The Bolsheviks made sure they kept the support of the civilians by using a system of ‘Red Terror’. Red terror was carried out by a Bolshevik institution, the Cheka. The Cheka were a secret police force that strike fear into the Russian people. They carried out mass executions and hunted down any Anti-Bolshevik movements. They executed any whites they found and held Red general’s family’s hostages to keep the reds loyal and united. This system stopped Anti-Bolshevik behaviour through fear.
The Bolsheviks used a system called War Communism to help them win the civil war. The aim of War Communism was to keep the Bolshevik armies and the towns supplied with food and weapon, while sharing out the wealth between the Russian people. The government tried to share out the wealth by taking over production and industry, forcing peasants to hand over surplus food, making free enterprise illegal and rationing all food. While this system was successful in winning the Civil war as t kept the Bolshevik armies well supplied, it created much hardship. This is because the peasants had no incentive to produce food as the government just took it away. This led to mass food shortages and a huge famine which caused 7 million deaths.
The Bolsheviks successfully used propaganda to gain support during the civil war. The reds had simple views and this meant they could successfully use propaganda to get these views across. The whites on the other hand had many different aims so could not use propaganda as effectively. The Bolsheviks also used propaganda to show that they were a united Russian movement, while the whites had the support of foreigners. This worked very well as many Russians indeed hated foreign armies invading Russia.
Lastly the Bolsheviks had territorial advantages and heavy industrial support. The Bolsheviks were based in the west of Russia in the major cities. This meant they had internal lines of communication and good transport systems. This meant they had the support of all the civilians in the cities and the support of all the industry in the cities (all the factories). This meant they were well supplied with weapons e.t.c. The Bolsheviks also had the support of the railway systems meaning they could transport food, equipment and soldiers efficiently.
The Bolshevik victory of the civil war was also partly down to the weaknesses of the whites. The whites were disorganised and made up of many different groups, all with different aims. They had poor leadership and lacked discipline and organisation. They also had the support of foreign armies, who lacked commitment, and whose presence was unpopular with the Russian people, as it was not believed to be patriotic.
The whites had major territorial disadvantages. They were widely spread out over a large area. This meant that they had poor communication and had major difficulty coordinating attacks. The Whites had poor industrial support and limited support from the peasants as they mistreated them. Although the reds mistreated the peasants as well the peasants sympathised with the aims of the reds. This limited industrial and peasant support meant the whites had problems keeping their armies supplied with weapons and food e.t.c. They also had poor transport links meaning they had difficulty transporting weapons, equipment and food to each other.
In conclusion the Reds won the civil war due to both the white’s weaknesses and their own strengths. The reds were a powerful organisation with simple views. They also used the Cheka to exercise red terror to take out the whites and to keep loyalty and unity within the red forces. The Bolsheviks peasant and industrial support combined with the use of war communism meant the reds were well supplied with food, weapons and equipment. The whites however were unorganised and had many different aims. They also had limited industrial and Russian support meaning they were poorly equipped. The foreign help made them unpopular with the Russians as it was seen as unpatriotic and they did not like foreign armies invading Russia. Lastly the whites were widely spread and had poor transport links. This meant they had poor communication, could not coordinate attacks well and could not transport equipment and food to each other.
