This work challenges the view, widely held among historians of the Bolshevik revolution, that the upsurge of labour unrest of 1920-22 was the result of the appalling living conditions caused by the Civil War, had little significant content and was largely a sideshow to the huge conflict between the Bolsheviks and the peasants. Based on a wide reading of the contemporary Soviet press, archive sources and first-hand accounts by Bolsheviks and non-Bolsheviks, this work shows how rank and file opposition to the leadership in the Bolshevik-dominated trade unions grew, and how support for non-Bolshevik trade unions and political parties developed fast.