Modern history (Russia) - The effect of ideology on early policies - FEEDBACK???

[Chadi]

Assess the importance of ideology on the early policies of the Bolshevik regime - 25 marker (Its not finished yet)

Bolshevik ideology played a big role in the making and issuing of early policies. Most of what the Bolsheviks did was in correlation with their communist beliefs. Although ideology was critical in their decision making, Lenin emitted moments of pragmatism in which his decisions were based on the most practical path of action rather than following his philosophy.

During their initial takeover of power (1917), they promoted the promise of ‘Peace. Bread. Land’, and now they had to do these promises good. This motto had become engraved into their ideology. To achieve peace they sought a retreat from WWI, the treaty of Brest Litovsk was signed between Russia and Germany, signifying the surrender of Russia and certain territorial reparations paid to Germany. This treaty fulfilled Lenins ideology regarding peace, and was also used as a technique in which he outlines ‘Yield space. Gain time’. Crampton says that ‘it was a device, the Bolsheviks admitted to trade space for time, the time which they needed to consolidate their revolutionary rule’. Bolshevik ideology constantly reinforces the importance of supporting the proletariat, as Lenin states in his April Theses that they ‘must place power in the hand of the proletariat’. In 1917, the party released many policies to support the uprise of the proletariat, such as the workers decree. This decree limited the average working day to 8 hours, and ensured 37 hours per week of uninterrupted rest time. The decree also gave all workers insurance without exception, paid for by the employer. This achieved the Bolshevik policy of contributing to the proletariat class and recognising their struggles against the bourgeoisie. In 1918, when the constituent assembly failed to recognise the authority of the soviets, Bolshevik troops were sent in and it was dissolved. In the april theses, Lenin stressed the importance of ‘no parliamentary republic’, insinuating a single communist government body. Lenin's declaration justified the dissolution of the constituent assembly in terms of Bolshevik ideology. On October 27th, the council of commissars published the Decree on the Press which gave the council the right to shut down any newspaper agency that advocated resistance to the new soviet government. This limited the distribution of harmful propaganda which could have ignited national revolution. After the Bolsheviks had defeated the white army and established their regime, they needed to enact a force that could protect them from their enemies. And so they drafted the CHEKA, in 1918 there were 120 agents and by 1919, over 100,000 individuals were employed in the CHEKA. They operated outside the law and could investigate and prosecute whoever they wished. Thousands of people were tortured, persecuted and killed by them, accused of being tsarists, spies, and general enemies of the state. Thus, the CHEKA were used to squash resistance and thus were critical to critical to Bolshevik ideology.

Some policies did not follow ideology and were clear expressions of pragmatism. The land decree took land from the aristocracy, and in equal allotments was given to the peasants in which they could live and work on. Although this went against their ideology, the peasants ‘if not converted to bolshevism, were at least pacified but the land decree’ (Ulam).Lenin unveiled his New Economic Plan in March 1921, a revised economic strategy intended to regain the support of the people, taking away many pressures of war communism. Under the NEP, grain requisitioning was abolished  and peasants and small businesses were allowed to make profits off of their products. Lenin described the NEP as ‘one step backwards’ in order to take ‘two steps forward later on’. This demonstrates Lenin's pragmatism in which he would not hesitate to sacrifice one part of his doctrine if it was to maintain rule over Russia. The civil war was very demanding in terms of supplies and raw materials. It gave rise to war communism, which is effectively the extreme form of total war. It alienated the very classes that the Bolsheviks were supposedly fighting for. Under war communism, almost all supplies produced by both the proletariat and peasants (Guns, uniform, food, materials from mines etc) were sent to aid the war effort. The Bolsheviks sacrificed their ideology of supporting the proletariat in order prolong their war and ensure a Reds victory. By enforcing War Communism, the Bolsheviks had adequately starved approximately 2 million people including the peasants and proletariat to death. Figes described this policy as ‘essentially a pragmatic response to the military exigencies of the civil war’.

[fun_jirachi]

Hey there!

Your intro seems a bit iffy; you obviously know what you're talking about, but it's not completely clear. By reading the paragraphs I know what you're going to be talking about, but a good essay should be straight to the point (a good rule of thumb is that the essay should be able to tell me the same thing reading the whole thing, as well as reading the intro and topic sentences!). By that metric, your intro isn't really great; try instead to start with something like 'More often than not, during the Bolshevik consolidation of power, ideology was abandoned in the face of the more pragmatic approach of keeping the revolution alive. Though it can be seen that early Bolshevik policy very much adhered to ideology, future events such as the Civil War and NEP saw the discard of this methodology. In addition... '.If required, define ideology used (whether it be Marxism or Bolshevism, as required) to further show your understanding and make your argument stronger.

From your paragraphs, I feel like I could be watching a documentary! Try not to reel off facts and quotes like there's no tomorrow; instead show how during the early parts of Bolshevik rule they adhered to previous policy whether it be by fulfilling pre-October Revolution promises, or by new reforms they made to make working life more comfortable/boost the economy/establish new socialist elements into society. A person marking this essay also wants to read more of your view, not a textbook's view, so make sure your view shines through! Right now, your essay looks to be following stat, explanation of why this stat is important, then why it applies to your point. Instead you want to be making a clear point, then using the stat to prove the point, and further showing your understanding after that, if that makes sense.

Otherwise, keep going, would be glad to see the rest of it! Hope this helps

[hollymcxo]

With assess questions, you need to be making a judgment about the question and deciding your opinion on it. This means you have to use analysis words (e.g significant, considerable, minimal) in order to show a judgement and depth of analysis to the marker!

Your introduction is super short and at times comes off as slightly colloquial. Avoid words such as 'big' as they lack sophistication. In the introduction its really important to make your judgement clear and nuanced so slide in some of those analysis words to show you've made a judgement. Then use these throughout the body paragraphs to both increase sophistication and show the marker you're really attacking the question. Your body paragraphs also strike me as narrating. You want to give an explanation and then round this off the the question rather than retelling the series of events. Good luck with your essay!