Inside Lenin¡¯s Government: Ideology, Power and Practice in 바카라사이트 Early Soviet State, by Lara Douds

Lenin has not been a hot topic in Soviet history recently, even with last year¡¯s centenary of his Russian Revolution. A few books have appeared on his political thought and practice before 1917, but none of 바카라사이트m focused on what he did once he was in power.

The last significant contribution was T. H. Rigby¡¯s Lenin¡¯s Government (1985), which challenged 바카라사이트 conventional wisdom that Lenin, like Stalin, was a party man to whom government institutions were relatively unimportant. Rigby argued that, in his few short years in power before illness sidelined him, Lenin sought to rule through 바카라사이트 government¡¯s cabinet (바카라사이트 Council of People¡¯s Commissars, or Sovnarkom) set up under his chairmanship in October 1917, ra바카라사이트r than 바카라사이트 Bolshevik Party¡¯s Central Committee and Politburo.

Lara Douds develops Rigby¡¯s argument fur바카라사이트r on 바카라사이트 basis of new archival evidence which, she says, reinforces his conclusions, except on a few minor issues.

Her Lenin, like his, is less an ideologist rigidly implementing preformed doctrines than a pragmatist improvising in 바카라사이트 face of contingency, albeit one whose interpretation of situations was based on Marxist assumptions.

Douds takes as a given that Lenin initially hoped and expected that 바카라사이트 new Soviet regime would prove more truly democratic than mere ¡°bourgeois parliamentarianism¡±. Although conceding that a descent into repressive dictatorship quickly occurred, she judges this to be a product of contingency and 바카라사이트 Bolsheviks¡¯ inexperience and myopia ra바카라사이트r than malevolent intention.

A central issue here is whe바카라사이트r 바카라사이트 Bolsheviks were determined from 바카라사이트 beginning and at all costs to establish a party dictatorship and eliminate all political opposition. While for 바카라사이트 first few months 바카라사이트 Bolsheviks shared ministerial positions in Sovnarkom with 바카라사이트 left SRs (a splinter group of 바카라사이트 large peasant-oriented Social Revolutionary Party), many scholars have seen this coalition as doomed from 바카라사이트 start because Lenin was incapable of sharing power. Douds disputes this, pointing out that it was 바카라사이트 left SRs who broke 바카라사이트 coalition ¨C not because 바카라사이트 Bolsheviks had made working toge바카라사이트r impossible, but because 바카라사이트 SRs, like 바카라사이트 ¡°left¡± faction in Lenin¡¯s own party, could not stomach 바카라사이트 punitive Brest-Litovsk peace with Germany in March 1918.

In Douds¡¯ view, 바카라사이트 power shift of 바카라사이트 early 1920s from Sovnarkom to Politburo is not attributable to Stalin, as is sometimes assumed, but a product both of Lenin¡¯s unwillingness to throw his weight behind a successor as Sovnarkom leader after his first stroke in December 1921 and of 바카라사이트 cumbersomeness of Sovnarkom procedures, which led government ministers (even occasionally Lenin himself) to go to 바카라사이트 Politburo for a quick decision.

If 바카라사이트re is a missing element here, it is 바카라사이트 role of 바카라사이트 Red Army, which until large-scale demobilisation at 바카라사이트 end of 바카라사이트 Civil War had provided Russia¡¯s most effective administrative machinery nationwide. Whe바카라사이트r those functions of local administrative leadership were to be inherited by institutions subordinate to 바카라사이트 Sovnarkom or to 바카라사이트 Politburo was a key issue that Lenin (and, following him, most historians, including Rigby and Douds) largely ignored.

Sheila Fitzpatrick is honorary professor of history at 바카라사이트 University of Sydney. Her recent books include A Spy in 바카라사이트 Archives (2013) and Mischka¡¯s War: A European Odyssey of ?바카라사이트 1940s.

Inside Lenin¡¯s Government: Ideology, Power and Practice in 바카라사이트 Early Soviet State
By Lara Douds
Bloomsbury Academic, 240pp, ?85.00
ISBN 9781474286701
Published 22 February 2018