Explain how the Bolsheviks were able to consolidate their power in the period from 1917 to 1921.
The Bolsheviks were able to consolidate their power in Russia in the years after the Revolution because they were better organised and better led than their opponents. In addition, they had a compelling ideology, and offered more to Russia’s peasants and workers than did their opponents. More than anything, though, they were ruthless and determined. Failure was not something they were willing to countenance.
In the weeks following the November Revolution, the Bolsheviks attempted to implement the promises they had made to their supporters. They redistributed land owned by the Tsar, church and nobility to the peasants, improved wages and working conditions, gave women greater rights, and initiated peace negotiations with Germany. The Bolsheviks expected that these policies would win them considerable support, and thereby legitimise their coup, however this proved short sighted. A wave of strikes and protests broke out once it was realised that Lenin and his cronies did not intend to share power with other political forces.
The Bolsheviks dealt with the protests by arresting the ringleaders and closing down opposition printing presses. At the same time, they proceeded with the election for the Constituent Assembly (the Duma), confident that they would win a majority of its seats. This would allow them to claim that they represented the majority of the people.
The election was held in December 1917, but the result was a disaster for the Bolsheviks. They got only 24 percent of the national vote. Lenin reacted by delaying the opening of the Assembly, then closing it down altogether – ruling instead via the All Russian Congress of Soviets (which the Bolsheviks did control). The Cadet Party (which represented Russia’s small middle class) was banned; all opposition newspapers were closed, and a secret police force (the Cheka) established. Next, the Bolsheviks signed the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk with Germany (March 1918), taking Russia out of the war. The Socialist Revolutionaries walked out of the government in protest, leaving the Bolsheviks the sole party in power.
No sooner had they consolidated their power in Petrograd, Moscow and the major cities of the northeast than the Bolsheviks found themselves under threat from armed groups elsewhere in the country. The first group to rebel were Czech units in the Russian Army, whose members feared they would be sent back to Germany and punished as traitors. These men were soon joined by monarchists, liberals, moderate Socialist Revolutionaries, anarchists and ex-officers from the imperial army – people who became collectively known as the ‘Whites’. The Whites were aided by 200,000 troops from Britain, France, Japan and the United States – countries which hoped to force Russia back into the war by removing the Bolsheviks from power.
Although the White Armies outnumbered the Reds by five to one at the start of the civil war, the Bolsheviks were able to defeat them by playing to their own advantages.
In the first place, the Whites were badly divided – both geographically and ideologically. They could not agree on political or military objectives. In addition, huge distances separated their armies, so it was difficult for them to coordinate their attacks. As a result, the Bolsheviks were able to pick them off one by one.
Secondly, the Bolsheviks had the advantage of controlling the region between Moscow and Petrograd, where most of the nation’s population, resources and transport were located. The Whites, on the other hand, were based on the periphery of the empire, where resources were few and transportation primitive. It was therefore far easier for the Bolsheviks to marshal the resources at their disposal. They were aided in this by the introduction of War Communism – a system which allowed them to requisition the agricultural, industrial and manpower resources needed for victory.
Thirdly, there was a significant difference in the quality of leadership on both sides. The Bolsheviks were fortunate to have the political skills of Lenin and the military and organisational skills of Trotsky. Although Trotsky had no military training, he had a brilliant mind and soon mastered the skills needed to win the war. He built the Red Army into a force of five million men, and recruited 50,000 former Tsarist officers to lead it. To ensure the loyalty of these officers, Trotsky paired each with a political commissar, who was a trusted member of the Bolshevik Party. The idea was that the commissar would learn military tactics from the officer, while the officer would learn Marxist ideology from the commissar. By war’s end, the Red Army would be staffed by men of similar mind.
Trotsky spent the war touring the various fronts in an armoured train, directing battles and inspiring the troops. His influence on the outcome cannot be underestimated.
Fourthly, the Bolsheviks unleashed the Red Terror on their enemies following an attempt on Lenin’s life in August 1918. Over the next two years the secret police (Cheka) killed thousands of opposition supporters. As the historian Robert Service has said, “Lenin, Trotsky and Dzerzhinsky believed that over-killing was better than running the risk of being overthrown”.
Fifthly, the Whites made a series of errors that aided their opponents. Crucially, they failed to win over the peasants, who made up the bulk of Russia’s population. The main reason for this was that the Whites returned land to the nobles and the church in the territories under their control. The Bolsheviks, on the other hand, had abolished the land rights of these two groups. As a result, the peasants were more likely to support the Reds than the Whites, even though they had little time for either. In addition, the Whites treated those under their control even more brutally than the Reds, further diminishing their support.
Finally, the Bolsheviks had a propaganda advantage over the Whites. On the one hand, they used the intervention of the Allied powers to whip up support for their cause, portraying it as a war against foreign invaders. In fact, they were the only group calling for the removal of these forces from Russian soil. On the other hand, they used Marxist ideology to promise a future devoid of exploitation, greed and war. Although this promised utopia was highly unrealistic, it was nonetheless appealing. As the historian Christopher Hill has put it, the Bolsheviks “abolished a regime of despair and created a new world of hope”.
Hence, by 1921 the Bolsheviks had crushed their opponents, and emerged as the sole rulers of Russia. They did so because they were better organised and better led than the Whites. They also had a more appealing set of policies and a more compelling ideology, and a ruthless determination to stay in power.