How Effectively Did Lenin Deal with the Problems and Threats Facing the Bolsheviks as They Tried to Consolidate Their Position After October 1917?

HOW EFFECTIVELY DID LENIN DEAL WITH THE PROBLEMS AND THREATS FACING THE BOLSHEVIKS AS THEY TRIED TO CONSOLIDATE THEIR POSITION AFTER OCTOBER 1917?

Following its seizure of power in Russia, the Bolshevik party led by Lenin faced massive political opposition: the Social Revolutionaries - the party of the peasants - had more support in the countryside, and the Bolsheviks, despite being the traditional party of the proletariat, didn't even dominate the Soviets. Nevertheless, despite facing some serious political threats upon coming to power, the Bolsheviks managed to maintain power. Lenin's effective dealing of the problems his party faced can be considered as the main reason why the Bolsheviks triumphed over opposition.

First of all, Lenin had to deal with the threat posed by the lack of popular support. Instead of exercising power through the Soviet, Lenin formed a new body: the Sovnarkom, which was exclusively made up of Bolsheviks. When Lenin allowed the elections to the Constituent Assembly to go ahead in November 1917, the Bolsheviks won only 175 seats against 410 for the Socialist Revolutionaries. As a result, Lenin declared that his form of government represented a higher stage of democracy than an elected assembly. The Assembly was allowed to meet for one day - 5 January 1918 - then it was closed down and the deputies told to go home. Lenin's decision to dissolve the Assembly was effective because his party could have total control of the government. His principle of democratic centralism therefore contributed to consolidate the Bolsheviks' position.

However, there was still enormous pressure on the Bolsheviks to form a democratic government representing all the socialist parties. Hundreds of petitions flooded in from factory committees and army units demanding that there be cooperation between parties to avoid civil war. The railwaymen's union, backed by the post and telegraph union, threatened to cut off communications if the party did not hold talks with other parties. A few of the leading Bolsheviks, including Kamenev and Zinoviev, were even in favour of a coalition with other socialist parties. However, Lenin had no intention of seriously including other parties, since he feared that he may be sidelined in a coalition government. As a result, he deliberately made sure that talks with other socialist parties collapsed: he wanted the Bolsheviks to rule alone. Nonetheless he did show interest in coalition and he effectively made an alliance with the left Socialist Revolutionaries. He saw this as useful because, with them on board, he could claim to represent the interests of the peasants, who represented at the time 80% of the total Russian population and who thereby couldn't be ignored completely. Yet Lenin's alliance with the left SRs was brief and insincere, because he didn't share power and at the end many were even persecuted. As a result, this was a very shrewd action from Lenin because he duped everyone by pretending to be interested in governing with other political parties, and he therefore was able to keep power.

Furthermore, Lenin and the Bolsheviks were aware of how important the political press was. The Bolsheviks had pumped enormous amounts of money into their own papers and periodicals before and during 1917. Lenin therefore decided that he could not allow opposition press to continue to be published. It was banned in October 1917, firstly the newspapers of the centre and right, and later the socialist press. Consequently, Lenin managed to consolidate his power by preventing opposition groups from spreading their ideas across the country and thus from gaining more support.

Lenin also had to use ruthlessness so as to consolidate the Bolsheviks' position in Russia. Indeed, after an assassination attempt on Lenin and a failed rebellion of the SRs in Moscow, he unleashed the Red Terror in the summer of 1918. For example, he set up a secret police, the CHEKA. Its main aim was clearly put forward by its leader Dzerzhinsky: "We stand for organised terror: this should be frankly stated". The Russian Royal Family was executed. By the time of Lenin's death, an estimated 250,000 opponents had been liquidated. Lenin also formally banned opposition parties, and therefore the Bolshevik party reigned supreme without resistance. The leading members of opposition political parties were also arrested. Finally, Lenin replaced the legal judicial system with revolutionary justice that was arbitrary and violent. As a result, Lenin contributed to the consolidation of the Bolshevik position by taking radical measures which terrorized the opposition. Though his slogan in opposition to the Provisional Government was "Bread, Land and Peace", Lenin did not hesitate to ruthlessly eliminate all opposition in his bid to secure the Bolshevik power. It was exceedingly effective, but not at all admirable and it further stirred up hatred and discontent amongst the Russians.

However, Lenin didn't only use violence and repression, but he also appealed to the masses so as to consolidate to Bolsheviks' position. When Lenin overthrew the Provisional government in 1918, he established the 1918 Constitution to settle down the people's ardent reclamations. This