Johnathan Dallimore – Russia Lecture 24/06/25

Consolidation of power
 The period of consolidation stretches from establishment of provisional
government (1918) to Lenin’s death (1924)
 Timeline:
o Bolshevik coup (Oct, 1917)
o Treaty of Brest-Litovsk (1918) which resulted in allied anger
o Mass Civil War (1918-21) – Centre piece of consolidation.
- Eliminated all opposition (Killed in battle, forced emigration)
- Institutionalised key ‘organs of power’ (Eg, Cheka)
- Gave Bolsheviks/USSR a founding cultural ‘myth’ (‘We defeated
capitalism in the civil war’)
o New economic policy (NEP, 1921-28)
o Creation of USSR (1922-24)

Bolshevik position by 1924

1. Internationalism
- “Workers of the world unite” from Communist manifesto, postponed (Not
abandoned)
- Focus on ‘Socialism in one country’

2. Rapid Transition to socialism

- NEP (’21) slower transition

3. Dictatorship of proletariat
- Growing centralisation (Party Dictatorships)
- ‘All governments are dictatorships’
- Defending the revolution on behalf of the workers
- By 1924, Bolsheviks claiming to represent working class, but have grown
a party dictatorship

4. Workers State
- Sweeping regulations + Small proletariat
Competing visions
 Bureaucratism = larger & more conservative
 Economy
- How quickly can socialism be realised in the USSR
 World revolution
- When were other revolutions needed?

Defensive/aggressing approaches
Defensive - Features
Modify NEP
Avoid Conflict
‘Socialism in one country’

Defensive – Risks
USSR would remain
vulnerable
Uncertain how long NEP
would take

Aggressive – Features
Overhaul NEP
Promote revolution
Permanent revolution

Aggressive – risks
Potential reaction from
peasants
Potential reaction from
capitalist powers

Historian - Oleg Khlevniuk (2015)

- Argues that there were limits to the importance of ‘ideas’ in the differing visions
and power struggle
- Primary forces driving power struggle = ambitions of Lenin’s heirs,
confrontational characters & outsized political ambitions, revolutionary habit of
fighting for fighting’s sake, and s prosperity to see enemies at every turn
Question Example
Evaluate the importance of ideology to the power struggle following Lenin’s death.

Thesis: Ideology was on of the primary battlegrounds in the competition between Stalin and
his competitors after 1924 and was skilfully used to both boost Stalin’s profile and damage
his opposition.
Para 1: Impacts of consolidation divided party leaders along ideological lines
Para 2: Stalin created a profile as Lenin’s disciple, carrying his ideology forward.
Para 3: Stalin used ideology against his opponents to discredit their positions
Para 4: Power struggle was not just a battle of ideas – personal struggle (Khlevniuk)

Stalin – The Man

- Shaping of Stalin’s political career
- Revolutionary underground: Head labour organisation, exiled for bank robbery
- Ethnic Minorities: Georgian Heritage, movement within the empire, writings on
minorities
- Lenin & the revolution: He ultimately stands by Lenin’s decision for revolution
- Civil War: Military service (E.g. defence of Tsaritsyn) causing new frictions with
Trotsky
- Administrative roles: Most important is role of general secretary

Stalin in context
 Fundamental Aims of Stalinism:
1. Building world socialism
- Marxism - Industrialisation essential to socialism
- Socialism in one country (Then export abroad)

2. Preservation and security

- Strong industry would underpin powerful military
- Military would acts as a deterrent
 Building a welfare state (1) and a warfare state (2).
 United by economic modernisation.
Economic Transformation
Collectivisation
 Aims:
- Socialism + control produce + modernise
 Process:
- Voluntary to 1929
- Decline in food production 1928  Planned/forced collectivisation post-1929
 Outcomes:
- State Control + Urbanisation + Limits to growth
- Want people in urban places as easier to control. Further away from govt. harder
to enforce collectivisation
Industrialisation
 Aims:
- Industrial Base + militarise + living standards
- Define economy by industry, not agriculture
- Boost military spending
 Process:
- Three piataetka – 5-Year Plans (‘Command Economy’)
 Outcomes:
- Industrial growth + waste + human cost
- During Great Depression, USSR growing 12% p.a.
- Many people die/are injured in factories hastily built

Political Transformation
Lenin:
- Party Dictatorship
- Red Terror (Civil War)
- Major Concessions (NEP)
- Propaganda State

Stalin:
- Personal Dictatorship (Mass terror – Nikolai Yezhov attended personal meetings
in Stalin’s office 600 times
- Stalin relying heavily on mass terror
- Forced collectivisation – Described as forced enslavement of 100 million peasants
- Mass propaganda & censorship
Terror:
 Prison camps
- ~179,000 inmates in soviet prisons in 1930
- ~2.5million in the gulag system in 1940
- Never more than about 12% of the population of gulag prisoners were political
prisoners
- Conventional prisoners used for forced albour
 Repression
- Targets:
The Party
Military (Army)
Counterrevolutionaries
Ordinary citizens
National Minorites
- 1.5 million get arrested, half executed, half of executed were because of ethnicity
 Propaganda
- Used extensively under Stalin
- Very diverse: Anti-church, cult of personality, Short Course of History

Historian - David Brandenberger (2011)

- Success of Stalinist propaganda was decidedly mixed
- Cult of Personality = Symbol of Strength amid chaos
- Don’t mistake prevalence of propaganda for success

Social/Cultural Transformation
- Religion: Remove religions (Russian orthodox, Islam) create a secular, academic
society, 30,000 officially recorded protests against church closures in 1930-31
- ~ 57% of population identified as religious
- Ethnic minorities suppressed to prevent independence
- Education: 400% Increase in govt. spending on education, re-writing history
- Healthcare: using modern science to revolutionise healthcare, constitution said
healthcare free for citizens.
- Women & Family: Stalin wants women to have children, more children  more
soldiers and factory workers