Elections and Events of the Constituent Assembly

In 1917, all revolutionary groups were agreed that a popularly elected Constituent Assembly should be convened to make the most important decisions about the Russian future. Lenin was reluctant to adhere to the commitment but felt that the Bolsheviks had no choice but to allow the election to proceed: the people wanted an election although Lenin knew that they would lose. Election was held in November 1917 and results show that the SR’s attained the most number of seats to be followed by the Bolsheviks. The vast majority of peasants, who made up 80% of the country at the time, supported the Socialist Revolutionary’s while the Bolsheviks received most of their support from among the urban workers and the soldiers, especially those in Moscow and Petrograd. The election clearly demonstrated the urban nature of the Bolsheviks support and the fact that less than a quarter of the population had been willing to vote for them in a free election. Party
Votes
Percent
Deputies
Socialist-Revolutionary Party (SR’s)
17,100,000
41.0
380
Bolsheviks
9,800,000
23.5
168

How did this consolidate their power? The urban nature of the Bolshevik support was consistent with the party’s basic outlook and orientation. Ideologically, it placed overwhelming importance on the urban working class which was seen as the hope of the future. In contrast, the peasantry were considered as a ‘backward’ class that could play an important role under proletarian leadership in the revolution, but was ultimately doomed to disappear in the course of historical development. Despite the elections, in hindsight, fundamentally leading to the civil war within Russia, the Bolsheviks did not change their methods and continued their dictatorial leadership which contributed greatly to their success in the civil war and consolidated their power. It could be argued that the fact that they won the civil war despite losing seats in the Constituent Assembly Elections consolidated their power