Bolshevik Revolution: Rise of the USSR and Stalin’s Rule
The Bolshevik Revolution and the Rise of the USSR
The Tsarist regime was overthrown, and the Bolsheviks seized power, marking the first socialist revolution in the world. Russia’s transition from autocracy to socialism occurred in just seven months. The Bolsheviks’ prestige increased significantly. Lenin had returned to Russia from exile in Switzerland. Germany facilitated his passage, along with other socialist leaders, as the Bolsheviks’ pacifist positions could benefit them. Lenin summarized his ideas on the future of Russia in the so-called *April Theses*: immediate peace and the establishment of a government of soviets. The interim government pursued the Bolsheviks. Lenin fled to Finland, and several leaders were arrested. The Bolshevik party presented its revolutionary program: an end to the war, land distribution, labor control over production and trade, and nationalization of banking and big industry.
The army chief, Kornilov, attempted a coup. Kerensky defeated the insurrection, with the Bolsheviks playing a decisive role. The degradation of the situation prompted Lenin to take revolutionary action. He returned to overthrow Kerensky and seize power. Bolshevik troops occupied Petrograd. Kerensky managed to flee. Lenin gave the order to the Second Congress of Soviets of Russia. The Mensheviks and the Socialist Revolutionaries left the congress. The Congress of Soviets chose the new government, the Council of People’s Commissars, with Lenin as chairman. The Bolshevik Revolution had succeeded.
The Birth of the USSR
The Council of People’s Commissars issued a series of decrees aimed at satisfying the main demands of the masses and winning their devotion. These included a peace without annexations or indemnities, a decree on land expropriating large estates, a decree on industrial enterprises placing factories under the control of workers and employees, and a decree declaring the right of nations within Russia to freely determine their destiny. Soviet power and the dictatorship of the proletariat became the cornerstones of Bolshevik Russia. Gradually, the opposition was silenced.
The first objective of the government was to remove the country from its participation in the war. Lenin defended the need to achieve peace at any price. However, the more radical factions, led by Trotsky, advocated for continuing the war. The pressure of the German army forced the Bolshevik Party and the government to accept the conditions imposed by Germany. Peace was signed in Brest-Litovsk on March 3, 1918. By this treaty, Russia lost 800,000 square kilometers and a quarter of its population but saved the Revolution.
The Civil War and War Communism
The new regime faced a civil war that devastated the country. France, the United Kingdom, and Japan wanted to contain the spread of the revolution and punish the new regime. They sent small expeditionary forces and, in particular, contributed funds and weapons to the anti-revolutionary armies, known as the Whites, who faced the revolutionaries of the Red Army. The Red Army, led by Trotsky, eventually defeated the White Army. The consolidation of Soviet power was reinforced by the creation of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR). The civil war contributed to its radicalization and the suppression of all political opposition.
Russia’s situation worsened during the civil war. The main problem facing the government was supplies. Peasants were forced to surrender part of their crops, but these seizures, especially from the kulaks, created an atmosphere of violence in rural areas.
The Stalinist Period: The Succession of Lenin
Lenin withdrew from power due to illness in 1923 and died shortly afterward. Two candidates were best placed to succeed him: Trotsky and Stalin. Trotsky’s merits were perhaps too obvious for major party leaders. Stalin presented the opposite image. He had always been loyal to Lenin and had held important positions in the party. Faced with Trotsky’s idea of exporting revolution worldwide, Stalin defended the thesis of “socialism in one country.” After Lenin’s death, Trotsky’s position weakened. He ended his days in Mexico, where he was murdered.