ABSTRACT
The victory of the Red Army over the Whites was followed by a serious crisis of the Bolshevik regime. The New Economic Policy was introduced at the 10th Congress of the Communist Party, held in March 1921 while the battle for Kronstadt was still on, and was amplified in the following months. V. I. Lenin's theory of the superiority of soviets over parliamentary forms of government remained official communist doctrine, binding on all Comintern parties. Soviets, factory managements, trade unions and other public organisations were directed by 'fractions' of Communist Party members within their ranks, which took their orders from the party leaders, and were pledged to act unanimously within their organisation. The same process of centralisation which we have noticed in the hierarchy of soviets also took place within the hierarchy of the Communist Party. Centralisation of government and of the party, and tighter party discipline, affected the practical application of the Bolshevik doctrine on the treatment of the non-Russian nationalities.
