How was the October Revolution consolidated?
The revolution was consolidated by backtracking on socialism. The country’s economy was in a real mess after 4 years of WWI and three of Civil War, so Lenin allowed a degree of capitalism into the system with the New Economic Policy. This allowed small industries and farmers to buy and sell on the open market without state ownership or control – the banks and large industries were still state owned. On top of this a programme of electrification began to electrify the entire country – Lenin said that “Communism is Soviet power plus the electrification of the whole country”. Socially the aristocracy were either exiled, imprisoned, executed or (rarely) only stripped of their properties and wealth – they then were given menial jobs, like street cleaners and labelled the “former classes”. The church was stripped of its power, many churches were shut, many priests arrested and church schools closed. Politically soviets (councils) ran many aspects of life, from towns, villages and cities to f
