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the
bolsheviks?uncompromising and ruthless treatment of every shade of
opposition to their policies had made a civil war in russia almost
inevitable. the slide toward the war was precipitated by radical
steps taken by the communist authorities, including the dishonorable
brest-litovsk treaty with germany (march 1918) that hurt the
patriotic feelings of many russians. |
in
the economic sphere the bolsheviks?initial experiments had involved
the setting up of 搘orkers?control?at private companies. guided by
the bolshevik slogan 揊actories to the workers!?the workers
proceeded to seize factories, mines, and other enterprises and to
administer them through spontaneously elected factory committees.
the problem, however, was that the revolutionary zeal of the workers
could not substitute for the expert knowledge of the former managers
and engineers. not unnaturally, many company owners and
industrialists were categorically against workers?control.
to
break the owners?resistance, the bolsheviks launched a 揜ed guard
attack on capital?(october 1917杝pring 1918). the strategy was
designed to impose a comprehensive state control over the national
economy by speeding up nationalization in industry and introducing
the monopoly of foreign trade. as a result, the banks, railways,
foreign trade, mercantile fleet, and all large enterprises in all
branches of industry梒oal, metal, oil, chemicals, machine building,
textiles, sugar, and so on梬ere nationalized. in december 1917 a
supreme council of economy was set up with the responsibility to run
the newly nationalized state sector. conceived as the 揷hief
headquarters of socialist industry,?it marked the beginnings of an
administrative system that would develop into a bureaucratic
leviathan controlling all aspects of the soviet economy.
in
the countryside the bolshevik land decree abolished the private
ownership of land. millions of peasants received free of charge over
450 million acres of land that had previously belonged to the
gentry, bourgeoisie, monasteries, and the crown. although it met the
centuries-long expectations of the peasantry, the decree aggravated
social tensions in the village, leading to conflicts between
well-to-do peasants and their poorer brethren. as each group of
peasants sought to divide the land to its own advantage, the soviet
government took the side of poor peasants. in june 1918 it issued a
decree providing for the creation of committees of the poor
peasants. the committees distributed confiscated land, collected
food surpluses from richer peasants (kulaks), and recruited for the
red army. they played a significant role in helping to consolidate
soviet power in the countryside and acted, to use stalin抯 phrase,
as 搒trongholds of the dictatorship of the proletariat in the
villages.?/span>
the bolshevik support of poor peasants alienated the wealthy kulaks,
the main producers of marketable grain. in order to collect the
grain for the cities and the army, the bolsheviks had to resort to
repression against them. in may 1918, the bolshevik government
declared a 揻ood dictatorship.?special food detachments of armed
workers and soldiers were dispatched to the countryside to
confiscate grain surpluses from well-to-do peasants. the kulaks?
economic position was severely undermined, but so too was
agricultural production as a whole. the bolshevik policies aroused
the deep hostility of grain producers, including the middle peasant.
