Firstly you said that the Bolsheviks banned the Soviets from having elections, but the sources I read just stated that they gradually lost power in favor of the of the central comitee of the CP and later the Politburo. Is this what you meant or did I overread something
Sorry, there are a lot of separate issues addressed - during the Russian Civil War, the Bolsheviks opted to refuse to seat any new representatives from the Soviets when they realized the public mood was turning against them in… either late 1918 or late 1919.
Later, when all other parties were formally banned, they graciously ‘allowed’ Soviets to elect members of the Communist Party, if they wanted.
Later you talked about how they only allowed their people to be elected. Are you referring to the supreme soviet or soviets as a whole?
All elections. There were no legal other parties after 1921, practically speaking, and independent ‘non-party’ candidates were only allowed if they were explicitly approved as individual candidates by the Communist Party - and they rarely were anything but Bolsheviks who voted in lockstep themselves.
Sorry, there are a lot of separate issues addressed - during the Russian Civil War, the Bolsheviks opted to refuse to seat any new representatives from the Soviets when they realized the public mood was turning against them in… either late 1918 or late 1919.
Later, when all other parties were formally banned, they graciously ‘allowed’ Soviets to elect members of the Communist Party, if they wanted.
All elections. There were no legal other parties after 1921, practically speaking, and independent ‘non-party’ candidates were only allowed if they were explicitly approved as individual candidates by the Communist Party - and they rarely were anything but Bolsheviks who voted in lockstep themselves.