One of the measures adopted by the Bolshevik Party was its response to its initial political unpopularity. It is first important to recognise that the Bolshevik Party did not have the support of the majority in 1917. It was found that the party had gained only a quarter of the seats during the elections, having been ousted by the Socialist Revolutionaries who had managed to achieve half of the seats and cement themselves as the most popular party. Lenin’s response to this Bolshevik upset was an immediate and rather desperate attempt to cure the unpopularity of the party and cement his control over a vast geographical distance. He did this through dissolving the Assembly which he believed was not an advocate of the domestic welfare the Bolsheviks promised to bring, which he coined “true democracy“. He also set up soviets all over Russia and decreed that any anti-Bolshevik parties must be expelled.
Furthermore, the Bolsheviks’ modus operandi for this cementation of control was through their extreme “Red Terror” campaign. Historiographers agree that the Red Terror officially began on 2nd September 1918 announced by Yakov Sverdlov, Chairman of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee and the future de jure Chief of State of the USSR. Though the Red Terror was short-lived, with its cancellation only a month after its initiation, it played a key role in the Communist exertion of power throughout Russia. The Red Terror was launched after a failed SR rebellion and a failed assassination attempt on Lenin. The Cheka conducted the Terror and its purpose was to encourage widespread oppression such as torture and mass killings of anti-Bolsheviks. This definitely allowed the Bolsheviks to maintain their control, with membership of both the Mensheviks and the Socialist Revolutionaries declining by two-thirds.
Moreover, the Bolsheviks were also able to spread their influence and control through Russia due to their military capability. Ukraine was a key region due to its rich wheat areas, which was essential for Russia due to the severe food shortages as a result of the war. In 1920, the Bolsheviks smashed White resistance forces based in Ukraine which led to the flight of 150,000 Whites to Constantinople. The Bolsheviks also acquired success in the East, asserting their control over the Transcaucasian Republics. They managed to conquer Azerbaijan, Armenia and drove the White forces out of Georgia. They then found success in Central Asia, dominating the khanates of Khiva and Bukhara. It would seem that geography played a key role in maintaining Bolshevik power. Geography meant an extension of popular support for the Bolsheviks, strengthening their control.
Also, another measure taken by the Bolsheviks to maintain control of Russia was “War Communism”. The Civil War tore the very fine fabric which was preventing Russia from falling completely apart. Industrial output had shrunk, there was a severe shortage of goods which consequently led to high inflation rates and food was scarce with bread rationing in Petrograd plummeting to just 50 grams per person a day by February 1918. The crisis of civil war, the poor social conditions and the collapse of the economy led to the introduction of War Communism. This was essentially Lenin’s solution to the food crisis and keeping the workers in the cities to produce munitions, vital war supplies and other desperately needed goods. War Communism involved grain requisitioning, banning of private trade, nationalisation of industry, labour discipline and rationing, which gained bitter opposition from both the proletariat and the peasantry, leading to rebellion, most notably the Kronstadt rebellion of 1921 which ended with the dissolution of the Soviet created by the sailors, the execution of hundreds of ringleaders and the expulsion of over 15,000 sailors from the fleet.
Accepting that War Communism was a failure, stating that the communist state was a man “beaten to within an inch of his life“, Lenin replaced it with the New Economic Policy (NEP). It allowed for private ownership of small-scale industry and replaced grain requisitioning with tax. Where War Communism failed in terms of Bolshevik control, the NEP most definitely made up for. The crisis gradually began to calm by 1922, helped by the £20,000,000 worth of aid from the American Relief Association. Agriculture seemed to have improved drastically with grain production having increased by over 50% by 1923. However improvements in agriculture were not supported by improvements in industry with industrial prices continuing to rise. Though industry would be found to recover after Lenin’s death. However, there was divided opinion over the NEP with many of the proletariat believing that this was a communist mechanism used to exploit the needs of the proletariat.
To conclude, the Bolsheviks adopted a number of different measures to maintain control of Russia. It would appear that Lenin kept Bolshevik power consistent through his disregard of debate and democracy, turning to more controversial tactics such as a personal dictatorship and the use of brute force to keep his communist regime intact. Though despite the controversy surrounding his measures, they no doubt contributed to the state becoming all-powerful.
Sources: Russia under Tsarism and Communism 1881-1953 by Chris Corin and Terry Fiehn, Article in History Review Issue 55
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