Although they only had 24% of the national popular
vote in the Constituent Assembly elections of January
1918, they had bedrock support from The Army and
The working class in the most important cities.
Bosheviks gained 60% of the army vote in North and West
Army groups (closest to the great cities) and over 80% in
the Garrisons
45-50% of urban working-class vote in Moscow and
Petrograd.
Lenin was good at knowing how to appeal to
workers
Slogans such as "peace, land and bread" "All Power to the Soviets.
By making it appear that appear that a vote for the Bolsheviks was a
vote for the Soviet Movement they made it look like all the other
parties were a threat to the social revolution of 1917l
Decrees such as 8 hour days and nationalisation of the
banks consolidated support
Land policy which accepted the general land grab of the peasants after Feb
1917, meant that Lenin had the acceptance of the peasants, even though not
really active support
However, some policies were very unpopular, such as the forced grain
requisitioning which alienated peasants and inspired localised revolts
in 1918.
Workers control of the factories exacerbated industrial collapse, and rapid
inflation, nationalisation of industry did little to halt economic decline