Katie Thomas

Assess the view that Lenins rule between 1917 and 1924 was merely a brutal
dictatorship.
It is obvious to automatically assume the thought that Lenins campaign and leadership
of Russia between 1917 and 1924 was to be a brutal dictatorship. Figes correctly puts it
that Historians have tended to neglect the connections between this plebeian war on
privilege and the origins of the Red Terror 1 and it to be a merely political affair in the
walls of the Smolney. However, the repercussions of Lenins rule made this assumption
explicitly clear. The death toll of merely just his War Communism socio-economic
policies was over 6 million2. On the other hand, other historians would prefer to take a
different view and agree with the leader himself when he said that the dictatorship was
necessary for complete communism in the prevailing circumstances; nothing could
have been done to curb unrest that would and was happening and the only option was to
use force on his part. When contemplating the evidence for justification of Lenins
methods, defining his definition of 'terror' simple to explain. Terror to keep the masses in
line was not a new concept, when in fact innocent civilians, including women and
children were slaughtered,3 happened merely 12 years ago in the 1905 Revolution.
Alexandra Kollanti, a witness of Bloody Sunday agrees to this 'ingrained' terror method, I
was going with the demonstrators to the Winter Palace, and the picture of the massacre
of unarmed, working folk is forever imprinted on my memory. 4 and Georgi Gapon that
Both the blacksmiths who had guarded me were killed, as well as all these who were
carrying the ikons and banners; and all these emblems now lay scattered on the snow. 5
One could almost argue that the Russian peasantry were used to the idea of brutality as
discipline, and that Lenin was only the next in a line of hard lined rule. Brutality as
discipline was central characteristic towards his rule even before his rise to power,
supported even further by his insistent It is necessary secretly and urgently to
prepare the terror,6 in reference to the Red Terror, an authorised shooting of 25 former
ministers, civil servants, and 765 White Guards in September 1918 7 after two failed
assassination attempts on his life and the successful assassination of the Petrograd
Cheka chief Moisei Uritsky.
Arguably, the defining moment of Lenin's use of terror as discipline was the Kronstadt
Rebellion of March 1921. Service quite rightly focuses on the treatment of sailors, arguing
that The sailors demanded multi-party democracy and an end to grain requisitioning
and were only greeted with brutality, seen quite starkly with organizers shot, and
thousands of ordinary sailors, most of which whom had supported the Bolsheviks in 1917,
were dispatched to the Uthta Labour camp in the Russian North. 8 Historian Israel
Getzler adds weight to this argument, stating that the extraordinary troika of Aleksei
1 _ Figes, Orlando; A Peoples Tragedy, the Russian Revolution 1891 1924. (Pimlico;
New Ed edition; 31 July 1997) p. 525
2 _ Robert Conquest, Harvest of Sorrow: Soviet Collectivization and the Terror-Famine
(New York: Oxford University Press, 1986), pp. 5355.
3 _ Service, Robert; The Penguin History of Modern Russia. (Penguin; 3rd Edition edition;
18 Aug 2009) pp. 13-14
4 _ Alexandra Kollontai, witness of the Bloody Sunday Massacre
5 _ Georgi Gapon, priest in St. Petersburg
6 _ Andrew, Christopher; Mitrokhin, Vasili; The Mitrokhin Archive: The KGB in Europe and
the West (1999 Penguin; 2 edition, 16 Jan 2014)
7 _ Gellately, Robert (2007). Lenin, Stalin, and Hitler: The Age of Social Catastrophe.
Knopf. p. 57
8 _ Service, Robert; The Penguin History of Modern Russia. (Penguin; 3rd Edition edition;
18 Aug 2009) pp. 13-14 pp. 125-127

Katie Thomas
Nikolaev had arrested over 100 so-called instigators, 74 of whom he had publicly shot." 9
Both Historians clearly insinuate and understand the level of brutality at work under
Lenin. Beforehand, Kronstadt had long considered itself a free, relatively independent
commune, who was still supporters and practitioners of Soviet power. Trotsky had called
the sailors of Kronstadt Pride and Glory of the Russian Revolution. However, he goes
further on to argue the rebellion that, The rebellion broke out during the discussion on
the so-called trade union question. 10 Trotskys position during this time provides
strong, agreeable primary evidence towards Service; the subject of Trade Unions was a
complex question, with Lenin himself rejecting ideas of Trade Union independence over
the economy even though -ironically- Social Revolutionary forces had been organised by
an ex-Tsarist officers led by ex-General Kozlovsky (who had been stationed there as a
military specialist by Trotsky), leading us to question his true involvement. Services
argument that Lenins main term of control was terror, as evidenced by the treatment of
sailors, is strengthened by Emma Goldman - the 20th Century political anarchist who
states that confinement was the main method used to get rid of and control aspects of
society that threatened Lenins position. She highlights that: "...a number of trade unions
was disbanded, their leaders and the most die-hard strikers tossed into prison." 11 At the
time, there are no reliable figures for the sheer amount of rebel losses, only records of
many being exiled and sent into Labour camps. This change of heart in the Kronstadt
sailors provides important evidence towards the brutality of the revolt of the region.
Since the end of Lenin's Revolution, Kronstadt has been cited as the clearest example of
the reality of the Bolshevik regime versus its rhetoric; the brutal reality of Lenin's
methods against his words. The Kronstadt rebellion served to smash the illusion of this.
Emma Goldman once again speaks of her experiences with this; "...The wanton slaughter
they had instigated spoke more eloquently against than aught else. Whatever the
pretences of the past, the Bolsheviki now proved themselves the most pernicious
enemies of the Revolution. I would have nothing further to do with them." 12 Even so, a
critical factor of considering whether simple revolution constitutes as a representation of
whether Lenin was indeed a dictator or was simply doing what he needed to do is to
consider whether a revolt of the people constitutes a genuine scale of judgement. Of
course, from our western perspective it may seem obvious that the entirety of the
casualties and deaths caused by his regime represent the 'brutal dictatorship' argued to
exist, it is also possible to argue in this circumstance that this Famine was a larger
turning point in Lenin's regime than the Kronstadt Rebellion. Pipes considers the Russian
Famine, otherwise known as the Povolzhye Famine to be an excuse for Bolshevik
leadership to begin the dismantling of the Orthodox Church across Russia; 13 a process
that quite clearly involved high levels of indirect brutality. His clear intentions to use the
death and cannibalism of millions - something which Lenin had planned to do from the
offset in a letter to Comrade Molotov for the Politburo It is precisely now and only now
when in the starving regions people are eating human flesh, and hundreds if not
thousands of corpses are littering the roads, that we can (and therefore must) carry out
the confiscation of church valuables.14, quite clearly illustrates Lenins brutal and more
importantly immoral stance on the wellbeing of his people, therefore strengthening Pipes'
9_ Getzler, Israel; Kronstadt 1917-1921: The Fate of a Soviet Democracy (Cambridge
Russian, Soviet and Post-Soviet Studies); (Cambridge University Press; 16 May 2002), p.
250

10 _ Trotsky, Leon; More on the Suppression of Kronstadt. (The New International; Vol.4
No.8; August 1938)pp.249-250.
11 _ 19th-20th Century Anarchist Emma Goldman, No Gods, No Masters, vol. 2, p. 168
12 _ Goldman, Emma, My Disillusionment in Russia. (Garden City, New York: Doubleday,
Page and Co., 1923.) p. 200
13 _ Pipes, Richard (1995) [1994], Russia under the Bolshevik regime 19191924,
London: Vintage

Katie Thomas
argument. Conversely, according to Tony Cliff, leader of the Socialist Worker's Party and
known Trotskyist, that one of the causes of the famine was the breakdown of
transport15 On the other hand, Pipes goes on to further observe that for humankind at
large Lenin had nothing but scorn; ...individual human beings held for Lenin 'almost no
interest' and ... he treated the working class a metal worker treated iron ore," with no
other view on the possibility of other factors. This is an important critical factor to
observe, as Pipes insinuates that Lenin only used the disturbing events of cannibalism
and famine of 1921 as a cover for the dismantling of the Church. This is most certainly a
vocal argument, considering the words of the official report of the famine from the
Samaran Delegate Ovsienko to the All-Russian Soviet Congress, 'At Ramikovesky the
people are eating the dead.16 Simply stating that the Kronstadt Rebellion was the largest
turning point of Lenin's regime would be a short-sighted argument, it does not represent
the fear and desperation that had been instilled in the peasant regions of Russia, even if
Lenin had previously said otherwise, with the words For the first time the peasant has
seen real freedom freedom to eat his bread, freedom from starvation. 17 It is therefore
important to recognise the effect of the Povolzhye Famine. There is credible evidence
that Lenin was an immoral ruler that he viewed the peasantrys welfare just as highly as
he did the middle classes, and Goldman sums up her experiences of Lenins regime in
words justly, as "an insignificant minority bent on creating an absolute State is
necessarily driven to oppression and terrorism." 18
In conclusion, when one stands back to observe and understand the justification of
Lenin's methods of rule and whether these were just a brutal dictatorship at work or an
inevitable consequence, the overall view seems to be that Lenin was a brutal dictator in
all fields socially; politically and economically. However, it would be wrong to
completely ignore those who disagree with this view, such as the Historian Leopold
Haimson. However, there is a clear weakness in his 'pessimist' argument in that it did
not take into account minor events that sparked Revolutionary feeling pre-WWI.
Contrasting to this, both Lynch and Service argue that Lenin's methods were almost
methodical, pulling down a Russia that was previously built on Feudalism and tried to
raise a Socialist worker state, unconcerned by ethical issues such as the use of
'Revolutionary Justice' and famine of the people. This argument is only strengthened with
the words of Felix Dzerzhinsky, Soviet statesman and most notably the leader of the
infamous Cheka and Soviet Secret Police: Now we have a need of a battle to the death! I
promise, I demand the use of the revolutionary sword which we will put an end to all
counter-revolutionaries.19 Robert Service's argument is by far the strongest, taking into
account the context of Russia's situation and accepting and understanding that 'Lenin
believed his state would completely cover the continent,'20 Thus strengthening his
argument. He concludes that his terror was based on a citerion of class. 21 This is
14 _ Pipes, Richard; The Unknown Lenin: From the Secret Archive (1996), (Yale University
Press; New edition; 1 Jun 1999) pp. 152-4
15 _ Cliff, Tony; Lenin: The Revolution Besieged, vol. 3, (Pluto P. (May 1978) pp. 67-9
16 _ New York Times (NYT) [New York, New York]
Starving Eat Dead, Soviet is Told. 29 Dec: 10. New York, New York. 1921.
17 _ Vladimir Lenin, Collected Works, Vol. 30, pp. 107117
18 "Preface to First Volume of American Edition" for My Disillusionment in Russia (Emma
Goldman Papers Project, University of California-Berkeley).
19 _ Lynch, Michael; Access to History: From Autocracy to Communism 1894-1941:
Lenins Revolution, 1917-24 (Hodder Education; Rev. Ed edition; 27 Jun 2008)
20 _ Service, Robert; The Penguin History of Modern Russia. (Penguin; 3rd Edition edition;
18 Aug 2009) p,69
21 _ Service, Robert; IBID, p,108

Katie Thomas
expressly confirmed in a confidential telegram to Bolshevik leaders in Penza: Hang no
fewer than a hundred well-known kulaks, rich-bags and blood-suckers. (And make sure
that the hanging takes place in full view of the people). 22 On all fields, there is clear
evidence and objective towards Lenin's methods, whether it was to spread his ideals to
'completely cover the continent' or to simply 'terrorize the Russian people into subservice
and conformity.'23 An example most notably seen in 1921 with the crushing and
subsequent mass executions of Kronstadt and Tambov Revolutions 24. All evidence points
towards that it would be indeed fair to call his regime a 'brutal dictatorship.

22 _ Lenin to Bolshevik leaders in Penza.

23 _ Lynch, Michael; Access to History: From Autocracy to Communism 1894-1941:
Lenins Revolution, 1917-24 (Hodder Education; Rev. Ed edition; 27 Jun 2008) p, 145
24 _ Donald Rayfield. Stalin and His Hangmen: The Tyrant and Those Who Killed for
Him. Random House, 2004. p. 85

Katie Thomas
Bibliography:
"Preface to First Volume of American Edition" for My Disillusionment in Russia
(Emma Goldman Papers Project, University of California-Berkeley).
Andrew, Christopher; Mitrokhin, Vasili; The Mitrokhin Archive: The KGB in Europe
and the West (1999 Penguin; 2 edition, 16 Jan 2014)
Cliff, Tony; Lenin: The Revolution Besieged, vol. 3, (Pluto P. (May 1978)
Conquest, Robert; Harvest of Sorrow: Soviet Collectivization and the TerrorFamine (New York; Oxford University Press; 1986)
Figes, Orlando; A Peoples Tragedy, the Russian Revolution 1891 1924. (Pimlico;
New Ed edition; 31 July 1997)
Gellately, Robert; Lenin, Stalin, and Hitler: The Age of Social Catastrophe;
(Vintage; 7 Aug 2008)
Getzler, Israel; Kronstadt 1917-1921: The Fate of a Soviet Democracy
(Cambridge Russian, Soviet and Post-Soviet Studies); (Cambridge University
Press; 16 May 2002)
Goldman, Emma, My Disillusionment in Russia. (Garden City, New York:
Doubleday, Page and Co., 1923.)
Lynch, Michael; Access to History: From Autocracy to Communism 1894-1941:
Lenins Revolution, 1917-24 (Hodder Education; Rev. Ed edition; 27 Jun 2008)
Pipes, Richard; Russia under the Bolshevik regime 19191924. (Alfred a Knopf;
Mar 1994)
Pipes, Richard; The Unknown Lenin: From the Secret Archive (1996), (Yale
University Press; New edition; 1 Jun 1999)
Rayfield, Donald; Stalin and His Hangmen: The Tyrant and Those Who Killed for
Him. (Random House Trade; Reprint edition; 13 Dec 2005)
Service, Robert; The Penguin History of Modern Russia. (Penguin; 3rd Edition
edition; 18 Aug 2009)
Trotsky, Leon; More on the Suppression of Kronstadt. (The New International;
Vol.4 No.8; August 1938)