To what extent was the Communist state under Stalin a continuation of the Red Terror
started by Lenin?
Arguments suggesting that there was continuity:
• Lenin ensured that he established a Bolshevik (single-party) state. Rapidly abandoned
coalition government. Removed and persecuted SRs and Mensheviks (dismissal of
Constituent Assembly, January 1918); this ruthless eradication of opposition could be
compared with Stalin's rise to power and elimination of rivals – which reached its apogee in
the purges and his government through a one-party state
• coercion was regarded by both as more important than ‘democracy’ – both ran a
centralised system based on the party. Lenin's ban on factions 1921 meant any decision of
Central Committee had to be accepted. This was used by Stalin, under whom no criticism
was possible
• Lenin set up and used the Cheka (from December 1917) to root out enemies. This became
the NKVD in 1934 under Stalin and under both there was 'ruthless' vigilance/spy network
• Red Terror during the Civil War helped eliminate political enemies and made Terror (as
later used by Stalin) a legitimate policy of state
• Lenin began the onslaught against class-enemies – those of aristocratic or middle-class
backgrounds depriving them of rations – which Stalin continued, particularly in his
persecution of Kulaks and bourgeois industrialists
• Lenin's harsh Cheka grain requisitions in countryside pre-1921 (and some even after NEP)
with execution of suspected black marketeers, hoarders and speculators and destruction of
whole villages (which produced Tambov revolt) foreshadowed Stalin's treatment of the
Kulaks.
• Lenin instituted the Communist censorship of the press – the closure of non-Bolshevik
newspapers, purge of bureaucracy, propaganda campaign against class enemies – again as
ruthless as Stalin's campaigns
• Lenin was equally hostile to campaigns for 'national self-determination' for ethnic groups
from 1921 (demands from Georgia brutally crushed 1922)
• both persecuted the Church. Lenin's union of Militant Godless established 1921 – part of
systematic campaign to weaken power of Church. It could even be argued that in this he
was even more ruthless than Stalin who allowed some rehabilitation in the war years.
Arguments suggesting that there wasn’t complete continuity:
• Lenin's 'Red Terror' was a response to exceptional wartime circumstances. It has been
suggested that the terror was simply a way of saving the country from collapse at a time of
famine, strikes and breakdown in law and order and was designed to protect the revolution
and the working class; this can be contrasted with Stalinist terror and the purges, which
served no practical purpose and could be argued to have weakened the state.
• the extreme Cheka activities were more the result of local zeal than government policy
under Lenin whereas Stalin was far more committed to ruthless eradication.
• Stalin was responsible for crushing the Georgian revolt of 1922 and acted against Lenin's
wishes; this gives some indication of his greater ruthlessness.
started by Lenin?
Arguments suggesting that there was continuity:
• Lenin ensured that he established a Bolshevik (single-party) state. Rapidly abandoned
coalition government. Removed and persecuted SRs and Mensheviks (dismissal of
Constituent Assembly, January 1918); this ruthless eradication of opposition could be
compared with Stalin's rise to power and elimination of rivals – which reached its apogee in
the purges and his government through a one-party state
• coercion was regarded by both as more important than ‘democracy’ – both ran a
centralised system based on the party. Lenin's ban on factions 1921 meant any decision of
Central Committee had to be accepted. This was used by Stalin, under whom no criticism
was possible
• Lenin set up and used the Cheka (from December 1917) to root out enemies. This became
the NKVD in 1934 under Stalin and under both there was 'ruthless' vigilance/spy network
• Red Terror during the Civil War helped eliminate political enemies and made Terror (as
later used by Stalin) a legitimate policy of state
• Lenin began the onslaught against class-enemies – those of aristocratic or middle-class
backgrounds depriving them of rations – which Stalin continued, particularly in his
persecution of Kulaks and bourgeois industrialists
• Lenin's harsh Cheka grain requisitions in countryside pre-1921 (and some even after NEP)
with execution of suspected black marketeers, hoarders and speculators and destruction of
whole villages (which produced Tambov revolt) foreshadowed Stalin's treatment of the
Kulaks.
• Lenin instituted the Communist censorship of the press – the closure of non-Bolshevik
newspapers, purge of bureaucracy, propaganda campaign against class enemies – again as
ruthless as Stalin's campaigns
• Lenin was equally hostile to campaigns for 'national self-determination' for ethnic groups
from 1921 (demands from Georgia brutally crushed 1922)
• both persecuted the Church. Lenin's union of Militant Godless established 1921 – part of
systematic campaign to weaken power of Church. It could even be argued that in this he
was even more ruthless than Stalin who allowed some rehabilitation in the war years.
Arguments suggesting that there wasn’t complete continuity:
• Lenin's 'Red Terror' was a response to exceptional wartime circumstances. It has been
suggested that the terror was simply a way of saving the country from collapse at a time of
famine, strikes and breakdown in law and order and was designed to protect the revolution
and the working class; this can be contrasted with Stalinist terror and the purges, which
served no practical purpose and could be argued to have weakened the state.
• the extreme Cheka activities were more the result of local zeal than government policy
under Lenin whereas Stalin was far more committed to ruthless eradication.
• Stalin was responsible for crushing the Georgian revolt of 1922 and acted against Lenin's
wishes; this gives some indication of his greater ruthlessness.
