Lenin's Consolidation of Bolshevik Rule in Russia Essay

During the 1900’s the Russian Government made it extremely hard for the Bolsheviks to progress which made them revolt against the government making this a prime matter for the start of the Revolution. The Czarist government was ostracized by the common people of Russia so Tsar Nicholas II was overthrown by the Provisional Government, whom later on were overthrown by Lenin and shortly after the Bolsheviks took control over Russia. Russia was hard to develop because of the major leaders who had control; Lenin, Stalin, Trotsky. Almost overnight an entire society was destroyed and replaced with one of the most radical social experiments ever seen. Poverty, crime, privileged and class-divisions were to be eliminated, a new era of socialism

The Russian Civil War (1917-1923) saw millions of deaths and millions further starved. The Bolsheviks saw the importance of maintaining their power in the cities in order to maintain power over the country itself. To keep the people happy thus, they realised they needed to keep the people fed. This led top the eventual inception of War Communism. An economic/agricultural policy incorporated by War Communism was known as Prodrazvyorstka – requisition of agricultural surpluses from peasants in excess of absolute minimum for centralized distribution among the remaining population. This meant that the Bolsheviks could seize whatever food they needed from the countryside towns and villages and distribute it amongst the urban population in cities such as Petrograd and Moscow.

As well as pragmatic reforms, the Bolsheviks also used terror in order to consolidate their power from 1917-1924. In December 1917, the Bolsheviks created a new secret police institution (the Cheka) to provide security, encourage class warfare and bring the army under tighter control. An attempt on Lenin’s life in August 1918 saw the Cheka take harsh reprisals against all suspected enemies in what became known as the ‘Red Terror’. The middle class, former nobility and the clergy were key targets. During the Civil War, the Kadet party was outlawed and its leaders arrested. Russia had become a one-party state. The Cheka also killed the Tsar and his family to prevent them being used as a symbolic rallying point for counter-revolution. Despite compromising Communist ideology, these ruthless measures were successful in suppressing internal opposition and thus consolidating Bolshevik power.

According to the History.com Staff, “The October Revolution began on November 6 and 7, 1917 (or October 24 and 25 on the Julian calendar).” (Russian Revolution”). The October Revolution has also been called the Bolshevik Revolution since the Bolshevik Party played a crucial role in the revolution. The leader of the Bolshevik Party, Vladimir Lenin was a big supporter of Karl Marx. Another Marxist who leads this revolution was Leon Trotsky. In an article by the History.com Staff, “Lenin had created an, almost, bloodless coup d’état against the provisional government.” (“Russian Revolution”). The Bolshevik revolution started when, Alexander Kerensky, rather than follow an order. On October 24th, Kerensky ordered troops that were loyal, to act against the Bolshevik. Encyclopædia Britannica tells us that, “Kerensky was a socialist revolutionary who served as head of the Russian Provisional Government.” (“Aleksandr Kerensky”).

The assumption of power by Joseph Stalin was arguably one of the most significant periods of Bolshevik Russia’s history. Stalin is recognised as one of the most influential men to have ever lead Russia, and he did so through the largest war the world has ever faced, World War II, and through the beginning of one of the most tense periods of modern history, the Cold War. It is easy however, to get lost in the legacy Stalin left behind, and forget about the events leading up to his total control over the communist regime of the 20th century Russia.

As the government gained more and more control over the economy, Lenin felt it necessary to defend his actions. He published an article in April of 1918 in which he stated that "Unquestioning submission to a single will is absolutely necessary for the success of the labor process...the revolution demands, in the interests of socialism, that the masses unquestioningly obey the single will of the leaders of the labor process" ("How Lenin Led to Stalin"). In addition to demonstrating the Leninist ideal of state capitalism, it also shows that Lenin viewed absolute governmental authority as necessary, a policy

Lenin was truly a Marxist. He supported Karl Marx and his views so much that he became incredibly knowledgeable about it. Marx's ideas about communism influenced Vladimir to start the revolution and start his own communist country. Although it says “In Russia we must now devote ourselves to the construction of a proletarian socialist state. Long live the socialist world revolution”, he's actually creating a communist revolution. In the fourth paragraph of Lenin's speech he says, “ But in order to end this war, which is closely bound up

Figes stating that “The masses were...largely passive in their demands and actions; the Bolsheviks successfully manipulated and exploited this...” . These views could largely be due to the ‘History from Above’ standpoint of Liberal historians that did much of the post-Union analysis at the tail end of the Cold War. This forms many of our traditional views of the nature of The Revolution.

By World War 1, the Bolshevik party was the only political party in Russia to fight vocally to end the war, insisting that it was dividing the working class and leading them to death. Due to this vocalization, the leaders of the movement were arrested; Lenin had escaped from the arrests and moved to Switzerland, leaving behind a small core group who supported the movement. On April 4, 1917, Lenin returned to Russia to give his April Thesis to Social Democratic Parties. He pushed a new program, stating that it was time to start a socialist society before a bourgeois government was permanent. Moreover, he established a tactical program to stir a revolution for a proletariat.

- Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, according to which Russia ceded large tracts of land to Germany;

The Bolsheviks created one of the most sophisticated propaganda machines of the early 20th century, establishing a wide range of government newspapers, while banning all counter revolutionary papers. This allowed them to develop and garner the support they needed to consolidate the regime. The implementation of a coercive machinery of power was crucial to their consolidation efforts. The building of a new army, police system, a disciplined ruling group and fiscal machinery necessary to support their regime. The evolution of the Red army showed clearly how the government were forced to abandon the idea of a “people’s army” and created an authoritarian style rule.

The most important example to show that Lenin was important in enabling the communist government to survive war rebellion, is the civil war. The Russian Civil War was to tear Russia apart for three years – between 1918 and 1921. The civil war occurred because after November 1917, many groups had formed that opposed Lenin’s Bolsheviks. These groups included monarchists, militarists, and, for a short time, foreign nations. Collectively, they were known as the Whites while the Bolsheviks were known as the Reds. Lenin imposed an iron grip on territory under the control of the Bolsheviks. The party had a secret police unit called the Cheka, which was set up by Lenin on 20th December 1917, it ruthless in hunting out possible opponents to Lenin. In many areas of Russia, where the Bolsheviks had control, the Cheka was judge, jury and executioner. Its power was massively extended after August 30th, 1918. War Communism was introduced by Lenin to combat the economic problems brought on by the civil war in Russia. Lenin was given much credit for this and was a key reason in why the Reds won the civil war. This is the important example because it clearly shows that Lenin had a major effect on the communist party’s survival, by instrumenting key aspects in winning the civil war.

Lenin was inspired by Karl Marx’s theory of communism, which urges the “workers of the world” to unite against their economic oppressors. The writings of Marx’s theory of modern capitalism influenced the events occurred in the early 1900s.

When Lenin was born, no one knew that he would be the leader of the Communists. which is remembered to this day. This was a great man. Lenin was in school, sometimes to his molested boys. Ended is dismantling the schoolyard. Lenin did not like to fight, but had to defend themselves or protect their friends.

Lenin’s manuscript, State and Revolution, was written during the first inter-imperialist war and published on the eve of the Russian Revolution. This text can be seen as crucial to the socialist movement and the shift of 20th century Russian ideology. The whole of Lenin’s argument is a manifestation of Marx and Engels theories about the existence of the State and the role of government in society. State and Revolution is a purportedly theoretical reflection of how the State is an inherent tool for class oppression; derived from a social class’s desire to suppress other classes of its society. The work could, therefore, be seen in two distinct but unified approaches: the first revolves around Marxist political treatise; the second, polemic. Within the text, Lenin’s continuous and lengthy citation of Marx and Engels implies that Lenin presumed that his audience would be supportive of Marxist political and economic ideologies. It can also be noted that Lenin’s work was directed to appeal to the more literate and politically active audience, as his ideas refer to works by Marx and Engels, which would be lost on the uneducated reader. Without familiarity with these philosophers, one would quickly become lost in the manuscripts context.