took control of not only the soviets, but also the Party. Of course, it wasn't a complete takeover by '22. That happened around '28 after Lenin's death and Trotsky's exile.
However, if you know the history of that era in Russia, you'll know that the revolution was fighting for it's very existence against a bevy of capitalist countries who were supporting the Whites and trying to strangle the embryonic revolution in it's cradle. That struggle and Lenin's ill health (and an assassination attempt) led to the rise of the bureaucracy. When you face not only personal death, but the death of an idea that you've fought your whole life for, sometimes you'll take extraordinary measures to survive. The rise of the bureaucracy was perhaps inevitable at that time, but checks on the bureaucracy didn't keep pace with that rise. That's where we can learn from the past. The difference IMO, was that Lenin and Trotsky both had a vision of a freer Russia based on pre civil war and even pre revolutionary Bolshevik principles, but neither survived to see it implemented. Only the bureaucracy survived to centralize power from the top down, NOT the bottom up model of the original incarnation of Bolshevism. The only reason that the Bolsheviks gained any power in the soviets in the first place was because they were the ONLY political party that wholeheartedly in word and, most importantly, in DEED took up the masses' cry for "Peace, land, and bread".
The original Bolsheviks were very democratic in principle, but also very disiplined. Once the issue was decided, the Party closed ranks in order to implement the issue. And remember these were life and death issues not only for the Party, but also for the entire populace. People had to be fed, clothed, sheltered, and defended during a vicious civil war brought on by the capitalist powers. So that disipline HAD to be there. But the original Bolsheviks also didn't ask that you change your opinions just because you were a minority in the Party. You could always bring the same issue up again and lobby for your side at the next Congress or meeting. If facts proved your position correct, the ISSUE could be corrected when you brought a majority over to your side.
That's why I consider myself a "fundamentalist" Bolshevik. I see the need for a vanguard, not to order the masses around, but to attempt to provide shape, form, strategy and tactics for the class struggle that leads to the revolution. And then to DEFEND the revolution from the inevitable capitalist counterattack. To a fundamentalist Bolshevik, THIS CANNOT BE ORDERED FROM ABOVE! It must come from the ACTUAL aspirations of the people and the people must be convinced of the correctness of the path. But they can't be ORDERED into seeing the correctness.
The bureaucracy in the USSR eventually failed as was predicted and the capitalists were restored. This didn't mean that the Bolshevik model failed, it meant that the BUREAUCRATIC model failed.
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