Tag: class tensions

Making Red Warriors out of Peasants

(photo) “ I, son of the laboring people, citizen of the Soviet Republic, assume the title of warrior in the Worker-Peasant Army” (Solemn Oath on Induction into the Worker-Peasant Red Army). Lenin and his Comrades wholeheartedly believed that a general standing Army was detrimental and only a characteristic of conformist nations. Therefore, the Imperial Russian Army … Continue reading Making Red Warriors out of Peasants

April of Discontent

It would seem intuitive perhaps, that the revolution which led to the establishment of Communism in Russia happened with a bang, not a whimper. But when Lenin in his April Theses called for “all power to the soviets” there was no great conflagration–the Red Guards seized key government buildings and infrastructure, Kerensky fled, and the … Continue reading April of Discontent

Dissent Among the Ranks

Photo:  http://www.dhr.history.vt.edu/modules/eu/mod03_1917/evidence_detail_20.html Soldiers with a sign saying Down with the Monarchy. The Great War for the Russians may have started out as simply a decision that had to me be made in order to be a prominent power but by 1917 there had been enough signs to show it had to end. One of the […]

Like Bread, They Rise.

Born in an era of shortage and turmoil was a revolutionary peasantry, for when once they were well fed, now they lack even their bread. Due to the breakout of the first World War, the economy of the Russian Empire began to falter. Cut off from imports on which the country to heavily relied brought Russia …

Continue reading Like Bread, They Rise.