Establishment of Bolshevik Authority 1d

• the sovnarkom (cabinet) was established to run the country- lenin as chairman, trotsky as commissar for foreign affairs and ruled by decree. they disregarded the petrograd soviet by excluding it from the german peace talks, undermining it. lenin allowed left social revolutionaries to combat the accusations bolsheviks making up the whole thing.
• declaration of rights of the poeple's permitted nationalities indepence like Ukraine, which broke away fully by the end of 1917
• bolsheviks seized control of 18 provincial capitals by 1917's end, they dominated towns and railways but not the countryside
• Decrees- October 


  Worker's decree (8 hour shifts max), social insurance (pensions and benefits), opposing press was banned, decree on peace, decree on land (said it abolished private land ownership, but really legitimized peasant land seizure)
• Decrees- November


  nationality decree (self determination), workers control of factories, outlawed sex discrimination
• Decrees- December


  created the CHEKA, Military (removal of ranks and saluting off duty), church (became a secular state)
• reactions to the october revolution

  • zinoviev and kamenev spoke out against the coup
  • mensheviks thought bolshvik power would only last 3 weeks
  • left SRs congratulated lenin, rights accused him of violently seizing power illegally
  • moderates walked out of congress due to the overwhelming bolshevik majority
• consolidation- insecurity


  • civil servants refused to serve
  • bankers initially refused to provide finance
  • bolsheviks had to combat kerensky and hi force of Cossacks and SRs. many soldiers returned home after the revolution and lenin had no direct contact with the front, his forces were smaller and the bolsheviks appeared weak
• 29th October- end 1917


  • an army cadet rising in petrograd is crushed by the red army
  • bolsheviks take over 17 provincial capitals
  • kerenskys opposition force is defeated, the Declaration of Rights of the Poeple's permitting nationalities to have full independence, both ukraine and finland declaring the right to control affairs by 1917
  • lenin proclaimed victory
  • by 1917's end bolsheviks dominated major towns and rails though countryside escaped their control, the civil war won them full control later
  • lenin allowed 7 left SRs in sovnarkom to avoid accusations of fully bolshevik state
• decrees- overview


  • up til the end of 1917 lenin issued a large number of decrees, optimism was high and the time became known as the "utopian phase" of bolshevikism.
  • lenin had to fulfil his promises to maintain and win upport, also seemed convinced of the capacity of the masses to instigate a new social order
• economy

  • while socialism blossomed through the decrees and the bolshevik government wanted a new socialist state but lenin was cautious, creating state capitalism to transition to socialism. it meant there'd be a degree of state control over the economy but private markets would remain.
  • in 1917 the veshenka was created to control economic development. there were calls to nationalise (put under state control) all industry.
• early steps to combat opposition

  • a propaganda campaign beginning calss warfare against bourgeois and making all people go by citizen and party members, comrade
  • anti bolshevik press was forcibly closed
  • the civil service was purged, replaced with bolsheviks
  • the CHEKA was established as a secret police in december
  • kadets, right wing SRs and mensheviks were rounded up and imprisoned