Bolshevik Consolidation of Power

New Economic Policy
1. 1921: Lenin & the Bolsheviks were on the edge of disaster- with the civil war over, workers and peasants expected to see an improvement in their standard of living & an end to wartime policies
  1. However, by the spring of 1921, economic conditions had deteriorated & there was open revolt against the Bolshevik government
    1. Lenin was forced into making economic concessions in his NEP to ensure the survival of the regime. The economy recovered & the Bolsheviks were reprieved.
      1. The NEP was accompanied by political repression & a strengthening of the centralised 1-party state.
2. Key features of the NEP
  1. Grain requisitioning abolished
    1. Peasants had to give a fixed proportion of their grain to the state, but the amount that they had to hand over was much less than the amounts taken by requisitioning. They could sell any surpluses on the open market.
  2. Small businesses reopened
    1. Small-scale businesses under private ownership= allowed to reopen & make a profit
    2. Included businesses like small workshops & factories that made products such as shoes, nails & clothes.
      1. Lenin realised that peasants wouldn't sell their produce unless their were goods that they wanted on sale.
  3. Ban on private trade removed
    1. Meant that food & goods could flow more easily between the countryside & the towns.
    2. Privately owned shops were reopened
    3. Rationing was abolished & people had to buy food & goods from their own income
  4. State control of heavy industry
    1. The state kept control of large-scale heavy industries like coal, steel & oil
    2. The state also retained control of transport & the banking system
    3. Industry was organised into trusts that they had to buy materials & pay their workers from their own budgets. If they failed to manage their budgets efficiently, they couldn't expect the state to bail them out
  5. ROTCOM ( Requisitioning stopped, Ownership of small businesses allowed, Trade ban lifted, COMmanding heights of industry with state
Immediate Consolidation 1918
1. Establishing One-Party Control
  1. The Second All- Russian Congrees of 25th October 1917
    1. Trotsky was able to manipulate a walk out of all the non-Bolshevik parties
      1. (Mensheviks and Social Dermocrats who felt that the Bolshevik takeover was illegal)
      2. left the Bolsheviks in a clear majority
        allowed Trotsky to claim the Bolsheviks= taking power in the name of the Soviets & honouring the pledge of "all power to the Soviets"
  2. Sovnarkom
    1. The Council of the People's Commissar's
    2. =the main instrument of government
    3. dominated by the Bolsheviks
      1. the Bolsheviks passed decrees and other measures through Sovnarkom to establish control & order whilst the remainder of Russia=gradually brought under Bolshevik control
        Land Decree
        gave peasants the right to take over land and estates of the elites
        land= no longer bought or rented- it belonged to the entire people
        Workers' Control Decree
        worker pressure for reform led to factory committees controlling production, labour and finance
        Rights of the People of Russia Decree
        self-determination for national minorities within Russia
        Nationalisation of banks
        Opposition press banned
        Arrest of key political opponents
        Politburo 1919
        group of about 7 top communists
        rapidly took precedence over the Sovnarkom
  3. Constituent Assembly
    1. calls for democratically elected govt. in Russia
      1. problem because Lenin & the Bolsheviks as they had no desire to share power with others.
        had to hold elections otherwise they'd be accused of being autocratic & dictorial
    2. November 1918
      1. elections for the Constituent Assembly held
        Lenin= concerned by the results of the election
        determined that the Bolsheviks should rule alone
        aware that other parties may not be willing to work with them
        Mensheviks, S.Rs & other socialists didn't want the Bolsheviks to rule on their own, preferred more power to the Soviets in democratically elected & open bodies
        As the Sovnarkom passed decrees throughout the remainder of 1917, it became clear that they were bypassing the Soviet.
        The Constituent Assembly therefore showed it be a serious threat as it represented theresults of free electionns & therefore the views of the people

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Bolshevik Consolidation of Power

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