The factory decree
Lenin put the factories under workers control in November 1917 immediately after the revolution. He did this to gain the popular support of the country’s industrial workers, by transferring the power and control of the factories he got the industrial working class on his side.
The land decree
Lenin authorized the seizure of the landlord’s agricultural land by transferring it and the control of food production to the peasants. This had the result of gaining popular support in the countryside similar to in the industrial cities.
The peace decree
Lenin announced negotiations to end the war would start immediately and an armistice with Germany would be signed in December 1917. This action satisfied most of the Russian people who would be actively be involved in the war and people who would be affected by the war, such as relatives of conscripts, business e.t.c.
All these all helped consolidate Bolshevik power because they helped generate support from the bulk of the Russian population.
During this consolidation of power, the Bolsheviks had to deal with the civil war, which broke out in the spring of 1918. Their opponents consisted of ex – Tsarist leaders, counter revolutionaries, and other classes know as the whites. At first the whites seemed to have all the advantages, experienced leaders, which quickly closed in on the cities of Moscow and Petrograd. However the Bolsheviks were faced with many opponents but the whites had many strategic weaknesses (problems in raising a strong army and poor communications) as well as their unpopularity with the peasants with the land issue and the half-heartedness of the allied intervention( Britain and France), this already gave the Bolsheviks a strong position, In addition to the leadership qualities of Lenin, the assistance of Trotsky’s Red Army and the Bolsheviks ruthlessness throughout the war (the red terror and Cheka.)
Although the Bolshevik situation seemed desperate in 1919, it appears that the white armies could not take advantage and their weaknesses were the main cause for Bolshevik victory, as the lack of communication and co-operating between each other allowed the Bolsheviks shift from one front to another and to attack each thread of the white army in turn.
Also, before the revolution of 1917, most of the defence industries were located in Tsarist Russia (Petrograd) and so when the Bolsheviks achieved power they inherited virtually all the vast stores of war materials. This meant the whites had a great dis-advantage and limited defence capacity. With the exception of Finland (where the whites won) Russia was firmly in the hands of the Bolsheviks at the end of 1921 although it was achieved at tremendous cost as industrial production was low and over 5 million people had died from famine. (Due to the workers proved unable to run factories and farms effectively)
Adding to the vast number of opponents the Bolsheviks had in the civil war, they were faced with allied intervention at the same time. This was a number of countries including the Czech legion, Poland, Ukraine, and especially Britain and France (Britain and France got involved in allied intervention mainly due to the Brest – Litovsk treaty sighed by the Bolsheviks in 1918). Potentially, this could have strengthened the whites military threat. However, the support from the allies was relatively half hearted. Their direct military involvement was on a small scale, few troops were sent and they took very little part in the fighting, barley strengthening the whites military threat.
Due to Bolshevik success, the Bolshevik regime was secured from opposing threats and therefore, consolidated Bolshevik power.
Although war communism may have been enough to win the civil war, it did nothing to rebuild the economy. This is when Lenin realised he needed to revitalise the economy and changes were made, this was when the New Economic Policy (NEP) was introduced. This allowed Russia to recover. The NEP has two main features.
1. The requisitioning of grain had stopped but peasants had to hand over grain in the form of a tax in kind but were able to sell what was left over.
2. Free enterprise was restored in some sectors of industry and many small factories were returned to the owners and consumer goods were produced and sold for profit.
The NEP also led to rise in profit-driven merchants and traders known as NEP-men. These were men who brought and sold goods in order to make a profit. They were generally known to communists as parasites because their profiteering from this capitalism.
NEP was a great success and by 1924, Russia was well on its way to economic recovery. This is a great example of Lenin’s superb leadership skills because he recognized the problem and put in place a solution.
Almost certainly, the most decisive factor in the consolidation of Bolshevik
power was Lenin and his leadership skills.
Lenin was a very capable leader, under Bolshevik control, Lenin was prepared to be utterly ruthless in order to consolidate Bolshevik power. Russia was exposed to Lenin’s Red Terror and Cheka (secret police). These were both important contributions to the Bolshevik victory in the civil war.
Before the civil war he had shown his leadership qualities to the full when he returned back to Petrograd in 1917 and announced the Bolsheviks would take power. This was met with great surprise but due to the overall strength of power, the Bolsheviks supported him. Lenin introduced Russia to the April thesis; this was an attempt to gain support from the people of Russia. It included slogans such as “all power to the soviets” and “peace, bread, land” this was the first real time Lenin had showed his true leadership skills and talent.
Lenin had the leadership qualities to make the revolution happen. His ability to analyse situations and take tough decisions is best shown by the treaty of brest Litovsk which Lenin accepted despite the harsh terms laid down by Germany (against Trotsky’s wishes), because, if not accepted, Germany would continue taking territory by force.
His ideological flexibility or pragmatism can be best seen by his abandonment of war communism and the introduction of the NEP in 1921, which helped consolidate Bolshevik rule. If Lenin was not included (or even as leader) as part of the Bolshevik party, many factors which took place between 1917-21 may not have been possible, the revolution would most probably not have happened in the first place.
Although Lenin leadership qualities played a large part in consolidating the Bolshevik power, one of the most important factors must be the weakness of the white army. This was a decisive factor and it is surprising that it took 3 years to win the war considering the enormous advantages.
