Soviet Power in the Center and Localities, 1917-1920

Session Submission Type: Panel

Brief Description

Soviet power emerged through distinct phases from late 1917 to 1920 as dynamics in the center mirrored and/or impacted the localities. Coalition government in Moscow in the form of collaboration in policy formation and implementation at the highest level mirrored dynamics in provincial and local institutions. The Left SR departure from government significantly impacted central dynamics as well as center –periphery relations through the end of 1918 and into 1919. The resulting civil war provided the context for Soviet state expansion in terms of institutions as well as influence into all corners of Soviet Russia. War facilitated a rapid growth of the state’s capacity for violence which in turn had a significant impact on how Soviet power was exercised behind the lines by the emerging state. Yet, the one-party Soviet state proved less homogenous than it once appeared. A “Triage State” emerged in 1918-1919 as overall resource scarcity, both in material and personnel, necessitated the rapid and temporary concentration of armed force in certain grain-producing regions and the depletion of forces elsewhere. Those provinces deprived of the armed force needed to by-pass local soviets and conduct grain registration and requisitioning were forced to adopt a more flexible and pragmatic approach than we usually associate with the civil war–era razverstka.

Sub Unit

• History: Russian and Eurasian, 1800-1924

Organizer

• Peter Fraunholtz, Northeastern U

Chair

• Aaron Benyamin Retish, Wayne State U

Papers

• The Multi-Party Soviet Cabinet? Sovnarkom as the Bolshevik-Left SR Coalition Government, December 1917- April 1918 - Lara Cook, University of York

• Institution Building, Regime Building and Violence in the Russian Civil War - Erik Landis, Oxford Brookes U (UK)

• Triage State: Managing Limited Resources, War, and Grain Procurement in the Middle Volga, 1919 - Peter Fraunholtz, Northeastern U

Discussant

• Matthew Rendle, U of Exeter (UK)