One of the (more legitimate) grievances put forward by the anarchists is that the bolsheviks ended elections in the soviets and replaced elected delegates with Bolshevik appointees. During the Civil War and consolidation it made sense, but the fact that the soviets weren't democratize again during peace time was a failing (although, obviously, the time between the Civil War and the German invasion was brief). I think that's probably what it was in reference to?