OPPOSITION TO THE BOLSHEVIK TAKEOVER Flashcards
THE SUPPRESSION OF OPPOSITION TO THE BOLSHEVIK GOVERNMENT, OCT-DEC 1917
Taking power in the name of the Congress of Soviets allowed the Bolsheviks pose as the chosen representatives of the peasants and workers, but in reality, their position was precarious and their support was still limited.
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Civil servants refused to serve under them and bankers refused to provide finance. It took them ten days to persuade the state bank to hand over its reserves, and then only under threat of armed intervention.
THE SUPPRESSION OF OPPOSITION TO THE BOLSHEVIK GOVERNMENT, OCT-DEC 1917
After his hasty departure, Kerensky had set up headquarters at Gatchina and rallied an army comprising 18 Cossack regiments and a small force of SR cadets and officers. Against this threat, the Bolsheviks looked weak.
Many of the Petrograd garrison had returned to their homes in the countryside, and since Lenin had no direct contact with troops at the front, his forces were smaller in number than those of his opponents.
THE SUPPRESSION OF OPPOSITION TO THE BOLSHEVIK GOVERNMENT, OCT-DEC 1917
By the end of the year the Bolsheviks dominated the major towns and railways, although large areas of countryside were still outside their control.
Lenin’s promise to consider coalition with the other socialist parties was barely fulfilled. He only went as far as
allowing left wing Social Revolutionaries to join Sovnarkom in December and it was made clear to them that they had to follow the Bolshevik lead.
THE SUPPRESSION OF OPPOSITION TO THE BOLSHEVIK GOVERNMENT, OCT-DEC 1917
In Kiev, Kazan and Smolensk there was also strong resistance to the imposition of Bolshevik control. The railway and communications workers also went on strike in protest against the emergence of a one-party government.
This forced Lenin to agree to
inter-party talks and, thanks to Bolshevik agitators who persuaded some of Kerensky’s troops to defect, and a contingent of workers and soldiers who repulsed the rest on the outskirts of the city, the Bolshevik Revolution was saved.
THE SUPPRESSION OF OPPOSITION TO THE BOLSHEVIK GOVERNMENT, OCT-DEC 1917
Lenin’s consolidation of control was so efficient that opponents could only pin their hopes on his promise of a Constituent Assembly. Elections for this began in November. These produced a 41.7 million turnout, but it was the
Such a Constituent Assembly, comprising many political parties, lenin argued, was a mere remnant of bourgeois parliamentary democracy and to accept its rulings would be to take a step back in Russia’s historical development
SRs that won the most seats.
Many votes had been cast without a full understanding of the political situation in Petrograd, but Lenin was appalled and declared that ‘we must not be deceived by the election figures.
OTHER MEANS OF COMBATING OPPOSITION
Lenin moved quickly to ensure Bolshevik control. His methods included:
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- a propaganda campaign against political and ‘class’ enemies - particularly the burzhui (bourgeoisie).
- the closure of anti-Bolshevik newspapers
- a purge of the civil service
- the establishment the ‘All-Russian Commission for the Suppression of Counter-Revolution, Sabotage and Speculation, in December 1917, more often known as the Cheka.
- leading Kadets, right-wing Social Revolutionaries and Mensheviks were rounded up and imprisoned in December.
Constituent Assembly elections
Socialist Revolutionaries
Bolsheviks
% and seats
- Socialist Revolutionaries 21.8% 410 (including 40 left-wing) seats
- Bolsheviks 10.0% 175 seats
THE SUPPRESSION OF OPPOSITION TO THE BOLSHEVIK GOVERNMENT, OCT-DEC 1917
The Constituent Assembly was to meet for one day only - on 5 January 1918, after which Lenin dissolved it. Lenin believed
that the Bolsheviks understood the needs of the proletariat better than the proletariat themselves understood them.
