How successful was Lenin in solving the Problems he faced free essay sample

With the October revolution in 1917, Lenin managed to execute a successful coup d’etat against the provisional government of Russia and with the death of the constituent assembly early 1918; Lenin and his Bolsheviks had finally control over Russia. However this was just the beginning of various problems he would be facing. This raised the debate on whether Lenin could deal with these problems or not. Many of the quarrels originated from the Tsar’s regime and the provisional government such as Russia’s participation in WW1 as well as economic underdevelopment. Immediate problems such as the raging civil war existed as well. Lenin tackled these problems with decrees, treaties, terror and various economic policies such as war communism. However these solutions would bring further problems such as famine and revolts such as the Kronstadt Mutiny. Thus Lenin was only successful to certain extent in solving the problems he faced. A major problems Lenin faced was Russia’s participation in the First World War. We will write a custom essay sample on How successful was Lenin in solving the Problems he faced? or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page As the outbreak was in 1914, this was during Tsar Nicholas II’s rule. The participation was regarded highly but this did not hold. After suffering defeat in Tannenberg and the Masurian Lakes it was apparent that the war would have a destructive impact on Russia. Being a backwards country, as it still heavily relied on agriculture; a prolonged war could destroy Russia. In fact, inflation was increasing rapidly and in Petrograd only, the price of flour, meat, butter and salt all rose by 99%, 232%, 124% and 483% respectively. During the war, harvest was not a problem though. However due to the inflation, there was little incentive for peasants to sell their produce and hoarding became popular. With the Romanov dynasty disintegrated, there were high expectations that the provisional government would bring the war to an end but this did not happen. The provisional government, being weak in authority, lost their rule just after 8 months and thus it was Lenin’s responsibility to end the war. Lenin, knowing Russia’s economic status quo and having to get ready for an upcoming civil war, had to stop the war against Germany no matter the cost. Thus having persuaded Trotsky and Kamanev, supporters of the war, in 1918, the treaty of Brest-Litovsk was accepted. However this came with high sacrificial value. Due to the treaty, Russia lost Riga, Lithuania, Estonia and parts of White Russia. This was a heavy blow to the already weakened economy as these areas were of major importance since they were some of the most fertile farming lands in Russia, while additionally losing 75% of their iron ore and coal deposit. Thus one could see the Brest-Litovsk treaty as an unsuccessful move by Lenin as the loss of economical important lands was a major downfall. However it has to be taken into account that the people of Russia wanted an end to the war and despite the loss, it did help Lenin in winning the civil war in Russia. Thus, Lenin was successful to a large extent in stopping the war but yet again, this was not the only war he would be fighting. As mentioned previously, Lenin won the civil war in 1918. This was crucial for the Bolsheviks to secure their power over Russia. However this did come with a price as well. Lenin essentially came to power through a coup d’etat so it was only natural for there to be political opposition, ranging from monarchists to even foreign nations, collectively named the whites. However a major cause of the civil war was due to the Brest-Litovsk treaty. Because of it, the food situation was dire. The ‘bread basket’ of Russia was lost and due to the inflation, there was no incentive to sell or buy as mentioned earlier. Thus food requisitioning had to be introduced where requisitions squads were sent to look for the grain that the supposed kulaks were hoarding. This crucially made more enemies for the Bolsheviks and thus in 1918, the civil war started. Lenin, with the power of the Cheka, war communism and Trotsky’s excellent leadership in the Red Army, had relative ease in winning the war though. The Bolsheviks essentially were fighting a multi-fronted war. Yet Trotsky managed to defeat the Whites. Of course his leadership was crucial but so was the fact that the Whites’ army was very uncoordinated due to the clash of opinions. The Cheka had the purpose of dealing the ‘enemies of the state’. With the order for the Red Terror by Lenin, the dealing had turned into annihilation. This did go out of control, no government body had control over the Cheka and executions happened without trials. It is said that around 50,000 were shot in 1918 alone. Furthermore with the introduction of war communism in June 1918, all production was concentrated on war effort. Party officials replaced factory committees and not only did the industrial production collapse, food shortages became even more serious as grain production dropped from 80 to 38 millions tons in just a matter of a few years. Thus, in one sense Lenin was very successful in winning the civil war as he completely dominated the Whites with the mentioned tactics but in another sense, these tactics would lead him to more problems, which renders him unsuccessful. One of these problems was the following famine and revolts. Lenin’s joy of winning the civil war was short-lived due to the fact that he now had to deal with increasingly dire agrarian and economic situations. As mentioned in multiple occasions throughout, the economic state of Russia was poor. In fact, inflation between 1917 and 1922 ran at around 1,000,000%. Peasantry discontent grew and finally with the introduction of food requisitioning, peasants started revolting, sometimes even with force. 1920, grain production fell by 20% and around 5 million died due to the famine and diseases. The famine was of terrifying scale and cannibalism was not out of the ordinary anymore. One of the most remarkable revolts is the Kronstadt Mutiny in 1921. The sailors’ discontent grew rapidly as Bolshevik leaders would enjoy special privileges while they existed on starvation rations. Thus in February 1921, the Petropavlosk’ crew mutinied and shortly after Kronstadt Bolsheviks would join the mutiny. The Bolsheviks swiftly crushed the rebellion but with negative effects. Socialists lost faith in the Bolshevik revolution and viewed them as a repressive regime. For Lenin it was clear, he had to relax war communism and introduce a new policy to avoid a new revolution, which would throw out the Bolsheviks. Thus he introduced the NEP in 1921. A new tax on food was introduced, the prodnalog, which later was changed to tax on money. Incentive grew and naturally production soared. By 1922, the tax limit was 10% and fears of famine vanished with agricultural production at 75%. Thus the NEP was a great success as it not only got rid of the famine, subdued armed revolts and increased production, it also secured Bolshevik power once again. However, the NEP was capitalistic in nature, strictly going against the dogmatic beliefs of Marxism, to the discontentment of the communists. but Lenin argued it to be necessary in order to create a communist environment. The NEP practically added another layer of political discontentment to the already troubling political opposition that rose due to Lenin’s unpopular socio-political decrees as well as his land reforms, which he essentially did not keep up with throughout his rule. Therefore in this sense the NEP was unsuccessful as political division was on threatening demand, which would bring further political clashes in the near future. When Lenin and his Bolsheviks came to power, Russia was in a state of chaos. Not only was it raging war against an experienced country, the agricultural and economic state of Russia looked very dim. Productions dwindled down while inflation soared and famine was driving the people’s patience to the limit. Lenin managed to stop the war to Russia’s delight and overcome various problems that threatened his power such as the civil war but his solutions all came with a price of causing even more problems, may it be the Brest-Litovsk treaty that caused the civil war or war communism that worsened the agricultural status of Russia or the million deaths caused by the Red Terror. Thus it is clear that Lenin was only successful to a certain extent in solving the problems he faced during his reign of Russia.