Lenin’s Bolshevik Party seized control of Russia during the October Revolution of 1917, but it faced an enormous task to retain power and build on it. The previous revolutionary government initially had mass support but only lasted a few months. The Bolsheviks started from an even weaker base. They were a minority party trying to impose their will on Russia. They faced fierce opposition both within the nation and from outside it. Lenin’s first year would be a crucial battle for survival.
What made it even harder was that the Bolsheviks had not planned for this situation. They were revolutionaries focused on the overthrow of the tsarist and provisional governments, but the speed of events overtook them and few Bolsheviks had spent much time deciding how they would organise things once the revolution had been achieved. Marxists had always believed that centralised government would fade away after a proletariat revolution. Trotsky said that ‘all we need to do is issue a few decrees, then shut up shop and go home’. If only it was that easy.
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