The early development of the soviet government bureaucracy: Center, localities, nationality areas

Abstract

Although the Soviet Union was a developing country from 1917 to 1940, the government bureaucracy was not a strong political actor as in most developing countries. The lack of a pre-revolutionary gestation period and the narrow base of the October Revolution forced the Bolsheviks to rely on a hostile and ponderous Czarist bureaucracy during the civil war (1918–1920). The local apparats, especially in rural and nationality areas, functioned very poorly. In the 1920s the Bolsheviks lacked the human and material resources to transform the bureaucracy, which remained a limited political actor until Stalin's death.