Lenin and the Bolsheviks in fact only had the support of a minority of the Russian population, and also had to end Russian involvement in the First World War.
Bolsheviks under Lenin had initially taken power with the minimum amount of bloodshed. However the security and the stability of their regime quickly declined as their opponents during the Russian Civil War threatened to defeat them. As a response to the onset of the Russian Civil War Lenin decided that the Red Terror had to be launched.
The Russian Civil War, And Lenin's Decision To Launch The Red Terror
Red Terror was launched throughout Russia in order to maintain, and to later extend the Bolsheviks hold on power. Lenin used the Red Army under the command of Leon Trotsky in order to defeat the anti-Communist forces during the Russian Civil War.
Communist regime found itself in a very difficult military and security situation, which needed desperate remedies such as the Red Terror, and War Communism. The Russian Civil War broke out whilst Russia was still at war with Germany. A peace settlement with Germany was essential for the survival of Lenin and the Bolsheviks.
Peace With Germany To Win The Russian Civil War
Germany took a great deal of territory from Russia after the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk. Peace allowed Trotsky and the Red Army to concentrate on defeating the White Russian forces. No doubt with the full approval of Lenin himself Trotsky and the Red Army was brutal towards all those that were opposed to the Communist regime.
Red Army units indiscriminately killed the White Russian forces as well as ordinary people that happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. Away from the actual fighting the Red Terror was directed towards those considered a serious military and military threat to the Communist regime.
Consequences Of The Red Terror
Communist secret police, the Cheka were in charge of detaining and executing all those considered dangerous to the state. The victims of the Red Terror included the former Tzar Nicholas II and his family murdered in the Siberian town of Ekaterinburg in 1918.
Cheka and the Red Army were also responsible for collecting the requisitions made under the provisions of War Communism. The Red Terror was also directed against former supporters of the Communist regime, the Red Navy. Members of the Red Navy at the Baltic port of Kronstadt mutinied. The mutineers were overpowered by the Cheka and the Red Army and summarily executed.
Sources:
Bideleux R and Jeffries I (1998) A History of Eastern Europe – Crisis and Change, Routledge, London
Breuilly J (1998) Nationalism and the State 2nd edition, Manchester University Press, Manchester
Lenman B, (2004) Chambers Dictionary of World History, Edinburgh
Roberts J.M, (1996) A History of Europe, Penguin, London
