1.1 Establishing One Party State

Securing Power

Although Party had grown since 1917, the Bolsheviks remained relatively small

Claimed to represent interests of proletariat & peasants

Didn’t have sufficient support to lead a popular revolution → seized power by force

Faced opposition from:

• Left-wing groups SR, Mensheviks etx

• Right-wing groups & liberal groups representing middle class

  Feared Bolsheviks would take away business & political freedoms

  Marxism represented a challenge to priviledged Russians

• Nationalist groups within Russian empire, Ukrainians, Poles, Finns who saw collapse of Tsarism as a chance to gain independence

Response to Left Wing Groups

Due to shared goals, left wing groups hoped they would gain a share in the new gov, calling for a socialist coalition

→ calls included those from leading Bolsheviks ex. Kamenec

Firmly rejected by Lenin & Trotsky who said “go where you belong: to the dustbin of history”

For practical reasons, some SRs initally joined Bolshevik gov → didn’t last long

Jan 1918 - Constituent Assembly

Was to be democratically elected, which benefited SR who mobilised large peasant base → emerged as largest party

SRs = 410 seats and 21 million votes

Bolsheviks = 175 seats and 9 million votes

The Assembly as a national parliament threatened Bolshevik rule - Lenin dissolved it after one meeting

Condemned as bourgeois & replaced w/ All-Russian Congress of Soviets where the Bolsheviks had more support

Destruction of other Parties

• Removal of vote from Bourgeois classes (employers & priests)

  Reduced support base of opposition parties

• Restrictions on opposition newspapers

• Left-wing SR walked out of gov in March 1918 in protest of decision to leave WW1

  • Lost all influence

March 1918 - Bolsheviks renamed itself Communist PArty

By 1921 all other parties were effectively banned

April 1921 - Lenin declared ‘The place for the mensheviks & SRs is in prison”

First 3 months of 1921 = 5,000 Mensheviks arrest4ed

Further waves of arrests in later 1921 & 1922 but they were not longer organised parties

Treaty of Brest-Litovsk 1918

Withdrew Russia from WW1 at a great cost

• Lost control of Baltic States: Lithuania, Estonia, Latvia, Finland, & Ukraine

National humiliation for conservatives, particularly officers who served in the Tsar’s army

Only way to restore Russian pride & reputation of armed forces was to overthrow Bolsheviks

Allied powers were anxious to keep Russia in WW1, so were willing to offer arms, money & troops to Whites to ensure Russia rejoined the fight

Although it increased opposition & prospect of Civil War, it was beneficial for Lenin

• WW1 was a key factor in helping the collapse of Tsarist regime & Provisional Government

• Sapped energy & gov resources

• Little chance of military success

• Needed to consolidate hold over Russia & concentrate on internal enemies

Civil War 1918-21

After signing Brest-Litovsk, opposition to Bolsheviks mounted

Initially, situation was bleak for Bolsheviks who only controlled a central base around Moscow & Petrograd & were surrounded by White forces

Emerged victorious due to better organisation, militarily, politically & economically

Whites failed to put Allies’ help to good use due to corruption & Inefficiency

Trotsky was COmmissar for War & turned Red Army into an effective fighting machine

Conscription increased number of soldiers to 5 million + by the end of the war

War Communism helped to extend gov control and direction of resources. Large-scale nationalisation of industry ensured adequate supplies to army

Encouraged Bolsheviks to adopt a highly authoritarian & centrally controlled system

Bolsheviks used political dimension (1917 Land Decree gained peasant support)

Results of Civil War

Devastation & dimension caused by WW1 & Civil War

• Bolsheviks became highly centralised due to demands of war

  Politburo allowed quick decision making & direction of resources

• Power controlled by Sovnarkom (gov) & Politburo (party)

• Extensive use of terror against political opponents

• Reinforced militaristic values in population

Tenth Party Congress 1921

By March 1921, Civil War was largely won

Attention was focused on internal divisions

Civil War saw a huge growth in Party membership from 300,000 (1917) → 730,000 (1921) which threatened Party stability

Introduced ban on Formation of Factions “On Party Unity” to impose view of leadership on the Party

Penalty for breaking it was expulsion

1921 - Kronstadt Mutiny & major peasant rebellion = Tambov Rising had shown they couldn’t take their position for granted

Apparatus of Government under Lenin

Challenging to govern a country the size of Russia

→ required a clear line of authority

Organisations genuinely representing the proletariat were brought under Bolshevik control, then sidelined. Ex. trade unions, factory committees

System was creased based on representative bodies

Government

Sovnarkom ← Central Executive Committee ← All-Russian Congress of Soviets

Party

Politburo ← Central Committee ← Party Congress

Government

Sovnarkom

• Council of People’s Commissars

• Role of cabnet of top gov ministers

• Theoretically responsible for making key decisions & giving orders

• Elected by Central Executive Committee

• Met on a daily basis during the Civil War, and could make quick decisions as a small group (20 people)

Central Executive Committee

• Larger group elected by Congress of Soviets

• Oversaw work of gov & administration

All-Russian Congress of Soviets

• Supreme law-making body

• All laws issues by Sovnarkom had to be approved by the Congress

• Theoretically, highly representative made up by members elected by local Soviets

Provincial & City Soviets

• Made up of representatives from local soviets

Party Control over the State

Politburo

• 7-9 leading members of Bolshevik Party

• Chosen by Party’s Central Committee

• Took over from Central Committee which proved unmanageable when taking important decisions

• Met daily under Lenin, including Zinoviev, Kamenev, Trotsky & Stalin

• More important than Sovnarkom

Central Committee

• Group of 30-40 members chosen by Party Congress

• Supposed to make key decisions on policy, but after 1919, this was increasingly delegated to the Politburo

Party Congress

• Made up of representatives of local Party branches

• Discussed general programme of PArty

• Fierce debates at 9th & 10th Party Congresses under ruling On Party Unity stifled debate

• Role of Congress in influencing policy substantially declined

• Met yearly under Lenin until 1926

Local Party branches

• Each led by a Party secretary, who could become very powerful

• Ex. Kamenev became head of Party in Petrograd & Zinoviev in Moscow which gave them significant power bases to compete to suceed Lenin

Democratic Centralism

Soviets represented workers at a local level, and their wishes could be expressed through representative organisations

DEcisions could be made in the interests of ‘the people’ and passed down to regional & local level for implementation

Used as evidence of their highly democratic nature

In reality, Soviets were undermined when Bolsheviks took power

Ruling by decree sidelined them from decision-making

Turned representative bodies into rubber-stamping bodies