Lenin Flashcards
Lenin and Marxist Ideology - Proletariat Revolution
Marxist Ideology (Communist Manifesto 1848)- The bourgeois would overthrow autocracy (feudal stage) in a bourgeois-democratic revolution to establish the capitalist stage where they would maintain their position by exploiting workers. As the workers became politically aware they would develop a revolutionary consciousness rising up to overthrow bourgeois government.
Lenin’s Interpretation (Marxist-Leninism)- The revolution would be accomplished by a small group of dedicated revolutionaries who would lead workers in (What is to be done? 1902). He developed this idea further when after the 1905 revolution he determined that the bourgeois in Russia were too weak to carry through the bourgeois revolution so this stage could be skipped.
Lenin and Marxist Ideology - World Revolution
Marxist Ideology (Communist Manifesto 1848)- Marx believed that the world-wide socialist revolution would start in a highly industrialised country. He predicted this would be Germany. In his Communist Manifesto he called for proletarian action: ‘Working men of all countries, unite!
Lenin’s Interpretation (Marxist-Leninism)- World-wide socialist revolution would occur during a period of conflict between capitalist powers (eg WWI) and it would start in a backward country where capitalism was just developing. He believed that the success of socialism in Russia was dependent on a world-wide revolution. (Imperialism: the Highest Stage of Capitalism 1916)
Lenin and Marxist Ideology - Securing Revolution
Marxist Ideology (Communist Manifesto 1848)- In the socialist stage, followingrevolution, Marx saidthere would need to be a ‘dictatorship of the proletariat’. Workers would govern with strict control to remove any enemies of the revolution (non-socialists)
Lenin’s Interpretation (Marxist-Leninism)- Agreed ‘dictatorship of the proletariat’ necessary to secure rev. Yet, once in power claimed that in Russia’s precarious circumstances strict control of one-party (the Bolsheviks) was necessary, other socialists were treated as enemies.
Lenin and Marxist Ideology - Socialist Government
Marxist Ideology (Communist Manifesto 1848)- Marx believed that government should be in the hands of ‘the people’. He said that democracy with the introduction of universal suffrage was ‘one of the first and most important tasks of the militant proletariat’
Lenin’s Interpretation (Marxist-Leninism)- The principle of democratic-centralism was established early on. (What is to be done? 1902) From the party’s formation it was the role of Bolshevik leaders to fulfill the wishes of the party and party obedience would ensure this was achieved. Once in power they would serve the people’s needs and the people would obey the party to achieve this.
Lenin and Marxist Ideology - Economy
Marxist Ideology (Communist Manifesto 1848)- The means of production should be owned equally by the whole community. Individuals should not own the means of production.No private ownership or control.
Lenin’s Interpretation (Marxist-Leninism)- Lenin agreed that the economy would be transformed with people managing their own affairs. (The State and Revolution 1917)
Lenin and Marxist Ideology - Society
Marxist Ideology (Communist Manifesto 1848)- Class should be destroyed and replaced by a society of equals. Once the enemies of socialism were defeated and there were no competing classes there would be no need for government and Communism would be achieved.
Lenin’s Interpretation (Marxist-Leninism)- Lenin agreed that society would be transformed with a classless society of equals. (The State and Revolution 1917)
How did the Bolsheviks End the War? - What the Bolsheviks believed would happen and Trotsky Role
Following the October Revolution of 1917, the Bolsheviks priority was to consolidate control. Marxist ideology became less important. Later Soviet historians tried to explain the Bolsheviks actions in terms of Marxist theory, but at the time, policies and decisions were often dictated by circumstances…
The Bolsheviks were sure that other countries in Europe would follow the lead set by the decree on peace (Oct 1917) - an immediate truce and a just peace with ‘no annexations, no indemnities’. They believed that the war would collapse into a series of civil wars in European countries as the working class fought with the bourgeoisie following the example of the workers’ revolution in Russia. They also believed that revolution in Russia could not survive without the support of workers’ revolutions in advanced capitalist societies.
But the revolutions in other countries failed to materialise. As the Russian army became incapable of fighting on successfully, Trotsky was dispatched to negotiate a peace settlement with Germany at Brest-Litovsk in December 1917. The terms the Germans proposed were harsh, involving loss of territory and people. Trotsky kept negotiations going as long as he could, hoping that revolution would break out in Germany and Austria. When the Germans grew impatient, he withdrew from the negotiations saying there would be ‘neither war nor peace.
How did the Bolsheviks End the War? - Lenins Ideology
Lenin believed that peace was essential to ensure the survival of the regime. There was no army to fight the Germans and when they began to advance into the Ukraine, Lenin feared that they might move on to Petrograd and throw the Bolsheviks out. ‘Germany is only pregnant with revolution and we have already given birth to a healthy child in Russia’, he continued, ‘we must make sure of throttling the bourgeoisie, and for this we need both hands free.’ He also knew he had to uphold the promise he made to end the war in order to maintain the support of the people.
Yet, the party was divided: some party members agreed with Trotsky’s stance of no war, peace and more agreed with Bukharin and the Left Communists, who sticking to the ideological position, wanted to turn the war into a revolutionary war to encourage a European socialist revolution. So, Lenin’s pleas for a separate peace with Germany were vigorously opposed. One of the few in the Party who agreed with Lenin was Stalin.
The Germans resumed their advance. In five days they progressed 150 miles further than in the previous three years of fighting. Harsher peace terms than originally put forward had to be accepted but only after further debate and Lenin threatening resignation twice. Trotsky resigned as Foreign Commissar. On 3rd March the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk was signed. This set a precedent: in future, ‘socialism at home’ would take priority over spreading international revolution.
Lenin had not necessarily completely abandoned his ideology of world revolution in 1918 but he recognised the need to put survival first. In March 1919, Comintern was set up to guide, co-ordinate and promote the communist parties of the world, although it had little effect.
Establishing a Communist Dictatorship - Early Decrees Oct- Dec 1917
In some ways, his early decrees, appear to support Marxist ideology and Lenin’s own interpretation of it (State and revolution 1917) that people should manage their own affairs rather than be subject to government control. Following the creation of the Sovnarkom in October 1917 Lenin announced, ‘We shall now proceed to construct the socialist order’ and proceeded to introduce a series of decrees:
27 October: Decree on land abolished private ownership of land and legitimised peasant seizures without compensation to landlords.
November: Workers’ control decree gave workers the right to ‘supervise management’.
However it is equally likely that he had little choice in this regard, since peasants were already seizing land and workers taking over factories. Furthermore he needed to secure the support of the people and the land decree in particular reduced peasant support for the SRs providing a breathing space for consolidation of Bolshevik rule.
Establishing a Communist Dictatorship - Avoiding Socialist Coalition
The Petrograd Soviet, which had shared power with the Provisional Government in 1917 and in whose name the Bolsheviks had taken control, contained non-Bolshevik socialists, so Lenin sidelined it and formed the Bolshevik-only Sovnarkom. In doing so, Lenin showed that he had no intention of sharing power with other socialists: particularly, the Mensheviks and Social Revolutionaries, despite their shared Marxist heritage.
Second All-Russian Congress of Soviets - The Bolsheviks had seized power in the name of the Congress of Soviets but at the Second All-Russian Congress of Soviets the Mensheviks and right-wing Social Revolutionaries condemned the Bolshevik action as an ‘illegal coup’ and only left-wing SRs congratulated Lenin. Lenin announced a new socialist government was to be created by a new executive committee made up of Bolsheviks and more extreme left-wing SRs. In protest, the ‘moderate’ Mensheviks and SRs walked out of the congress, leaving a Bolshevik and left-wing SR coalition in control. The executive committee established the Sovnarkom as the new government. This was comprised exclusively of Bolsheviks.
Workers went on strike protesting against the exclusion of the moderate socialists. This forced Lenin to agree to inter-party talks but this amounted to little. He only allowed left wing SRs to join Sovnarkom in December and it was made clear they had to follow the Bolshevik lead. Meanwhile leading Kadets, right SRs and Mensheviks were imprisoned. The planned elections for the Constituent Assembly did go ahead in November but it was closed down in Jan 1918. Lenin declared it a remnant of bourgeois parliamentary democracy and said to accept its rulings would be to take a step back in Russia’s historical development. Lenin was so hostile to any further suggestions of ‘power-sharing’ that Kamenev and Zinoviev (who favoured a broad socialist government) temporarily resigned.
Sovnarkom ruled by decree. Lenin claimed that Sovnarkom must be able to pass decrees independent of the Central Executive Committee. Lenin justified this on the grounds of urgent necessity and doing away with ‘bourgeois formalism’ (to rid the country of unnecessary bureaucracy which slowed the promotion of socialist values), it effectively gave Lenin the power once enjoyed by the Tsar. While Sovnarkom met daily, the CEC and Soviet met increasingly less frequently. In March 1918 the left-wing SRs walked out of Sovnarkom in protest at the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk. The Bolsheviks formally adopted the title of ‘Communist Party’ and from then on governed alone.
Thus, the concept of the one-party state, with a ruling party incapable of sharing power with anyone outside the party, was established during the early months of Lenin’s rule. It remains uncertain whether this concept was the product of the difficult situation in Russia in early 1918 or of Lenin’s own stubborn belief that he alone could make a utopian Marxist state become a reality. Regardless of his motivation Lenin’s resolution to avoid a socialist coalition government seems to fly in the face of Marxist ideology as he sidelined his fellow socialists.
Establishing a Communist Dictatorship - The People
Following the creation of the Sovnarkom railway and communications workers went on strike in protest against the emergence of a one-party government. When civilians demonstrated against Lenin’s dismissal of the Constituent Assembly they were fired on and 12 were killed. There was clearly popular support for shared socialist power rather than Bolshevik government but Lenin ignored the strength of feeling from the people.
Such action appears to contradict the Marxist ideological principle of power to the people. Although it could arguably be justified as strong rule required in a ‘dictatorship of the proletariat’ after the revolution in this case instead of a dictatorship of the working classes over the middle classes there seemed to be a dictatorship of the Bolsheviks over the working classes.
In July 1918 the Constitution of the RSFSR (Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic ) was proclaimed and it appeared to give power to the people. This stated that supreme power rested with the All-Russian Congress of Soviets, which was made up of deputies from elected local soviets across Russia. The central executive committee of that congress was to be the ‘supreme organ of power’ - acting like a president. The congress was also made responsible for electing Sovnarkom.
On the surface, the new constitution looked highly democratic. However, there were limitations:
The Sovnarkom in practice was chosen by the Communist Party’s Central Committee not the Congress of Soviets.
The Congress was only to meet infrequently so executive authority remained in the hands of Sovnarkom.
The real focus of power was the Party.
Although Marx may have been in agreement with prioritising the vote of the workers over others. Members of the former ‘exploiting classes’ (which included businessmen, clergy and tsarist officials) were excluded from voting or holding public office and the workers’ vote was weighted five to one against that of the peasants.
Establishing a Communist Dictatorship - Increased Party Control
March 1918, Country enters Civil War, argument they needed more centralised control - needed war communism + terror (war based economy) as no time to vote, have to be centralised. Have to nationalise industry as seen as necessary in war effort.
Arguably seen as ideological, removing private ownership, although for pragmatic reasons. War communism removes opposition which preserves ideas and helps to survive revolution.
In 1921 introduced new economic policy - very capitalist.
Capitalism goes against ideology which suggests Lenin was not interested in ideology and instead was pragmatic.
Politburo set up in 1919, group of 7-9 people who became main decision making body - decide policy. Took Precedent over the Sovnarkom as key decision making body, meant small inner ruling group at top of party.
Ogburo set up in 1919, decide how to implement this policy.
Secretarials, already exist, oversee the implementation of policy, make sure carried out on a local level, have secretaries on a regional level. Kept files on all party members and appointed and dismissed party members at all levels, those undedicated to the Bolsheviks would be dismissed.
1920- to be in a local soviet (council) and have a vote you had to be a member of the communist party.
Establishing a Communist Dictatorship - Party Increasingly Bureaucratic
Democratic- Centralism more central than democratic, top dominate, those below ignored (lower votes). Politburo tell ogburo what to do and the secretarial tell those below to do it. Democracy starts to go.
1920- workers opposition led by Kollontai argue party needs to do more for workers who have been left in horrendous condition during the war. 1921- at 10th party congress- Ban on Factions. If you disagree with the central party line then expelled from the party- as a resut Kollontai silenced.
Even the top echelons of party not allowed to voice opinions.
1923- Nomentilatures- 5500 key posts appointed by central committee- not elected, chosen on loyalty. Given bonuses, Dacha (summer houses) and best accommodation so do as told and dont want to loose roles.
Establishing a Communist Dictatorship - Nationalities
The Nationality decree of November 1917 promised self-determination to the peoples of the former Russian Empire. (In December, Finland became an independent state, and an elected rada (parliament) was set up in the Ukraine.) This decree gave more autonomy to nationalities and was in line with Marxist principles.
Yet, the civil war years saw an abandonment of this early support for ‘national self-determination’. Although displays of national culture and native languages were permitted, independence movements were denounced as ‘counter-revolutionary’. The demands for greater independence in Georgia were brutally crushed on the orders of the People’s Commissar for Nationalities, Josef Stalin.
Georgia was in the hands of Mensheviks during the civil war. When the Red Army advanced to establish control in 1922, Lenin was assured by Stalin that a Bolshevik uprising had occurred and the Mensheviks had already been virtually overthrown. However, Lenin was appalled when he heard the people were supporting the Mensheviks and ‘independence; the Bolsheviks were therefore engaged in overthrowing an independent socialist regime by force.
In Dec 1922 the constitution was changed and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) was established replacing the RSFSR. The governments of the republics were regarded as regional branches of Sovnarkom which could, when necessary, be ‘coerced’ from the centre.
Establishing a Dictatorship- Other socialists and the people during and after the Civil War
No political views were tolerated from other socialists or the people. Once the Civil War started other socialists were attacked as traitors and any opposition from the people to the one-party state was crushed.
From June 1918 onwards, Socialist Revolutionaries had been arrested in large numbers, along with anarchists and members of other extreme
left groups. Mensheviks and Socialist Revolutionaries were excluded from taking part in soviets. Many Kadets were already in prison, others had fled to the south.
No mercy was shown to political rivals once the years of civil war cooperation were over.In the early months of 19215000 Mensheviks were arrested ‘for
counter-revolutionary activities’ destroying this group as a political force. In 1922, a group of imprisoned Social Revolutionaries was given a ‘show trial’ and
accused of plotting to assassinate Lenin. This resulted in 34 leaders being condemned, 11 executed and the party outlawed.
By 1921, following the hardships of the Civil War there were calls from the people for ‘soviets without communists’ and there was a revival in support for other
socialist parties. Martial law had to be imposed in Moscow and Petrograd. The strikers in Petrograd were supported by the sailors at the nearby Kronstadt naval
base who were in close contact with workers. In March 1921, they mutinied in the hope of starting a general revolt against the Bolsheviks. They demanded an
end to terror, to dictatorship and to one-party rule. In 1917 Trotsky had called the Kronstadt sailors the ‘pride and glory of the Russian revolution’ as they had
supported the Bolshevik take over. However, Kronstadt had always had a large number of SRsand anarchists and was not always as Bolshevik as has been
claimed. Many of the sailors were ex-peasants who had connections with the countryside and supported thepeasants. They were determined, too, to assist the
strikers in Petrograd. The Kronstadt uprising was condemned by Lenin and Trotsky as a White (tsarist) plot, though in fact the rebels were by and large the same
sailors who had fought for the revolution.
Extracts from the manifesto of the Kronstadt revolt of March 1921.
-‘in view of the fact that the present Soviets do not express the will of the workers and peasants, new elections by secret ballot be held immediately’
-‘freedom of speech and press for workers and peasants, anarchists and left socialist parties’
-‘the liberation of all political prisoners of socialist parties, as well as all workers and peasants’
-‘the ending of the right of Communists to be the only permitted socialist political party’
The first Red Army assault on Kronstadt failed and then Marshal Tukhachevsky was sent in with 50,000 crack troops. The rebels fought tooth and nail to defend
their base, and 10,000 were killed. In the following weeks 2,500 were shot by Cheka execution squads. Hundreds of others were sent to Solovetsky, the first big
labour camp, on the White Sea.
Ideology was/wasn’t important in setting up govt.
Was:
-Early Decrees- gave peasants and workers control over their own affairs (not controlled by government) power to the people.
-One party government ‘Dictatorship of proletariat’ however not dictatorship of workers but Bolsheviks
-Workers prioritised in new electoral system (1918 constitution) but election irrelevant
Wasn’t:
-Early Decrees- Maintaining peasant support more important. Reactive and pragmatic. Want peasants to support Bolsheviks over SR.
-Refused to share power with other socialists- enemy of other socialists- restricting voice of the people- only Bolshevik supporters would be represented.
-People not listened to- Shot at. Instead of being a dictatorship of the proletariat - dont listen.
-Ignored democratic structure- real power lay with sovnarkom.
Establishing a dictatorship- Indpendence of countries .
Treaty of Brest- Litovsk gave independence to countries such as Finland, Ukraine, Latvia and Georgia. Could make the argument that Lenin was committed to marxist ideology as giving independence and the people of these countries a voice. However he will have only agreed to the terms out of necessity as cant compete with Germans. In the coming years The Bolsheviks regained control in Belarus (1919),the Ukraine (1920) and Georgia (1921) their independence was lost. Showing the independence was never ideological and marxist but was out of necessity, gained back later for power.
Lenin and the economy - State Capatilism
Lenin’s Decree on Land in October 1917 declared that all land belonged to the people. In November workers ‘control’ was recognised over their factories, so giving them the right to ‘supervise management’ through the establishment of factory committees.
However, these early decrees really only legitimised processes that were already well underway and Lenin spoke out against the danger of moving towards socialism too quickly. Lenin remained cautious in the face of demands of some in his Party that he should set about the nationalisation of industry. He seemed to envisage a longer transition during which the first stage would be a form of ‘state capitalism’. This involved the state taking complete control of the economy until it could be ‘safely’ handed over to the proletariat. This was essentially a mixed economy – major companies and industries would remain in private hands but under state control. Lenin believed that co-operation with employers was completely necessary if the Bolsheviks were to survive their first few months in power. Lenin argued that capitalist development was necessary to restore production and build a solid economic foundation for the construction of a socialist economy. It was, in effect, a return to Karl Marx’s argument that socialism can only take root in a capitalist economy.
Lenin’s fears concerning peasants and workers’ control proved well-founded. It soon became clear that they were not ready for this responsibility. Workers failed to organise their factories efficiently and output shrank. Some workers awarded themselves unsustainable pay-rises, others helped themselves to stocks and equipment (there were cases of workers cutting slices of conveyor belt to make soles for boots) but mostly, they simply lacked the skills needed for management.
With more money than goods available, there was high inflation. This made peasants hoard produce, rather than sell for worthless money. So, the food shortages in towns, which were already affected by the loss of the Ukraine to the Germans, grew worse. The citizens of Petrograd were living on rations of just 50 grams of bread a day by February 1918 and elsewhere food riots threatened to undermine Bolshevik control.
Lenin acted to ban further ‘nationalisation from below’ without permission in January 1918 and again in April, but with little effect. In May 1918 Lenin wrote Left Infantilism and the Petty Bourgeois Spirit, which advised fellow Russian socialists to ‘study the state capitalism of the Germans, and to adopt it with all possible strength.’
Russian Civil War 1918-20 - The whites
Conflict broke in May 1918 as anti- Bolshevik White armies strove to overthrow the Reds (Bolsheviks). The Whites were dominated by senior
officers in the Tsarist army but they were divided and unco-ordinated. Included former tsarists, liberals, SRs and other moderate socialists. Whites deeply divided and was not uncommon for white armies to fight each other.
Threats to the Communists had been building since November 1917, but the beginning of the Civil War was marked by a bizarre incident in March 1918. Approximately 30 000 Czechoslovakian soldiers had been fighting with Russia in WWI hoping to gain independence from the Austro-Hungarian Empire and were attempting to return to the fight after Brest-Litovsk had dissolved the Eastern Front. The Communists were allowing them to leave but local Communists spread rumours that the Czechs were travelling to jointhe SRs against the Bolsheviks. So, Trotsky (now Commissar for War) told them to disarm. This was disastrous and only encouraged the Czechs to do what they were accused of and join some of the SRs. Together they proclaimed a new government based in Samara. In July, the Czechs took Simbirsk and advanced on Yekaterinburg, where Tsar Nicholas Il and his family had been kept in custody. The Bolsheviks ordered the immediate execution of the Romanovs to remove the threat of Nicholas becoming a figurehead for anti-revolutionary activity.
Meanwhile the Hites continued their divided activity. For example, Meanwhile, during April 1918, a number of Tsarist generals including Deniken (who replaced Kornilov after his death in April) had amassed 9000 soldiers. Although Deniken’s troops made terrific advances in May to August 1918, reaching 400 miles from Moscow, his forces were worn down by continuous counter-attacks from the Red Army. A third, rather modest army, led by General Yudenich, would also threaten the Bolshevik regime by attacking Petrograd. Trotsky masterfully saw off Yudenich’s threats within a week.General Wrangel, the last surviving White general, was defeated in the Crimea in November 1920, finally ending the civil war.
Russian Civil War - The Greens
The Greens were further evidence that in the civil war the peasants had their own overriding concerns. The Greens were peasant armies, often made up of deserters from the Whites or Reds. Some of these armies fought for the Bolsheviks, some against. Most were more concerned with protecting their own area from the ravages of other marauding armies. Their punishment of captives took such ancient and brutal forms as live burial and disembowelment. Probably the most famous of the Green armies was that of Nestor Makhno, an anarchist, in the Ukraine. He was a skilled guerrilla leader who at various times fought the Reds, the Whites and the Germans, but became an ally of the Bolsheviks. The Ukrainians, like many of the peasant armies, were fighting for their independence.
War Communism
The shortcomings of handing over control of the land to the peasants and control of the factories to the workers’ committees had become apparent. TheCivil War created new problems of supply; until 1920 the Communists were cut off from coal in the area of the Don, from the oil of Baku and grain production in parts of the Black Earth region as these areas were controlled by anti-Bolshevik forces.
The Bolsheviks had to make sure the army was supplied: they needed the factories to produce munitions and other goods and they needed food to feed the army and workers. A new approach was needed - it is usually called War Communism. War Communism was Lenin’s first attempt at a command economy to deal with the disastrous economic situation.
War Communism was clearly a pragmatic policy but the Party supported it as an ideological policy too.
War Communism Policies
Grain Requisitioning -In May 1918 a Food-Supplies Dictatorship was set up. Units of Red guards and soldiers forcibly requisitioned food from the peasants who resisted bitterly. Not ideological as peasants not in control of own produce. Pragmatic as need to feed army + workers- short on grain.
Labour Discipline- Discipline was brought back to the workplace. There were fines for lateness and absenteeism. Internal passports were introduced to stop people fleeing to the countryside. Piecework rates were brought back, along with bonuses and a work book that was needed to get rations. Pragmatic as need to keep workers in line. Not ideological as power over workers, workers don’t have power.
Banning of private trade - All private trade and manufacturing were banned. However, industry was simply not producing enough consumer goods, so an enormous black market developed, without which most people could not have survived. Ideological as removing privatisation.
Nationalisation of Industry - The decree on nationalisation in June 1918 brought all industry under state control, administered by the Supreme Council of National Economy (Vesenkha). Workers’ committees were replaced by single managers reporting to central authorities. These were often the old bourgeois managers now called specialists: By itself it did nothing to increase production.
Rationing - A class-based system of rationing was introduced. Red Army soldiers and the labour force were given priority. Smaller rations were given to civil servants and professional people such as doctors. The smallest rations, barely enough to live on, were given to the burzhooi or middle classes. Not ideological as class-based system- hierarchy, not equality. Pragmatic as need to prioritise army.
Aspect of War communism - Grain Requisitioning
In the spring of 1918, when faced with yet another grain crisis, Lenin took the further step of expanding the State’s ‘right to grain’ by beginning a programme of food requisitioning. He also encouraged the establishment of collective farming, hoping that if peasants pooled their resources they would farm more efficiently; but only a tiny minority complied.
A food-supplies policy was set up in May 1918 which organised detachments of soldiers and workers from the large towns into the countryside to ensure that grain could be supplied to the workers and most importantly to the Red Army. Officially, the peasants were paid a fixed price, but grain, livestock carts and firewood were often brutally confiscated, leaving the peasants with scarcely enough to live on, while requisitioning detachments kept a share of what they collected as a reward. The peasants resisted in a wave of uprisings and attacked the collectors. Bolshevik Party officials were murdered. One Cheka man was found with his stomach slit open and stuffed with grain as a lesson to others. It would not be unfair to say that the Bolsheviks were at war with the peasants.
War Communism was also arguably Lenin’s way of dealing with the bourgeois in the countryside. Since Stolypin’s agricultural reforms in 1906 that allowed consolidation of farms, there had been a low but marked growth in richer peasants or ‘kulaks’. Lenin voiced his abhorrence of this perceived class of peasant who, in his mind, were responsible for hoarding and withholding grain in order to get the highest price. Lenin intended to promote class war between the poorer peasants and their better-off neighbours. Lenin issued further decrees in June tasking ‘committees of the poor’ with achieving the expropriation of the kulaks (taking their property).
Grain requisitioning failed to improve food distribution and made food shortages worse. Peasants, knowing their surplus would be seized, sowed smaller acreages and more actively hoarded and hid their grain. Food detachments confiscated any grain they could, including seed grain which was required to sow the following harvest. This created a vicious cycle of lower grain production and ever more punitive requisitioning. Critical food shortages caused by grain hoarding peasants meant food was so scarce that workers in the cities were forced to return to the countryside to look for food.
Between 1918 and 1920, Moscow experienced a loss of approximately 100 000 workers and, over the same period, the number of factory and mine workers in the Urals dropped from 340 000 to 155 000. Moscow’s population, which had stood at slightly more than 2 million in February 1917, shrank to just over 1 million by late 1920 (less than in 1897).
Aspect of War communism - Rationing
Rationing was still in place from WWI but from autumn 1918, the level of rations distributed was tied to the ‘class principle’. This meant that the Red Army and manual workers (and among them, those engaged in the most physically demanding work) were permitted more than clerical personnel, who received a higher ration than ‘the bourgeoisie’. This exacerbated already critical problems: by linking rations to livelihood rather than individual performance, it provided little or no incentive for improved productivity. The inability of the state to accrue adequate measures of rations meant that, even for workers in the highest category, the amount of food remained well below the caloric minimum - evidence suggests that workers in this category received one quarter pound of bread and a bowl of meat soup per day at some points during the war.
The food shortages were the product of a combination of factors:
* The breakdown of the rail transport system owing to wartime overstrain
* Foreign and/or White occupation of some of the former empire’s richest food- and fuel-producing regions.
* Peasants’ reduction of crop-sown area and resistance to grain requisitions.
* Priority given to the Red Army in the field.
Lacking adequate nourishment, shelter, warmth and medicines, many urban residents found themselves engaged in what Isaac Deutscher (1965) called ‘an almost zoological struggle for survival”. Epidemics of typhus, cholera, influenza and diphtheria wiped out tens of thousands of urban residents, many already weakened by deficiency diseases. In Moscow, the death rate soared from 23.7 (per thousand) in 1917 to 45.4 in 1919.
With lower rations the bourgeois struggled even more than the workers. One study in the 1920s found that 42 per cent of prostitutes in Moscow were from bourgeois families. Emma Goldman found young girls ‘selling themselves for a loaf of bread or a piece of soap or chocolate.
Aspect of War communism - Nationalisation of Industry
Workers’ control had led to decreased industrial production and the Civil War had created a shortage of raw materials meaning that industrial output, particularly consumer goods, shrank further.Lenin saw nationalisation of industry as the answer to improving production (placing industry under government control rather than private control). The first entire industry to be nationalised was sugar in May 1918, followed by oil in June. By November 1920 nationalisation was extended to nearly all factories and businesses. They were placed under the control of Veshenka (the Council of the National Economy) which supervised and controlled economic development. The workers lost the freedom they had formerly enjoyed and professional managers (often the very same ‘bourgeois-specialists’ who had recently been displaced from factory ownership following the revolution) were employed by the State to reimpose discipline and increase output. These bourgeois-specialists would report to Veshenka and the workers lost all control. Yet, these changes failed to improve production. As transport systems were disrupted by the fighting and management struggled to get factories working efficiently, production declined. By 1921, total industrial output had fallen to around 20 per cent of its pre-war levels.
What’s more the SRs and Left Communists deplored this aspect of Lenin’s industrial policy, as a move towards bureaucratic centralisation, but Lenin’s imperative was survival and a restoration of order.
