How accurate is the view that there was a tightening of communist control over the USSR between 1921 and the death of Lenin"

Picture the scene, 1921, Lenin and the Bolsheviks standing in Petrograd, peering out from their position of ultimate power, finally, to see a country in desperate times. The civil war had left the population depleted and down trodden, war communism had destroyed farming practices and the economy, and each and every face peered up at Lenin, with faith and hope in their eyes, he had his Russia, now what was he going to do with it"

Consolidation after 1921 would not have been possible without factors and events, which had played a part in Russia's history since the seizure of power. I will discuss these in some detail now as i feel to fully appreciate further changes, you have to look at the original foundations.

Political parties faced...