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An End to the War
After Lenin’s government secured power, one of its first major goals was to get Russia out of World War I. Following his Decree on Peace, Lenin called for everyone to cease hostilities immediately if they did not want Russia to seek a separate peace, but was ignored. Therefore, in November 1917, the new government ordered Russian troops to cease all hostilities on the front. On December 15, Russia signed an armistice with Germany and Austria, pending a formal peace treaty (the treaty was not completed until March 1918).
Russia’s exit from the war was very costly, but Lenin was desperate, as the Germans were threatening to invade Petrograd. In the peace agreements, Russia lost most of its territorial gains since the time of Peter the Great, including Finland, Poland, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Ukraine, Belarus, Bessarabia, and the Caucasus region, along with some of the coal-mining lands of southern Russia. The Soviets would not regain these territories until the end of World War II.
The SPC and the November Elections
In theory, the SPC was a democratic institution. They had been voted into power after the coup and were supposed to answer to the Executive Committee as well as the future Constituent Assembly. Lenin, expecting the Bolsheviks to do well, allowed elections for members of the Constituent Assembly to proceed as scheduled. When the final tally was in, however, Bolshevik candidates received less than 25 percent of the vote, with the mildly sympathetic Socialist Revolutionary party (SR) receiving 40 percent. However, members of other more hostile parties, including the Cadets (Constitutional Democrats), had strong showings as well.
This election made the Constituent Assembly a problem for the Bolsheviks. Initially, it appeared that they might have to make some severe compromises in order to stay in power, but instead dealt with this problem by declaring the Cadet Party illegal and then demanding that the Constituent Assembly voluntarily give up its legislative authority. In the end, the Constituent Assembly met only once, on January 5, 1918. During the meeting, the assembly refused to give up its authority but did nothing to challenge the Bolsheviks, who permanently dissolved the Assembly the next day.
The Bolsheviks’ Consolidation of Power
The Assembly was replaced by the Third Congress of Soviets, 94 percent of whose members were required to be Bolshevik and SR delegates. The new group quickly ratified a motion that the term “provisional” be removed from the official description of the SPC, making Lenin and the Bolsheviks the permanent rulers of the country under what Lenin would come to call a “revolutionary dictatorship” or “dictatorship of the proletariat.” Following this, in March 1918, the Bolsheviks moved their seat of power from Petrograd to Moscow and began to rebuild their military force. These troops would effectively suppress insurrections throughout Russia in 1918 and formed the early core of the newly established Red Army.
The other major instrument of Bolshevik power was the secret police, known by the Russian acronym Cheka (for Extraordinary Commission to Combat Counterrevolution and Sabotage). Officially formed on December 20, 1917, the Cheka was charged with enforcing compliance with Bolshevik rule. Tens of thousands of people would be murdered at by the Cheka during the coming years.
The Russian Civil War
The Russian Revolution was followed by the Russian Civil War, which began during the summer of 1918. As the Bolsheviks, often termed the Reds, were consolidating power, Lenin’s opponents were also organizing from multiple directions. These included monarchists, democrats, militant Cossacks, and moderate socialists. These highly divergent groups gradually united and came to fight together as the Whites.
In the meantime, a contingent of about half a million Czech and Slovak soldiers, taken prisoner by the Russian army during World War I, began to rebel against the Bolsheviks, who were attempting to force them to serve in the Red Army. They temporarily joined with White forces in the central Volga region, presenting the fledgling Red Army with a major military challenge. In response to these growing threats, the Bolsheviks instituted military conscription in May 1918 in order to bolster their forces.
The Red Terror
At the end of the summer, on August 30,1918, there was an assassination attempt on Lenin. He survived, but the result was a brutal crackdown on any and all forms of opposition. The Bolsheviks called it the Red Terror, and the brutal onslaught of violence, executions, and arrests lived up to its name. It lasted well into 1922, by which point the Bolsheviks had fully crushed the rebellion.
Events Timeline
November 1917
Nationwide elections for the Constituent Assembly held throughout the month
December 15
Russia signs armistice with the Central Powers
December 20
Cheka established
January 5, 1918
Constituent Assembly meets for first and last time
March 3
Russia and Germany sign peace treaty at Brest-Litovsk
May
Bolsheviks institute military conscription
June–July
Russian Civil War begins
August 30
Lenin shot in assassination attempt but survives
September 5
Red Terror begins
Key People
Vladimir Lenin
Leader of Russia after the October Revolution; suppressed dissent by disbanding Constituent Assembly, declaring opposing political parties illegal
