Nature of Government under Lenin

• • Russian Constitution of 1918, guaranteed voting rights to all adult citizens.
  • Cheka used to wipe out opposition.
  • Lenin's speech 'On Party Unity', forced all Bolsheviks to support the views of party leaders without question.
• • Lenin was the chairman of the government, which was called Sovnarkom (the Council of People’s Commissars).
  • He was responsible for Russia’s development into a brutal dictatorship, rather than into a genuinely equal socialist society.
  • The centralisation of power under his control was typical of his leadership style.