How Did Bolsheviks Become A Socialist State Socialism?

A ‘Socialist State’ or ‘State socialism’ can be defined as a “political system in which the state has control of industries and services.” This means the state can control the means of production in all industries and services to ensure it meets the basic needs of each citizen, as well as ensuring the end result is distributed proportionately. The Bolsheviks had a crucial impact on Russia becoming a socialist state in 1917. The Bolsheviks, who were also known as the ‘Social-Democratic Workers’ Party’ was led by Lenin, and became the leading political power in Russia in October 1917, after seizing control of the government. Whilst the Bolsheviks were successful at forming Russia into a socialist state, there were many obstacles that were faced.

For example, Russia had low levels of industrial development. This meant that further developments of Russia’s industries were hindered by the lack of a home market where products could be sold. Due to the fact, that majority of Russia was made up of people living in impoverished standards, this meant, “the rural population (peasants and labourers) were too poor to buy industrial products in large quantities.” The way in which low levels of industrial development hinders socialism is the fact that there is no equal distribution of goods and services, as well as no set state in control of the means of production in all industries. However, as the years passed, the levels of industrial development rose and were on its way to recovering. The New Economic Policy of 1921-1924 allowed peasants to sell some of their yields for profit, whereas before all their produce went towards the war effort, as well as allowing small traders to run their own businesses. In addition to this, local nationalities that were forced to adopt the strict Communist lifestyle and beliefs were given permission to re-visit their original faith and beliefs. The New Economic Policy had successfully changed the outcome of the economy as people were more content with their way of life now than before and the development of industries had risen. This was due to more collectivism and equality and not individualism and inequality. Another factor that hindered the building of socialism in Russia was the low levels of educated people and lack of cultural awareness in Russia. This meant that it became harder for the Bolsheviks to gain as much support as they possibly could because of the lack of context that was given to the population. Not only this, but it meant that it meant that the Bolsheviks had to work harder at educating their supporters to ensure them that their party