Impact of the Bolshevik Consolidation

Question 1

Political: Communist dictatorial party emerged exemplifying marxist leninist ideas with Vladimir Lenin as the leader. Party became a highly centralised, bureaucratic, hierarchical organisation.

Answer 1

• Bolsheviks becoming a “vanguard of the people” through their dictatorship of the proleteriat, creating a significant political impact. This would set a precedent for the personality cult of Lenin, and the sacralisation of a key leader within the party even after his death.
  Through the implementation of democratic centralism from 1921, there was a reduction in the influence of the Sovnarkom, creating a power vacuum in the politburo. Notwithstanding, members of the party still looked to a key leader, seen through the succession of Stalin from Lenin.
• Rapid Socialism → increased beauractisation of the party → IMPACT: several debates between party members including “Volokita” debate between Trotsky and others
  Lenin’s enrollment in wake of the Civil War, a key aspect of the Bolshevik consolidation of power, sought to expand the party’s leadership by incorporating more workers and peasants into its ranks in an attempt to broaden the base of the party and bring in fresh and loyal supporters. This set a precedent for the nature of political leadership in the Soviet Union, demonstrated through the increasingly influential “patronage” system established by Stalin which created a new bureaucracy consisting of those whom supported his aims for the party. This impact can further be reverberated through the “nomenklatura” system in the party;

Question 2

Formation of the USSR

Answer 2

• As the Bolsheviks extended control over the former territories of the Russian Empire, they faced the challenge of governing a multiethnic empire.
• Lenin promoted the idea of a union of Soviet republics, each representing a national identity but subordinted to Moscow’s control.
• This led to the creation of republics like Ukraine, Belarus, and Transcaucasian Republics, among others, which were integrated into the Soviet framework.
• In December 1922, these republics formally united to form the USSR, with the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (RSFSR) as its dominant entity.
• The Bolsheviks also adopted a policy of “Korenizatsiya” (nativization), which sought to promote the culture and languages of non-Russian nationalities within the USSR while maintaining centralized political and economic control from Moscow. However, this policy was secondary to the ultimate goal of unifying the republics under Communist rule
• “A policy of dividing the peoples of the former Russian Empire into official nationalities turned out to be an effective means of consolidating the Soviet Union.” – Hirsch

Question 3

Economic: The Bolshevik consolidation of power clearly saw an impact in illuminating the two economic paths towards achieving socialism, underwriting the leadership struggle. Dichotomous paths toward the purported Bolshevik ideal were war communism and the New Economic Policy.

Answer 3

• War communism was a series of extreme policies which Lenin introduced from mid-1918 to deal with the disastrous economic and military situation that the Bolsheviks were facing. It involved the imposition of state control over economic production, distribution and grain output. The widespread use of terror was a mechanism to achieve this control.
• However, due to the devastating impact of War Communism inn the degradation of the “schymka”, Lenin proposed the NEP to help stabilise the economy in the aftermath of the Civil War.
• NEP involved a brief return to small-scale capitalism. Grain was no longer requisitioned and small businesses were allowed to operate. For many party members such as Trotsky and Prebozhensky, the capitalist elements that were part of this ‘mixed’ economy were inconsistent with the key ideas that the Bolsheviks promoted when they came to power in 1917. Whereas, the party members such as Bukharin argued that the reconciliation of the sychmka was more valuable in the path to socialism than permanent revolution.
• NEP set a precdent for economic policies that prioritised the stabilisation of the Soviet Union rather than pursuance of permanent revolution. This can be demonstrated through the policy of socialism in one country and foreign policy tactics until 1941.
• “We are making economical concessions to avoid political ones” - Bhukarin (in relation to NEP)
• “The spectre of a resurgent peasantry aroused fears that a primitive, consumption-hungry rural populace might dictate its own terms in the disposal of agricultural output.” – Kingston-Manne

Question 4

Social: The economic and political impacts of the Bolshevik consolidation of power precipitated several social impacts. This can be demonstrated through the suppression of the peasant class and kuakisation as well as the creation of a personality cult surrounding Lenin.

Answer 4

• Social impacts of the Bolshevik consolidation of power include the creation of a metaphorical “mobius strip”. The attempt to eliminate all social classes facilitated the creation of a new running elite. This blurred the line between revolutionary egalitarianism and the reemergence of social stratification
• Furthermore, the increased bureacratisation directly corollorated the social impacts of the NEP. Peasants found themselves under the same conditions of Tsardom, tied to new state masters, and reminiscent of pre-Bolshevik society. In addition, the economic methods of “primitive socialist accumulation” observed across all economic policies, saw the peasantry harnessed and exploited for the benefit of the state creating a large dissidence between government and the proleteriat. .
• According to historian Orlando Figes, “By March 1921 Soviet power in the country had virtually ceased to exist … as the urban food crisis increased, it became clear that the Bolsheviks were facing a revolutionary situation”.