The political crisis in July, when workers and some military units of the Petrograd garrison advocated the transfer of power to the Soviets, was followed by arrests of the Bolshevik leaders, accused by the Provisional Government of high treason in favor of Germany.

 

In August 1917, at the 6th Congress of the RSDLP(b), a new charter was adopted and a course for an armed uprising was taken. The following program goals were announced: the nationalization of all land, banks, and large-scale industry, workers’ control over production and distribution. The Kornilov affair in August 1917 that was aimed at establishing a military dictatorship had led to the radicalization of the Soviets and the strengthening of the Bolshevik positions. By October 1917, the Bolsheviks had at least 350 thousand members and headed several Soviets: Petrograd (chaired by Leon Trotsky), Moscow, Samara, Baku, etc.

 

On October 10, Lenin’s resolution on the uprising was adopted at a meeting of the Party’s Central Committee. On October 25, the Bolsheviks managed to seize power in Petrograd and form a Provisional Workers’ and Peasants’ government, the Council of People’s Commissars (SNK), at the 2nd Congress of Soviets. The Congress adopted decrees on peace and land, proclaiming a path towards peace without annexations and indemnities and the transfer of all lands to peasants. Soon the nationalization of all branches of the economy began. Bolsheviks were supported by other radical socialists (primarily, left SRs) and partly anarchists.

 

Moderate Bolsheviks (Grigory Zinoviev, Lev Kamenev, and others) supported the idea of a coalition government of all socialist parties, including the Mensheviks, Social Revolutionaries, and Popular Socialists. Lenin and his supporters allowed only left-wing socialists who supported the Soviet government and the program of the 2nd Congress of Soviets to be included in the government. In December 1917, the Bolsheviks created a government bloc with the Left SRs, whose representatives joined the SNK (they left it in March 1918 in protest against the signing of the Brest-Litovsk Treaty).

 

In the elections to the Constituent Assembly held in November 1917, the Bolsheviks won 22.5 % of the seats. Since it was impossible to get radical socialist transformations approved by the Assembly with the SRs and their supporters being in majority, the authorities dispersed it on the night of January 5 to 6, 1918.

 

At the 7th Congress (March 1918), the Party’s name was changed to the Russian Communist Party (Bolsheviks) – RCP(b), which emphasized the break with the Social Democratic parties. A new program (adopted in March 1919) started being developed. It marked the completion of the socialist revolution in Russia and the dawn of the global communist revolution. The Communist Party (Bolsheviks) of Ukraine, the Communist Parties of Turkestan, Georgia, Armenia, and Belarus were formed in 1918, while in 1919, they were followed by the Communist Parties of Lithuania, Belarus, and Estonia, which were part of the RCP(b) as regional organizations. In the non-Bolshevik territories, party organizations operated underground, regional bureaus were created to guide them.

 

During the Civil War, the Bolsheviks actively used repressive measures against political opponents. After the Left SRs’ uprising was suppressed in July 1918, Soviet Russia turned into a one-party dictatorship of the Bolsheviks. During the war, the party was significantly militarized, acquired the features of a strictly hierarchical organization. Although sharp disputes periodically broke out in the party and groups opposed to the leadership arose (the left communists in 1918, the military opposition and democratic centralists in 1919, the workers’ opposition in 1920), the Bolsheviks managed to maintain unity.

 

In 1918–1921, the Bolsheviks carried out an extraordinary economic policy of “war communism” (centralized economic management, food dictatorship, state distribution of products, prohibition of private trade, universal labor conscription, etc.). In March 1921, at the 10th Congress of the RCP(b), it was decided to replace the Prodrazvyorstka [Food Levy] with Prodnalog [Tax in Kind], which became the basis for the transition to a new economic policy that allowed market elements. At the same time, a resolution was adopted banning internal party discussions.

 

During the Civil War, the RCP(b) took a central place in the political system of the state, becoming not only the ruling party, but also part of the state apparatus of the Russian SFSR, and then the USSR. In 1925, it was renamed the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks) – VCP(b), which included the CP(b) of Ukraine, the CP(b) of Belarus, and party organizations of the Transcaucasian SFSR. In 1952, it was renamed the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU).