White Leaders in the Civil War. White movement (white case)

The civil war was one of the most terrible for Russia. The number of those who died in battles, were executed, died of starvation and epidemics exceeded ten million people. In that terrible war, the whites were defeated. We decided to find out why.

Inconsistency. The failure of the Moscow campaign

In January 1919, Denikin's army won a major victory over the nearly 100,000-strong Bolshevik army and occupied the North Caucasus. Further, the White troops advanced to the Donbass and Don, where, having united, they were able to repulse the Red Army, exhausted by Cossack uprisings and peasant riots. Tsaritsyn, Kharkov, Crimea, Yekaterinoslav, Aleksandrovsk were taken.

At this time, French and Greek troops landed in southern Ukraine, and the Entente was planning a massive offensive. The White Army advanced north, trying to approach Moscow, capturing Kursk, Orel and Voronezh along the way. At this time, the party committee had already begun to be evacuated to Vologda.

On February 20, the White army defeated the red cavalry corps and captured Rostov and Novocherkassk. The totality of these victories inspired the troops, and, it would seem, an early victory for Denikin and Kolchak.

However, the Whites lost the battle for the Kuban, and after the Reds took Novorossiysk and Yekaterinodar, the main White forces in the south were broken. They left Kharkov, Kyiv and Donbass. The successes of the whites on the northern front also ended: despite the financial support of Great Britain, Yudenich's autumn attack on Petrograd failed, and the Baltic republics were in a hurry to sign a peace treaty with the Soviet government. Thus, Denikin's Moscow campaign was doomed.

Staff shortage

One of the most obvious reasons for the defeat of the anti-Bolshevik forces is the lack of well-trained officers. For example, despite the fact that there were as many as 25,000 people in the Northern Army, only 600 of them were officers. In addition, captured Red Army soldiers were recruited into the army, which did not contribute to morale in any way.

White officers were thoroughly trained: British and Russian schools were engaged in their training. However, desertion, mutinies and the killing of allies remained frequent occurrences: “3 thousand infantrymen (in the 5th Northern Rifle Regiment) and 1 thousand military personnel of other branches of the armed forces with four 75-mm guns went over to the side of the Bolsheviks.” After Great Britain stopped supporting the Whites at the end of 1919, the White army, despite a short-term advantage, was defeated and capitulated to the Bolsheviks.

Wrangel also described the shortage of soldiers: “The poorly-supplied army ate exclusively at the expense of the population, placing an unbearable burden on it. Despite the large influx of volunteers from the places newly occupied by the army, its numbers almost did not increase.

At first, there was also a shortage of officers in the army of the Reds, and commissars were recruited instead of them, even without military experience. It was for these reasons that the Bolsheviks suffered many defeats on all fronts at the beginning of the war. However, by the decision of Trotsky, experienced people from the former tsarist army, who know firsthand what war is, began to be taken as officers. Many of them went to fight for the Reds voluntarily.

Mass desertion

In addition to individual cases of voluntary departure from the White Army, there were more massive facts of desertion.

Firstly, Denikin's army, despite the fact that it controlled fairly large territories, was not able to significantly increase its numbers due to the inhabitants living on them.

Secondly, in the rear of the whites, gangs of “greens” or “blacks” often operated, who fought against both the whites and the reds. Many whites, especially from among the former prisoners of the Red Army, deserted and joined other people's detachments.

However, one should not exaggerate the desertions from the anti-Bolshevik ranks: at least 2.6 million people deserted from the Red Army in just one year (from 1919 to 1920), which exceeded the total number of White troops.

Fragmentation of forces

Another important factor that ensured the victory of the Bolsheviks was the solidity of their armies. The White forces were heavily dispersed throughout the territory of Russia, which led to the impossibility of competent command of the troops.

The disunity of the whites manifested itself at a more abstract level - the ideologists of the anti-Bolshevik movement could not win over all the opponents of the Bolsheviks, showing excessive perseverance in many political issues.

Lack of ideology

Whites were often accused of trying to restore the monarchy, separatism, transferring power to a foreign government. However, in reality, their ideology did not consist of such radical but clear guidelines.

The program of the white movement included the restoration of the state integrity of Russia, "the unity of all forces in the fight against the Bolsheviks" and the equality of all citizens of the country.
A huge blunder of the white command is the absence of clear ideological positions, ideas for which people would be ready to fight and die. The Bolsheviks proposed an extremely specific plan - their idea was to build a utopian communist state in which there would be no poor and oppressed, and for this it was possible to sacrifice all moral principles. The global idea of uniting the whole world under the red flag of the Revolution defeated the amorphous white resistance.

This is how the White General Slashchev characterized his psychological state: “Then I did not believe in anything. If they ask me what I fought for and what my mood was like, I will sincerely answer that I don’t know ... I won’t hide the fact that thoughts sometimes flashed through my mind that the majority of the Russian people were on the side of the Bolsheviks - after all, it’s impossible, that even now they triumph thanks only to the Germans.

This phrase quite capaciously reflects the state of mind of many soldiers fighting against the Bolsheviks.

Bad education

Denikin, Kolchak and Wrangel, speaking with their abstract slogans, did not present clear instructions to the people and did not have an ideal goal, unlike the Bolsheviks. The Bolsheviks, on the other hand, organized a powerful propaganda machine, which was specially engaged in the development of ideologies.

As the American historian Williams wrote, "The First Council of People's Commissars, based on the number of books written by its members and the languages they speak, was superior in culture and education to any cabinet of ministers in the world."

So the white military commanders lost the ideological war to the more educated Bolsheviks.

Too soft

The Bolshevik government did not hesitate to carry out drastic and cruel reforms. Paradoxically, it was precisely this toughness that was important in wartime: people did not trust politicians who doubted and delayed the decision.

The big mistake of the white command was the delay in land reform - its project involved the expansion of farms at the expense of landowners' lands. However, a law was issued pending the Constituent Assembly forbidding the seizure of land and keeping it in the possession of the nobles. Of course, the peasant population, 80% of the population of Russia, took this order as a personal insult.

The White movement or “whites” is a politically heterogeneous force formed at the first stage of the Civil War. The main goals of the “whites” are the fight against the Bolsheviks.

The movement was made up of adherents of various political forces: socialists, monarchists, republicans. The "Whites" united around the idea of a great and indivisible Russia and existed simultaneously with other anti-Bolshevik forces.

Historians offer several versions of the origin of the term "White movement":

During the French Revolution, white was chosen by monarchists who opposed the ideals of the revolution. This color symbolized the royal dynasty of France. The use of white reflected political views. Thus, the researchers deduce the origin of the name from the ideals of the members of the movement. There is an opinion that the Bolsheviks called “white” all opponents of the revolutionary changes of 1917, although among them were not only monarchists.
The second version is that during the October Revolution, opponents of the revolution used former armbands. It is believed that this is what gave the name to the movement.

There are several versions of the time of the birth of the White movement:

The spring of 1917 is an opinion based on the recollections of some eyewitnesses of the events. A. Denikin argued that the movement was born in response to the Mogilev Officers' Congress, where the slogan "Save the Fatherland!" Was proclaimed. The main idea behind the birth of such a movement was the preservation of Russian statehood, the salvation of the army.
Politician and historian P. Milyukov argued that the White movement consolidated in the summer of 1917 as an anti-Bolshevik front. Ideologically, the bulk of the movement are Cadets and socialists. The beginning of the active actions of the “whites” is called the Kornilov performance in August 1917, the leaders of which later became the most famous figures of the White movement in the South of Russia.

The phenomenon of the White movement - it consolidated scattered, hostile political forces, the main idea of which was state-centrism.

The basis of the “whites” is the officers of the Russian army, professional military. An important place among the Whites was occupied by peasants, from whom some of the leaders of the movement came. There were representatives of the clergy, the bourgeoisie, the Cossacks, the intelligentsia. The political backbone is the Cadets, the monarchists.

The political goals of the "whites":

The destruction of the Bolsheviks, whose power the "whites" considered illegal and anarchic. The movement fought for the restoration of the pre-revolutionary order.
The struggle for an indivisible Russia.
Convocation and start of work of the People's Assembly, which should be based on the protection of statehood, universal suffrage.
Fight for freedom of belief.
The elimination of all economic problems, the solution of the agrarian question in favor of the people of Russia.
Formation of active and active local authorities and granting them broad rights in self-government.

Historian S. Volkov notes that the ideology of the "whites" was, in general, moderately monarchical. The researcher notes that the "whites" did not have a clear political program, but only defended their values. The emergence of the White Guard movement was a normal reaction to the chaos reigning in the state.

There was no consensus on the political structure of Russia among the “whites”. The movement planned to overthrow the criminal, in their opinion, the Bolshevik regime and decide the future of statehood during the National Constituent Assembly.

Researchers note the evolution in the ideals of the "whites": at the first stage of the struggle, they sought only to preserve the statehood and integrity of Russia, starting from the second stage, this desire turned into the idea of overthrowing all the achievements of the revolution.

In the occupied territories, the "whites" established a military dictatorship; within these state entities, the laws of the pre-revolutionary period were in force with the changes introduced by the Provisional Government. Some laws were adopted directly in the occupied territories. In foreign policy, the "whites" were guided by the idea of maintaining obligations to the allied countries. First of all, this concerns the countries of the Entente.

Stages of activity of the "whites":

At the first stage (1917 - early 1918), the movement developed rapidly, he managed to seize the strategic initiative. In 1917, there was still practically no social support and funding. Gradually, underground White Guard organizations were formed, the core of which was made up of officers of the former tsarist army. This stage can be called the period of formation and formation of the structure of the movement and the main ideas. The first phase was successful for the "whites". The main reason is the high level of training of the army, while the "red" army was unprepared, fragmented.

In 1918 there was a change in the balance of power. At the beginning of the stage, the “whites” received social support in the form of peasants who were not satisfied with the economic policy of the Bolsheviks. Some officer organizations began to emerge from the underground. An example of a vivid anti-Bolshevik struggle was the uprising of the Czechoslovak Corps.

At the end of 1918 - the beginning of 1919 - the time of active support of the "white" states of the Entente. The military potential of the "whites" was gradually strengthened.

Since 1919, the “whites” have been losing the support of foreign invaders, and have been defeated by the Red Army. The military dictatorships founded earlier fell under the onslaught of the "Reds". The actions of the "whites" were not successful due to a complex of economic, political and social reasons. Since the 1920s, the term "whites" has been applied to emigrants.

Many political forces, consolidated around the idea of fighting Bolshevism, formed the White movement, which became a serious opponent of the "Red" revolutionaries.

abstract

specialty: "History"

on the topic: “White movement. Social composition, ideology, program”

Introduction

The civil war in Russia was the logical outcome of the revolutionary crisis that hit the country at the beginning of the 20th century. The chain of events - the first Russian revolution, incomplete reforms, world war, the fall of the monarchy, the collapse of the country and power, the Bolshevik coup - led Russian society to a deep social, national, political, ideological and moral split. The apogee of this split was a fierce nationwide struggle between the armed forces of the Bolshevik dictatorship and the anti-Bolshevik state formations from the summer of 1918 to the autumn of 1920.

The historiography of the Soviet period, assessing the events of the civil war in Russia, very narrowly, limitedly represented the White movement as just an integral part of the "aggressive plans of the Entente" aimed at overthrowing the Soviet government, eliminating the "conquests of October" and "restoring the bourgeois-landlord system." Reactionary character, “desire to restore the old order”, “complete dependence on foreign imperialism, its military, material and political support” and as a result of this “isolation from the people”, “extreme narrowness of the social base” - these were the fundamental “starting points” in the assessment of the White movement, asserted in Soviet literature.

A number of features distinguish the White movement from the rest of the anti-Bolshevik forces of the Civil War:

The White movement was an organized military-political movement against the Soviet regime and its allied political structures, its intransigence towards the Soviet regime ruled out any peaceful, compromise outcome of the Civil War.

The White movement was distinguished by its focus on the priority of individual power over collegial, and military power over civilian power in wartime. White governments were characterized by the absence of a clear separation of powers, representative bodies either played no role or had only advisory functions.

The White movement tried to legalize itself on a national scale, proclaiming its continuity from pre-February and pre-October Russia.

Recognition by all regional white governments of the all-Russian power of Admiral A.V. Kolchak led to the desire to achieve a commonality of political programs and coordination of military operations. The solution of agrarian, labor, national and other basic issues was fundamentally similar.

The white movement had a common symbolism: a tricolor white-blue-red flag, a double-headed eagle, the official anthem "Glorious be our Lord in Zion."

Origin. Social composition

The White Movement (also known as "White Cause", "White Idea") is a military-political movement of politically diverse forces, formed during the Civil War of 1917-1923 in Russia with the aim of overthrowing Soviet power.

The official date of the beginning of the White movement came to us from emigrant literature - November 2, 1917, when General M.A. Alekseev, having arrived in Novocherkassk, began to form an anti-Bolshevik army. It is this date that is on the commemorative medal issued in 1967 by the emigrant Society of Zealots of Russian Military Antiquity on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the beginning of the Civil War.

Under the influence of the revolutionary events of 1917, processes were observed in public and political organizations that led to the activation and selection of the most active and least ambitious elements, which led to their arrival in the White movement. Ultimately, several of the largest "non-partisan" socio-political organizations arise: the Union for the Revival of Russia, the National Center, the Council of the State Association of Russia and others. The first one operated mainly in the east of the country and its main contribution was the creation of the center of all-Russian power there in the person of the Ufa directory. With its fall, the Union also lost its political significance. The National Center and the Council of the State Unification of Russia formed in Kyiv operated mainly in the south of the country, at the same time they actively participated in the administration of the territories occupied by the White armies.

The ideologists of the White Cause, which include V.V. Shulgin, former progressive N.N. Lvov, former cadet P.B. Struve and others, intensively searched for and developed a cementing idea capable of consolidating forces. This was the “national idea”, the meaning of which was reduced to the struggle for the revival of Russian statehood, “Great Russia”.

In accordance with the "national idea" all "state-minded elements" were to unite to save the "united and indivisible Russia" from the "dominance of the International." Allegiance to "historical principles", the primacy of Orthodoxy were declared, the slogan of "non-prejudice" of the state system of Russia until the overthrow of Soviet power was put forward. The possibility of establishing a military dictatorship for some time was envisaged, and after the “pacification of the country”, all issues would be decided by the Constituent Assembly (Zemsky Sobor or the National Assembly, etc.). This assembly will have to construct a new political system in Russia.

The birth of the White movement was the result of the reaction, primarily of the officer corps of the army, to the actions of the Provisional Government, which was pushing the country to national disgrace because of the threat of impending surrender at the front. The contradictory behavior of the majority of the intelligentsia, mired in inter-party strife, led to the proclamation of a non-party movement. The White movement managed to accumulate in itself diverse political forces from monarchists to socialists. As General A.I. Denikin, “The Volunteer Army wants to rely on all state-minded circles of the population. It cannot become a weapon of any one political party or organization.”

The leaders and ideologists of the White movement adequately assessed the reality and ideological views of various political parties and organizations and correlated them with the goals of the struggle. Insofar as this or that political force stood on the positions of the struggle against German tyranny, the product of which was considered Bolshevism, insofar as the leaders of the Whites went to an alliance with this force. At the same time, cadet S.M. Leontiev noted that "extreme party intolerance, a kind of sectarianism of political groups made attempts to unite social forces completely devoid of results."

The social composition of the White movement was very wide: from former large landowners and manufacturers to a simple peasant and worker, from senior military leaders and government officials to students in military and civilian educational institutions. Prominent representatives of the domestic scientific and creative intelligentsia, well-known fighters against the autocracy from the ranks of the revolutionary movement, took an active part in the White Cause. The breadth of the social spectrum of the participants contributed to the evolution of the views of the white leaders: they declared the holding of free democratic elections to the Constituent Assembly after they came to power and the restoration of order in the country, which indicates the presence of democratic elements in their programs. Therefore, assessments of the White movement, which were very common in the Soviet era, as monarchist and unambiguously reactionary, do not reflect reality. If M.A. Alekseev welcomed the constitutional monarchy, then L.G. Kornilov and A.V. Kolchak advocated a republican form of government in the country.

Ideology

There were differences in the ideology of the White movement, but the desire to restore a democratic, parliamentary political system, private property and market relations in Russia prevailed.

The goal of the White movement was proclaimed - after the liquidation of Soviet power, the end of the civil war and the onset of peace and stability in the country - to determine the future political structure and form of government in Russia through the convening of the National Constituent Assembly (Principle of non-decision).

For the duration of the Civil War, the White governments set themselves the task of overthrowing the Soviet regime and establishing a military dictatorship in the territories they held.

At the same time, the legislation that was in force in the Russian Empire before the revolution was re-introduced, adjusted to take into account the legislative norms of the Provisional Government acceptable to the White movement and the laws of the new “state formations” on the territory of the former Empire after October 1917.

The political program of the White movement in the field of foreign policy proclaimed the need to comply with all obligations under treaties with the allied states. The Cossacks were promised independence in the formation of their own authorities and armed formations. While maintaining the territorial integrity of the country for Ukraine, the Caucasus and Transcaucasia, the possibility of "regional autonomy" was considered.

According to the historian General N. N. Golovin, who made an attempt at a scientific assessment of the White movement, one of the reasons for the failure of the White movement was that, in contrast to its first stage (spring 1917 - October 1917) with its positive idea, for the sake of which The White movement appeared - solely for the purpose of saving the collapsing statehood and the army, after the October events of 1917 and the dispersal of the Constituent Assembly by the Bolsheviks, which was called upon to peacefully resolve the issue of the state structure of Russia after the February Revolution of 1917, the counter-revolution lost its positive idea, understood as a general political and/or social ideal. Now only the idea of a negative nature could act with such a function - the struggle against the destructive forces of the revolution.

The White movement, in general, gravitated towards the cadet social and political values, and it was the interaction of the cadets with the officer environment that determined both the strategic and tactical settings of the White movement. The monarchists and the Black Hundreds made up only a small part of the White movement and did not enjoy the right to a decisive vote.

Historian S. Volkov writes that “in general, the spirit of the White armies was moderately monarchical,” while the White movement did not put forward monarchist slogans.

A.I. Denikin noted that the vast majority of the commanding staff and officers of his army were monarchists, while he also writes that the officers themselves had little interest in politics and the class struggle, and for the most part it was a purely service element, a typical "intelligent proletariat".

Historian Slobodin warns to consider the White movement as a party monarchist current, since no monarchist party led the White movement.

The White movement was made up of forces heterogeneous in their political composition, but united in the idea of rejection of Bolshevism.

Whites used the slogan "Law and Order!" and hoped to discredit the power of their opponents, while at the same time strengthening the perception of themselves by the people as the saviors of the Fatherland. The intensification of the unrest and the intensity of the political struggle made the arguments of the white leaders more convincing and led to the automatic perception of the whites as allies by that part of the population that psychologically did not accept the unrest. However, soon this slogan about law and order manifested itself in the attitude of the population towards the whites from a completely unexpected side for them and, to the surprise of many, played into the hands of the Bolsheviks.

Member of the White resistance, and later - its researcher - General A.A. von Lampe testified that the slogans of the Bolshevik leaders, who played on the baser instincts of the crowd, such as "Kill the bourgeoisie, rob the loot," and told the population that everyone can take anything they want, were infinitely more attractive to the survivor of the catastrophic decline in morals as a result of 4- summer war of the people, rather than the slogans of the white leaders, who said that everyone is entitled to only what is due by law.

A big problem for Denikin and Kolchak was the separatism of the Cossacks, especially the Kuban. Although the Cossacks were the most organized and worst enemies of the Bolsheviks, they sought, first of all, to liberate their Cossack territories from the Bolsheviks, hardly obeyed the central government and were reluctant to fight outside their lands.

The white leaders thought about the future structure of Russia as a democratic state in its Western European traditions, adapted to the realities of the Russian political process. Russian democracy was to be based on democracy, the elimination of estate and class inequality, the equality of all before the law, the dependence of the political position of individual nationalities on their culture and their historical traditions.

Speaking about the political programs of the white leaders, it should be noted that the policy of "non-predecision" and the desire to convene the Constituent Assembly was not, however, a generally recognized tactic. The white opposition in the person of the extreme right - primarily the top officers - demanded monarchist banners, overshadowed by the call "For the Faith, the Tsar and the Fatherland!" This part of the White movement looked at the struggle against the Bolsheviks, who disgraced Russia with the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, as a continuation of the Great War. Such views were expressed, in particular, by M. V. Rodzianko and V. M. Purishkevich.

According to I. L. Solonevich and some other authors, the main reasons for the defeat of the White Cause were the absence of a monarchist slogan among the Whites. Solonevich also cites information that one of the leaders of the Bolsheviks, the organizer of the Red Army, Lev Trotsky, agreed with such an explanation of the reasons for the failure of the Whites and the victory of the Bolsheviks.

If we consider the struggle between the ideas and slogans of the Whites and the Reds during the Civil War, then it should be noted that the Bolsheviks were in the ideological vanguard, who made the first step towards the people by setting up an end to the First World War and unfolding a world revolution, forcing the Whites to defend themselves with their main slogan " Great and United Russia”, understood as the obligation to restore and observe the territorial integrity of Russia and the pre-war borders of 1914.

At the same time, “integrity” was perceived as identical to the concept of “Great Russia”. In 1920, Baron Wrangel tried to move away from the generally recognized course towards “One and indivisible Russia”, whose head of the Foreign Relations Department, P. B. Struve, stated that “Russia will have to be organized on a federal basis through a free agreement between the state entities created on its territories.”

Already in exile, the whites regretted and repented that they could not formulate clearer political slogans that took into account the changes in Russian realities, - General A. S. Lukomsky testified to this.

Program

The program of the white movement at the first stage of the civil war was formulated in the documents of the Volunteer Army. Its main goals: to unite the disparate elements of the whites and to attract the lower classes (peasants, workers) in order to ensure a way out of the civil war and the restoration of the state. This program was an alternative to the platform of Soviet power proclaimed in the autumn of 1917. The political program of the white movement included the following:

The destruction of the Bolshevik anarchy and the establishment of a legal order in the country.

Restoration of a powerful united and indivisible Russia.

Convocation of the People's Assembly on the basis of universal suffrage.

Carrying out the decentralization of power through the establishment of regional autonomy and broad local self-government.

Guarantee of complete civil liberty and freedom of religion.

To begin immediately a land reform to eliminate the land needs of the working population.

Immediate implementation of labor legislation protecting the working classes from exploitation by the state and capital.

The program was of a general, declarative nature. It was impossible to captivate the masses with sympathy for Soviet democracy with such slogans. Questions important to the masses were reflected: agrarian and workers. However, the formulation of these questions is too general to win over the masses to the side of the Whites. She could not compete with the Land Decree. Nothing was said about the liquidation or other forms of mobilization of landowners' land ownership. Consequently, the peasantry could not follow such a program.

The White movement, which focused either on the past or on a purely Western choice, could not resist the ideals of Soviet power for a long time, which had massive support, could not become the basis for the consolidation and restoration of Russia. The majority of the population rejected both the past with its poverty, illiteracy, despotism, and the purely Western choice. The white movement was doomed from the very beginning, because it did not want to seriously consider the interests of the majority. The only question was time.

In the conditions of a landslide collapse, when it seemed that nothing could be connected, a system of power began to take shape, fundamentally different from the ideal that was supported by the majority of the people during the revolution. This system of power was called the dictatorship of the proletariat. Since Marxism-Leninism was the only theoretical basis in terms of which it was allowed to reflect reality, there could be no other designation. After all, the choice was small: either the dictatorship of the bourgeoisie, or the dictatorship of the proletariat. However, the dictatorship of the proletariat never really existed.

The new system of power was rigidly centralized, anti-democratic, with widespread use of dictatorial methods. It introduced a pronounced anti-Western, anti-market (anti-capitalist) character. This system was not class based. It was directed against classes, private property, the market, all forms of democracy, including the Soviet one. The formation of a rigid organization of society took place on the basis of the apparatus in the Bolshevik Party, which had an all-Russian character. He became the backbone of the system of power, gathering the crumbling society for the following reasons:

In the conditions of collapse, the Bolshevik Party retained its all-Russian organization: cells in factories, plants, in the countryside, in mass organizations (trade unions, Soviets, etc.). Due to the fact that the party had its own organizations in factories, factories, regiments, districts and cities, it acted as a ready basis for the formation of power structures.

The party was brought up in the traditions of strict discipline, had a centralized nature of management, retained efficient party structures at all levels: the Central Committee, the regional bureau, provincial and city committees.

The Bolshevik Party had detachments of armed men at its disposal: the Red Guard, revolutionary soldiers and sailors. It had an apparatus for managing and organizing the armed forces, military organizations of the Bolsheviks in the army. The combination of these conditions allowed the Bolshevik Party to turn into a supporting structure for power structures. It has ceased to be an element of civil society, a political organization.

Power remained Soviet in form, the Soviets continued to function. However, the authorities no longer corresponded to the ideals of the revolution. Elected Soviet bodies lost all significance and turned into a screen controlled by the Bolsheviks. The role of executive bodies has increased. The All-Russian Central Executive Committee - the highest organ of power between congresses of Soviets - did not play any real role. The first role was played by the Council of People's Commissars, which was the executive body. It was the Council of People's Commissars who determined the policy. The most important laws (decrees) of the first post-revolutionary years were adopted by the Council of People's Commissars or even left the pen of one person - V.I. Lenin, head of government, leader of the Communist Party. Congresses of Soviets met only to highlight certain decisions, to legitimize them. There was a merging of the party (Bolshevik) and Soviet apparatuses. The decision-making prerogative very soon passed to the party organs.

The ideals of Soviet democracy, deeply rooted in the public consciousness of the masses, were used to eliminate Western-style forms of democracy: a multi-party system, elements of parliamentary separation of powers, and the foundations of civil society.

The process of destruction is especially clearly seen in the example of the elimination of the multi-party system, the most important achievement in the democratization of Russia, the creation of civil society from the middle of the 19th century. The destruction of the multi-party system began immediately after the Bolsheviks came to power. First of all, supporters of the Western choice - the Cadets Party and those who supported it - were defeated. Already on October 27, 1917, the Cadets were outlawed. The ban applied not only to the party itself, but also to liberal ideas in general. The definition of "Kadet", whatever it refers to, entailed the use of harsh measures on the part of the Bolsheviks. The part of society that advocated development along the European lines was deprived of leaders and opportunities to express their point of view. A significant part of the intelligentsia fell under the blow.

The fate of the Menshevik and Socialist-Revolutionary parties abruptly went downhill with the dispersal of the Constituent Assembly. Already in the spring of 1918, the term “social traitors” was used in the Soviet press in relation to the Mensheviks, they were accused of direct complicity with internal counter-revolution and intervention. In fact, the Mensheviks strove to take a position of medium strength, they condemned the intervention as interference in the internal affairs of Russia. The Socialist-Revolutionaries and Mensheviks still tried to work in the Soviets, took part in the meetings of the III and IV Congresses of Soviets, and sharply criticized the Bolshevik policy. On June 14, 1918, a decree was adopted on the exclusion from the All-Russian Central Executive Committee and the Soviets of all levels of representatives of the Mensheviks and Socialist-Revolutionaries as counter-revolutionary parties. This meant that these parties were outlawed. By this ban, the Bolsheviks decisively broke with the socialist parties.

The Bolsheviks, building a system of power, relied on the Left Socialist-Revolutionaries, who supported them at the time of taking power, had influence in the All-Russian Central Executive Committee and the Soviets, and were part of the government. The cooperation of the Left SRs with the Bolsheviks was not without friction. The most acute and open disagreements between them manifested themselves over the Brest Peace: the PLSR (Left Socialist-Revolutionaries), like the “Left Communists” in the Bolshevik Party kov, insisted on the introduction of a revolutionary war. After the Fourth Extraordinary Congress of Soviets ratified the peace treaty with Germany, the Left Social Revolutionaries withdrew from the government. Thus ended the short cooperation of the Left SRs with the Bolsheviks in the government. The situation worsened in the spring and especially in the summer of 1918, when the Bolsheviks, despite the protests of the Left Socialist-Revolutionaries, passed through the All-Russian Central Executive Committee decrees on food dictatorship and on committees of the poor.

The faction of the Left Socialist-Revolutionaries at the Fifth All-Russian Congress of Soviets, which included party leaders, was arrested during a meeting at the Bolshoi Theater. Already on July 7, mass arrests of the Left SRs began. Representatives of this party were excluded from the local Soviets. Immediately after July, the Bolsheviks did not formally refuse to work together with the Left SRs. However, the conditions that they put forward in this case (denunciation of the course of their Central Committee, personal subscription of loyalty, etc.) were unacceptable to many who had not lost the concept of party honor. By the end of July, the PLSR had lost all its positions in the government of the country. The last major party left the political arena.2

Under these conditions, the disintegration of the party unfolded. In September 1918, the party of populist communists and the party of revolutionary communism left it.

Some leaders of the Left SRs in 1918-1919 joined the RCP(b). Nevertheless, the defeated party of the Left SRs continued to exist in the form of small groups. They finally left the political scene in 1923.

Thus, already in the summer of 1918, only fragments of the multi-party system of Russia remained: weak groups, some isolated organizations. During the civil war, the Bolsheviks legalized the Mensheviks (November 1918), the Right Socialist Revolutionaries (March 1919). However, they were unable to fully recover as parties. And the Left Socialist-Revolutionaries did not even receive such a favor.

The new social system received a legal basis for its existence and strengthening. At the V All-Russian Congress of Soviets (July 1918) the Constitution of the RSFSR was adopted. Initially, the commission of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee for the preparation of the Constitution included, along with the Bolsheviks, representatives of the Left Socialist-Revolutionaries and Maximalists, but they were unable to influence its content. The final text of the fundamental law of Soviet Russia was drawn up by a commission of the Central Committee of the RCP (b), chaired by V.I. Lenin. This Constitution meant a colossal setback in the field of democracy, especially in comparison with 1917, when, under the conditions of the revolution, Russia became the freest country in the world. Now the dictatorship of the Bolshevik Party was legally fixed. This is precisely what was hidden behind the formula "dictatorship of the proletariat in the form of the Republic of Soviets."

Formally, the text of the Constitution contained all the rights generally accepted for democratic countries. But in fact, not only were all achievements in the field of democracy eliminated, but the channels for the legal existence of political pluralism and the functioning of civil society were also blocked. One of the most important democratic achievements of the 1917 revolution - universal suffrage, which put Russia ahead even in comparison with Western countries, was abolished.

The economically independent classes and strata, the so-called "non-working groups", were deprived of the right to vote, for whom, obviously, the new social system was as unacceptable as they were for it. The suffrage was presented only to workers, soldiers, peasants and Cossacks, "not using hired labor for the purpose of making a profit" (upon reaching the age of 18).

In accordance with the Constitution of the RSFSR of 1918, local authorities could, at their own discretion, expand the circle of people deprived of their rights (disenfranchised) at the expense of persons with a "suspicious" social and political origin. This opened up opportunities for boundless arbitrariness in a tough dictatorship. Elections to the Soviets were multistage. The population directly elected only city and village councils. All the rest - through a multi-stage system.

Rights and freedoms of citizens: freedom of speech, unions, assembly, conscience, press, etc. - were provided only to those segments of the population who were interested in the new social system, since they could not exist independently of it. It was practically impossible for these citizens to realize the proclaimed freedoms. can. What does freedom of the press and speech mean for an illiterate or semi-literate population? This is an empty sound. And those who could use this right were deprived of it.

But most importantly, the Constitution proclaimed the transfer of the main means of production to the ownership of the peoples represented by the state, "the complete elimination of the division of society into classes, the establishment of a socialist organization of labor." This meant: the process of eliminating the class of owners, market structures, everything that represented the Western type, as well as the process of total nationalization of society, received a legislative basis. Thus, in the Soviet camp, the forces that are commonly called red were formed. Around the Bolshevik Party, which subjugated the Soviets and formed the power structures, layers rallied, which formed the social basis of this system at the first stage.

Conclusion

white movement democracy ideology

The ideology and organizational structure of the White movement became a unifying basis for the diverse social and political forces of the country that did not recognize the power of the Bolsheviks. The socio-political support of the White movement, in turn, partly contributed to its transformation from a partisan struggle of several thousand volunteers into an organized force fighting on four fronts in order to eliminate Bolshevism and create conditions for the subsequent choice by the people of Russia of their future path. At the same time, the landlord-bourgeois political organizations sought to equip the White movement with a specific political program based on the "patriotic" idea of "state, national revival." This idea, according to the plan of the ideologists and politicians of anti-Bolshevism, was to successfully compete with the internationalist ideology of Bolshevism, which was declared "anti-patriotic". In reality, however, "white patriotism" often turned into the unbridled egoism of the overthrown classes, and in practice it meant the restoration of the tsarist landowner-bourgeois power in Russia with some modifications that were dictated by historical development and irreversible revolutionary shifts.

On the other hand, attempts to involve in the management of the occupied territories well-known political and state figures of the country in the past, who are ready to refuse to follow their party and other principles that are not related to the restoration of the state during the struggle, have not been successful.

Bibliography

Tutoring

Need help learning a topic?

Our experts will advise or provide tutoring services on topics of interest to you.
Submit an application indicating the topic right now to find out about the possibility of obtaining a consultation.

In the civil war against the Bolsheviks came a variety of forces. They were Cossacks, nationalists, democrats, monarchists. All of them, despite their differences, served the White cause. Defeated, the leaders of the anti-Soviet forces either died or were able to emigrate.

Alexander Kolchak

Although the resistance to the Bolsheviks never became fully united, it was Alexander Vasilyevich Kolchak (1874-1920) who is considered by many historians to be the main figure of the White movement. He was a professional soldier and served in the Navy. In peacetime, Kolchak became famous as a polar explorer and oceanographer.

Like other military personnel, Alexander Vasilyevich Kolchak gained rich experience during the Japanese campaign and the First World War. With the coming to power of the Provisional Government, he briefly emigrated to the United States. When news of the Bolshevik coup came from his homeland, Kolchak returned to Russia.

The admiral arrived in Siberian Omsk, where the Socialist-Revolutionary government made him Minister of War. In 1918, the officers made a coup, and Kolchak was named the Supreme Ruler of Russia. Other leaders of the White movement did not then have such large forces as Alexander Vasilyevich (he had a 150,000-strong army at his disposal).

In the territory under his control, Kolchak restored the legislation of the Russian Empire. Moving from Siberia to the west, the army of the Supreme Ruler of Russia advanced to the Volga region. At the peak of their success, the Whites were already approaching Kazan. Kolchak tried to pull over as many Bolshevik forces as possible in order to clear Denikin's road to Moscow.

In the second half of 1919 the Red Army launched a massive offensive. The Whites retreated farther and farther to Siberia. Foreign allies (Czechoslovak Corps) handed over Kolchak, who was traveling east on a train, to the Socialist-Revolutionaries. The admiral was shot in Irkutsk in February 1920.

Anton Denikin

If in the east of Russia Kolchak was at the head of the White Army, then in the south Anton Ivanovich Denikin (1872-1947) was the key commander for a long time. Born in Poland, he went to study in the capital and became a staff officer.

Then Denikin served on the border with Austria. He spent the First World War in the army of Brusilov, participated in the famous breakthrough and operation in Galicia. The provisional government briefly made Anton Ivanovich commander of the Southwestern Front. Denikin supported the Kornilov rebellion. After the failure of the coup, the lieutenant-general was imprisoned for some time (Bykhov's seat).

Released in November 1917, Denikin began to support the White Cause. Together with Generals Kornilov and Alekseev, he created (and then single-handedly led) the Volunteer Army, which became the backbone of resistance to the Bolsheviks in southern Russia. It was on Denikin that the Entente countries staked, declaring war on Soviet power after its separate peace with Germany.

For some time, Denikin was in conflict with the Don chieftain Peter Krasnov. Under the pressure of the allies, he submitted to Anton Ivanovich. In January 1919, Denikin became the commander-in-chief of the All-Union Socialist Republic of Russia - the Armed Forces of the South of Russia. His army cleared the Kuban, the Don region, Tsaritsyn, Donbass, Kharkov from the Bolsheviks. Denikin's offensive bogged down in Central Russia.

VSYUR retreated to Novocherkassk. From there, Denikin moved to the Crimea, where in April 1920, under pressure from opponents, he transferred his powers to Pyotr Wrangel. This was followed by a trip to Europe. In exile, the general wrote a memoir, Essays on Russian Troubles, in which he tried to answer the question of why the White movement was defeated. In the civil war, Anton Ivanovich blamed only the Bolsheviks. He refused to support Hitler and was critical of the collaborators. After the defeat of the Third Reich, Denikin changed his place of residence and moved to the United States, where he died in 1947.

Lavr Kornilov

The organizer of the unsuccessful coup, Lavr Georgievich Kornilov (1870-1918), was born into the family of a Cossack officer, which predetermined his military career. As a scout, he served in Persia, Afghanistan and India. In the war, having been captured by the Austrians, the officer fled to his homeland.

At first, Lavr Georgievich Kornilov supported the Provisional Government. He considered the left to be the main enemies of Russia. Being a supporter of strong power, he began to prepare an anti-government speech. His campaign against Petrograd failed. Kornilov, along with his supporters, was arrested.

With the onset of the October Revolution, the general was released. He became the first commander in chief of the Volunteer Army in southern Russia. In February 1918, Kornilov organized the First Kuban to Yekaterinodar. This operation has become legendary. All the leaders of the White movement in the future tried to be equal to the pioneers. Kornilov died tragically during the shelling of Yekaterinodar.

Nikolai Yudenich

General Nikolai Nikolaevich Yudenich (1862-1933) was one of Russia's most successful military leaders in the war against Germany and its allies. He led the headquarters of the Caucasian army during its battles with the Ottoman Empire. Having come to power, Kerensky dismissed the military leader.

With the onset of the October Revolution, Nikolai Nikolaevich Yudenich lived illegally in Petrograd for some time. At the beginning of 1919 he moved to Finland with forged documents. The Russian Committee, which met in Helsinki, proclaimed him commander-in-chief.

Yudenich established a relationship with Alexander Kolchak. Having coordinated his actions with the admiral, Nikolai Nikolayevich unsuccessfully tried to enlist the support of the Entente and Mannerheim. In the summer of 1919, he received the portfolio of minister of war in the so-called Northwestern government formed in Reval.

In autumn, Yudenich organized a campaign against Petrograd. Basically, the White movement in the civil war operated on the outskirts of the country. Yudenich's army, on the contrary, tried to liberate the capital (as a result, the Bolshevik government moved to Moscow). She occupied Tsarskoe Selo, Gatchina and went to the Pulkovo Heights. Trotsky was able to transfer reinforcements to Petrograd by rail, which nullified all attempts by the whites to get the city.

By the end of 1919, Yudenich retreated to Estonia. A few months later he emigrated. The general spent some time in London, where he was visited by Winston Churchill. Getting used to defeat, Yudenich settled in France and retired from politics. He died in Cannes from pulmonary tuberculosis.

Alexey Kaledin

When the October Revolution broke out, Alexei Maksimovich Kaledin (1861-1918) was the chieftain of the Don army. He was elected to this post a few months before the events in Petrograd. In the Cossack cities, primarily in Rostov, sympathy for the socialists was strong. Ataman, on the contrary, considered the Bolshevik coup to be criminal. Having received disturbing news from Petrograd, he defeated the Soviets in the Donskoy Host Region.

Alexei Maksimovich Kaledin acted from Novocherkassk. In November, another white general, Mikhail Alekseev, arrived there. Meanwhile, the Cossacks in their mass hesitated. Many front-line soldiers, tired of the war, responded vividly to the slogans of the Bolsheviks. Others were neutral towards the Leninist government. Almost no one felt hostility towards the socialists.

Having lost hope of restoring contact with the overthrown Provisional Government, Kaledin took decisive steps. He declared independence. In response, the Rostov Bolsheviks revolted. Ataman, having enlisted the support of Alekseev, suppressed this speech. First blood was shed on the Don.

At the end of 1917, Kaledin gave the green light to the creation of the anti-Bolshevik Volunteer Army. Two parallel forces appeared in Rostov. On the one hand, it was the Volunteer generals, on the other - local Cossacks. The latter increasingly sympathized with the Bolsheviks. In December, the Red Army occupied the Donbass and Taganrog. The Cossack units, meanwhile, finally decomposed. Realizing that his own subordinates did not want to fight the Soviet regime, the ataman committed suicide.

Ataman Krasnov

After Kaledin's death, the Cossacks did not long sympathize with the Bolsheviks. When yesterday's front-line soldiers were established on the Don, they quickly hated the Reds. Already in May 1918, an uprising broke out on the Don.

Pyotr Krasnov (1869-1947) became the new chieftain of the Don Cossacks. During the war with Germany and Austria, he, like many other white generals, participated in the glorious. The military always treated the Bolsheviks with disgust. It was he who, on the orders of Kerensky, tried to recapture Petrograd from Lenin's supporters when the October Revolution had just taken place. A small detachment of Krasnov occupied Tsarskoe Selo and Gatchina, but soon the Bolsheviks surrounded and disarmed it.

After the first failure, Peter Krasnov was able to move to the Don. Having become the ataman of the anti-Soviet Cossacks, he refused to obey Denikin and tried to pursue an independent policy. In particular, Krasnov established friendly relations with the Germans.

Only when the surrender was announced in Berlin did the isolated ataman submit to Denikin. The Commander-in-Chief of the Volunteer Army did not long tolerate a dubious ally. In February 1919, under pressure from Denikin, Krasnov left for Yudenich's army in Estonia. From there he emigrated to Europe.

Like many leaders of the White movement, who found themselves in exile, the former Cossack ataman dreamed of revenge. Hatred of the Bolsheviks pushed him to support Hitler. The Germans made Krasnov the head of the Cossacks in the occupied Russian territories. After the defeat of the Third Reich, the British extradited Pyotr Nikolaevich to the USSR. In the Soviet Union, he was tried and sentenced to capital punishment. Krasnov was executed.

Ivan Romanovsky

The military leader Ivan Pavlovich Romanovsky (1877-1920) in the tsarist era was a participant in the war with Japan and Germany. In 1917, he supported the speech of Kornilov and, together with Denikin, served his arrest in the city of Bykhov. Having moved to the Don, Romanovsky participated in the formation of the first organized anti-Bolshevik detachments.

The general was appointed Denikin's deputy and led his headquarters. It is believed that Romanovsky had a great influence on his boss. In his will, Denikin even named Ivan Pavlovich his successor in the event of an unforeseen death.

Due to his directness, Romanovsky was in conflict with many other military leaders in the Dobrarmia, and then in the All-Union Socialist Republic. The white movement in Russia treated him ambiguously. When Denikin was replaced by Wrangel, Romanovsky left all his posts and left for Istanbul. In the same city, he was killed by lieutenant Mstislav Kharuzin. The shooter, who also served in the White Army, explained his action by the fact that he blamed Romanovsky for the defeat of the All-Russian Union of Socialist Rights in the civil war.

Sergey Markov

In the Volunteer Army, Sergei Leonidovich Markov (1878-1918) became a cult hero. A regiment and colored military units were named after him. Markov became known for his tactical talent and his own bravery, which he demonstrated in every battle with the Red Army. Members of the White movement treated the memory of this general with particular trepidation.

The military biography of Markov in the tsarist era was typical for an officer of that time. He participated in the Japanese campaign. On the German front, he commanded an infantry regiment, then became the head of the headquarters of several fronts. In the summer of 1917, Markov supported the Kornilov rebellion and, along with other future white generals, was under arrest in Bykhov.

At the beginning of the civil war, the military moved to the south of Russia. He was one of the founders of the Volunteer Army. Markov made a great contribution to the White cause in the First Kuban campaign. On the night of April 16, 1918, with a small detachment of volunteers, he captured Medvedovka, an important railway station, where the volunteers destroyed a Soviet armored train, and then escaped from the encirclement and escaped persecution. The result of the battle was the salvation of Denikin's army, which had just made an unsuccessful assault on Yekaterinodar and was on the verge of defeat.

Markov's feat made him a hero for the Whites and a sworn enemy for the Reds. Two months later, the talented general took part in the Second Kuban Campaign. Near the town of Shablievka, its units ran into superior enemy forces. At a fateful moment for himself, Markov found himself in an open place, where he equipped an observation post. Fire was opened on the position from a Red Army armored train. A grenade exploded near Sergei Leonidovich, which inflicted a mortal wound on him. A few hours later, on June 26, 1918, the military man died.

Pyotr Wrangel

(1878-1928), also known as the Black Baron, came from a noble family with Baltic German roots. Before joining the military, he received an engineering education. The craving for military service, however, prevailed, and Peter went to study as a cavalryman.

Wrangel's debut campaign was the war with Japan. During the First World War, he served in the Horse Guards. He distinguished himself by several exploits, for example, by capturing a German battery. Once on the Southwestern Front, the officer took part in the famous Brusilov breakthrough.

During the days of the February Revolution, Pyotr Nikolaevich called for troops to be sent to Petrograd. For this, the Provisional Government removed him from service. The Black Baron moved to a dacha in the Crimea, where he was arrested by the Bolsheviks. The nobleman managed to escape only thanks to the pleas of his own wife.

As for an aristocrat and supporter of the monarchy, for Wrangel the White Idea was a non-alternative position during the years of the civil war. He joined Denikin. The commander served in the Caucasian army, led the capture of Tsaritsyn. After the defeats of the White Army during the march on Moscow, Wrangel began to criticize his boss Denikin. The conflict led to the general's temporary departure to Istanbul.

Soon Pyotr Nikolaevich returned to Russia. In the spring of 1920, he was elected commander-in-chief of the Russian army. Crimea became its key base. The peninsula turned out to be the last white bastion of the civil war. Wrangel's army repulsed several attacks of the Bolsheviks, but in the end was defeated.

In exile, the Black Baron lived in Belgrade. He created and headed the ROVS - the Russian All-Military Union, then transferring these powers to one of the Grand Dukes, Nikolai Nikolayevich. Shortly before his death, working as an engineer, Pyotr Wrangel moved to Brussels. There he died suddenly of tuberculosis in 1928.

Andrey Shkuro

Andrei Grigoryevich Shkuro (1887-1947) was a native Kuban Cossack. In his youth, he went on a gold-digging expedition to Siberia. In the war with Kaiser's Germany, Shkuro created a partisan detachment, nicknamed the "Wolf Hundred" for its prowess.

In October 1917, the Cossack was elected to the Kuban Regional Rada. Being a monarchist by conviction, he reacted negatively to the news about the coming to power of the Bolsheviks. Shkuro began to fight the Red Commissars when many leaders of the White movement had not yet had time to make themselves known. In July 1918, Andrei Grigoryevich with his detachment expelled the Bolsheviks from Stavropol.

In the fall, the Cossack became the head of the 1st Officer Kislovodsk Regiment, then the Caucasian Cavalry Division. Shkuro's boss was Anton Ivanovich Denikin. In Ukraine, the military defeated the detachment of Nestor Makhno. Then he took part in a campaign against Moscow. Shkuro fought for Kharkov and Voronezh. In this city, his campaign bogged down.

Retreating from the army of Budyonny, the lieutenant general reached Novorossiysk. From there he sailed to the Crimea. In the army of Wrangel, Shkuro did not take root due to a conflict with the Black Baron. As a result, the white commander ended up in exile even before the complete victory of the Red Army.

Shkuro lived in Paris and Yugoslavia. When World War II began, he, like Krasnov, supported the Nazis in their fight against the Bolsheviks. Shkuro was an SS Gruppenführer and in this capacity fought with the Yugoslav partisans. After the defeat of the Third Reich, he tried to break into the territory occupied by the British. In Linz, Austria, the British handed over Shkuro along with many other officers. The white commander was tried together with Peter Krasnov and sentenced to death.

It is very difficult to reconcile the “whites” and “reds” in our history. Every position has its own truth. After all, only 100 years ago they fought for it. The struggle was fierce, brother went to brother, father to son. For some, the heroes of Budennov will be the First Cavalry, for others, the volunteers of Kappel. Only those who, hiding behind their position on the Civil War, are wrong, they are trying to erase a whole piece of Russian history from the past. Whoever draws too far-reaching conclusions about the "anti-people character" of the Bolshevik government, denies the entire Soviet era, all its accomplishments, and in the end slides into outright Russophobia.

***
Civil war in Russia - armed confrontation in 1917-1922. between various political, ethnic, social groups and state formations on the territory of the former Russian Empire, which followed the coming to power of the Bolsheviks as a result of the October Revolution of 1917. The Civil War was the result of a revolutionary crisis that struck Russia at the beginning of the 20th century, which began with the revolution of 1905-1907, aggravated during the World War, economic ruin, and a deep social, national, political and ideological split in Russian society. The apogee of this split was a fierce war on a national scale between the Soviet and anti-Bolshevik armed forces. The civil war ended with the victory of the Bolsheviks.

The main struggle for power during the Civil War was carried out between the armed formations of the Bolsheviks and their supporters (Red Guard and Red Army) on the one hand and the armed formations of the White Movement (White Army) on the other, which was reflected in the stable naming of the main parties to the conflict "Red ' and 'white'.

For the Bolsheviks, who relied primarily on the organized industrial proletariat, the suppression of the resistance of their opponents was the only way to maintain power in a peasant country. For many participants in the White movement - the officers, the Cossacks, the intelligentsia, the landowners, the bourgeoisie, the bureaucracy and the clergy - the armed resistance to the Bolsheviks was aimed at returning the lost power and restoring their socio-economic rights and privileges. All these groups were the pinnacle of the counter-revolution, its organizers and inspirers. Officers and the rural bourgeoisie created the first cadres of white troops.

The decisive factor in the course of the Civil War was the position of the peasantry, which accounted for more than 80% of the population, which ranged from passive waiting to active armed struggle. The fluctuations of the peasantry, reacting in this way to the policy of the Bolshevik government and the dictatorships of the white generals, radically changed the balance of power and, ultimately, predetermined the outcome of the war. First of all, we are certainly talking about the middle peasantry. In some areas (the Volga region, Siberia), these fluctuations raised the Socialist-Revolutionaries and Mensheviks to power, and sometimes contributed to the advancement of the White Guards deep into Soviet territory. However, with the course of the Civil War, the middle peasantry leaned towards Soviet power. The middle peasants saw from experience that the transfer of power to the Socialist-Revolutionaries and Mensheviks inevitably leads to an undisguised general dictatorship, which, in turn, inevitably leads to the return of the landowners and the restoration of pre-revolutionary relations. The strength of the swings of the middle peasants in the direction of Soviet power was especially manifested in the combat readiness of the White and Red armies. White armies were essentially combat-ready only as long as they were more or less homogeneous in terms of class. When, as the front expanded and moved forward, the White Guards resorted to mobilizing the peasantry, they inevitably lost their combat capability and fell apart. And vice versa, the Red Army was constantly strengthened, and the mobilized middle peasant masses of the countryside staunchly defended Soviet power from the counter-revolution.

The basis of the counter-revolution in the countryside was the kulaks, especially after the organization of the Kombeds and the beginning of a decisive struggle for grain. The kulaks were only interested in liquidating large landlord farms as competitors in the exploitation of the poor and middle peasants, whose departure opened wide prospects for the kulaks. The struggle of the kulaks against the proletarian revolution took place both in the form of participation in the White Guard armies, and in the form of organizing their own detachments, and in the form of a broad insurrectionary movement in the rear of the revolution under various national, class, religious, up to anarchist, slogans. A characteristic feature of the Civil War was the willingness of all its participants to widely use violence to achieve their political goals (see "Red Terror" and "White Terror")

An integral part of the Civil War was the armed struggle of the national outskirts of the former Russian Empire for their independence and the insurrectionary movement of the general population against the troops of the main warring parties - the "red" and "white". Attempts to declare independence were rebuffed both by the "whites", who fought for a "united and indivisible Russia", and by the "reds", who saw the growth of nationalism as a threat to the gains of the revolution.

The civil war unfolded under conditions of foreign military intervention and was accompanied by military operations on the territory of the former Russian Empire, both by the troops of the countries of the Quadruple Alliance and the troops of the Entente countries. The motives for the active intervention of the leading Western powers were the realization of their own economic and political interests in Russia and assistance to the whites in order to eliminate the Bolshevik power. Although the possibilities of the interventionists were limited by the socio-economic crisis and political struggle in the Western countries themselves, the intervention and material assistance to the white armies significantly influenced the course of the war.

The civil war was fought not only on the territory of the former Russian Empire, but also on the territory of neighboring states - Iran (Anzelian operation), Mongolia and China.

Arrest of the emperor and his family. Nicholas II with his wife in Alexander Park. Tsarskoye Selo. May 1917

Arrest of the emperor and his family. Daughters of Nicholas II and his son Alexei. May 1917

Dinner of the Red Army at the fire. 1919

Armored train of the Red Army. 1918

Bulla Viktor Karlovich

Civil War refugees
1919

Distribution of bread for 38 wounded Red Army soldiers. 1918

Red squad. 1919

Ukrainian front.

Exhibition of trophies of the Civil War near the Kremlin, dedicated to the II Congress of the Communist International

Civil War. Eastern front. Armored train of the 6th regiment of the Czechoslovak Corps. Attack on Maryanovka. June 1918

Steinberg Yakov Vladimirovich

Red commanders of the regiment of the rural poor. 1918

Soldiers of the First Cavalry Army of Budyonny at a rally
January 1920

Otsup Petr Adolfovich

Funeral of victims of the February Revolution
March 1917

July events in Petrograd. Soldiers of the Scooter Regiment, who arrived from the front to suppress the rebellion. July 1917

Work on the site of a train wreck after an anarchist attack. January 1920

Red commander in the new office. January 1920

Commander-in-Chief Lavr Kornilov. 1917

Chairman of the Provisional Government Alexander Kerensky. 1917

Commander of the 25th Rifle Division of the Red Army Vasily Chapaev (right) and commander Sergei Zakharov. 1918

Sound recording of Vladimir Lenin's speech in the Kremlin. 1919

Vladimir Lenin in Smolny at a meeting of the Council of People's Commissars. January 1918

February Revolution. Checking documents on Nevsky Prospekt
February 1917

Fraternization of the soldiers of General Lavr Kornilov with the troops of the Provisional Government. 1 - 30 August 1917

Steinberg Yakov Vladimirovich

Military intervention in Soviet Russia. The command structure of the White Army units with representatives of foreign troops

Station in Yekaterinburg after the capture of the city by parts of the Siberian army and the Czechoslovak corps. 1918

Demolition of the monument to Alexander III near the Cathedral of Christ the Savior

Political workers at the staff car. Western front. Voronezh direction

Military portrait

Date of shooting: 1917 - 1919

In the hospital laundry. 1919

Ukrainian front.

Sisters of mercy of the Kashirin partisan detachment. Evdokia Aleksandrovna Davydova and Taisiya Petrovna Kuznetsova. 1919

Detachments of the Red Cossacks Nikolai and Ivan Kashirin in the summer of 1918 became part of the consolidated South Ural partisan detachment of Vasily Blucher, who raided the mountains of the Southern Urals. Having united near Kungur in September 1918 with units of the Red Army, the partisans fought as part of the troops of the 3rd Army of the Eastern Front. After the reorganization in January 1920, these troops became known as the Army of Labor, the purpose of which was to restore the national economy of the Chelyabinsk province.

Red commander Anton Boliznyuk, wounded thirteen times

Mikhail Tukhachevsky

Grigory Kotovsky
1919

At the entrance to the building of the Smolny Institute - the headquarters of the Bolsheviks during the October Revolution. 1917

Medical examination of workers mobilized into the Red Army. 1918

On the boat "Voronezh"

Red Army soldiers in the city liberated from the whites. 1919

Overcoats of the 1918 model, which came into use during the civil war, originally in the army of Budyonny, were preserved with minor changes until the military reform of 1939. The machine gun "Maxim" is mounted on the cart.

July events in Petrograd. The funeral of the Cossacks who died during the suppression of the rebellion. 1917

Pavel Dybenko and Nestor Makhno. November - December 1918

Employees of the supply department of the Red Army

Koba / Joseph Stalin. 1918

On May 29, 1918, the Council of People's Commissars of the RSFSR appointed Joseph Stalin in charge in the south of Russia and sent him as an extraordinary representative of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee for the procurement of grain from the North Caucasus to industrial centers.

The defense of Tsaritsyn is a military campaign of the "red" troops against the "white" troops for control of the city of Tsaritsyn during the Russian Civil War.

People's Commissar for Military and Naval Affairs of the RSFSR Lev Trotsky greets soldiers near Petrograd
1919

Commander of the Armed Forces of the South of Russia, General Anton Denikin and Ataman of the Great Don Army Afrikan Bogaevsky at a solemn prayer service on the occasion of the liberation of the Don from the troops of the Red Army
June - August 1919

General Radola Gaida and Admiral Alexander Kolchak (left to right) with officers of the White Army
1919

Alexander Ilyich Dutov - ataman of the Orenburg Cossack army

In 1918, Alexander Dutov (1864-1921) declared the new government criminal and illegal, organized armed Cossack squads, which became the base of the Orenburg (southwestern) army. Most of the White Cossacks were in this army. For the first time the name of Dutov became known in August 1917, when he was an active participant in the Kornilov rebellion. After that, Dutov was sent by the Provisional Government to the Orenburg province, where in the fall he fortified himself in Troitsk and Verkhneuralsk. His power lasted until April 1918.

homeless children
1920s

Soshalsky Georgy Nikolaevich

Homeless children transport the city archive. 1920s