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Chapter 3. RUSSIA, 1905-24
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3.4 HOW SUCCESSFUL WERE LENIN AND THE BOLSHEVIKS IN DEALING WITH THEIR PROBLEMS (1917-24)?
(a) The Bolsheviks had nothing like majority support in the country as a whole; the problem was how to keep themselves in power once the public realised what a Bolshevik government involved. One of Lenin's first decrees therefore nationalised all land so that it could be redistributed among the peasants; this increased support for the Bolsheviks and was a great help in their fight with the Constituent Assembly. Lenin knew that he would have to allow elections, having criticised Kerensky so bitterly for postponing them, but he realised that a Bolshevik majority in the Assembly was highly unlikely. Elections were held (the only completely free and democratic elections ever to take place in Russia), but the Bolsheviks won only 168 seats out of about 700 while the right Social Revolutionaries had 380, a clear anti-Bolshevik majority. This would not do for Lenin who was aiming for a 'dictatorship of the proletariat', by which he meant that he and the Bolshevik party working through the soviets would run the country on behalf of the workers and peasants. There was no room in the scheme for any other party. Accordingly, after some anti-Bolshevik speeches at its first meeting (January 1918), the Assembly was dispersed by Bolshevik Red Guards and never met again. Armed force had triumphed for the time being, but opposition was to lead to civil war later in the year.
(b) The next pressing problem was how to withdraw from the war; an armistice between Russia and the Central Powers had been agreed in December 1917, but long negotiations followed, during which Trotsky tried without success to persuade the Germans to moderate their demands. The Treaty of Brest-Litovsk (March 1918) was cruel, Russia losing Poland, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, the Ukraine, Georgia and Finland; this included a third of Russia's farming land, a third of her population, two-thirds of her coalmines and half her heavy industry. A terrible price indeed, but Lenin insisted that it was worth it, pointing out that Russia needed to sacrifice space in order to gain time to recover. He probably expected to get the land back anyway when, as he hoped. the revolution spread to Germany.
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(c) By April 1918 armed opposition to the Bolsheviks was breaking out in many areas leading to civil war. The Whites were a mixed bag, including Social Revolutionaries, Mensheviks, ex-tsarist officers and any other groups which did not like what they had seen of the Bolsheviks; they were not aiming to restore the tsar, but simply to set up a parliamentary government on western lines. In Siberia Admiral Kolchak, former Black Sea Fleet commander, set up a White government; General Denikin was in the Caucasus with a large White army; most bizarre of all the Czechoslovak Legion of about 40,000 men had seized long stretches of the Trans-Siberian Railway in the region of Omsk. These troops were originally prisoners taken by the Russians from the Austro-Hungarian army, who had later fought against the Germans under the Kerensky government. After Brest-Litovsk the Bolsheviks gave them permission to leave Russia via the Trans-Siberian Railway to Vladivostock, but then decided to disarm them in case they co-operated with the Allies, who were already showing interest in the destruction of the new Bolshevik government. The Czechs resisted with great spirit and their control of the railway was a serious embarrassment to the government. The situation was complicated by foreign intervention to help the Whites with the excuse that they wanted a government which would continue the war against Germany. When intervention continued even after the defeat of Germany. it became clear that the aim was to destroy the Bolshevik government which was now advocating world revolution. The USA, Japan, France and Britain sent troops, with landings at Archangel. Murmansk and Vladivostock. The situation seemed grim for the Bolsheviks when early in 1919 Kolchak (whom the Allies intended to head the next government) advanced with three armies towards Moscow, the new capital. However Trotsky, now Commissar for War, had done a magnificent job creating the well-disciplined Red Army, based on conscription and including thousands of experienced officers from the old tsarist armies. Kolchak was forced back, and later captured and executed by the Reds; the Czech legion was defeated and Denikin, advancing from the south to within 250 miles of Moscow, was forced to retreat; he later escaped with British help. By the end of 1919 it was clear that the Bolsheviks (now calling themselves communists) would survive, though 1920 saw an invasion of the Ukraine by Polish and French troops which forced the Russians to hand over part of the Ukraine and White Russia (Treaty of Riga 1921). From the communist point of view, however, the important thing was that they had won the civil war. The communist victory was achieved because: (i) The Whites were not centrally organised; Kolchak and Denikin failed to link up, and the nearer they drew to Moscow the more they strained their lines of communication. They lost the support of many peasants by their brutal behaviour and because peasants feared a White victory would mean the loss of their newly acquired land. (ii) The Red Armies had more troops plus the inspired leadership of Trotsky. (iii) Lenin took decisive measures, known as war communism, to control the economic resources of the state: all factories of any size were nationalised, all private trade banned, and food and grain seized from peasants to feed town workers and troops. This was successful at first in that it enabled the government to survive the civil war, but it had disastrous results later. (iv) Lenin was able to present the Bolsheviks as a nationalist government fighting against foreigners; and even though war communism was unpopular with peasants, the Whites became even more unpopular because of their foreign connections.
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(d) From early 1921 Lenin had the formidable task of rebuilding an economy shattered by the First World War and then by civil war. War communism had been unpopular with the peasants who, seeing no point in working hard to produce food which was taken away from them without compensation, simply produced enough for their own needs. This caused severe food shortages aggravated by droughts in 1920-1. In addition industry was almost at a standstill. In March 1921 a serious naval mutiny occurred at Kronstadt, suppressed only through prompt action by Trotsky, who sent troops across the ice on the Gulf of Finland. This mutiny seems to have convinced Lenin that a new approach was needed to win back the faltering support of the peasants; he put into operation what became known as the New Economic Policy (NEP). Peasants were not allowed to keep surplus produce after payment of a tax representing a certain proportion of the surplus. This, plus the reintroduction of private trade, revived incentive and food production in-creased. On the other hand heavy industry was left under state control, though some smaller factories were handed back to private ownership; Lenin also found that often the old managers had to be brought back, as well as such capitalist incentives as bonuses and piece-rates. Lenin saw NEP as a temporary compromise - a return to a certain amount of private enterprise until recovery was assured; his long-term aim remained full state control of industry, and of agriculture (through collective farms). Gradually the economy began to recover, though there were recurrent food shortages for many years.
(e) Political problems were solved with typical efficiency. Russia was now the world's first communist state, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) with power held by the communist party (no other parties were allowed). In March 1921 Lenin banned groups who criticised his policies within the party, and during the rest of that year about one-third of the party members were 'purged' or expelled with the help of the ruthless secret police (OGPU). Control by Lenin and the party was complete. (For his successes in foreign affairs see Section 13.3(a) and (b).) In May 1922 Lenin had his first stroke; after this he gradually grew weaker, suffering two more strokes until he died in January 1924 at the early age of 53. A. J. P. Taylor sums up his career well: 'Lenin did more than any other political leader to change the face of the twentieth-century world. The creation of Soviet Russia and its survival were due to him. He was a very great man and even, despite his faults. a very good man.'
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