The Bolsheviks in power

• What did Lenin claim?

  That the October Revolution had been the taking of power by the Soviets

  • it had been a seizure of power by the Bolsheviks
• What was Lenin persistent with?

  The notion that Sovnarkom had been appointed to govern by the Congress of Soviets

  • According to this view, the distribution of power in revolutionary Russia took the form of a pyramid with the Sovnarkom, drawing its authority from the Russian people who expressed their will through the soviets at the base
• What was the reality of the distribution of power in revolutionary power?

  Traditional forms of government had broken down in 1917 with the fall of tsardom and the overthrow of the PG

  • This meant the Bolsheviks were in a position to make up their own rules
• Central Committee of the Bolshevik Party

  Supposedly derived its authority from the All-Russian Congress of the Bolshevik Party whose locally elected representatives coted on policy

  • In practice, the Congress and the local parties kept within Lenin's demands that the Bolshevik party did as they were told according to the principle of democratic centralism -> guaranteed that power was exercised from the top down
• What problems did the Bolsheviks face after taking power from the Provisional Government? (economic)

  • Raw materials shortage
  • High inflation + a fractured transport system
  • food crisis - grain supplies were over 13 million tons too short of the nation's needs -> deepened by the loss of Ukraine as a surrender to Germany (richest grain producing region
• What problems did the Bolsheviks face after taking power from the Provisional Government? (Social/Political)

  • WC supported Soviet Power but not necessarily Bolshevik power -> most were expecting a socialist coalition to emerge
  • Bolsheviks had given little thought to how they would govern after a revolution
  • Newly elected Constituent Assembly was a serious threat
  • Were still at war with Germany
  • Bolsheviks had control of Petrograd and Moscow but not the rest of the country->not until 1921 was most of Russia in Bolshevik hands
• How did Lenin's economic stance change once he was in power?

  • Before the October Revolution, Lenin was against Landlords and grasping capitalists but after power in 1917, his policy became a pragmatic one
  • He argued that the changed from a bourgeois to a proletarian economy could not be achieved overnight
  • The Bolshevik government would continue to use the existing structures until the transition had been completed and a fully fledged socialist system could be adopted
  • This transition was referred to as 'state capitalism'
• Lenin's decrees:

  Embarked a period of 'state capitalism' whereby Bolsheviks would use existing structures until a socialist system could be established

  • Decree on Peace
  • Decree on Land
  • Decree on Workers' control and Nationalisation
• Decree on Peace, October 1917


  An appeal to the warring nations to enter into talks for 'a democratic peace without annexations'

  • This was Lenin's hard-headed first step towards making peace with Germany -> something he knew the Bolshevik government had to do if it was to survive

  Began the formation of the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk
• Decree on Land, November 1917


  The decree gave Bolshevik approval to the reality of what had been happening in the countryside since the February Revolution: in many areas the peasants had overthrown their landlords and occupied their property

  • Private ownership of land was to be abolished
  • Land was not to be sold, purchased, rented etc
  • All land was to be confiscated and become the property of everyone
  • All mineral wealth ore, oil, coal, salt, etc shall pass into the exclusive use of the state
• Decree on Workers' control, November 1917


  Was also largely concerned with authorising what had already occurred

  • During 1917 a large number of factories had been taken over by the workers
  • however, the workers' committees that were then formed rarely ran the factories efficiently
  • the result was a serious fall in industrial output
  • the decree accepted the workers takeover but at the same time it instructed the workers committees to maintain 'the strictest order and discipline' in the workplace
• What was the Vesenkha?

  Lenin's scheme for establishing the state direction of the economy

  • Set up in December 1918
  • Was the Supreme council of the National Economy, later known as Gosplan
  • Aim was 'to take charge of all existing institutions for the regulation of economic life'

  Presided over a number of important developments:

  • Banks and railways were nationalised
  • Foreign debts were cancelled
  • Transport system improved
• What did the developments of the Vesenkha suggest?

  Suggested how effective centralised control might become were the Bolsheviks able to gain complete power
• Decree on Nationalisation, June 1918


  This measure laid down a programme for the takeover by the state of larger industrial concerns

  • Within two years, it had brought practically all the major industrial enterprises in Russia under Central government control
• What were all the economic measures that Lenin introduced to tackle problems?

  • Adoption of State capitalism - a compromise measure to achieve the transition to a socialist economy
  • Decree on Land - abolished private property - recognised peasant takeovers
  • Decree on Workers' control - an attempt to assert government authority over the factories which had been seized by workers
  • Vesenkha - body to oversee economic development