Lenin’s Government 1917-1924
Dissolution of the Constituent Assembly
- Lenin was not interested in numbers and dismissed democratic elections as tricks
used to keep the bourgeoisie in power
- His focus was on building a party that would be able to take power when they had
the opportunity
- Lenin had originally supported the Constituent Assembly as it weakened the
Tsardom and the Provisional Government, but it made his government hard to control
as it was mainly non-Bolshevik
- The prospects of the Bolsheviks’ survival seemed slim as there was widespread
opposition and all allies would interfere if they tried to make peace with Germany
- They did not want to share power
- After the October Revolution, Lenin was more determined not to allow elections to
undermine his power
- The revolution had come too late to prevent the election of the all-Russian
Constituent Assembly
- Lenin argued there was no need for it as an all-Russian representative body had been
achieved in the Soviet government, the people had expressed themselves in the
revolution and it was rigged by the Social Revolutionaries
- The Bolsheviks were outvoted by one to two and gained barely a quarter of seats
- In January 1918, the Constituent Assembly was dissolved at gunpoint by the Red
Army after one day in session
- Maxim Gorky, a Bolshevik intellectual, likened it to Bloody Sunday, and many
foreign communists were appalled, with Rosa Luxembourg condemning the
elimination of democracy
- Lenin was unaffected as their position required the sternest of measures
The Treaty of Brest-Litovsk
- The peace treaty between the Bolsheviks and the central powers was signed in
March 1918
- Russia was so exhausted by the war that it was impossible for them to continue to
fight. If Germany won, Russia would be no worse off and if they lost, they would gain
their land back. Germany had been giving the Bolsheviks money to make Russia
leave the war
- Trotsky and left revolutionaries pressed for the war to continue, hoping Germany
would fall and follow Russia into a proletariat revolution
- Trotsky’s slogan ‘Neither war nor peace’ confused the Germany, and he showed his
contempt by ignoring the German representatives, launching into revolutionary
speeches and encouraging a revolution. As a result, the peace treaty was devastating
- Russia would lose 1/3 of its land, 46 million people and have to pay 3 million
roubles in reparations
- To Lenin, the treaty was harsh but realistic, believing Russia would soon be able to
reclaim its lost territories
- The left communists were outraged, but accepted it as Lenin demanded absolute
loyalty
Dissolution of the Constituent Assembly
- Lenin was not interested in numbers and dismissed democratic elections as tricks
used to keep the bourgeoisie in power
- His focus was on building a party that would be able to take power when they had
the opportunity
- Lenin had originally supported the Constituent Assembly as it weakened the
Tsardom and the Provisional Government, but it made his government hard to control
as it was mainly non-Bolshevik
- The prospects of the Bolsheviks’ survival seemed slim as there was widespread
opposition and all allies would interfere if they tried to make peace with Germany
- They did not want to share power
- After the October Revolution, Lenin was more determined not to allow elections to
undermine his power
- The revolution had come too late to prevent the election of the all-Russian
Constituent Assembly
- Lenin argued there was no need for it as an all-Russian representative body had been
achieved in the Soviet government, the people had expressed themselves in the
revolution and it was rigged by the Social Revolutionaries
- The Bolsheviks were outvoted by one to two and gained barely a quarter of seats
- In January 1918, the Constituent Assembly was dissolved at gunpoint by the Red
Army after one day in session
- Maxim Gorky, a Bolshevik intellectual, likened it to Bloody Sunday, and many
foreign communists were appalled, with Rosa Luxembourg condemning the
elimination of democracy
- Lenin was unaffected as their position required the sternest of measures
The Treaty of Brest-Litovsk
- The peace treaty between the Bolsheviks and the central powers was signed in
March 1918
- Russia was so exhausted by the war that it was impossible for them to continue to
fight. If Germany won, Russia would be no worse off and if they lost, they would gain
their land back. Germany had been giving the Bolsheviks money to make Russia
leave the war
- Trotsky and left revolutionaries pressed for the war to continue, hoping Germany
would fall and follow Russia into a proletariat revolution
- Trotsky’s slogan ‘Neither war nor peace’ confused the Germany, and he showed his
contempt by ignoring the German representatives, launching into revolutionary
speeches and encouraging a revolution. As a result, the peace treaty was devastating
- Russia would lose 1/3 of its land, 46 million people and have to pay 3 million
roubles in reparations
- To Lenin, the treaty was harsh but realistic, believing Russia would soon be able to
reclaim its lost territories
- The left communists were outraged, but accepted it as Lenin demanded absolute
loyalty
