Lenin established totalitarianism in Russia through state control of the economy, mobilizing the population against enemies during the civil war, controlling all forms of communication, using large-scale terror, and imposing communist ideology as the single allowed viewpoint. However, Lenin's regime was not fully totalitarian as it made some compromises like the New Economic Policy that allowed private industry and trade to alleviate famine, and tolerated some religious practice.

1. Totalitarianism

2. What is totalitarianism and how is it attained
•Is a form of government that allows for no individual freedom and attempts to
control all aspects of an individual's life. In this type of government all public and
private life are run by the state.
The way totalitarianism is attained is by controlling over the economic, social, and
political aspects of the nation, this is done my :
1. The state controls the entire economy
2. Mobilisation of the population to rid the country of enemies
3. The state controls all forms of communication
4. Large scale terror to supervise the population
5. Worship of a single leader
6. Imposing a single ideology

3. How did lenin acquire it and Why?
•State control of economy: With war communism Lenin was able to nationalize a great
amount of Russia’s industry and put it under the state. However the was seen a bit of
lenience with the NEP such as allowing small private industry, some trade, allowing
peasants to sell surplus.
Why: War communism and the control of the economy was put in place for two main
reasons
1. To help the Reds win the war
2. To take a step closer to communism

4. •The mobilisation of the population to get rid of enemies against the country: This was
seen evident when the took away resources in attempt to win the civil war against the
whites.
Why?
1. To win the civil war
State control over all forms of communication: This was definitely shown through the
communication of political ideas (freedom of speech). Strikes were banned in war
communism, there was the CHEKA. There was the constituent assembly but that was
disassembled. Popular and culture and arts was limited and not seen as such a concern
because of civil war. Writers and artists did have some freedom when choosing the
subject of their works.
Why?
1. This was done to keep opposition to a minimum and to allow the Bolshevik
government to stay in control.

5. Large scale terror to supervise: Through the Cheka the use of killings and torture was
used during Lenin’s reign. Even to some extent workers and peasants saw it as their
enemies being punished and those they disliked finally on the bad end.
Why?
1. To suppress any form of opposition during and after civil war
Glorifying a single leader: Not shown until after Lenin’s death
Imposition of a single ideology: This was completely shown by the Bolsheviks running
the whole government and there being no other party representation. By 1924 all other
political parties had been banned. There was however still the Russian orthodox
Church and Islam.

6. Totalitarian Methods
Use of terror
Indoctrination-mold people's mind control of education teaches kid to be narrowed minded towards the
government.
Propaganda- (biased) incomplete information used to sway people to accept certain beliefs or actions.
Censorship- ex. Books/t.v/music
Did not support religious groups- “Enemies of state”, Especially the Orthodox Catholic Church. Blame them
for anything that went wrong.
Examples
Lenin banned the word “trade”, “exchange” was used instead
Failure to work was punished by execution

7. Lenin totalitarian methods
Control over the economy- The bolsheviks extended government control over the economic aspect. The
nationalisation of large sectors of industry gave the government unprecedented economic intervention.
However, in the local level Lenin made compromises with factory workers after listening to their
complains. NEP left important sectors of the economy,such as small scale-industry and trade, outside
soviet control. Control of food production was also reduced.
State control over communication/popular culture- In terms of communication of political ideas, Lenin did
well in controlling them. Yet government intervention in popular culture and arts was limited since there
were more important issues, like the Civil War. Writers and artist were allowed (some) freedom to
express their work.
Single ideology- By 1924, Lenin had banned all political parties and disagreements within the communist
party were restricted.
The control of the Bolshevik Party was limited by the chaos caused by the Revolution and Civil War.

8. How did Lenin justify its use?
“You cannot make a revolution in white gloves”- Vladimir Lenin
• Lenin thought that the Revolution would not survive.
• Lenin wanted to shape Russia to his radical mind.
• Workers control over the factories led to an almost complete paralysis of
production, massive stealing, and was the threatening hunger.
• Inflation increased, workers were paid 26 rubles (bread cost 170) 14-16 hours
work day.
• Russia was in a poor state because of the Civil War.

9. Was Lenin’s Regime too weak to be Totalitarian?
• Strong efforts were made to centralize the party and establish a one party state, by
1924 all other political parties were banned. Internal dissent within the
Communist was also strongly restricted.
• The Communist Party was solidifying its position over the State organisations
• However Lenin did have to make compromises over certain issues. Compromises
which would weaken the ability to call Lenin’s Regime totalitarian.

10. Was Lenin’s Regime too weak to be Totalitarian?(cont.)
Non-Totalitarian Policies:
The NEP was an aspect of Lenin’s regime that allowed the return of some freedom
to the peasantry, and small scale businesses and traders. Primarily to encourage
farmers to grow a surplus of food to combat widespread famine in Russia and
prevent an economical collapse.
The Orthodox Church had its influence almost completely stripped from Russian
society, although Lenin understood that he couldn’t completely get rid of the role
the Church and individuals had so Lenin allowed religion to be practiced at home.
Lenin also used religion in his propaganda to justify his actions and policies,
despite disliking religion as a whole.

11. Did Lenin have no alternative?
On certain issues such as religion , Lenin could’ve decided to completely purge the
Orthodox Church and other religions from Russia. This however would’ve been
extremely difficult in nature. The Bolsheviks had other larger issues then the complete
eradication of religion, and being a small minority meant that they had to be careful
on how they’d approach issues like that. The NEP on the other hand was a
compromise with capitalism that the Lenin regime needed to make in order to ensure
that the disappearance of small scale business and no surplus of food didn’t completely
collapse the Russian economy and starve the country.

12. Why Should Totalitarianism be Criticized
• The system gives no freedom to the people
• Controls the minds of the population and spreads lies
• Terror is often used in tandem with it
• Totalitarianism is typically not acquired through peaceful methods, leading to
deaths
• People don’t like to be fully controlled, and as a result, people in these systems are
very unhappy and leads to revolt

13. Means to an End or an End itself
• Totalitarianism was obviously not the goal when the Bolsheviks took power
• Russia was in a poor state because of the Civil War
• The complete control over the Russian state was against Bolshevik idealism, but
seemed to be a good solution at the time
• The government took control of the economy, communications, used terror, and
imposed a single party system, which allowed Lenin to have more control over the
things that he normally wouldn’t in a war stricken country, which arguably
bettered conditions
• Bolsheviks claimed to be for the worker, yet the working class had no say in
anything