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soviet fell to Menshevik-SR blocs58. To stay in power they had to destroy the soviets59 and they did. Opposition victories were followed by disbanding of the soviets and often martial law.60
For instance in Tambov city in April the Mensheviks and SRs won control of the city Soviet and the Bolsheviks were reduced to a third of the Soviet. The Bolsheviks faction then demanded 7 out of the 12 executive posts even though traditionaly partys had the right to be represented on Soviet executives in proportion to their numbers. Ominously they said if their request was refused they would consider themselves "free to act". The new Soviet of course refused theropon the old Soviet Bolshevik members hitched up with the Provincial Soviet and declaired the elections were void because the old Soviet had not been informed of campaign meetings. From then on all attempts of the new Soviet were dispersed with armed bodies of men.61
Tony Cliff justifies the repression on the grounds that the Mensheviks and the Socialist Revolutionaries were not prepared to accept the Soviet system and quotes Carr as saying that the opposition rejected the role of 'constitutional opposition'.62 He tries to move forward the repression until after the outbreak of full civil war. To quote: "Despite their strong opposition to the government, for some time, ie until after the armed uprising of the Czechoslovakian Legion - the Mensheviks were not much hampered in their propaganda work".63 But to quote a few hostile articles in Novi Zhizn64 (a paper edited by the writer Maxim Gorky) merely proves that the Bolshevik repression was sporadic. If having papers banned every now and then, members arrested65 and soviets being disbanded as soon as they get a Menshevik majority is "not much hampered" then Cliff does seem to be giving that phrase a new meaning.
The Bolshevik assault on the soviets occurred during march, april and may. That is before the Czech rising and the onset of full scale civil war which occurred in late May. Nor is it true that the Mensheviks rejected constitutional methods. Though they wished to see a reconvocation of the Constituent Assembly they believed that the only way to do this was by winning a majority of the soviets.66 The SRs while not being so firmly committed to peaceful methods in practice accepted the Mensheviks tactics.
The repression cannot be justified by evoking the anti sovietism of the Mensheviks and SRs (in that they believed that Soviet power must give way to the constituent assembly). At the fifth Congress of the Soviets in July 1918 the Bolsheviks were faced by a vigorous opposition from the Left SRs which the Bolsheviks met with blatant gerrymandering. The Ukrainian delegation (as the Ukraine was under German occupation it was a safe bet that the delegation would support the Left SRs) was disallowed while the Congress was packed with representatives from the committees of poor peasants (as all political parties opposed these committees except the Bolsheviks it is again safe to [next page]