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Russia: The Wild East

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Factual: History

A history of Russia, written and presented by Martin Sixsmith

Russia: The Wild East: Series 2

Russia: The Wild East: Series 2: Episode 4: The People's Revolt

Episode 4

Episode 4: The People's Revolt

Series 2

The People's Revolt

BBC Radio 4 - Russia: The Wild East, Series 2, The People's Revolt

By Martin Sixsmith. Lenin is forced to offer the Kronshtadt rebels his New Economic Policy

By Martin Sixsmith. The Kronshtadt rebels force the Bolsheviks to rethink how they exercise power. Lenin sends Trotsky to crush the uprising but has to offer economic concessions.

With the party divided, workers and peasants disaffected, and food running out, Russia was teetering on the brink of another revolution, and in March 1921 an event of such colossal importance forced the Bolsheviks to rethink the whole way they exercised power. Martin Sixsmith picks his way through the "crumbling, deserted and rather eerie warren" of massive stone fortifications on an island in the Gulf of Finland: Kronshtadt. 

In the 1917 revolution, the Kronshtadt sailors rose up and murdered their tsarist officers and helped storm the Winter Palace. But by 1921, things had changed. The mood was ugly and the sailors' anger was directed against the Bolsheviks. They drew up a manifesto claiming the Communists had lost the trust of the people, demanding the release of political prisoners, freedom of speech and free elections open to all parties. Lenin realised it was make or break for the Bolsheviks and sent Trotsky to crush the Kronshtadt revolt whatever the cost. The fortress eventually fell to the Bolsheviks, and fifteen thousand rebels were taken prisoner, to face immediate execution or a lifetime in the camps. The immediate crisis was over, but Kronshtadt was a warning that Lenin could not ignore. 

When he addressed the Party Congress just days after the Kronshtadt rebellion, Lenin promised a new era of milder, more humane government. His New Economic Policy - or NEP as it became known - would soften the dictatorial control of the state, reintroducing some elements of capitalism to try to improve the nation's disastrous economic conditions. In economic terms it was the only way to placate the people, and although it was an ideological bombshell that split the party, it gave Lenin the precious time he needed to consolidate his hold on power. 

Historical Consultant - Professor Geoffrey Hosking


Producers: Anna Scott-Brown & Adam Fowler
A Ladbroke Production for BBC Radio 4.

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