How important was Lenin in enabling the communist government to survive war and rebellion in the years 1918-1922.
The communist government survived war and rebellion because of a variety of key figures including Lenin. However to say that Lenin was important is speculative, there were many events that occurred which Lenin didn’t contribute to which helped the communist government survive.
It is possible to think that Lenin was not important in enabling the communist government to survive war and rebellion because of the kronstadt revolt. This was a key event in which Lenin did not contribute and therefore unimportant. The kronstadt revolt occurred because sailors at the Kronstadt naval base had long been a source of radical dissent and by 1921 they were angry about the lack of democracy and the policy of War Communism. On 28th February 1921, the crew of the battleship Petropavlovsk, passed a resolution calling for a return of full political freedoms. Lenin denounced the Kronstadt Uprising as a plot instigated by the White Army and their European supporters making him unimportant to this relevant event. On 6th March, Trotsky announced that he was going to order the Red Army to attack the Kronstadt sailors, making Trotsky the key figure in the Kronstadt revolt not Lenin. 60,000 red army troops stormed the base under the command of Mikhail Tukhachevskii on March 5th, by March 16th they numbered 45,000. Trotsky managed all the conflict and therefore was shown the most important figure, this can be argued that Lenin did not contribute to such a key revolt and therefore had no influence in enabling the communist government to survive.
A much stronger argument would be that Lenin was important in enabling the communist government to survive war and conflict, the 1920-21 Russo=Polish war is clear example of this. Russia faced a challenge from Poland. The Polish had been granted their independence in 1918. Poland invaded the Ukraine in 1920. However, the Polish army was not able to defeat Trotsky’s Red Army and it broke through the Poles lines and advanced on Warsaw. Jozef Pilsudski, Poland’s commander-in-chief led a counter-attack against the Red Army and Lenin showed the initiative to cut his losses and agreed to the Treaty of Riga on March 18th 1921. As a result of this treaty, about 10 million Ukrainians and White Russians were put under Polish rule. The Treaty of Riga brought to an end the Russian Civil War. Within Russia, the Communist government under Lenin was now secure. This is a clear example of how Lenin was vitally important for the communist survival of war. Being able to agree to a peace treaty showed Russia that the communist party had the key traits to lead Russia and therefore making sure that the communist party would stay in power of the foreseeable future.
Another clear example to show that Lenin was important in enabling the communist government to survive war and rebellion, is the 3rd March 1918 Treaty of Brest-Litovsk. The Treaty of Brest-Litovsk brought about the end of the war between Russia and Germany in 1918. Lenin had ordered that the Bolshevik representatives should get a quick treaty from the Germans to bring about an end to the war so that the Bolsheviks could concentrate on the work they needed to do in Russia itself. This was a wise decision because after the 1917 revolution Russia was in distress. Under the treaty, Russia lost Riga, Lithuania, Livonia, Estonia and some of White Russia. These areas had great economic importance as they were some of the most fertile farming areas in Western Russia. Germany was allowed by the terms of the treaty to exploit these lands to support her military effort in the west. Lenin argued that though the treaty was harsh, it freed the Bolsheviks up to deal with problems in Russia itself. Lenin’s realistic approach about the treaty enabled him to strengthen his hold on the party, this in turn allowed him to take more control over Russia which meant they he was able to deal with problems in Russia. Lenin was a key figure in this event, this is an example of how he was important in enabling the communist government to survive war and rebellion.
The most important example to show that Lenin was important in enabling the communist government to survive war rebellion, is the civil war. The Russian Civil War was to tear Russia apart for three years – between 1918 and 1921. The civil war occurred because after November 1917, many groups had formed that opposed Lenin’s Bolsheviks. These groups included monarchists, militarists, and, for a short time, foreign nations. Collectively, they were known as the Whites while the Bolsheviks were known as the Reds. Lenin imposed an iron grip on territory under the control of the Bolsheviks. The party had a secret police unit called the Cheka, which was set up by Lenin on 20th December 1917, it ruthless in hunting out possible opponents to Lenin. In many areas of Russia, where the Bolsheviks had control, the Cheka was judge, jury and executioner. Its power was massively extended after August 30th, 1918. War Communism was introduced by Lenin to combat the economic problems brought on by the civil war in Russia. Lenin was given much credit for this and was a key reason in why the Reds won the civil war. This is the important example because it clearly shows that Lenin had a major effect on the communist party’s survival, by instrumenting key aspects in winning the civil war.
To conclude, it is possible to think that Lenin was unimportant in enabling the communist to survive the war and rebellion. However, there are a lot more facts that suggest that Lenin was important and did contribute massively in the communist party’s survival.