ABSTRACT
By 1921 the Bolsheviks had consolidated themselves in power in much of the old Russian Empire. The price of victory, however, had been very high. The Civil War exacted huge human costs. Evan Mawdsley estimates that possibly nine to ten million died during it, many directly in the fighting but the majority from hunger and disease in the towns and countryside. The economy suffered grievously too. Industrial production generally was one-sixth of its pre-war level; the rail network was severely dislocated; and grain production was less than half what it had been in 1913 (Mawdsley 1987:285–8) But there had been another price to pay. All opposition without the Party had been suppressed, often brutally, and critics within it silenced. The democratic and libertarian visions of 1917 touted by the Bolsheviks themselves had been dashed. Some explanation of why this was the case is merited. An entire book could be written on this subject (many have) but this discussion will focus on three possible causes: circumstances; Lenin and Leninism; and, finally, more general lacunae in Bolshevik ideology briefly alluded to in the introduction.
