Trotsky, who was in control of the Bolsheviks by that time, had magnificently handled them. The White Army’s size was no match to the small number but disciplined members of the Red Army. The Red Army, who kept strict control over their heartlands in Western Russia, made sure that the towns and armies were fed, and that the population was kept under strict control. The foods were taken from the peasants by force and these foods will be rationed to avoid food shortages and to maintain their population. And lastly, the Reds had important territorial advantages which enabled them to move their troops quickly.
Firstly, the Whites treated the peasant class harshly, they did not see the advantage of gaining the support of the larger lower class as about 82% and they did not take full advantage of that. Furthermore their acceptance of allied support, allowed the Bolsheviks to portray themselves as patriotic, fighting for the rights and desires of society, they were seen a not only fighting for the respect of the people but fighting for the people .The Red Army was fighting with a new sense of patriotism, and support for the Bolsheviks increased. Peasant support
These views are expressed in his two key works, A Concise History of the Russian Revolution (published in 1995) and Russia Under the Bolshevik Regime 1919-1924 (published in 1994). Pipe’s believes that Lenin was primarily responsible for the success of the uprising, even though Pipe’s recognizes Lenin’s role as the most important, he still hypocritically called Lenin’s April Theses “totally out of touch with reality, if not positively mad” despite the fact that this theses played a huge role in the Lenin and Bolshevik uprising. Pipe’s also believes that Trotsky just carried out Lenin’s commands. However the role or Trotsky and his actions before the October revolution were very evidently done on his own accord, with Lenin accompanying Trotsky in his decisions. In early October, 1917, Trotsky was elected
To have power of the railway lines meant that they could send soldiers and artillery to any place in the battle area. Opponents of the Bolsheviks, known as the Whites, had some major disadvantages, although they had a large amount of supporters, they were scattered around the central area; they were often hundreds and hundreds of miles between each army. The geographical distance between the troops meant that communications between each other were extremely difficult and that is if they even wanted to communicate. Another reason why the Bolsheviks won the Civil War was because; they were united and had only one aim which was to stay in power so that they could build the new Socialist society. However many members on the side that was against the Bolsheviks had other ideas.
Divisions of opposing groups of the Tsar were important to the survival of Tsarist rule in 1881-1905 as the political opponents of the Tsar were clearly divided in their aims and methods. However, other factors such as the church and the power the Tsar held over it; the conservative culture of the Russian people; lack of education especially amongst the peasants and workers; the retributions from opposing the Tsar and the Okhrana were also effective in keeping the Tsar in a state of power. The different political parties all had a similar aim for change and most of wanted to remove the Tsar from power. However they all had different approaches and different plans on how to run the Russia after the Tsars removal. Firstly, the opposition groups of the Tsar were known as the Populists, the Liberals and the Marxists.
Finally the failures of the Provisional Government made them vulnerable which coincidentally worked to advantage the Bolsheviks. Personally, I believe that the vulnerable position of the Provisional Government, timing of the governments mistakes, discontent of the soldiers as well as the workers and the occasional guidance from other Bolshevik leaders, was exploited by Lenin, alongside his popular policies and leadership skills he catalyzed the revolution that was inevitable, planning it in such a way that it would benefit long term and not short-term as it had done in 1905 and February 1917. In disagreement, the failures of the provisional government to make the correct decisions led to the Bolsheviks’ success because the Bolsheviks were efficient in using this time to take control of the vulnerability of the Provisional Government which had caused this upon itself. The first mistake was allowing Lenin return from Germany in April as a part of democracy terms, since Lenin, despite being
His initiative was used against the problem of the members of the communist party lacking high level military experience. He solved this problem by recruiting former soldiers of the Tsarist army and to ensure their loyalty he held their families hostage. Although this may have caused problems in that it was not an ethically correct thing to do it meant that he was reinforcing the communist army and therefore this move gave Trotsky
It would push Russia further onwards in terms of a state free from private trade and ownership. However ideology is often seen as Stalin’s weak point however, since he is often thought of as frequently changing policies to further his political aspirations. The leadership challenge of 1925 – 1928 showed how Stalin changed his policies to decimate both the left and right wing of the party and strengthen his position over the party, by varying his beliefs in order to outmanoeuvre his political opponents. On the other hand, some historians (such as Viola) argue that the NEP was causing extensive discontent within the party, and that rather than being as capricious as is often presumed, he can be seen as a pragmatist in the face of the will of the party. His “Great Turn” can be seen as a realistic and attractive policy, suited to the rank and file of the party, that he did not adopt earlier in the 20’s since it was not a fitting policy at the time.
Lenin was able to consolidate his power due to the weakness of his opponents, how far do you agree with this statement? Lenin was able to take advantage of the PG’s weakness’s and the confession that reigned in Russia at the time due to not being used to anything but an autocracy, Lenin was able to take advantage of this relatively easily but he faced many problems with holding onto power . There were many reasons why a large amount of people thought Lenin’s form of control would be a failure, he faced problems including World war 1 , enemy occupation, inflation and unemployment and although the Bolsheviks were strong in cities such as Petrograd or Moscow they did not have mass support across the country and a big threat to power was the Constituent assembly which was promised by the Provisional government which Lenin felt too vulnerable to cancel. Solving these problems was a seemingly impossible task and therefore his success is regularly put down to the weakness of his opposition, however I do not agree with the statement completely as I would conclude there were many other reasons why Lenin was successful in solving the problems he faced and in starting the first communist dictatorship. Forming a new government was one of Lenin’s biggest breakthroughs on consolidating his power, he faced a major problem that none of the Bolsheviks had any experience of governing or administration, and the situation made worst when government officials went on strike and the state bank refused to release any funds to the new government.
This was firstly by very strict military discipline. Strictness and harsh punishments provided a deterrent to deserters and those who gave up and it created a sense of unity of fighting for one cause among the troops. This view is supported by Trotsky’s orders to the Red Army (Source D) in which he says that “Every scoundrel who incites anyone to retreat, to desert, or not to fulfil a military order, will be shot”. These harsh disciplinary techniques were used, in Trotsky’s knowledge, to boost soldiers’ morale and their will of fighting as he knew that if he lost this war, the Revolution would break up and communism would end in Russia for good. Also Trotsky selected the army carefully.