Explain how and why the Bolshevik consolidation of power led to a one-party authoritarian

state. [Essay structure - at least 3 body paragraphs]

Your answer should include consideration of the following:

 Civil War
 War Communism
 NEP
 Bolshevik ideology
 the role of Lenin

The fulfilment of governmental niches, created through the Provisional government’ deficient
management of national brutalization, allowed the popularization of Bolshevik’s ‘dictatorship
of the proletariat’ which was the foundation of the union of socialist republics formation to
the one party authoritarian state of the USSR. The invigoration of Bolshevik influence
occurred through the result of analogous occurrences of Civil War, War Communism and the
New Economic Policy which consolidated Lenin’s goals to internationalize communism
through the ideology of a one party state of the USSR. Furthermore, the consolidation of the
emancipatory ideology behind Bolshevism as an idealistic revolution eventually lead to
towards a central authoritarian power and bureaucratic driven apparatus under Lenin which
created the circumstances for a one-party authoritarian state.

As a result of Bolshevik victory in the Russian civil war, communists were able to
consolidate their right of self-determination which eventually lead to the re-establishment of
political order and the restoration of the state apparatus which lead to the creation of a one
party authoritarian state. Bolsheviks consolidated power through the events of Civil war since
the opponents including the Mensheviks, left socialist revolutionaries and anti-communist
governments were unorganized and unable to form a central command structure to the quality
of the Red Army led by Leon Trotsky and could’t’t nationalise industries and organise
resources needed to wage war to the extent of the Communists. Furthermore the Bolshevik’s
ability to represent the vision of an international communism to the public through the use of
propaganda led to the analogous dominance of the Bolsheviks in the Central executive
committee which simultaneously represented the repression of political parties as well as the
omitting of factionalism in the future which would largely contribute to the formation of the
USSR. The Bolsheviks geographic expansion through the Civil war allowed the communists
to re-establish political governments through the ‘Red Terror ‘campaign of political
repression which when transformed into Soviet Socialist Republics were significant in the
consolidation of Bolshevik power, displaying the party’s determination to hold onto power.
This determination was reasserted due to the motive of internationalising communism and
nationalising industries through War Communism and reaffirmed the ability of Communist
states to reorganize to the authoritarian state of the USSR.

Furthermore, to consolidate Bolshevik influence and to impose the ideology of ‘the

dictatorship of the proletariat’ War communism was utilized as a catalyst for
bureaucratization and the New Economic policy was used to regain economic and social
stability which would ultimately contribute to the union of communist states to form the
USSR. War Communism paved the way for the bureaucratisation of the nation and the Party
and consolidated the Bolsheviks power since it disciplined and nationalized the industry, as
exemplified through introduction of the death penalty for those on strike, at the expense of
economically brutalizing society in the pursuit of victory in the Civil War. War communism
was imperative for the popularization of the communist ideology as seen through the
nationalization of industries and the confiscation of privately owned houses by the State
which was justified through the use of propaganda in reassuring the proletariat and peasantry
that it was due to the White army blocking off supply routes and the railway networks from
the Urals that there was no food. This, along with additional food for those who fought for
the Red Army meant that the Bolsheviks were able to keep fighting and win the war. This
victory meant that the Bolsheviks had consolidated their power successfully and had
suppressed political enemies. Alternatively the peasant uprisings escalated with the with the
Kronstradt rebellion after the Bolsheviks kept War Communism going after the war meant
that the Bolshevik party had to regain popularity through the implementation of the NEP
which won them back popular support by giving the peasantry the ability to sell their grain,
and encouraging economic policies which aimed to convalesce the migration of 33% of the
proletariats in Northern and Central Russia to the decreasing of employment in mines and
factories by 50 percent. War communism therefore although was effective for the war effort
and allowed consolidation of the bureaucratization and the redevelopment of the social
political order. Its brutalization of the socio-economic atmosphere of Russia created a niche
through which the New Economic Policy could act as both a mode to regain popularity for
the Bolsheviks and as reimbursement for their determination to shift from revolutionary
idealism towards a central authoritarian power and bureaucratic driven apparatus with the
‘One Party Unity' decree which would accordingly be the foundation of the creation of the
USSR.

Lenin’s administration of the Bolshevik ideology allowed the consolidation of the Ideological
state apparatus and popularization of communism allowing the and re-organizing the
Bolshevik state into a single sovereign entity. Lenin’s advocacy for an ideology which

 highlighted the elimination of the bureaucracy,
 the continuation of repression through
‘the state’
 and the destruction of the old state institutions allowed for the popularization of
the Bolshevik ideology which was executed through his reform in the form of peace, land and
the
 confiscation of scandalous profits which appealed to the workers or peasantry. The
impact of Lenin’s leadership in the legitimization of the Bolsheviks is emphasized through
his establishment of St Petersburg Union of Struggle for the Liberation of the working class
and the ‘April thesis’ through which he consolidated the Bolshevik ideology by concluding
Russian involvement in the war and advocating for ‘Peace, Bread and Land’. These
measures eventually escalated and contributed towards the long term popularity of the
Bolshevik beliefs and the event of the October Coup through which Lenin administrated the
fall of the Winter Palace and the transition of power to the Bolshevik government from the
Mensheviks and Moderate Socialists, further lead to the establishment of the Council of
People's Commissars and the imminent corresponding end of factionalism. Lenin further
consolidated the Bolshevik ideology through the introduction of libertarian and authoritarian
decrees which extenuated the solidification of the Bolshevik party providing the foundation
through with the Bolshevik state could reorganize into a single sovereign entity. This solidity
allowed him to advocate his motives regarding the implementation of the Marxist theory and
the ideological state apparatus through which he could aim to internationalize communism by
ending the bourgeois parliamentarianism. Lenin’s ability to resolve the detrimental impacts
of the economic policies of War Communism through the NEP played a significant role in
restoring the popularity of communist governments which led to the foundation of the
creation of the 1924 constitution which was dedicated to concept of organizing Soviet
Socialist Republics to a one party socialist multinational state.

Conclusively, Lenin’s Bolshevik party’s ability to immerge victorious from the Civil war,
through the means of War Communism and the New Economic policy, allowed Lenin to
consolidate the Bolshevik ideology and establish Communist republics which served as the
foundation for the authoritarian state of the USSR. Ultimately Lenin’s indulgence with his
motives to destroy bourgeois parliamentarianism and establish ‘the dictatorship of the
proletariat’ exemplified his determination to internationalize communism.