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2 Lenin’s Russia, 1917–1924
Caption
Lenin addressing a crowd.
Useful terms
X1X Lenin’s Russia, 1917–1924 As we saw in the last chapter, in October2 1917
the leader of the Bolshevik Party, Vladimir Lenin, came to power in Russia. This event became known as the October Revolution. This
saw the creation of the world’s first communist
society – an alternative to capitalism. In the rest of Europe, many were inspired by this new experiment, but to others communism was like a disease that threatened civilisation. They felt it had to be stopped by any means. This view led to the growth of fascism.
In this chapter we will look at how this communist revolution occurred and the policies pursued by the leader of the revolution, Lenin.
?KEY QUESTION
How did Lenin come to power?
Bolshevik Party: Russian socialists who believed in using revolution to achieve political change; later known as the Communist Party.
Bourgeoisie: Marxist term for the middle class.
Capitalism: An economic system where goods and services are supplied by private business people in order to make a profit.
Cheka: Police force set up to combat counter-revolution.
Commissar: A minister in the Communist government.
Constituent Assembly: A parliament elected to introduce a new constitution.
Counter-revolutionary: Anyone who held different political views to the Communists.
Kremlin: The headquarters of the Soviet government in Moscow.
New Economic Policy (NEP): Revision of Communist economic policies allowing limited capitalism.
Proletariat: Marxist term for the working class.
Provisional government: The government formed after the abdication of the tsar in March that ran the country until elections were held.
Soviet: Soldiers’ and workers’ councils that ran the cities in Russia in 1917.
Treaty of Brest-Litovsk: The peace treaty the Bolsheviks signed with Germany in March 1918.
USSR: Russia was renamed the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics in 1922. Sometimes it was called the Soviet Union, though many contemporaries still referred to it as Russia.
War Communism: An economic policy that involved the introduction of communism during the
Civil War.
What Was The Impact Of World War I?
Russia had entered World War I in 1914 on the side of Britain and France against Germany and its allies. The country was ruled by Tsar Nicholas II and had seen a lot of economic development in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. This was especially the case in the capital St Petersburg (renamed Petrograd in 1914) and the largest city, Moscow. Nonetheless, the vast majority of Russians were peasants who farmed the land.
The war went badly for Russia, which suffered huge casualties fighting the Germans and the economy collapsed at home. Inflation rose quickly and conditions for workers were poor. Although there was a parliament, or Duma, it was very weak and most power rested with the tsar and his ministers.
By the start of 1917 there was widespread dissatisfaction with the tsar and his government. Strikes broke out in the capital in February and the tsar’s troops refused to fire on the protestors. The tsar had no option but to give up his throne (abdicate). He was replaced by a provisional government, whose most important members were Prince Lvov and Alexander Kerensky.
Tsar Nicholas II (1868–1918)
This new government was popular at first, but it made two crucial mistakes: it continued the war and postponed land reform.
How Did Lenin Seize Power In Russia?
The provisional government existed side by side with the Petrograd Soviet. It had been set up during the February Revolution and was a council made up of workers and soldiers. It controlled day-to-day life in the capital. At first it was dominated by moderate Socialists and co-operated with the provisional government, but this was to change.
German agents approached the leader of the Bolshevik Party, Lenin, who was living in exile in Switzerland. They knew that if he came to power he would take Russia out of the war. In April 1917
Lenin returned from exile. He was determined to exploit the mistakes of the provisional government to seize power. Lenin used two simple but effective propaganda slogans to gain support: ‘Peace, Bread, Land’ and ‘All power to the Soviets’.
Lenin’s slogans were simple but effective:
Peace, Bread, Land: Peace for the soldiers, bread for the workers and land for the peasants.
All power to the Soviets: Towns in Russia should be controlled by councils elected by workers and soldiers, not by the provisional government.
Lenin’s support grew after a failed offensive against the Austrians and the Germans in the summer of 1917. Morale collapsed and mutinies spread throughout the army. The country was descending into chaos. Support for the Bolsheviks increased and they formed an armed workers’ militia, called the Red Guards.
?KEY CONCEPT EXPLAINED: Communism
Communism is based on the theories of the German economist Karl Marx (1818–1883). He put forward his ideas in two books: The Communist Manifesto and Das Kapital. Marx argued that history is a series of class struggles between different economic groups in society.
Karl Marx (1818–1883)
t
The final class struggle would happen between the workers (who he called the proletariat, or the working class) and the factory owners (who he called the bourgeoisie, or the middle class). t
He predicted that the working class would win and that this would transform society from capitalism to socialism.
This would be a classless, equal society where all property was owned by the community as a whole. He believed that private property, private business, etc. should be abolished. He argued that international co-operation between workers would help to achieve these aims.
His supporters saw his ideas almost like a new religion, but they disagreed on how this change in society should happen: t
t
Some argued for a revolution and were called Communists (e.g. Lenin). They believed that all means were justified in achieving a communist state, including terror.
Those who believed this change could occur through peaceful means (i.e. through elections) were known as Democratic Socialists.
Lenin hoped that the revolution in Russia would act as a spark for further revolutions in Europe, especially in Germany. The communist revolution in Russia and the growth of communist parties throughout Europe frightened many people and this contributed to the growth of fascism.
t
The Bolsheviks now dominated the Petrograd Soviet and Lenin’s leading supporter, Leon Trotsky, was chairman. This placed the Bolsheviks in effective control of the capital. For example, most of the army in Petrograd was now under Trotsky’s command.
As the unpopularity of the provisional government increased, Lenin recognised that the time was now right for a revolution. On 10 October a meeting of the Bolshevik Central Committee decided to stage an immediate revolution by a 10 to 2 majority.
During the night of 24–25 October, the Red Guards, helped by soldiers and sailors, seized Petrograd. By early November Moscow and most of the larger cities had recognised the new government.
?KEY QUESTION
How did Lenin establish Commmunist control in Russia?
Lenin (1870–1924) was widely regarded as one of the greatest revolutionary leaders in history. After his death his body was preserved and he was revered like a saint in Russia.
What were the actions of the first communist government?
The new government, or the Council of People’s Commissars (Sovnarkom), was set up. Lenin was the president and there were 15 ministers. Leon Trotsky was Commissar for Foreign Affairs and Joseph Stalin was Commissar for Nationalities.
The government acted quickly to establish its popularity and authority:
It agreed a ceasefire with Germany (the Peace Decree).
Private ownership of land was abolished and land was distributed among the peasants (the Land Decree).
Banks and factories were taken over by the state. This is called nationalisation.
Leon Trotsky (1879–1940) was the man who organised the October Revolution and led the Communists to victory in the Civil War. A determined opponent of Stalin, he was forced into exile and later assassinated in Mexico. His name was to play a very important role in the show trials (1936–1938).
However, when elections were held for a Constituent Assembly, the Bolsheviks received only one-quarter of the vote. It soon became clear that Lenin was no democrat and he closed the assembly at gunpoint. He was not going to share power!
It was very important to Lenin to negotiate a treaty with the Germans to end Russian involvement in the war. Peace was necessary if the Bolsheviks were to establish control of Russia. In March 1918 the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk was signed with the Germans. The treaty was harsh and Russia gave up one-third of its land. With the new border dangerously close to Petrograd, the government moved to Moscow.
How did the communists win the civil war?
The treaty was hugely unpopular, and discontent with it contributed to the outbreak of civil war in June 1918. The supporters of the government were called the Reds and their opponents the Whites. In July 1918, as White armies advanced, the tsar and his family were shot at Yekaterinburg. Foreign powers such as the UK, the US and France sent troops to Russia to help the Whites.
Lenin appointed Leon Trotsky as Commissar of War and he proved to be an outstanding military commander. He introduced conscription and imposed savage discipline on the Red Army. Short of officers, Lenin and Trotsky appointed former tsarist officers to provide the leadership that the Red Army forces so badly lacked.
Control of the main railway lines allowed the Reds to move forces quickly around Russia to defeat the different White generals. By 1920, resistance was crushed and the foreign troops were withdrawn.
What was the Red Terror?
Russia during the Civil War
In order to win the Civil War, the Communist regime took increasingly cruel measures against its opponents.
To combat political opposition to the regime – or counter-revolution, as the Bolsheviks called it – a special police force called the Cheka was established in 1918. In August of that year a failed assassination attempt on Lenin was the beginning of what became known as the Red Terror. This involved mass executions of anyone suspected of opposition to the regime, based not upon their actions, but their class origins and beliefs (rich peasants, White officers, former nobles, priests, moderate socialists, etc.). Guilt or innocence was completely irrelevant.
Execution was not the Cheka’s only method; it also developed the first modern slave labour (or concentration) camps. As we shall see, during his rule, Stalin was to expand both the number and scale of these camps. The exact number of people executed during the Red Terror between 1918 and 1922 is difficult to estimate, but the figure is somewhere between 100,000 and 500,000. In comparison, between 1825 and 1917 the tsarist regime that the Communists had replaced executed just under 4,000 people for political crimes.
Why was the comintern important?
During their struggle for survival, the Communists believed that revolution would spread to other industrialised countries in Europe. To co-ordinate the international socialist movement under Soviet control, Lenin founded the Communist International, or the Comintern, in March 1919. Grigory Zinoviev was its head. Although no other successful socialist revolutions occurred after the October Revolution (there were failed attempts in Germany and Hungary), the Comintern controlled foreign communist parties. From then on, communist parties took their orders from Moscow. These parties played a very important role in spreading propaganda promoting the policies of Lenin and, later, Stalin.
?KEY CONCEPT EXPLAINED Totalitarian regime: A one-party state characterised by an absence of democracy, a secret police and a government that has total control over the lives of its people.
Lenin’s economic changes
1 WAR COMMUNISM When the Bolsheviks came to power, they began to introduce a wide range of new economic policies. As many of the measures were introduced during the Civil War, they called it War Communism.
The main features of War Communism were:
Private enterprise (that is, privately run businesses) became illegal.
Worker control of factories ended and all large factories passed into the hands of the government, which planned and organised what they produced.
Workers were subject to strict discipline and strikers could be shot.
Food and most commodities were rationed.
Peasants were expected to sell their produce to the government and keep only what they needed to survive. Their food was needed to feed the workers in the cities.
Although this policy helped to win the war by keeping the troops supplied with food, it destroyed the economy. Industrial output had fallen to 20% of that produced in 1913. Workers could buy little with their wages, as prices rose out of control.
Peasants refused to sell their grain, as prices were too low, and this led to food shortages in the cities. The Cheka and the Red Army were sent into the countryside to seize grain. This policy of seizing grain, along with bad weather and the effects of the Civil and War, there led to famine. About five million were reports of cannibalism. people died ? KEY What eco QUESTION nomic changes did
Lenin introduce?
2 THE NEW ECONOMIC POLICY ( NEP) As a result of the failed economic policies, opposition to the Communists grew. In 1921 a revolt of sailors at the Kronstadt naval base caused Lenin to change his economic polices. He was shaken by the revolt, as sailors were traditionally loyal Bolshevik supporters. He realised that War Communism had failed and he decided to change policy. He introduced the New Economic Policy (NEP). Central to the new measure was a realisation that if the regime was to survive, it would need to win support among the peasants.
The policy signalled a return to a limited capitalist system, with some private business ownership and greater freedom for peasants to make money from their crops. The government took a far smaller proportion of the peasants’ crops and the peasants could sell the rest for profit.
Small privately owned companies such as shops were allowed. Large-scale businesses such as steel, banking, railways and electricity as well as foreign trade remained under state control.
Over the course of five years, the NEP saw industrial and agricultural output rise to pre-war levels. International trade grew and inflation was brought under control.
The NEP was bitterly disliked by some Communists, who saw it as a reversal of everything they believed in. Lenin defended the policy as necessary for the regime’s survival.
Lenin’s death
In May 1922 Lenin suffered the first of four strokes. These greatly weakened his control over the party and a power struggle developed between Stalin and Trotsky to succeed him. In January 1924 he died at the village of Gorky, near Moscow. His body was preserved in Red Square in Moscow, and Petrograd was renamed Leningrad in his honour. After his death his cult of personality (see page 17) grew and he became a God-like figure who could do no wrong.
Lenin: an assessment
By the time of his death, Lenin had established communism in Russia. His pragmatism and his ability to seize an opportunity were two of his major political skills.
Against the advice of many of his supporters, he led a successful revolution in October 1917.
He pulled Russia out of the war with Germany, which helped to consolidate his regime. Victory in the
Civil War that followed ensured the effective establishment of the Communist state.
His ability to recognise when his policies had failed led him to abandon War Communism and replace it with the New Economic Policy.
However, his government had a darker side:
He had set up a brutal totalitarian regime. Democracy was banned and a one-party police state was established. Only one party – the Communist Party – was allowed to exist.
The biggest criticism of Lenin was his use of terror as state policy. This policy was directed against those who were seen as enemies of the people. He set up the apparatus of terror (secret police, show trials, concentration camps, etc.) that became a central feature of Stalin’s rule.
The Russian historian Dmitri Volkogonov wrote the following about Lenin’s rule of Russia:
The movement for a just and classless society in Russia began with unbridled [uncontrolled] violence,denying millions of people all rights except the right to support Bolshevik policy.
