Read the summary and the most important questions on October Revolution: Why did Bolshevism Survive 1918?

• 1 Introduction

• What was the likelihood of Soviet survival in 1918?

  At the start of 1918 nobody predicted that the Soviet regime would survive for long; they were surrounded by external and internal enemies who were deeply opposed to their vision of social democracy

• Why would the Bolsheviks face greater challenges in 1919 and 1920?

  In the Civil War they would face determined White and Green opposition

• Why, according to Soviet Historians, did the Bolshevik regime survive 1918?

  Popular support for the revolution and the regime. The class-conscious proletariat had been guided by the 'vanguard party' to conquer teh forces of reaction in establishing the world's first Communist state

• What is Jonathan Webb's argument for why the Bolshevik regime survived 1918?

  Although Soviet Popularity cannot be discounted, the survival of the Bolsheviks owed far more to a complex mix of chance factors and the political and organisational cunning of the Bolsheviks themselves. (Bolshevik strengths rather than oppositional weaknesses)

• 2 Popular Support

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• What percentage of the urban working class vote (particularly in Moscow and Petrograd) did the Bolsheviks poll in the Constituent Assembly elections of January 1918?

  45-50%

• Why did popular support for the Bolsheviks not necessarily mean support for Bolshevik Communism?

  Soviets used popularist propaganda and policies to win the hearts and minds of the radicalised masses who were desperate for social change and the end to war

• What are examples of Lenin's Populist slogans?

  1. Peace, Bread and Land
  2. Worker Control of Factories
  3. All Power to the Soviets

• How did the Bolsheviks maintain the fiction that all other parties were a threat to the social revolution of 1917?

  Soviets annexed popular support for the Soviet movement to the Bolshevik cause; by making it appear that a vote for the Bolsheviks was a vote for the Soviet movement

• What was the impact of the emergence of White armies in the spring of 1918 on the popular opinion of other socialist parties?

  The way in which the first White armies were supported by foreign powers; advocated traditional authoritarian rule; and also seemed to be supported by socialist parties that weren't Soviet helped lose support for alternative Socialist parties

• 2.1 Soviet Policies

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• What are two populist Bolshevik policies that helped to win Soviet support?

  1. 8 hour working day
  2. Nationalisation of banks

  
  Consolidated support