Having announced the transfer of all power in Russia to the Soviets, the Bolsheviks in the capital itself immediately ran into opposition from their opponents. On the night of October 28, the Committee for the Salvation of the Motherland and the Revolution was created in Petrograd, which included representatives of the City Duma, the Pre-Parliament, the Central Executive Committee of the first convocation, and a number of professional and military organizations. With the help of the junkers of the Petrograd schools, they tried to carry out a counter-coup on October 29, but on the same day the anti-government uprising was suppressed, and the Committee itself then disintegrated. On October 30, near Pulkovo, the Red Guard units stopped the Cossack corps of General P.N. Krasnov, on November 1, the Cossacks capitulated in Gatchina.
The political challenge to the Bolshevik party was thrown by the Socialist Revolutionary-Menshevik leadership of the All-Russian Executive Committee of the Railway Workers' Trade Union (Vikzhel), demanding that a government be created from representatives of all socialist parties. During negotiations with Vikzhel, serious disagreements arose within the Bolshevik Central Committee. Chairman of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee L.B. Kamenev, People's Commissar of Internal Affairs A.I. Rykov, People's Commissar for Trade and Industry V.P. Nogin and several other prominent Bolsheviks resigned from the Central Committee of the party and resigned their government posts in protest. However, the crisis of Bolshevik power was quickly overcome. Ya.M. Sverdlov became the chairman of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee, and several consistent Leninists joined the Council of People's Commissars. Then, recognizing the fallacy of their position, a group of opposing Bolsheviks also returned to leading positions in the party and state apparatus.
In the first post-October days, the ruling party faced yet another problem - the civil disobedience of almost 50,000 Petrograd officials. With the help of severe measures up to arrests, bringing to trial, confiscation of property, the sabotage of state employees was broken in the first months of 1918.
Following Petrograd, Soviet power began to assert itself throughout the country. On October 25, upon receiving news from Petrograd, the Moscow Bolsheviks formed the Combat Center, and the City Council formed the Military Revolutionary Committee. Along with the Bolsheviks and left-radical socialists, the Mensheviks entered it. The Military Revolutionary Committee relied on detachments of the Red Guards and a significant part of the soldiers of the garrison.
The forces of the defenders of the Provisional Government also rallied. On October 25, the Moscow Duma elected the Committee of Public Security, led by the mayor, Socialist-Revolutionary V.V. Rudnev and the commander of the troops of the Moscow Military District, Colonel K.I. Ryabtsev. At their disposal were mainly officers of the garrison and junkers. On the evening of October 27, the first bloody clashes took place in Moscow. By November 3, the resistance of the officers and cadets was crushed. Moscow completely came under the control of the Soviets.
The establishment of the power of the Soviets in the field and in the armyIn the Central Industrial Region, Soviet power won in November-December 1917 - mostly by peaceful means. This was due to the high concentration of the industrial proletariat here, where the Bolshevik Party had a wide network of its organizations, the presence of branched lines of communication and proximity to the capitals, from where, if necessary, support quickly came.
With the help of weapons, a new government was established in the Cossack regions of the Don, Kuban, and the South Urals. From November 1917 to February 1918, the Bolsheviks continued to fight against anti-Soviet actions on the Don under the leadership of Ataman A.M. Kaledin. The new government managed to form a powerful military fist from the regular units of the Northern Front and the Petrograd garrison loyal to the Soviets, detachments of the Red Guards. With the participation of local residents who were dissatisfied with the Kaledin regime, Rostov and Novocherkassk were recaptured in February 1918. Kaledin shot himself. The remnants of the Kaledinsky troops left for the steppes.
In the Urals during November 1917 - April 1918 there were bloody battles between the Soviet armed units and the detachments of Ataman A.I. Dutov. In his hands were Orenburg, Troitsk, Verkhneuralsk and other areas. As a result of serious defeats in the spring of 1918, Dutov was forced to retreat.
In the North, in Siberia and the Far East, by March 1918, Soviet power had won mainly in large centers, close to communications with the central regions.
In early November 1917, at Headquarters, the Supreme Commander-in-Chief, General N.N. Dukhonin, ordered the concentration of troops in the Luga region to attack Petrograd. But soon, by order of the Soviet government, he was removed and then killed by rebellious soldiers. Ensign N.V. Krylenko, sent from Petrograd, took the post of Supreme Commander-in-Chief.
In November 1917, the Bolsheviks asserted their authority over the Northern and Western fronts. A little later, the Sovietization of the Southwestern, Romanian and Caucasian fronts took place. Even before October, the Central Committee of the Baltic Fleet (the highest elected body of the sailor masses) actually completely controlled the situation in the fleet, placing all its power at the disposal of the Petrograd Military Revolutionary Committee. In November 1917, at the First All-Black Sea Congress in Sevastopol, the revolutionary sailors, overcoming the resistance of the Socialist-Revolutionaries and Mensheviks, achieved the adoption of a Bolshevik resolution recognizing the Council of People's Commissars. The Sovietization of military fleets in the North and the Far East was not successful for the local Bolsheviks.
The assertion of Soviet power in the national regionsIn October-November 1917, Soviet power won in Estonia, the unoccupied part of Latvia, in Belarus, and also in Baku (it held out there until August 1918.
In the rest of the territory of Transcaucasia, forces came to power that advocated secession from Russia: in Georgia, the Mensheviks, in Armenia and Azerbaijan, the Dashnaks and Musavatists. In May 1918, through their efforts, sovereign bourgeois-democratic republics were created there.
In December 1917, the First All-Ukrainian Congress of Soviets took place in Kharkov. He proclaimed Ukraine "a republic of Soviets of workers', soldiers' and peasants' deputies" and appointed a government headed by the Bolshevik F.A. Sergeev (Artem). In January 1918, revolutionary forces overthrew the power of the national-democratic Central Rada, which shortly before declared Ukraine an independent "people's republic." The Rada left Kyiv and found shelter in Zhytomyr, where German troops took care of it. In March 1918, the Crimea and Central Asia (with the exception of Khiva and Bukhara) came under the control of the Soviets.
So, in a short time, from the end of September 1917 to March 1918, Soviet power established itself in the main part of the territory of the former Russian Empire, and in the vast majority of provincial and other large cities (73 out of 91) - peacefully. V.I. Lenin called this process "the triumphal march of Soviet power."
The main reason for this was the mass support of the first Soviet decrees, which were of a general democratic nature. On the national outskirts, the victory of Soviet power was facilitated by the Declaration of the Rights of the Peoples of Russia, the Appeal to the Working Muslims of the East, which promised the peoples sovereignty, equality, the right to self-determination, and the free development of national cultures and traditions. Together With it is important to emphasize that the broad masses of the people did not link their future fate with the course of the Bolsheviks.
This was shown by the free elections to the Constituent Assembly, which took place in November 1917. About 78% of the voters voted for the Socialist-Revolutionaries, Mensheviks, Cadets and other political parties. The RSDLP(b) received 22.5% of the vote in the elections. But this relatively small number of active supporters concentrated in the most advantageous way for the Bolsheviks, in the industrial provinces and on the fronts towards the center (Northern and Western). The anti-Soviet forces were divided and disorganized even in the pre-October period. They quickly lost control of the army and were forced to recruit volunteers for their military units.
The largest of them - Volunteer army in the South of Russia, created by two former Supreme Commanders, Generals M.V. Alekseev and L.G. Kornilov, by March 1918 numbered no more than 4 thousand people, mostly officers, cadets, students. Failed, without meeting the firm support of the population, and the first attempts to use the Cossack units in the fight against the Soviets.
The sequence of the establishment of Soviet power on the territory of the former Russian Empire| October | november | December | January | February | March |
| 1917 | 1917 | 1917 | 1918 | 1918 | 1918 |
| Petrograd | Moscow, Latvia, Estonia, Belarus, Baku | Southwestern, Romanian and Caucasian fronts | Ukraine | Don | Kuban, Crimea |
| Northern and Western fronts | Southern Urals | middle Asia |
The system of power acting on behalf of the Soviets and through them.
It arose during the October Revolution of 1917, which on October 26, 1917 transferred power to the government, elected at the Congress of Soviets of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies, formed by the Bolsheviks - the Council of People's Commissars (SNK), and locally -. On December 10, 1917, representatives of the Second Congress of Peasant Deputies, as well as the front and other trade unions, entered the All-Russian Central Executive Committee, and Soviet power began to be formed on behalf of the workers, peasants and soldiers. The Council of People's Commissars included representatives of the Left Socialist-Revolutionary Party, who remained there until March 18, 1918.
The Council of People's Commissars and the All-Russian Central Executive Committee initially transferred broad powers to the localities, concentrating on foreign policy, coordinating the armed struggle and developing the basic reforms that made up the content of the October Revolution.
In the course of the struggle to establish Soviet power, its supporters - the Bolsheviks, Left Social Revolutionaries, anarchists, maximalists, etc. - created Military Revolutionary Comets, which, after suppressing the resistance of opponents of Soviet power, as a rule transferred power to the Soviets, provided that their majority supported Soviet power . During the "triumphant procession of Soviet power" 10 days after the October Revolution, Soviet power was established in Petrograd, Moscow and 22 out of 74 provincial centers - primarily in Central Russia and the Urals, as well as in Minsk, Vitebsk, Revel, Rostov-on- Don, Tashkent, Krasnoyarsk. In Smolensk, Voronezh, Saratov, Penza, Kazan, Tashkent, Irkutsk, armed clashes took place during the establishment of Soviet power. By the end of the year, the Soviets won in another 25 provincial centers, after which Tambov, Petrozavodsk, Arkhangelsk, Vologda, most of Ukraine, Central Asia and Siberia remained outside the control of the Council of People's Commissars. On January 25, Soviet power was established in Astrakhan, on January 31 in Tambov (with the help of the Moscow Red Guards), on February 17 in Arkhangelsk. The speeches led by A. Kaledin, A. Dutov and others were also suppressed. By the spring of 1918, the supporters of the Soviet government won the armed struggle, taking control of all major cities and almost the entire territory of Russia.
The threat to Soviet power was represented by the Constituent Assembly of 1918, which claimed power, but was dispersed on January 6, 1918.
After the dissolution of the Constituent Assembly, the Third Congress of Soviets of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies, which opened on January 10, 1918 and merged with the Third All-Russian Congress of Soviets of Peasants' Deputies into a general congress, assumed the right to determine the state structure of the country. The main provisions of the RSFSR constitution of 1918 were determined, which was adopted on June 10 by the Fifth Congress of Workers', Soldiers', Peasants' and Cossacks' Deputies.
Since May 1918, and especially during the course, there has been a concentration of power in the hands of the central bodies of Soviet power, subordinate to the Council of People's Commissars and People's Commissariats, as well as party structures of the RCP (b). The role of the Soviets was significantly reduced, in June-July 1918 they were purged of the Socialist-Revolutionaries, Mensheviks and Left Socialist-Revolutionaries. In cases where the opposition won elections to the Soviets, they dispersed. After the end of the Civil War and politics, the role of the Soviets in the system of Soviet power was never restored, and they began to play an auxiliary role in the bureaucratic system of the USSR. However, the power of the central state and party bodies and their local subdivisions was still considered Soviet. In accordance with the supreme body of the USSR, the Congress of Soviets of the USSR was considered, which elected the Central Executive Committee headed by four chairmen (from the RSFSR, Ukrainian SSR, BSSR, ZSFSR). Elections to the central authorities were unequal (the residents of the cities were given an advantage), indirect (deputies were elected by city councils and provincial congresses of councils). The CEC formed the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR. The Constitution did not mention that all decisions of the Central Executive Committee and the Congress are preliminarily taken by the structures of the Communist Party and then formally approved by the Soviet bodies. In 1936, a new constitution was adopted, inheriting many of the features of the 1924 constitution, but abolishing the system of multi-stage elections (now the Soviets of all levels, including the Supreme Soviet, were elected through direct elections, but on a non-alternative basis) and expanding the formal democratic provisions, designed primarily to demonstrate foreign public that in the USSR there are broad civil liberties and democracy. In reality, the Soviets of Working People's Deputies, as they were now called, carried out the directives of the party organs of the AUCP(b).
Under the conditions of Soviet power, Soviet society was formed - a specific form of industrial society based on a high degree of centralization in the management of socio-economic processes.
The role of the Soviets in the political system increased significantly during the period when elections were held on an alternative basis for the Congress of People's Deputies and local Soviets of People's Deputies. Soviet power in a number of republics was preserved even after. In Russia, the system of Soviet power was liquidated during the dispersal of the Congress of People's Deputies of the RSFSR and the Soviets of People's Deputies, as well as the adoption of the 1993 constitution.
Inner Russia, with its industrial and political centers, was the base of the revolution. In the period from October 25 to 31 (November 7 - 13), the power of the Soviets extended to 15 provincial centers, and by the end of November - to all the most important industrial centers and the main fronts of the army in the field.
The procession of the new government caused a mixed reaction among various segments of the population. I. Bunin in "Cursed Days" wrote about the first days of Soviet power: "That's right, the Sabbath. But in the depths of my soul I still hoped for something, and still did not believe in the complete absence of the government.
However, it was impossible not to believe.
I felt this especially vividly in St. Petersburg: in our thousand-year-old and huge house a great death has happened, and the house is now dissolved, wide open and full of an innumerable idle crowd, for which there is nothing sacred and forbidden in any of the chambers.
And among this crowd, the heirs of the deceased rushed about, crazy from worries, orders, which, however, no one listened to. The crowd staggered from rest to rest, from room to room, not for a moment ceasing to gnaw and chew sunflowers, for the time being only glancing, and for the time being silent.
The establishment of Soviet power was accompanied by conflicts and armed clashes. Pockets of active and passive resistance flared up everywhere.
Fierce opposition to the Soviets was rendered on the territory of Siberia and the Far East.
The Bolshevik parties of Siberia and the Far East created militant organizations and waged an armed struggle to seize political power. On October 29 (November 11) the power of the Soviets was established in Krasnoyarsk, on November 29 (December 12) - in Vladivostok, on November 30 (December 13) - in Omsk.
On December 10 (23), the Third Regional Congress of Soviets of Western Siberia, which met in Omsk, proclaimed the establishment of Soviet power in all of Western Siberia.
At the end of December 1917 in Irkutsk, an anti-Soviet uprising was suppressed. On December 6 (19), power passed to the Soviets in Khabarovsk. On December 14 (27), the regional congress of Soviets of the Far East, which met in Khabarovsk, adopted a declaration on the transfer of all power to the Soviets in the Amur and Amur regions.
The Siberian Regional Duma, which personified power in Siberia, was expelled from Tomsk.
On the Don, armed resistance to Soviet power was provided by the Cossacks, led by General Kaledin. Kaledin announced the insubordination of the Don Army to the Soviet government and established contact with Milyukov, Kornilov, Denikin, with the Cossacks of the Kuban, Terek, Astrakhan, with the Cossack ataman Dutov in Orenburg. The governments of England, France, and the United States provided Kaledin with financial support.
US Secretary of State Lansing wrote in a report to President Wilson: “The most organized, capable of putting an end to Bolshevism and strangling the government, is the group of General Kaledin. Its defeat will mean the transfer of the entire country into the hands of the Bolsheviks. It is necessary to strengthen the hope among Kaledin's allies that they will receive moral and material assistance from our government if their movement becomes strong enough.
In November, Kaledin captured Rostov-on-Don, then Taganrog, and announced his decision to advance on Moscow.
The Council of People's Commissars sent detachments of Red Guards from Moscow, Petrograd and Donbass to fight against the troops of General Kaledin. The Bolsheviks launched active propaganda among the Cossacks. The result of this propaganda was the congress of Cossacks-front-line soldiers in the village of Kamenskaya. The congress recognized Soviet power, formed the Don Revolutionary Committee headed by the Cossack F. Podtelkov and declared war on General Kaledin.
Kaledin was attacked from the front and from the rear and committed suicide.
Soviet power was established on the Don after the troops of the Red Guard took Rostov on February 24, and Novocherkassk a week later.
While asserting local power, the Bolsheviks came into conflict with the national liberation forces of the peoples who inhabited the former Russian Empire. For example, in December 1917, the Bolsheviks dispersed the First All-Belarusian Congress of Political Forces in Minsk. The congress gathered 1872 delegates from all regions of Belarus, all public and political organizations, including representatives of provincial zemstvos, local governments, trade unions and cooperative associations. The delegates discussed the most important problems concerning the future of Belarus. The leaders of the Bolshevik Party, who at that time officially called Belarus the "Western Region", on the night of December 30-31, using military force, dispersed the congress. The warrant for the dissolution of Congress was signed by Lander. In Kyiv, already on October 25 (November 7), the Bolsheviks demanded the immediate transfer of power into the hands of the Soviets. In response, representatives of the Provisional Government published an appeal calling for a struggle against Soviet power.
On October 27 (November 9), at a joint meeting of the Soviet of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies, the Military Revolutionary Committee was created. The next day, representatives of the Kyiv Military Revolutionary Committee were arrested. A new revolutionary committee was formed, which led the armed uprising in Kyiv, which began on October 29 (November 11).
The Central Ukrainian Rada called Ukrainian regiments from the front, patriotic and anti-Bolshevik. They helped the Rada create a superiority in power and seize power in Kyiv into their own hands. A significant part of the Ukrainian peasantry went over to the side of the Rada.
The Central Rada proclaimed its power in Ukraine, and on November 7 (20) published the Third Universal, in which it declared its disobedience to the Soviet government of Russia. The Rada concluded an agreement with the commander of the Romanian Front, General Shcherbachev, on the merger of the Romanian and Southwestern Fronts into a single Ukrainian Front under the command of Shcherbachev and entered into an alliance with Kaledin.
On October 4 (17), the Council of People's Commissars presented an ultimatum to the Central Rada demanding to stop "the disorganization of the front, not to allow counter-revolutionary units to enter the Don, to abandon the alliance with Kaledin, to return weapons to the revolutionary regiments and detachments of the Red Guard in Ukraine." In case of disobedience, the Soviet government considered the Rada to be in a state of open war with the Soviet government.
The Rada rejected the ultimatum and turned to the governments of the Entente countries for support.
On December 11 (24) the First Congress of Soviets of Ukraine opened in Kharkov. On December 12 (25), he proclaimed Soviet power in Ukraine, elected the Central Executive Committee and formed the Soviet government of Ukraine - the People's Secretariat.
The First Congress of Soviets of Ukraine announced the establishment of a close alliance with the Soviet government of Russia, which welcomed this decision and promised support in the fight against the Central Rada.
On January 16 (29), 1918, a new armed uprising began in Kyiv. On January 26 (February 8), the Bolsheviks captured the city. The Central Rada was evacuated to Volyn.
Stubborn resistance to Soviet power was offered in Transcaucasia. On November 15 (28) the national parties - Georgian Mensheviks, Armenian Dashnaks and Azerbaijani Musavatists created their own body in Tbilisi - the Transcaucasian Commissariat. Soviet power in Transcaucasia was established only in 1920-1921.
In December 1917, the Cossack ataman Dutov raised an anti-Soviet uprising in the Orenburg region. He was supported by the Socialist-Revolutionaries, Mensheviks, Kazakh and Bashkir national forces. Dutov captured Orenburg, thereby cutting off Central Asia from Soviet Russia. There was a real threat of the fall of Soviet power in the industrial centers of the Urals and the Volga region.
The Soviet government hastily sent detachments of the Red Guard from Moscow and Petrograd to fight Dutov, who captured Orenburg on January 18 (31). Power in Orenburg was seized by the Soviet of Workers', Peasants' and Cossacks' Deputies. Ataman Dutov with his adherents went to the Turgai steppe.
On October 31 (November 13), an armed uprising broke out in Tashkent, which led to the fall of power and the Turkestan Committee of the Provisional Government. At the Regional Congress of Soviets held in Tashkent in mid-November, the Soviet government was formed - the Council of People's Commissars of Turkestan.
The struggle against Soviet power continued in Central Asia until March 1918. In March, the main forces and centers of national resistance in Central Asia (Kokand autonomy) and Kazakhstan (Alash Orda), as well as the Ural, Orenburg and Semirechensk White Cossacks, were defeated.
On October 24 (November 6), an armed uprising was organized in Reval (Tallinn). In the unoccupied part of the Baltic, the Bolsheviks launched a struggle to seize political power. On October 26 (November 8) the Military Revolutionary Committee published an appeal "On the Victory of the Revolution and the Establishment of Soviet Power in Estonia". In Latvia, in the city of Valk (Valga) on December 16-17 (29-30), under the leadership of the Bolsheviks, a congress of Soviets of Workers', Soldiers' and Laborers' Deputies was held. The congress elected the first Soviet government.
Lenin called the period from October 25 (November 7), 1917 to February - March 1918. "triumphal procession" of Soviet power. In fact, this was the beginning of a long and bloody civil war.
Every slave has his own pride: he wants to obey only the greatest master.
Honore de Balzac
The formation of Soviet power in Russia became possible as a result of the 2nd Congress of the Bolsheviks, which actually crowned the revolution and the forcible seizure of power. This contributed to giving legitimacy to those actions that led to the collapse of the Russian empire and the overthrow of the emperor.
To understand the events of that era, it is necessary to consider the chronology of events in terms of the formation of Soviet socialist power in Russia. It will show the sequence of actions of Lenin with his comrades-in-arms, as well as their key steps that contributed to the formation of Soviet power.
Let's start with the fact that the October coup ended with the opening of the 2nd Congress of Soviets. It happened at the end of the day on October 25, 1917 in Petrograd, in the Smolny Palace. With short breaks, the congress lasted until October 27 inclusive. The meeting was attended by:
- Bolsheviks - 390 people.
- Socialist-Revolutionaries (left and right wing) - 190 people.
- Mensheviks - 72 people.
- SD-internationalists - 14 people.
- Ukrainian nationalists - 7 people.
- Menshevik-internationalists - 6 people.
In total, 739 people attended the meeting, most of which belonged to the Bolsheviks, allowing them to manage the processes of this meeting. The Socialist-Revolutionaries and Mensheviks put forward a demand to recognize the illegality of the power of the Bolsheviks, since it was seized as a result of a coup d'état! This demand was not satisfied and the representatives of the opposition left the hall. Thus began the formation of Soviet power, which is simply impossible to describe briefly.
The 2nd All-Russian Congress of Soviets continued at 11 am on October 26. On it, Lenin read out the "Decree on Peace", which obliges Russia to begin negotiations on peace without annexation and indemnity, as well as on an immediate truce for 3 months for negotiations. In this document there was a clause according to which all nationalities, previously included by force into Russia, have the right to independence.
The formation of Soviet power took place at an accelerated pace. The Bolsheviks understood that if they did not give the people what they wanted in the shortest possible time, they would not hold out in governing the country for a long time. At the 2nd Congress of Soviets, the Bolsheviks, who clearly defined measures that could strengthen the formation of the state, adopted a directive on peace, a directive on land and a directive on power.
The land directive was announced at 2 am on October 26, 1917. It completely abolished private ownership of land. An egalitarian system of land distribution was introduced throughout the country, while the authorities undertook to periodically produce new sections. The Bolsheviks were not in favor of such a reform. In the form in which it was adopted, this was one of the provisions of the Socialist-Revolutionary program. But they accepted this directive, essentially a Socialist-Revolutionary one, in order to win the love of the peasants. They succeeded. Briefly, the decree on land can be presented as follows:
- all transactions with land that becomes completely state property are prohibited;
- hired labor on land is prohibited;
- all land plots become the property of the state, which provides it to all citizens without exception;
- land is provided free of charge, no rents are allowed;
- those unable to cultivate the land for health reasons receive a state pension.
The next directive of the Bolsheviks on power was that all power in the country now belonged to the Soviets.
After the adoption of the main directives that the common people demanded, the Bolsheviks set about reforming the country. In a short time, the following directives were adopted for the establishment of order in the Soviet state. October 29 - directive on the eight-hour working day. November 2 - directive on the equality of the peoples of Russia. November 10 - directive on the liquidation of the estates. November 20 - Decree on the recognition of the national culture of the country's Muslims. December 18 - Decree on the equalization of the rights of men and women. January 26, 1918 - the decision on the withdrawal of the church from the state.
On January 10, 1918, after the dissolution of the Constituent Assembly, the 3rd Congress of Soviets of Soldiers' and Workers' Deputies took place. Soon the peasant deputies also joined him. This meeting completed the formation of the Soviet authorities, as well as the adoption of the directive on the rights of workers.
In July 1918, the 5th Congress of Soviets was held. As a result, the name of the country was determined - the Russian Socialist Federative Socialist Republic. In addition, the country's constitution was approved. The Congress of Soviets was designated as the supreme body of the state. Executive legislation was assigned to the Council of People's Commissars. The 5th Congress of Soviets ended with the adoption of the emblem and flag of the state.
The formation of Soviet power was actually completed, in the future it was already required to keep it.
First Decrees. The main task of the Bolsheviks from the first days of coming to power was the demolition of the old social structures and the strengthening of their own power.
On the evening of October 25, the II All-Russian Congress of Soviets of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies opened in Smolny. Of the 670 congress delegates, more than half were Bolsheviks, about 100 mandates belonged to the left wing of the Socialist-Revolutionary Party, which supported the Bolshevik idea of an armed uprising. The Mensheviks and Right Socialist-Revolutionaries sharply condemned the actions of the Bolsheviks and demanded that the congress begin negotiations with the Provisional Government on the formation of a new cabinet of ministers based on all sectors of society. Not having received the approval of the congress, the Menshevik and Right Social Revolutionary factions left the meeting. Thus, they deprived themselves of the opportunity to take part in the formation of new authorities, and hence the opportunity to correct the actions of the Bolsheviks "from within". The Left SRs initially also did not accept the proposal of the Bolsheviks to enter the government. They were afraid of a final break with their party, hoping that in the future a coalition government would nevertheless be formed from representatives of the socialist parties.
Taking into account the sad experience of the Provisional Government, which lost its credibility due to its unwillingness to solve the main problems of the revolution, Lenin immediately proposed that the Second Congress of Soviets adopt decrees on peace, land and power.
The Decree on Peace proclaimed Russia's withdrawal from the war. The congress turned to all the belligerent governments and peoples with a proposal for a general democratic peace.
The Decree on Land was based on 242 local peasant mandates, which set out the peasants' ideas about agrarian reform. The peasants demanded the abolition of private ownership of land, the establishment of egalitarian land use with periodic redistribution of land. These demands were never put forward by the Bolsheviks, they were an integral part of the Socialist-Revolutionary agrarian program. But Lenin was well aware that without the support of the peasantry, it would hardly be possible to retain power in the country. Therefore, he intercepted their agrarian program from the Socialist-Revolutionaries. And the peasants followed the Bolsheviks.
The Decree on Power proclaimed the universal transfer of power to the Soviets of Workers', Soldiers' and Peasants' Deputies. The congress elected a new composition of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee (VTsIK). It included 62 Bolsheviks and 29 Left Social Revolutionaries. A certain number of seats were also left to other socialist parties. Executive power was transferred to the interim government - the Council of People's Commissars (SNK) - headed by V.I. Lenin. During the discussion and adoption of each decree, it was emphasized that they were of a temporary nature - until the convocation of the Constituent Assembly, which would have to legislate the principles of the state system.
On November 2, 1917, the Soviet government adopted the "Declaration of the Rights of the Peoples of Russia", which proclaimed the abolition of national oppression, the provision to the peoples of Russia of equality, complete freedom, self-determination, up to state secession. The Declaration formulated the most important provisions that determined the national policy of the Soviet government: the equality and sovereignty of the peoples of Russia, the right of the peoples of Russia to free self-determination, up to secession and the formation of an independent state, the abolition of all and any national and national-religious privileges and restrictions, the free development of national minorities and ethnic groups inhabiting the territory of Russia.
On November 20, 1917, the Soviet government issued an appeal "To all working Muslims of Russia and the East", in which it declared the beliefs and customs, national and cultural institutions of working Muslims free and inviolable.
On December 18, the civil rights of men and women were equalized. On January 23, 1918, a decree was issued on the separation of the church from the state and the school from the church.
Proclaiming their first decrees, the Bolsheviks sought to ensure their support by the most active part of the population. First of all, the youth came under party control. On October 29, 1918, the All-Russian Congress of the Unions of Workers' and Peasants' Youth announced the creation of the Russian Communist Youth Union (RKSM). Komsomol received the status of "assistant and reserve of the Communist Party." At the same time, back in December 1917, the All-Russian Extraordinary Commission (VChK) was created under the Council of People's Commissars to "combat counter-revolution, sabotage and profiteering" - the first punitive body of Soviet power. It was headed by F.E. Dzerzhinsky.
Creation of a coalition Soviet government. The decrees of the new government were met with satisfaction by many sections of the population. They were supported by the All-Russian Congresses of Soviets of Peasants' Deputies and the Central Executive Committee of Soviets of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies.
The support of the peasantry for the Bolshevik Decree on Land brought the right SRs to the All-Russian Central Executive Committee, and the left to the government. In November-December 1917, seven representatives of the Left SRs joined the Council of People's Commissars.
The position of the Left Socialist-Revolutionaries finally split the socialist parties into two camps - supporters of the Soviets and adherents of parliamentary democracy. At the same time, V.I. Lenin fiercely resisted any attempts by individual Bolshevik leaders to expand the socialist coalition through some concessions to the Mensheviks and Right Social Revolutionaries. He believed that the parliamentary, social democratic perspective was yesterday's revolution. The Mensheviks and Socialist-Revolutionaries, in his opinion, already had a chance, being in the provisional government, to put into practice their program guidelines. However, they did not. Now it was the turn of the Bolsheviks.
The fate of the Constituent Assembly. Having stood in opposition to the Bolshevik government, the Mensheviks and Socialist-Revolutionaries for the time being did not attempt to overthrow it by force, since in the initial post-October period this path was unpromising due to the obvious popularity of Bolshevik slogans among the masses. The bet was made on an attempt to seize power by legal means - with the help of the Constituent Assembly.
The demand for the convocation of the Constituent Assembly appeared in the course of the first Russian revolution. It was included in the programs of almost all political parties. The Bolsheviks waged their campaign against the Provisional Government, among other things, under the slogan of defending the Constituent Assembly, accusing the government of delaying elections to it.
Having come to power, the Bolsheviks changed their attitude towards the Constituent Assembly, declaring that the Soviets were a more acceptable form of democracy under the prevailing conditions. But since the idea of the Constituent Assembly was very popular among the people, and besides, all parties had already put up their lists for elections, the Bolsheviks did not dare to cancel them.
The results of the elections deeply disappointed the Bolshevik leaders. 23.9% of voters voted for them, 40% voted for the Socialist-Revolutionaries, and right-wing Socialist-Revolutionaries prevailed in the lists. The Mensheviks received 2.3% and the Cadets 4.7% of the vote. The leaders of all major Russian and national parties, the entire liberal and democratic elite were elected members of the Constituent Assembly. With such a composition of deputies, it was difficult to wait for the obedient legislative consecration of a fait accompli - the seizure of power by the Bolsheviks. The implicitly ripening decision grew into a firm conviction: the Constituent Assembly must be dispersed. The Left SRs supported this idea.
But some pre-emptive steps were taken first.
On November 28, 1917, Lenin signed a decree banning the Constitutional Democratic Party and arresting its leaders. Despite parliamentary immunity, some leaders of the right SRs were also arrested.
On January 3, 1918, the All-Russian Central Executive Committee adopted the "Declaration of the Rights of the Working and Exploited People" written by V.I. Lenin. The Declaration recorded all the changes that had taken place since October 25, which were regarded as the basis for the subsequent socialist reorganization of society. It was decided to submit this document as the main one for adoption by the Constituent Assembly.
On January 5, the opening day of the Constituent Assembly, a demonstration was held in Petrograd in its defense, organized by the Socialist-Revolutionaries and Mensheviks. According to eyewitnesses, 50-60 thousand people took part in it. The demonstration, on the orders of the authorities, was shot by units of the Latvian riflemen supporting the Bolsheviks.
The execution of the demonstration further inflamed the situation in the country, dispelling the last hopes for the possibility of a compromise between the socialist parties.
The Constituent Assembly opened and proceeded in a tense atmosphere of confrontation. The meeting room was filled with armed sailors, supporters of the Bolsheviks. Their behavior was far from the norms of parliamentary ethics. Chairman of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee Ya.M. Sverdlov read out the "Declaration of the rights of the working and exploited people" and proposed to adopt it, thereby legitimizing the existence of Soviet power and its first decrees. But the Constituent Assembly refused to approve this document, starting a discussion on the draft laws on peace and land proposed by the Social Revolutionaries. On January 6, early in the morning, the Bolsheviks announced their resignation from the Constituent Assembly. Following them, the Left Socialist-Revolutionaries also left the meeting. The discussion, which continued after the departure of the ruling parties, was interrupted late at night by the head of the guard, sailor A. Zheleznyakov, with the message that "the guard was tired." He urged the delegates to leave the premises.
The dissolution of the Constituent Assembly, which took place so casually, without arousing the slightest hint of an outburst of popular indignation, made a stunning impression on the parties of revolutionary democracy. They associated with his activities certain hopes for a peaceful way to remove the Bolsheviks from power. Now they began to incline more and more to the need for an armed struggle against the Bolsheviks.
IIIAll-Russian Congress of Soviets: the formation of Soviet statehood. On January 10, 1918, the III All-Russian Congress of Soviets of Workers' Soldiers' Deputies opened in the Tauride Palace, where the Constituent Assembly had recently met. Three days later he was joined by delegates of the III All-Russian Congress of Soviets of Peasants' Deputies. Thus, the unification of the Soviets of Workers', Soldiers' and Peasants' Deputies into a single state system was completed. The United Congress adopted the "Declaration of the rights of the working and exploited people", Russia was proclaimed the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic. The All-Russian Congress of Soviets was recognized as the supreme body of power, in the intervals between congresses - the All-Russian Central Executive Committee, which was elected at the All-Russian Congress of Soviets. Executive power was assigned to the Council of People's Commissars. Representatives of the Mensheviks and Socialist-Revolutionaries took part in the work of the congress. They also entered the new composition of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee.
III Congress of Soviets adopted the "Basic Law on the Socialization of Land", which approved the principles of equal land use.
Separate peace or revolutionary war? One of the most difficult questions of Russian reality was the question of the war. The Bolsheviks promised the people its speedy completion. However, in the party itself there was no unity on this issue, since it was most closely connected with one of the fundamental provisions of the Bolshevik doctrine - with the idea of a world revolution. The essence of this idea was that the victory of the socialist revolution in backward Russia could be ensured only if similar revolutions took place in the developed capitalist countries and the European proletariat assisted the Russian in eliminating backwardness and building a socialist society. Another idea flowed from the doctrine of the world revolution - the idea of a revolutionary war, with the help of which the victorious Russian proletariat would support the proletariat of other countries in fomenting war with their own bourgeoisie. At the same time, the main stake was placed on the German proletariat. Therefore, it was originally planned that the victorious Bolsheviks would offer all the warring powers to conclude a democratic peace, and in case of refusal, they would start a revolutionary war with world capital.
On November 7, 1917, People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs Leonid Trotsky addressed the governments of all the warring powers with a proposal to conclude a general democratic peace. A few days later, the Soviet government again repeated its proposal, but only Germany agreed to start negotiations.
According to the logic of Bolshevik principles, it was time to start a revolutionary war. However, having become the head of state, V.I. Lenin dramatically changed his attitude to this issue. He urgently demanded the immediate conclusion of a separate peace with Germany, since in the conditions of the collapse of the army and the economic crisis, the German offensive threatened an inevitable catastrophe for the country, and therefore for the Soviet government. At least a short respite was needed for economic stabilization and the creation of an army.
The proposal of Lenin and his few supporters was opposed by a group of prominent Bolsheviks, later called "Left Communists". Its leader was N.I. Bukharin. This group categorically insisted on the continuation of the revolutionary war, which was supposed to ignite the fire of the world revolution. Unlike Lenin, Bukharin saw the threat to Soviet power not in the offensive of the German army, but in the fact that hatred of the Bolsheviks would inevitably unite the warring Western powers for a joint campaign against Soviet power. And only the international revolutionary front will be able to resist the united imperialist front. The conclusion of peace with Germany will undoubtedly weaken the chances of a world revolution. Bukharin's position was supported by the Left SRs.
Compromise, but not devoid of logic, was the position of L.D. Trotsky, expressed by the formula: "We do not stop the war, we demobilize the army, but we do not sign peace." This approach was based on the belief that Germany was not capable of conducting major offensive operations and that the Bolsheviks did not need to discredit themselves by negotiations. Trotsky did not rule out the possibility of signing a separate peace, but only if the German offensive began. Under this condition, it will become clear to the international working-class movement that peace is a forced measure, and not the result of a Soviet-German agreement.
The split was not limited to the party elite, it also touched its ranks. Most of the party organizations were against the signing of peace. However, Lenin defended his position with incredible stubbornness.
L.D. Trotsky, who headed the Russian delegation, dragged out negotiations with the Germans in every possible way, believing that they had put forward territorial claims unacceptable to Russia. On the evening of January 28, 1918, the Soviet delegation announced the break in negotiations.
On February 18, the Germans launched an offensive on the Eastern Front and, without encountering serious resistance from the Russian troops, began to move inland.
On February 23, the Soviet government received a German ultimatum. The terms of the peace proposed in it were much harder than before. With incredible difficulty, only with the help of the threat of his resignation, Lenin managed to persuade the insignificant majority of the Central Committee of the party, and then the All-Russian Central Executive Committee, to adopt a resolution on the signing of the treaty on German terms.
On March 3, 1918, a separate peace treaty between Russia and Germany was signed in Brest-Litovsk.
Under the terms of the Brest Peace, a territory with a total area of 780 thousand km 2 with a population of 56 million people (almost a third of the population of the Russian Empire) was torn away from Russia. These are Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Finland, part of Belarus, Ukraine, some regions of Transcaucasia. Before the revolution, there were 27% of cultivated land, 26% of the railway network, 38% of the textile industry, 73% of iron and steel were smelted, 89% of coal was mined, 90% of the sugar industry, 1073 machine-building plants and, most importantly, 40% of industrial workers lived.
Huge material losses provoked the introduction of emergency measures in the economy.
Economic policy of the new government. Economic ties between town and country in the first half of Soviet power were built according to the scheme inherited by the Bolsheviks from the Provisional Government. While maintaining the grain monopoly and fixed prices, the Soviet government received grain through barter. The People's Commissar for Food had at his disposal items of industrial production and, under certain conditions, sent them to the village, thereby stimulating the delivery of grain.
However, in conditions of all-encompassing instability, the lack of necessary industrial goods, the peasants were in no hurry to give bread to the government. In addition, in the spring of 1918, the grain regions of Ukraine, the Kuban, the Volga region, and Siberia were cut off from Soviet power. The threat of famine loomed over Soviet territory. At the end of April 1918, the daily bread ration in Petrograd was reduced to 50 g. In Moscow, workers received an average of 100 g per day. Food riots began in the country.
The enemy was found without delay - speculators and kulaks hiding their reserves from the state. On May 9, 1918, a decree was adopted "On granting emergency powers to the People's Commissar for Food to combat the rural bourgeoisie, who hide grain stocks and speculate with them." On the basis of this decree, the Bolsheviks switched from a policy of barter between town and country to a policy of forcibly seizing all "surplus" food and centralizing it in the hands of the People's Commissariat of Food. To accomplish this task, armed work detachments were created throughout the country - food detachments, endowed with emergency powers.
But the Bolsheviks feared that the "crusade" announced by the city to the countryside might cause a backlash - the unification of the entire peasantry for an organized grain blockade. Therefore, stakes were placed on splitting the countryside, on opposing the rural poor to all other peasants. This situation was foreseen by V.I. Lenin as far back as 1905. Then, in his work “Two Tactics of Social Democracy in a Democratic Revolution”, he wrote about two stages of the revolution in the countryside. At the first stage, the proletariat, together with the entire peasantry, will abolish feudal landownership, and then at the second stage, in alliance with the poorest peasantry, it will oppose the rural bourgeoisie.
On June 11, 1918, despite the violent objections of the Left SRs, a decree was issued on the formation of committees of the rural poor. Kombeds were entrusted with the function of assisting local food authorities in detecting and seizing grain surpluses from "kulaks and the rich". For their services, the “committees” received remuneration in the form of a certain share of the grain seized by them. The duties of the commanders also included the distribution of bread, basic necessities and agricultural implements between peasant households.
This decree played the role of an exploding bomb in the countryside. He destroyed all the centuries-old foundations, traditions and moral guidelines of the Russian peasantry, sowed enmity and hatred among fellow villagers, thereby fanning the flames of civil war.
Having come to power, the Bolsheviks had two fundamental ideas in their economic baggage: the introduction of workers' control over the production and distribution of products and the need to nationalize all the country's banks and merge them into a single nationwide bank.
On November 14, 1917, a decree and the "Regulations on workers' control" were adopted. The nationalization of private banks in Petrograd began, and banking was declared a state monopoly. A single people's bank of the Russian Republic was created.
On November 17, 1917, the factory of the Likinskaya Manufactory Association (near Orekhovo-Zuev) was nationalized by decree of the Council of People's Commissars. In December 1917, several enterprises in the Urals and the Putilov plant in Petrograd were nationalized. However, initially nationalization was not as a tool for creating a socialist economy, but as a state response to hostile steps on the part of entrepreneurs. Moreover, it was carried out exclusively in relation to individual enterprises, and not to the industry, especially to the industry as a whole, i.e. it was dictated not by economic expediency, but by political motives.
The first results of the economic policy of the new government were deplorable. The revolution inspired the workers with the idea that they are the masters of production and can manage it in their own interests and at their own discretion. The idea of workers' control discredited itself, relegating industry into unimaginable chaos and anarchy. This was also reflected in agriculture: there are no necessary industrial goods - the peasants hide their grain. Hence the famine in the cities, the threat to the existence of the new government.
In early April 1918, V.I. Lenin announced his decision to change the internal political course. His plan called for an end to nationalization and expropriation and the preservation of private capital. According to Lenin, in order to stabilize Soviet power, it was necessary to begin technical cooperation with the big bourgeoisie, restore the authority of the administration at enterprises, and introduce strict labor discipline based on material incentives. Lenin suggested that bourgeois specialists be widely involved in cooperation and was ready to abandon the Marxist principle of equal pay for worker and official. The mixed economic order he conceived was called state capitalism.
However, this new Leninist course did not receive its practical development. The introduction of emergency measures in the agricultural sector required adequate solutions in other sectors of the economy. The Congress of Soviets of the National Economy, which met in May 1918 in Moscow, rejected both state capitalism and workers' control, proclaiming a course towards the nationalization of the most important branches of industry. This course was enshrined in a decree of the Council of People's Commissars of June 28, 1918. The functions of managing nationalized enterprises were transferred to the Supreme Council of the National Economy (VSNKh), which was created in December 1917 to coordinate and unify the activities of all economic bodies and institutions, both central and local .
Thus, the economic policy of the new, Bolshevik government in the first period of its existence went from "socialization of the land" and "workers' control" to food dictatorship, committees, broad nationalization and strict centralization.
