Russian Civil War: Causes, Practices, and Impacts

Guiding Questions

• Causes:
  • How important were long-term factors in causing the Russian Civil War?
  • How important were short-term factors in causing the Russian Civil War?
  • How significant were economic, ideological, and territorial factors in causing the Russian War?
• Practices:
  • What was the course of the war?
  • What tactics were used by the Red and the White Army?
  • What was the impact of foreign intervention?
• Effects:
  • What was the political impact of the war?
  • What was the economic impact of the war?

The Impact of World War I on Russia

• The outbreak of war in 1914 was greeted with enthusiasm by the Russian people and helped to unite the country behind the Tsar.
• However, the impact of the war on this country, which was ill-suited to fight in a modern 20th Century war, was profound.

CONTEXT

• Russia under the Tsars was an autocratic, conservative, and industrially backward country.
• The Romanov family had ruled since 1613 and generally resisted modernization, but after Russia's defeat in the Crimean War (1853) and the Russo-Japanese War (1905), it was apparent Russia needed to modernize.
• The lack of industrial infrastructure made WWI especially damaging to the already stunted Russian economy, and the country was ripe for revolution.

Attempts to Modernize

• Alexander II emancipated the serfs in 1861.
• Finance Minister Sergei Witte planned to modernize the Russian economy through:
  • Railroad & factory development
  • Protective tariffs & High taxes
  • Russian currency on gold standard
  • Steel, iron & textile output increased as Trans-Siberian Railroad was completed
• Social unrest:
  • Growth of industry did not improve the lives of the peasants who worked on the land of prosperous farmers known as kulaks.
  • Liberal party formed by the local councils (zemstvos) wanted a constitutional monarchy, civil liberties, and social progress.

Bloody Sunday (1905)

• Considered a "dress rehearsal" for the Russian Revolution of 1917.
• In 1905, workers marched to Nicholas II's Winter palace with a peaceful petition demanding broader rights.
• Tsar's troops violently put down a protest Russians no longer trust the tsar.
• Worker groups called the soviets - not the Tsar - basically controlled St. Petersburg.
• Nicholas II issued the October Manifesto promising a constitutional government.
  • Representative body, the Duma, put into place in 1907-conservative in nature, basically kept the power of the tsar in place.

Problems in Russia on the Eve of Revolution

• ECONOMIC:
  • Russia was industrially undeveloped & WWI strained the economy.
• POLITICAL:
  • Tsar was unpopular-seen as out of touch with the needs of his people & controlled by Rasputin.
• SOCIAL:
  • Poverty was widespread & good land was scarce.
  • Constant food shortages and growing urban proletariat.
• WWI MAKES ALL EXISTING PROBLEMS WORSE.

Communism Gains Popularity

• Frustrated workers join communist "soviets" (councils).
  • Organized protests and strikes.
• Communists promise: "LAND PEACE & BREAD"
• Rise of the Bolsheviks - radical Socialists.
  • V.I. Lenin advocates leadership of professional Revolutionaries instead of a spontaneous revolution of the proletariat as predicted by Marx.
  • Revolution will not happen naturally because there is not a large working class in Russia.
  • Dual revolution: peasants and workers.

February/March Revolution

• Overthrew Tsar & established a Provisional Government led by moderate socialists.
  • Led by Alexander Kerensky.
• Power resides in the Duma dominated by the conservative Cadets.
• Few significant changes were made:
  • Continue fighting the war, opposed by the soviets.

The Provisional Government

• On 2 March a Provisional Government was declared made up largely of leading figures of various liberal parties but dominated by the Kadets.
• The Provisional Government met in the Tauride Palace.
• However, in another wing of the palace, the 'Petrograd Soviet of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies' was formed that became the focus for workers and soldiers' interests.
  • It controlled the railways, telegraph station, factories, power supplies, and the soldiers in the Petrograd garrison.

The Provisional Government: Order No. 1

• Issued by the Soviet.
• In all companies, battalions, squadrons, and separate branches of military service of all kinds and on warships, committees should be chosen immediately.
• The orders of the State Duma (Provisional Government) shall be carried out only when they do not contradict the orders and decisions of the Soviet of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies.
• All kinds of arms, such as rifles and machine guns, must be under the control of the company and battalion committees and must in no case be handed over to officers even at their demand.
• The addressing of officers with titles such as 'Your Excellency'. 'Your Honour'. etc. is abolished and these are replaced by 'Mr General',. 'Mr Colonel' and so on.

The Provisional Government: Honeymoon Period

• For the first two months of the Revolution, there was harmony between these two groups in what became known as the 'honeymoon' period.
• Several key measures were taken such as:
  • Arrest and imprisonment of Tsarist ministers and officials
  • The disbanding of the secret police
  • Amnesty for political and religious prisoners
  • The establishment of the freedom of the press and of free speech
  • Abolition of the death penalty
  • Agreement to call elections for a new Constituent Assembly that would determine the new government of Russia; these elections would be help by secret ballot and universal suffrage.
• However, the Provisional Government faced several key problems which it was unable to resolve and in April, Lenin returned to Petrograd determined to capitalize on these problems and to force a second revolution.

October/November Revolution

• Germany orchestrated Lenin's return from exile in April hoping to undermine the Russian war effort, which was continuing under the provisional government.
• Petrograd soviet & Bolsheviks (led by Lenin) overthrow the Provisional government
  • Established Cheka-secret police
  • Red Army soldiers support the Bolsheviks
• Lenin made good on his promise of "Peace, Land, and Bread:"
  • Pulled Russia out of the war signed Treaty of Brest-Litovsk
  • Distributed land to peasants & gave control of factories to soviets

Why were the Bolsheviks successful in October 1917?

• The Bolshevik propaganda after 1917 claimed that the October revolution had been a popular rising carried out by the workers (via the soviets and supported by the Bolshevik Party) and supported by the peasants.
• Lenin was the key figure who guided the party and directed the Revolution. This line was maintained by Soviet historians up to 1991.
• Conversely, western historians in the atmosphere of the cold war saw the October revolution as a coup d’état carried out by a small group of Bolsheviks.
• They were tightly controlled and directed by Lenin who then went on to lay the foundations of the totalitarianism of Stalin.
• Other Western historians challenged this view in the 1980s claiming that the lower ranks of the Bolshevik party were also in the October revolution, that indeed it was more of a popular revolution.
• More recently, most historians agree that the revolution was a coup d’état in the way that power was seized but that in fact the workers had become increasingly radicalized throughout 1917 and had played a role in laying the foundations for the Bolshevik takeover.
• Lenin’s determination and persistence however was still key for ensuring that the revolution actually took place.

Civil War (1918-1921)

• Red Army (Bolsheviks) vs. White Army (Counter-revolutionaries)
  • Foreign powers (including U.S.) send aid to White Army
• 14 million Russians died from fighting, famine & disease
• War Communism:
  • Production (factories & farms) was planned and organized by the government.
  • Discipline for workers was strict and strikers could be shot.
  • Peasants had to hand over grain to the government requisitioned all surplus

Opposition Forces Begin to Emerge

• Opposition forces, collectively known as The Whites, started to emerge almost immediately for several reasons.

The Disintegration of the Russian Empire

• Lenin had decreed in November 1917 that non-Russian territories were free to leave Russia; this resulted in many nationalities such as the Fins, Latvians, Ukrainians declaring themselves independent of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (RSFSR) - the name given to the Russian state after the October Revolution.
• Even within Great Russia, Soviets took over large areas and often pursued their own policies.
• By June 1918, there were thirty-three sovereign governments in Russia.
• Many Russians were appalled by this breakup of the Russian Empire and were prepared to fight to maintain it.
• Those who had declared independence, however, were determined to fight to keep their newly found self-government.

The Impact of the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk

• Patriotic Russians were horrified by the terms of the Treaty which had given away so much of Russian land, and this encouraged many to join anti-Bolshevik forces.
• The Treaty of Brest-Litovsk had resulted in the loss of:
  • Lithuania, Livonia, Estonia
  • The Russian held area of Poland
  • Bessarabia (given to Romania)
  • Ukraine, Belarus and Georgia where semi-independent government were established.
  • In total this resulted in the loss of lost one-sixth of its population, 27% of farm land including the ‘grain basket’ of the Ukraine, 26% of railway lines and 74% of iron ore and coal reserves.

Political Opposition

• Because of Bolshevik policies towards other political parties, opposition groups quickly emerged and the Bolsheviks faced challenges from both left and right.
• The Social Revolutionaries, who were in total opposition to the Treaty of Brest Litovsk and who felt that their rightful place in a socialist government had been usurped, organized an anti-Bolshevik coup in Moscow.
• It failed but Lenin was the subject of two assassination attempts by the SR in July and August. The second one by Dora Kaplan came close to succeeding.

Foreign Intervention

• The Treaty of Brest Litovsk was a severe blow to the Allies were who still fighting the war against Germany.
• German troops were now no longer tied up on the eastern front fighting the Russians; they were free to join the German army in the West and this put increased pressure on the Allies.
• Thus Britain and France were willing to send help to any enemies of the Bolsheviks who would be prepared to re-open the war against the Germans.
• When the war ended in November 1918, foreign interest in the outcome of the civil war continued.
• The British continued to send aid, viewing the Whites as defenders against the dreaded Bolshevism which, it was feared, could spread to the rest of Europe if it was not destroyed.
• The French also remained because they had invested millions of francs into Russia and the Bolsheviks had nationalized foreign owned industry without compensation.
• The Japanese sent in troops to the area around Vladivostok in the hope of gaining territory while the USA sent troops to try to prevent this from happening.

The Economic Crisis

• The failure of the new regime to end hunger was an important factor in creating opposition to Lenin’s government.
• By the summer of 1918 the food situation in the cities was desperate; the loss of the wheat growing Ukraine, known as ‘the bread basket’, to Germany in the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk meant that the situation was exacerbated and hunger forced many workers out of the industrial cities.
• With no products to buy in the shops and continued inflation, the peasants were reluctant to sell their produce.
• In response, Lenin sent out requisition squads to look for the grain while poor peasants were encouraged to seize food from their more wealthy neighbors.
• Such strategies also increased opposition to the Bolsheviks.
• The range of factors creating opposition towards the Bolsheviks meant that the Whites ended up consisting of a wide range of interest groups: liberals, former Tsarists, nationalists, Social Revolutionaries, foreigners, moderate socialists.
• Fighting for their survival, the Red Army consisted of the Bolshevik army (known as the Red Army), the Kronstadt Sailors who had been strong supporters of the Bolshevik cause from the start, along with volunteer workers and soldiers from the collapsed Imperial army.
• However, it was more complex than just the Reds versus the Whites, with the Greens also playing a role in the fighting. These were peasant armies who were often mainly concerned only with protecting their own areas.
• Thus this was not simply a class war conflict, as the Bolsheviks liked to portray it. Local issues often dominated in making the peasants decide which side to join; sometimes they fought just to protect their own areas.

Why did the Bolsheviks Win the Civil War?

• The Bolsheviks were fighting for their very survival and the Red Army had to deal with all of the different invading forces as well as quelling several uprisings. At one point they had lost control of 75% of Russia.
• The fighting was bitter and resulted in terrible atrocities and huge loss of life.
• However, by the end of 1920, the Bolsheviks had resisted the attacks and driven the armies back.
• As the map and description of events will have indicated, there were several fundamental reasons as to why the Bolsheviks were successful in ultimately defeating all of the attacks by the Whites. These can be divided into the weaknesses of the Whites versus the advantages of the Reds.

The Weaknesses and Errors of the Whites

• As the map indicates, the various White armies were geographically split up around the central area which was controlled by the Bolsheviks; they were also separated by large distances.
  • This made communications difficult and it was almost impossible to co-ordinate the attacks of the different White armies.
• Even if they had been able to physically work together, the different groups had entirely different beliefs and aims.
  • Some were fighting for the Constituent Assembly and others to restore Tsarism, some for the rights of minority groups and others to keep the Russian Empire together.
  • For example, Admiral Kolchak ultimately had hundreds of Socialist Revolutionaries, who had joined up forces with him, arrested and many were executed. Socialist Revolutionaries then launched several attacks against him which contributed to the failure of his campaign.
• The foreign interventions also lacked any unity of purpose. Each country had a different aim and there was little co-operation between the occupiers.
• In terms of leadership, the White generals of a second-rate caliber.
  • Their harsh treatment of the troops which was reminiscent of Tsarist times alienated the peasant conscripts many of whom deserted.
  • The White generals further distrusted each other which also contributed to the difficulties of co-operation. There was also much indiscipline and corruption in the White armies.
    • General Peter Wrangel who took over command of Deniken’s army in 1920, reported that, ‘The war is becoming a means of becoming rich, requisitioning and degenerated into pillage..Each unit tries to get as much as possible for itself. What cannot be used on the spot is sent to theh interior and sold at a profit..Many officers, absent from the front, are engaged in selling and trading loot. The army is completely demoralized and is rapidly turning into a bunch of traders and profiteers.’
• The land policy of the Whites ensured that peasant support was more likely to go to the Reds; the Whites made it clear that they wished to return land to their former owners and thus reverse the land reforms that had been carried out by Lenin.
  • Indeed, Deniken helped landowners recover their lands.
• The brutality of the White armies further antagonized the peasants.
  • For example, the Cossacks in the southern army drove many Russians and Ukrainians from their lands and carried out pogroms (organized massacres) against Jewish communities.
• Nationalist groups were also antagonized by the Whites who supported the maintenance of the Russian Empire.
  • Thus groups such as the Ukrainians and Georgians would not support the Whites when they were in these areas.

The Strengths of the Reds

• The Bolsheviks controlled the central area of Russia which included Moscow and Petrograd.
  • This had several advantages. It meant that they controlled the hub of the railway network which was essential for moving around men and supplies; it contained the main armament factories; it was heavily populated allowing them to conscript large numbers of soldiers.
• There was one overall commander of the Red Army, Leon Trotsky who was an excellent leader; he organized the conscripts into an effective fighting force, established discipline and maintained morale.
• The Bolsheviks did not have widespread popular support. However, the peasants were more likely to support the Bolsheviks due to the land reforms. Although much of this active support was lost due to the grain requisitioning, (see section on War Communism below), nevertheless the fear of a loss of land stopped the peasants from supporting the Whites. Urban workers also wanted to protect the gains of 1917.
• In general the Reds were much more effective with regard to propaganda. Not only did they capitalize on the fact that the Whites were getting foreign support to make themselves appear as the true patriots, they were also able to present the vision of a new future under a new government as opposed to a return to the old ways under the Tsar.
• The Bolsheviks were ruthless in using Terror to silence ‘counter-revolutionary’ opposition during the war. Following the assassination attempt on Lenin the terror was intensified under The Cheka.
  • Execution now became the most common punishment and some estimates for deaths at the hands of the Cheka between 1918 – 1920 are as high as 300,000.

The Role of Trotsky

• As commander of the Red Guards, Trotsky had already played a key role in the Bolshevik takeover of power in October 1917.
• He was then made Commissar for War in 1918 and became pivotal to the success of the newly formed Red Army.
• He reintroduced ranks into the army and recruited former Tsarist officers to train and command the army units, introducing political commissars to supervise the officers to ensure they remained politically correct.
• He also re-established harsh military discipline – including the death penalty for a range of offenses.
• Perhaps most significant though was his energy and passion which could be seen in his leadership of the army; for three years he lived largely on his armored train which traveled up and down the front helping to maintain morale and enforce discipline.

What was the Nature of Fighting?

• During the Russian civil war, central authority broke down completely and local areas were left to fend for themselves.
• The populations in some areas found themselves at the center of fighting on numerous occasions. Kiev in the Ukraine changed hands some sixteen times.
• It was also common for units of soldiers to change sides depending to whom they thought would best serve their interests at any one time; as Kolchak's army retreated, one whole regiment murdered its officers and went over to the Reds.
• As mentioned before the Civil War saw horrific atrocities committed both sides.
• Concentration and labor amps were also established.
  • Victims included those who were actively opposing the regime such as Social Revolutionists and anarchists, but also middle class professionals, traders, priests, prostitutes – anyone who was accused of ‘counter-revolution,’ though in most cases such accusations were random and unfounded.
• The most famous victims of this Terror were the Tsar and his family.
• The Terror was part of the War Communism system that was imposed.

What were the Effects of the Civil War?

• Human cost
  • As you have seen from the information above, populations in the areas of Russia where fighting took place suffered dreadfully.
  • Villages were razed to the ground, the inhabitants were often also killed - and many areas suffered at the hands of both sides.
  • It has been estimated that the total number of men killed in action in the Civil War and the Polish-Soviet War was $300,000$ and the total number dead from disease was $450,000$.
  • Meanwhile, the Cheka was carrying out executions of 'enemies of the people'; estimates of deaths by the Cheka reach over a million.
  • Both sides killed thousands in reprisals and pogroms were carried out against the Jews in Ukraine and Southern Russia.
  • In addition to these deaths, disease spread rapidly through the country with 3 million dying of Typhus in 1922. Millions more died of starvation as a result of famine in 1921 and the devastating effects of the war.
• Economic cost
  • Every aspect of life 1918 - 1921 had to be directed towards winning the Civil War. The original economic measures introduced by Lenin in 1917 which gave workers control of the factories and allowed peasants to have their own land had created economic chaos. In order to ensure that the Red Army was supplied with munitions and had enough to eat, it was essential for the government to get control over production and distribution of food in the areas under their control. This involved introducing a set of harshly restrictive economic measures known as War Communism which involved the following:
    • Nationalization of industry - All industry was brought under state control. The workers committees that had been given control of the factories in 1917 had failed to get the factories producing goods and there were acute shortages. Now industry was geared to war production and workers were forced to work for excessive hours without wages. Discipline was re-introduced into the work place with fines for lateness and absenteeism. Internal passports were introduced to prevent workers escaping to the countryside.
    • Grain Requisitioning. The Bolsheviks were desperate to force the peasants to produce more food and had already been sending soldiers out into the countryside to take grain from the peasants. In 1918, a Food Supplies Dictatorship was set up and forcible requisitioning of grain became official policy. Requisition squads terrorized the countryside between 1918 and 1921; those who resisted were arrested by the Cheka. This was to seriously damage the relationship between the Bolsheviks and the peasants
    • Ban on private trade and rationing. There was a ban on private trade and rationing was introduced. This was class based so that those who were part of the bourgeoisie or middle classes (now called ‘former people’) were given the smallest rations, while the largest rations during this period went to the Red Army. War Communism, alongside the devastating economic impact of the civil war, meant that industrial production value fell to one-seventh of the value of 1913 and agriculture to one-third.

Lenin's Goals

The most urgent thing at the present time is to take measures that will immediately increase the productive forces of peasant farming. Only in this way will it be possible to improve the conditions of the workers and strengthen the alliance between the workers and peasants, to strengthen the dictatorship of the proletariat…The essence of the peculiar "War Communism" was that we actually took from the peasant, all the surplus grain--and sometimes even not only surplus grain, but part of the grain the peasant required for food--to meet the requirements of the army and sustain the workers.. It was a temporary measure.
The correct policy of the proletariat which is exercising its dictatorship in a small-peasant country is to obtain grain in exchange for the manufactured goods the peasant requires… only such a policy can strengthen the foundations of Socialism and lead to its complete victory… The effect will be the revival of the petty bourgeoisie and of capitalism on the basis of a certain amount of free trade (if only local). This is beyond doubt. It would be ridiculous to shut our eyes to it. The question arises: Is it necessary? Can it be justified? Is it dangerous?

Lenin's New Economic Policy (NEP)

• Gosplan-state planning commission to direct the economy on a national level.
• To stimulate the economy (that had dropped to below its pre-WWI level), brought back capitalism for some sections of Russian society.
• Vital heavy industries/"Commanding Heights" (coal, oil, iron and steel) would remain in state hands.

Industrial Policies

• Small factories were handed back into private ownership using competition & individual advancement to increase production.
• Private trading of small consumer goods (like shoes and clothes) was allowed.
  • Some entrepreneurs grew wealthy from trade.

Agricultural Policies

• Grain requisitioning by the government was stopped.
  • Peasants would pay tax on what they produced.
  • allowed to sell surplus grain for profit rather than giving it up to the government.
• Created a class of wealthy peasants called "Kulaks"
• NEP seen by some as a betrayal of revolutionary ideals.

Effects of the NEP

• Drawbacks:
  • Re-emergence of a "capitalist" class
  • Unemployment among workers
  • Caused a division between revolutionaries who supported/opposed Lenin's policies

Power Struggle After Lenin's Death

• TROTSKY
  • Commissar of War and leader of the Red Army
  • Strong internationalist
  • Closely allied with Lenin during the revolution
  • Skilled speaker and intellectual- author of many books on Communism
  • Ultimately exiled by Stalin
• STALIN
  • General Secretary of the Communist Party
  • Believed (initially) in "Socialism in One Country"
  • Minor role in the revolution though he was a member of the Politburo
  • Benefitted from bureaucratization of the government

Political Impact of the Civil War

• The Civil War had revealed the serious threat posed by counter-revolutionaries and weakened the proletariat.
• The mass movement of people from the towns to the countryside during the Civil War had decimated the proletariat and left the Bolsheviks exposed.
• Lenin realized that in this situation authoritarian rule by the party was needed and circumstances pushed the Bolsheviks into a more ruthless and authoritarian approach than they had envisaged. These circumstances can be said to have militarized the culture of the party.
• That the Bolsheviks continued to rely on the use of terror showed their continued insecurity, as did the growth of an inflexible and authoritarian bureaucracy. These were instruments that were starting to be used to maintain a dictatorship of the party rather than a Dictatorship of the Proletariat
• The failure of the Whites and the continued attacks on Social Revolutionaries by the Cheka consolidated the hold of the Bolshevik Party on Russia and development of a one-party state.
• It also saw the Central Committee of the Bolshevik Party, which was the key decision making body of the party up until 1919, increasing its grip over party structure and its members. This move towards centralized power was partly due to the civil war.
• Two new committees were set up to run the war more effectively after 1919; the Politburo to control overall strategy and the Orgbureau to oversee internal administration.
• Each body was elected by groups within the party; however although this seems to imply an element of democracy within the party, in fact the leadership began to exercise control over the membership and the appointment of local officials.
• The control of the party leadership was backed up by the Cheka which attacked not only Bolshevik enemies but also critics within the Bolshevik Party itself.