After the October Revolution of 1917 (this is what Soviet historiographers called this event until the end of the thirties), Marxism became the dominant ideology in almost the entire territory of the former Russian Empire. It immediately became clear that not all the provisions of this theory, declared science, have immediate practical value. In particular, Karl Marx declared the uselessness of the armed forces in the country of victorious socialism. To protect the frontiers, in his opinion, it was quite enough to simply arm the proletarians, and they would somehow do it themselves…
Down with the army
At first it was like that. After the publication of the decree "On Peace", the Bolsheviks abolished the army, and the war was stopped unilaterally, which made the former opponents, Austria-Hungary and Germany, unspeakably happy. Soon, again, it turned out that these actions were hasty, and the young Soviet republic had more than enough enemies, and there was no one to defend it.
"War Morde Commander" and its creators
The new defense department was not at first called the Workers 'and Peasants' Red Army(decoding of the Red Army), and much easier - by the Committee on Maritime Affairs (the notorious "com on military morde"). The leaders of this department - Krylenko, Dybenko and Antonov-Ovsienko - were uneducated people, but resourceful. Their further fate, as well as the very creator of the Red Army Comrade. L. D. Trotsky, historians interpreted ambiguously. At first they were declared heroes, although from the article by V. I. Lenin “A hard but necessary lesson” (24.02.1918) one can understand that some of them screwed up badly. Then they were shot or destroyed in other ways, but later.
Creation of the Workers 'and Peasants' Red Army
At the beginning of 1918, things at the fronts became quite gloomy. The socialist fatherland was in danger, which was announced in the corresponding appeal of February 22. The next day, the Workers' and Peasants' Red Army was created, at least on paper. Less than a month later, L. D. Trotsky, who became People's Commissar of the Military Department and Chairman of the RVS (Revolutionary Military Council), realized that the situation could be rectified only by applying the most stringent measures. There were not enough volunteers to fight for the power of the councils, and there was no one to lead them at all.
The Red Guard formations looked more like peasant gangs than regular troops. Without the involvement of the tsarist military experts (officers), it was practically impossible to set things right, and these people seemed extremely unreliable in the class sense. Then Trotsky, with his characteristic resourcefulness, came up with the idea of placing a commissar next to each competent commander. Mauser to "control".
Deciphering the Red Army, like the abbreviation itself, was hard for the Bolshevik leaders. Some of them did not pronounce the letter "r" well, and those who could master it still stumbled from time to time. This did not prevent in the future many streets in large cities from being named in honor of the 10th anniversary, and later the 20th anniversary of the Red Army.
And, of course, the “workers' and peasants'” could not do without forced mobilization, as well as without the most severe measures to improve discipline. The decoding of the Red Army indicated the right of the proletarians to defend the socialist fatherland. At the same time, they should remember the inevitability of punishment for any attempts to evade this duty.
Differences between the SA and the Red Army
Deciphering the Red Army as the Workers 'and Peasants' Red Army retained its name until 1946, having gone through very painful stages in the development of the Armed Forces of the USSR, defeat and victory. Having become Soviet, it has retained many traditions that have their origins in the era of the Civil and Great Patriotic Wars. The institution of military commissars (political officers) either gained strength or weakened depending on the political and strategic situation on the fronts. The tasks that were set for the Red Army changed, as did its military doctrine.
Ultimately, internationalism, which assumed an imminent world revolution, was eventually replaced by a special Soviet patriotism. The military personnel of the USSR were inspired by the idea that the working people of capitalist countries had no homeland, only the happy inhabitants of the Soviet republics and other "people's democratic" entities had it. It wasnot true, all people have a homeland, and not only the soldiers of the Red Army.
