get rid of his opponents. However, opposition was to lead to another serious problem for the Bolsheviks, which was the Civil War later in the year.
The Subsequent problem to this, was how to withdraw Russia from the war with Germany. The Bolsheviks did not want to surrender, but were trying to negotiate with the Germans on terms to finish the war between them. The final decision was the peace treaty of Brest-Litovsk, which was an actual crisis for Russia, as it resulted in huge territorial losses. The Germans took all the land they had control of, including Finland, Turkey, Rumania. Poland, the Baltic States, Georgia and the Ukraine. Russia also suffered a vast loss of infrastructure; 26% population, 27% of its best farming land and 74% of its coal and iron ore. Lenin still insisted it was worth it because it gave the Bolsheviks the space they needed to deal with their opponents inside Russia.
Because of this, many officers in the Russian army wanted to get rid of the Bolsheviks as they blamed Lenin for giving in to the Germans. Instead of success, the Bolsheviks kept gaining more and more oppositions. Many Russians began to join the whites because they were against the way that Lenin was using the Cheka to deal with his opponents and censored non-Bolshevik newspapers. The opponents formed a conflicting army called the whites, to fight the Bolsheviks.
The Bolsheviks had gained themselves many opponents by 1918. A huge oppositional army, made up of Mensheviks, SR’s, ex-tsarist officers and any other groups which did not like the way of the Bolsheviks. This opposition was known as the White Army. Due to utter mistreatment of the non-Bolshevik soviets, “it turned into a dictatorship from the centre instead of local control. The slogan of government’s opponents became “LONG LIVE THE SOVIETS AND DOWN WITH THE COMISSARS.” Other than the vast White Army, there was another opposition of about 40, 000 men who were called the Czech Legion. After the Bolsheviks allowed them to leave Russia, they disarmed them and consequently this lead to a great resistance which embarrassed the government and gave them more rivals. All this, finally resulting in a great Civil war, which the Bolsheviks had to struggle and fight battles against several armies, even French, British and Japanese fleets who intervened to help the Whites, as they too were not fond of the Bolshevik regime.. Lenin was even almost killed from an attempted assassination. Luckily, they successfully defeated all who rebelled against them, and survived. However, with all regards of their immense and strenuous problems.
Another setback they suffered was the decline of Russia’s economy. For example, from 1918-1920, Moscow lost half of its population due to food shortages, inflation and labour shortages; because of War Communism. .Despite the fact that War Communism aided the Red Army, it destroyed the Russian economy, and resulted in even more people turning against Lenin. “By 1920, there was famine and disorder in the countryside and food production was at an all-time low.” This was because the peasants began to grow less or no more crops as a rebellious act, instead of handing them over to the government. “For example, by 1921, cultivated land was 40% less than it had been in 1919. And so the result was famine.” Approximately five million peasants died of starvation.
In 1921, the peasants began to regard the Bolsheviks as thieves for taking away their grain. More over, even the industrial workers were outraged at the sights of War Communism, which caused virtual slave labour and food shortages. They were even more appauled at the government because of its ridiculous reaction to those who opposed Lenin’s conditions (they were executed). Also in 1921, 20,000 Kronstadt sailors rebelled against Lenin’s government. However, they were crushed by Trotsky’s army of 60, 000 men. This then caused Lenin to get rid of War Communism, and introduce a New Economic Policy.
Even so, the New Economic Policy also caused problems, although Lenin considered it to be a “temporary compromise” and believed it to be “One step back to move two steps forward to communism in the future.” As a matter of fact, many Bolsheviks were against the NEP, but Lenin proceeded with its introduction. It began to bring back ‘kulaks’ who were wealthier than the peasantry. There was a large amount of unemployed people in Russia. There was also lack of modern technology due to the use of old machinery and old farming methods when it came to the manufacture of food and industrial outputs. Also, prices of food and goods became high in NEP Russia, causing groups of more developed people, who have more money. This totally contradicted the ideal of communism. Basically, the introduction of the NEP conveyed Lenin’s failure to get rid of capitalism.
Overall, the Bolsheviks did go through triumph, mainly because of Lenin’s various stubborn and determined decisions. We must acknowledge their good will for obedience and patience with Lenin and communism, for it did actually work out in the end (for a short while). Because of Lenin’s faith for communism in Russia (USSR), he was faced with many problems which he and his people had to struggle to overcome, but were fortunately successful in the end.
Mastering modern world history- pg 310- “How successfully did the Bolsheviks deal with their problems?”
Lenin’s Russia- Mr. Crowther’s notes
‘RUSSIA’ – War Communism (Mr. Crowther’s notes) ‘Lenin’s Russia’ page 22-23