“It was primarily the actions of Lenin that ensured the survival of the Bolshevik government in the period 1918-24. How far do you agree with this statement?”

 Vladimir Lenin was a huge influence on the Bolshevik party in his time in power, having a lasting impact on both policies implemented by the Bolsheviks and on their ideology itself. In the period following World War 1, Lenin oversaw a huge number of changes to Russian legislation and policy that were made in order to keep the Bolsheviks in power. The extent to which Lenin's actions influenced this survival can be measured not only by how effective they were, but whether it was Lenin himself that ensured the government's survival in a time of uncertainty.On the one hand, it could be argued that Lenin was a key factor in ensuring the Bolsheviks' survival as his policies helped in establishing the Party's authority, one aspect of these being his political decisions. For example, Lenin introduced the New Economic Policy, which effectively ended grain requisitioning and allowed the peasants to sell their crops in a free market. Although fiercely opposed by many Bolsheviks, this measure was hugely significant as it subdued the peasant population. Since the peasants no longer had to give up all their crops to the state, they had no reason to try to overthrow them. The NEP ended armed resistance in the countryside, which would have strengthened the Bolsheviks' power. Without Lenin and his influence, it is highly unlikely that this policy would have been introduced, and the government may have been weaker in the face of opposition for it.Another thing that Lenin did was to introduce the Decree on Party Unity, which banned the creation of factions within the Party. After the introduction of the NEP, many individuals such as Kollontai opposed its introduction and formed opposition groups to fight against it. This was significant as it was introduced at a time when the Party's state was still fragile, and therefore having lots of internal opposition would have made the government easier to compromise and overthrow.