(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
Tag: Reform
Leon Trotsky
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Leon Trotsky, born November 7th, 1879 in Ukraine under his given name Lev Davidovich Bronstein. The name change occurred after he had been exiled to Siberia in 1898 for being one of the founding members of the South Russia Worker’s Union, an early Russian Marxist party. He remained in exile in Siberia from … Continue reading Leon Trotsky →
April of Discontent
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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 →
Order No. 1
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Russia has always had a massive army. It currently has about 1,000,000 active members with another 2.5 million in reserve. Back during the February Revolution, however, it was even bigger. The Imperial Russian Army was roughly seven and a half million strong in 1917, most of whom were peasants. This huge organization underwent massive changes … Continue reading Order No. 1
The March of the Red Guard
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The formation of the Red Guard was critical part of the success and preservation of the new soviet government. The idea of a standing army however was very contradictory to the views of Lenin and his fellow Bolsheviks, who viewed a standing an army as the feature of a “bourgeois” state. They soon realized However …
I Want You for Red Army
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This poster has hung on my brother’s wall for as long as I can remember. Every time I see it I think: America, Army, and Service to Nation; Never have I thought of Russia, until today. What I find to be so perplexing about this poster is that it is modeled after the posters of …
