Bolsheviks' Power 1917-1924

Bolsheviks' Power 1917-1924

The Bolsheviks were a communist party, after the tsar, who believed

that all classes in society should be fair and equal. Therefore they

wanted to demolish the elites and the bourgeois and distribute their

land and money amongst the workers and the peasants. The Bolsheviks

were prepared to use any means to retain power and their slogan became

'all power to the soviets'.

When the results of the constituent assembly were revealed the SR's

(Social Revolutionaries) came out on top. This was mainly due to the

tremendous support in rural areas. Although, the Bolsheviks had the

majority vote in places of importance such as Moscow and Petrograd and

were backed by the military. 10 millions people had voted for the

Bolsheviks, a considerable amount. This led Lenin to negotiate a

coalition. He soon split the SR party and claimed that the vast

majority of people were represented. This was when Lenin dissolved the

assembly.

However, a coalition meant that not all members would be loyal to the

Bolsheviks. So, to keep members complaisant, the CHEKA were formed.

The CHEKA were supposedly a 'secret police' force, but the CHEKA soon

turned to terrorising and murdering not just Bolshevik enemies and

unfaithful party members, but their friends and family as well.

When the civil war started, the violence and terror used by the CHEKA

soon became known as the 'red terror'.

When the communist party were rising to power in 1918 people of the

elite classes decided to set up the white army to fight the up and

coming revolution. Armies were set up in other countries and all over

Russia, for a while it looked like the...

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... of industry. Extreme inflation had led to the virtual

disappearance of money.

In the winter of 1920-1921 a drought-induced famine, general material

hardship, growing peasant resistance to grain requisitioning, and

general opposition to unpopular government policies led to widespread

strikes and uprisings, to which the regime responded with more

repression.

In March 1921 the sailors at the Kronshtadt naval base, who previously

had been allies of the Bolsheviks, staged a revolt against the

regime's economic policies and repression of workers' strikes.

In late 1921 War Communism was abandoned and Lenin introduced the New

Economic Policy (NEP). The NEP relaxed government control and allowed

the bourgeois to return in order to encourage economic recovery,

although the state remained in control of large companies.