Red and white terror causes, essence, consequences. There are three problems with the October Revolution: its causes, the role of German money, and the scale and motives of the Red and White Terror

Civil War in Russia in 1917, like the War of the Roses in Great Britain, divided the country into “reds” and “whites”. The Bolsheviks and supporters of the monarchical system grappled with each other, sweeping away everything in their path. Each side organized its own repressive mechanisms to combat the enemy. “Terror”: such a weighty word was used to describe all the interrogations, tortures and executions of that period, both by the Reds and the Whites. Which terror was more terrible and caused more damage to Russia? Website diletant. media talked to historians

Questions:

What terror caused the most damage to Russia during that period?

Alexander Repnikov

In my opinion, the Civil War should be assessed as a national tragedy. There was red terror and white terror, “green terror” and the terror of all kinds of gangs that became more widespread during that period. You can, of course, compare where there were more victims of terror and where there were fewer, but, it seems to me, it is more correct to evaluate this tragedy as a national one.

Leonid Mlechin

It just seems that the Reds won the Civil War and the Whites lost. If you think about it, absolutely everyone, the entire Russian people, lost, because incredible cruelty and immorality triumphed, which one way or another engulfed the whole country, and it so happened that the whole country took part in it. Thin film civilization was completely stripped away, and a huge number of people showed incredible cruelty. Trying to measure who is worse is almost impossible. It was simply a disaster for all of Russia, even bigger catastrophe than Great Patriotic War. Although they died during the Great Patriotic War more people, but the country and people did not suffer as much as happened during the Civil War.

Was it a struggle for power and territory or a meaningless class struggle?

Alexander Repnikov

For those who participated in the war, it was clearly not a meaningless struggle. These people themselves died and destroyed others, based on one or another worldview. They had their own ideas about who was friend and who was enemy, who deserved to live and who should be destroyed. In my opinion, it is important now, almost a century later, to draw a line under the Civil War.

Leonid Mlechin

You see, as a result of the events of 1917, the state, as a mechanism, a structure organizing society, collapsed and collapsed due to various reasons. So it was no longer a people or a society, we slipped somewhere into a primitive communal system, where the rifle gave birth to power, where all the rules that society created for normal life disappeared. And when they sorted things out with each other in the caves, there were no rules or morals. Russia found itself in such a terrible state, where everyone fought against each other. It is wrong to assume that the whites fought the reds and that was it. It was a war of all against all, a monstrous catastrophe.

Could the White Terror return power to the hands of anti-Bolshevik forces?

Alexander Repnikov

Anti-Bolshevik forces controlled most territories. You can talk about Kolchak’s or Denikin’s alternative and so on. There was still variability. It is clear that the greens, of course, could not win, but the reds and whites had historic chances. The difficult question is why the Reds won and not the Whites. It seems to me that the initial message in your question is not very clear, if you assume that if the whites had more “powerful” terror, they could have won. It's not just the factor of violence, repression, etc.

Leonid Mlechin

White had no chance to win for a number of reasons. Firstly, they personified the past. People tend to want something new. Secondly, in a peasant country, whites personified the previous system of land management, where the land belonged to the landowners. The peasant side rejected this. Thirdly, the whites did not have such outstanding leaders as Lenin and Trotsky were. In addition, the Bolsheviks held power in the capital.

Is it possible to contrast red and white terror?

Alexander Repnikov

There is a good film by Friedrich Ermler: “Before the Judgment of History,” where you can see a monologue by Vasily Shulgin. When they begin to tell him that the whites shed blood, Shulgin begins to list the red commanders who also shed blood, and declares: “Blood will give birth to blood.” The problem I see is that society is “locked” between the red and white alternatives. Either you are red or you are white. Butting heads together is absolutely futile. We must end this war in a hundred years.

Leonid Mlechin

Historians say that the Red Terror was worse because it was carried out government agency, but I would consider it my duty to draw attention to the fact that the terrible scale was much greater than just the terror carried out by the two largest opposing forces.

The issue of white and red terror is one of the most controversial in the history of the Civil War. In the last decade, many articles and publications have been devoted to this issue. But they, as a rule, create a one-sided idea of the “red” terror and the Bolsheviks as supposedly its ardent supporters.

After the victory of the October Revolution, the Soviet government for 8 months did not resort to judicial or extrajudicial executions of its political opponents. "Lenin condemned certain instances of lynchings against representatives of the old government (the murder by sailors of two former ministers of the Provisional Government who were in Peter and Paul Fortress, murder of the commander-in-chief in Mogilev old army General N.N. Dukhonin by soldiers, etc.)".* Until the summer of 1918, not a single political opponent of Soviet power was shot.

The Soviet government did not seek to incite a civil war and at first treated its enemies very humanely. Released on parole by the Council of People's Commissars, General P. N. Krasnov led the Cossack counter-revolution on the Don in the spring and summer of 1918, and the cadets released for the most part became active participants in the white cause. The first was white terror, which caused red in response.

Historian P. M. Spirin, back in 1968, correctly believed that in the summer of 1918 “... the bourgeoisie switched to mass and individual terror, pursuing the goal, on the one hand, to intimidate workers and peasants with numerous murders, and on the other - tear out its leaders and best activists from the ranks of the revolution."* White terror acquired a particularly large scale in the Don, Kuban, Volga region, Orenburg province, Siberia, that is, in those areas where there was a larger layer of kulaks, wealthy Cossacks, where many whites had accumulated officers. In the North and Far East, mass terror was carried out by interventionists and White Guards. Hundreds and thousands of “out-of-town” peasants who form the support of Soviet power in Cossack regions, fell at the hands of rich Cossacks. In the villages, hundreds of food contractors became victims of kulak terror. The officers hunted for communists and Soviet activists.

The chronicle of the events of the Novouzensky district of the Samara province for several days in May 1918, which is cited by L. M. Spirin, is tragic: “May 5 - the village of Aleksandrov-Gai was occupied by the Ural Cossacks, the chairman of the volost Council Chugunkov was torn to pieces in the village; many Soviet workers were shot. 6 May - the kulak congress in Novouzensk decided to shoot all the Bolsheviks. On May 9, in Aleksandrov-Gai, the Cossacks killed all the Red Army soldiers who surrendered (96 people), covered the wounded with earth in a common pit. In total, the whites shot 675 people in the village."* * Pages of history. Soviet society. M., 1989. P. 60.

The rampant white terror was accompanied by a revolt of the Socialist Revolutionaries under the leadership of Savinkov, raised on the night of July 6-7, 1918. The rebels held Yaroslavl for 16 days. Throughout the city, the White Guards were looking for party and Soviet workers and carried out reprisals against them. One of the active participants in the rebellion - former colonel B. Vesarov later wrote: “Those who fell into the hands of the rebel commissars, various kinds Soviet businessmen and their accomplices began to be taken to the yard Yaroslavl branch state bank. Bloody revenge was taking place here, they were shot without any pity."* More than 200 people were placed on a barge standing in the middle of the Volga, and were doomed to hunger and torture. When the prisoners tried to escape from the barge, they were shot at. Only on the thirteenth day did the prisoners of the floating prison manage to get off from anchor and bring the barge to the location of the Red Army troops.

Of these people, 109 remained alive. Mass terror was carried out in areas captured by the White Guards and interventionists. According to approximate data of the People's Commissar of Internal Affairs of the RSFSR, “in July-December 1918, in the territory of 13 provinces alone, the White Guards shot 22,780 people.”* * White Generals. Rostov-on-Don. 1998. P. 205.

On August 30, the former cadet of the Mikhailovsky Artillery School, “people's socialist” L. Kanegisser, on instructions from the underground group of the right Socialist Revolutionary Filonenko, shot and killed the chairman of the Petrograd Cheka, the Bolshevik M. S. Uritsky. At the same time, the Higher Military Inspectorate train crashed, in which the chairman of the Military Military Inspectorate, N.I. Podvoisky, miraculously survived. Earlier, a prominent Bolshevik, V. Volodarsky, was killed. A group of Socialist Revolutionary terrorists who arrived in Moscow after the murder of Volodarsky, under the leadership of the militant Semenov, began surveillance of V. I. Lenin. The city was divided into several sectors, each of which was assigned a terrorist executor. Among them was F. Kaplan. On August 30, she seriously wounded V.I. Lenin with two bullets. It is from this assassination attempt that the “Red Terror” should be counted.
On September 5, 1918, the Council of People's Commissars adopted a resolution that went down in history as the resolution on the Red Terror, signed by the People's Commissar of Internal Affairs G.I. Petrovsky, the People's Commissar of Justice D.I. Kursky and the head of the affairs of the Council of People's Commissars V.D. Bonch-Bruevich. It said: "Advice People's Commissars, having heard the report of the chairman of the Extraordinary Commission for Combating Counter-Revolution on the activities of this commission, finds that in this situation, ensuring the rear through terror is a direct necessity; that in order to strengthen the activities of the All-Russian Emergency Commission and introduce greater systematicity into it, it is necessary to send there possible larger number responsible party comrades; that it is necessary to secure the Soviet Republic from class enemies by isolating them in concentration camps; that all persons connected with White Guard organizations, conspiracies and rebellions are subject to execution; that it is necessary to publish the names of all those executed, as well as the reasons for applying this measure to them."* * Golinkov D. L. The collapse of the anti-Soviet underground in the USSR. Book 1. M., 1980. P. 178.

Among those repressed by the decree of September 5 were many ardent counter-revolutionaries who distinguished themselves by their cruelty during the times of tsarism. Among them are monarchists - Minister of Internal Affairs A. N. Khvostov, Director of the Police Department S. P. Beletsky, Minister of Justice I. G. Shcheglovitov, high-ranking officials of the gendarmerie and security departments. Those servants of the old regime who did not take part in counter-revolutionary actions also came under repression and execution. “There were cases when, in order to confiscate surplus grain, and sometimes even non-surplus, requisition detachments used violence not only against the kulaks, but also against the middle peasants or subjected the rebels to artillery fire Cossack villages, and sometimes villages."* * Shevotsukov P. A. Decree. Op. P. 271.

In the fall of 1918, the hostage system was unjustifiably widely used. Moreover, it resulted not only in temporary isolation in concentration camps of population groups potentially dangerous to the Soviet regime, but, as R. Medvedev writes, also in “the physical destruction of some people for the misdeeds and crimes of other people.”* But such actions were not a system.

Condemning the Red Terror, some authors writing on this topic not only do not compare the White and Red Terror, but generally deny the existence of the former. Nevertheless, the comparison shows that the White Terror was more widespread and incredibly cruel. "For nine months (June 1918 - February 1919), the extraordinary commissions of the Soviet government shot 5,496 criminals on the territory of 23 provinces, including about 800 criminals. The White Guards, in seven months of 1918, killed 4 s in only 13 provinces one more time more people. In Siberia alone, in the spring of 1919, Kolchak’s men shot several tens of thousands of workers and peasants.”* * Sokolov B.V. Op. cit. p. 422.

Already on November 6, 1918*, by resolution of the VI Congress of Soviets, the first all-Russian amnesty was announced. All hostages were released from imprisonment, except those whose temporary detention was necessary as a condition for the safety of comrades who had fallen into the hands of enemies. From now on, only the Cheka could take hostages. The Central Committee appointed a political audit of the Cheka by a commission from the Central Committee consisting of Kamenev, Stalin and Kursky, instructing it to “examine the activities of the emergency commissions without weakening their fight against counter-revolutionaries.”* * Ibid. P. 431.

At the same time, M. Ya. Latsis, member of the Cheka commission, chairman of the Cheka Eastern Front, in the magazine “Red Terror” published in Kazan, spoke about the advisability of strict legal regulation of the activities of the Cheka. The article contained the following instructions local authorities Cheka: “Do not look for incriminating evidence in the case; did he rebel against the Soviets with weapons or in words. The first thing you must ask him is what class he belongs to, what origin he is, what education he has and what his profession is. These are the questions and must resolve the fate of the accused.”* After criticizing this article in Pravda, Em. Yaroslavsky M. Ya. Latsis, answering him, argued that “... at the moment of the most desperate class struggle material evidence cannot be sought. When a class has completely rebelled against a class, then the most valuable information for the investigation is precisely the data on belonging (currently) to the class and origin."* * Civil War in Russia. Crossroads of Opinions. Op. op. p. 220.

Regarding the spread of the Red Terror, Lenin, in a speech to employees of the Cheka in November 1918, noted: “When we took control of the country, we naturally had to make many mistakes and it is natural that the mistakes of the emergency commissions are most striking. individual mistakes of the Cheka, we cry and rush with them. We say: we learn from mistakes, where determination, speed, and most importantly - loyalty are required. When I look at the activities of the Cheka, and compare it with attacks, I say: These are philistine rumors that are worthless.”* It would not hurt to think about these Leninist words for the authors of those publications who are inclined to reduce all the activities of the Cheka to terror, mistakes, and arbitrariness. Such statements, as we see, are not new, and they are far from reality.

In general, the use of red terror was more conscious and logical than white terror. On this occasion, we recall the Tambov uprising, which was led by the former rural teacher, Social Revolutionary A. Antonov. The uprising began in mid-1920, when Antonov’s detachment, numbering 500 people, defeated the guard battalion sent against him. At the beginning of 1921, Antonov’s army already had 20 thousand people. At the end of 1921, Tukhachevsky, who had already distinguished himself in suppressing the Krondstadt uprising, was appointed commander of the troops of the Tambov province. On May 12, the day of his arrival in Tambov, Tukhachevsky issued extermination order No. 130. A popular summary of this order was published on May 17 by the Plenipotentiary Commission of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee for the fight against banditry in the Tambov province, entitled “Order to members of bandit gangs”: 1) Workers' and Peasants' the authorities decided to put an end to robbery and robbery in the Tambov province as soon as possible and restore peace and honest work in it; 2) The workers' and peasants' government has sufficient military forces in the Tambov province. All those who take up arms against Soviet power will be exterminated. You, members of gangs of bandits, have one of two options: either die, as mad dogs, or surrender to the mercy of Soviet power; 3) According to the order of the Red Command No. 130 and the “Rules on the Taking of Hostages”, published by the Plenipotentiary Commission on May 12, the family of those who evaded appearing at the nearest Red Army headquarters to surrender their weapons are taken as hostages, and their property is seized.”* * Sokolov B . V. Op. p. 420.

On June 11, an even more formidable order No. 171 appeared. It ordered citizens who refused to give their names to be shot on the spot without trial. The families of the rebels were expelled, and the senior worker in the family was shot. Hostages from villages where weapons were found were also shot. This Order was carried out “...severely and mercilessly.”* Cruelty and superiority of forces were on the side of the Red Army and decided the matter. The uprising began to wane. By the end of May, concentration camps for 15 thousand people were hastily created in Tambov, Borisoglebsk, Kirsanov and other cities of the province and a list of “bandits” was ordered for each village. By July 20, all large detachments of Antonovites were destroyed or “scattered.” During the operation to eliminate the Antonov gangs, Tukhachevsky used chemical weapons. The rebellious province was blocked and there was no supply of food there. And it is unlikely that under the conditions of the NEP, yesterday’s rebels would have wanted to return to the forests after the end of the harvest season. But it was necessary to teach the rebels an objective lesson so that not only they, but also their children and grandchildren would be discouraged from rebelling. This was why the shooting of hostages and gas attacks against those seeking refuge in the forests were necessary. Antonov himself died in a shootout in June 1922.

Thus, once again it must be noted that there was both white and red terror. Historically, it would be incorrect to speak only about the existence of the Red Terror, which was more natural and due to many reasons. The Bolsheviks acted as bearers of power in Russia, and, therefore, their measures were more legal than the actions of counter-revolutionaries.

“Red terror” - this topic is constantly being discussed by both pro-Western and pro-Kremlin groups, especially on the eve of a birthday or November 7th. As a rule, numerous articles boil down to one thesis: “red terror”, expressed in the mass extermination of dissenters (or even everyone in a row)
, — business card domestic policy Bolsheviks during the years of the revolution and the Civil War, which, of course, was unleashed by the communists themselves, led by Lenin.

But the first one is famous terrorist attack in the Civil War it was not the Bolsheviks who committed it, but the whites in 1918. Having captured the Kremlin and captured more than 500 Red Army soldiers, they put them against the wall and shot them right at the Kremlin wall.

The first concentration camps were also built not by the Bolsheviks, but by the Americans. Arkhangelsk region. Not only prisoners, but also civilians were driven here. Tens of thousands of arrestees passed through the prisons on Mudyug Island, many of whom were shot, tortured or died of starvation.

So are the Bolsheviks to blame for starting the Civil War? In making this grave accusation, anti-communists, as a rule, rely on famous slogan Lenin on “transforming the imperialist war into a civil war.” But, firstly, this slogan had a purely theoretical meaning, since the Bolsheviks, due to their small numbers, had practically no political influence in the country until February. And secondly, this slogan was intended to be used by the proletariat of all warring countries.

After February, this slogan was removed and replaced by a new one - “about fair world" And after October, during the German offensive, a new slogan, “The Socialist Fatherland is in Danger,” was again put forward. What does this mean? First of all, Lenin was never a dogmatist of Marxism. On the contrary, he always kept his finger on the pulse of the times and clearly responded to the slightest changes in current events. The situation in the country changed, and the slogans also changed.

Facts show that the Bolsheviks did not at all want civil war in their country and made every effort to prevent it. It was the Bolsheviks, led by Lenin, who, until July 3-4, 1917, proceeded from the possibility and desirability of the peaceful development of the revolution after February. Who prevented this? Provisional Government, Mensheviks and Socialist Revolutionaries.

After the failure of the Kornilov rebellion, Lenin, in his article “On Compromises,” proposed creating a government of Mensheviks and Socialist Revolutionaries, controlled by the Soviets.

“Such a government,” he wrote, “could be created and strengthened quite peacefully” (Vol. 34, pp. 134-135). And who thwarted this opportunity for a peaceful transfer of power into the hands of the working people in the person of the Soviets? Socialist-Revolutionaries and Mensheviks together with Kerensky.

In his pre-October works, V.I. Lenin repeatedly returned to the issue of intimidation of a civil war in Russia by the bourgeois press if power passed to the Bolsheviks. In response, he expressed his firm belief that if all socialist parties united, as they did during the Kornilov rebellion, then there would be no civil war. But the Mensheviks and Socialist Revolutionaries remained deaf to these reasonable calls.

Having taken power almost bloodlessly (except for the “assault” of Winter Palace, during which 6 people were killed and 50 wounded), the Bolsheviks tried to win over all classes to their side. All parties, the intelligentsia, and the military were invited to cooperate.

The fact that the Soviet government hoped for peaceful development is evidenced by plans for economic and cultural development countries and especially the beginning of the implementation of large programs. For example, the opening in 1918 of 33 scientific institutes, organizing a number of geological expeditions, beginning the construction of an entire network of power plants. Who starts such things if they are preparing for war? The Soviet government tried to create mechanisms to prevent the outbreak of civil war in the country, but it had too few forces and too many enemies. And therefore the development of events took a different path.

Already on October 25, by order former head The Provisional Government of Kerensky, the 3rd Corps of General Krasnov, was moved to Petrograd. And the so-called Committee for the Salvation of the Motherland and the Revolution, consisting of liberals, Socialist Revolutionaries and Mensheviks, raised a revolt of the cadets. But already on October 30, the troops of Kerensky-Krasnov, and even earlier, the rebellion of the cadets were defeated. This is how the Civil War began in Soviet Russia. So who was its instigator? The answer is clear and understandable. And, nevertheless, at first the Soviet government treated its opponents quite humanely. Participants in the first Soviet revolts and their leaders (generals Kornilov, Krasnov and Kaledin) were released “on their word of honor” that they would not fight Soviet power. No reprisals followed either the members of the Provisional Government or the deputies of the Constituent Assembly.

And how did the enemies they forgiven respond to the humane actions of the Bolsheviks? Generals Kornilov, Krasnov and Kaledin fled to the Don and organized a White Cossack army there. Many tsarist officers After liberation, they took an active part in conspiracies and counter-revolutionary actions.

Conspiracies, sabotage, and murders of government officials forced the Bolsheviks to take measures to defend the revolution. In May 1918 (only seven months later the field October events) The Central Committee of the RCP (b) decides: “... to introduce into practice sentences to death penalty for certain crimes." It should be noted that in many cities local authorities Faced with acts of terror, sabotage, torture and murder, they demanded that the central government take decisive measures, and sometimes they themselves took retaliatory measures. Central Committee led by Lenin had to sharply condemn such “amateur activity.” For example, a letter from the Central Committee to the Yelets Bolsheviks said: “Dear comrades! We consider it necessary to point out that we consider any repressions against the Yelets Left Socialist-Revolutionaries to be completely unnecessary” (July 1918).

And this is after the security officers seized documents from the Social Revolutionary headquarters about the preparation of terrorist attacks: “... in the interests of the Russian and international revolution it is necessary to short term put an end to the so-called respite created by the ratification by the Bolshevik government Treaty of Brest-Litovsk... The Central Committee of the party (Socialist Revolutionaries) considers it possible and expedient to organize a number of terrorist acts...” (From the minutes of the meeting of the Central Committee of the Left Socialist Revolutionary Party on June 24, 1918).

Trying to pit the Bolsheviks against the Germans, the Left Socialist Revolutionaries kill German Ambassador Mirbach. The Soviet government is forced to take retaliatory measures against terrorists. But can these measures be called “red terror” if the direct killers of the German ambassador, Blyumkin and Andreev, were sentenced by the Revolutionary Tribunal of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee on November 27, 18 to three years of forced labor. The organizers of the murder, Spiridonov and Sablin, received one year in prison. Having learned about such an “ultra-cruel” sentence, Blumkin voluntarily surrendered to the security officers and was released early on May 16, 1919. But the failure of the peace treaty threatened the continuation of the war and hundreds of thousands of dead.

The terrorists considered this policy a weakness of the Bolsheviks, and terrorist attacks began to follow one after another. However, until the autumn of 1918, the terror of Soviet power did not have a mass character, and the repressions themselves took a mild, humane form.

Nevertheless, anti-communists still accuse Lenin and the Bolsheviks of cruelty, and for proof they cite the “terrible” phrase spoken by Ilyich: “We must encourage the energy and mass character of terror.” At the same time, as usual, they take it out of context and do not explain why it was said. They seem to lead the average person to the idea that since there is mass terror, it means it is directed against the masses, primarily against peasants and workers.

The full phrase reads like this: “Terrorists will consider us wimps. It's arch-war time. It is necessary to encourage the energy and mass scale of terror against counter-revolutionaries, and especially in St. Petersburg, whose example decides.” Written by Lenin (letter to Zinoviev dated June 26, 18) in response to the murder of Volodarsky. As we see, Ilyich proposed directing the energy and mass scale of terror against terrorists, and not against the people.

The “red terror” became massive and cruel after the serious wounding of V. I. Lenin, the murder on the same day of the chairman of the Petrograd Cheka M. S. Uritsky, and even earlier the prominent Bolshevik V. Volodarsky. This was a forced response of the Soviet government to the intensified terror on the part of its enemies. On September 5, the Council of People's Commissars issued a resolution on the “Red Terror” and entrusted its implementation to the Cheka. Only after this did the executions of people imprisoned for political reasons begin.

The largest action of the “Red Terror” was the execution of 512 representatives in Petrograd bourgeois elite(former dignitaries, ministers and generals). According to official data, in total about 800 people were shot in Petrograd during the “Red Terror”. The “Red Terror” ended on November 6, 1918, and in fact in most regions of Russia it was completed in September-October.

Generally speaking, terror (from French word"horror") of a state is intended to suppress the actions of its internal enemies creating a climate of fear that paralyzes his will to resist. For this purpose, a brief but very intense and visual shock-inducing repression is usually carried out. In Russia at that time, the idea of terror was shared by all revolutionary parties without exception.

But the Bolsheviks failed to paralyze resistance to Soviet power with the help of terror. It’s just that obvious enemies of the Bolsheviks fled to the places where the White Army was formed or to areas where Soviet power was overthrown. The final demarcation of the “whites” and “reds” took place, and the rear was cleared of counter-revolutionaries. After this, the “Red Terror” was officially ended, since there was no longer any point in it.

And when on September 25, 1919, terrorists threw two bombs into the meeting room of the Moscow Party Committee in Leontyevsky Lane, building 18, where a party meeting was taking place, as a result of which about 40 people were killed and injured, including the secretary of the Moscow Party Committee V. M. Zagorsky, no terror was declared in response. The Central Committee of the RCP (b) sent a circular to all provincial committees: “The Central Committee decided: the assassination attempt committed in Moscow should not change the nature of the activities of the Cheka. Therefore, we ask: do not declare terror” (4.10. 1919).

Particular mention should be made of the terror on the fronts during the Civil War. There is a lot of evidence that both whites and reds showed considerable cruelty towards each other. But in war it’s like in war. Either you kill or you will be killed. And the war became a reality when a large-scale intervention by the Entente countries took place (it began with the landing of the Japanese in April 1918). And here Lenin, as a man of action, acted decisively and mercilessly, because he no longer had a choice.

There is a lot of evidence about white terror among the participants of the white movement themselves. Thus, in Roman Gul’s book “ Ice trek“Dozens of pages are devoted to white terror. Here is a fragment from this book: “50-60 people are leading from behind the huts... their heads and hands are lowered. Prisoners. Colonel Nezhintsev overtakes them... “Those who want to be killed! - he shouts... About fifteen people came out of the ranks... It came: pli... The dry crackle of shots, screams, groans... People fell on each other, and from about ten steps... they were shot at, hastily clicking shutters. Everyone fell. The moans stopped. The shots stopped... Some finished off the living with bayonets and rifle butts.”

Not all officers took part in such savage massacres, but many did. As R. Gul shows, there were among them those who simply felt a zoological hatred of workers and peasants, of the “cattle” who dared to encroach on their private property.

An even more gloomy picture is painted by the chief of staff of the 1st Army (Volunteer) Corps, Lieutenant General E.I. Dostovalov, in his memoirs under the characteristic title “On the Whites and the White Terror.” “The path of such generals,” he writes, “like Wrangel, Kutepov, Pokrovsky, Shkuro, Slashchev, Drozdovsky, Turkul and many others, was littered with those hanged and shot without any reason or trial. They were followed by many others, of lower ranks, but no less bloodthirsty.” One commander of a cavalry regiment showed the author of the memoirs in his notebook the number 172. This was the number of Bolsheviks he personally executed. “He hoped,” General Dostovalov writes further, “that he would soon reach 200. And how many were shot not with his own hands, but on orders? And how many of his subordinates shot innocent people without orders? I once tried to do some approximate calculations of those shot and hanged by the white armies of the South alone and gave up - you could go crazy.”

Here it is, genuine, without embellishment, the truth, about the Civil War and the White Terror. General A.I. Denikin also writes about this in his “Essays on Russian Troubles.” He bitterly admits that it was the “white terror” that discredited the “white idea” and alienated the peasants from the whites. Blind rage towards the “cattle” who dared to raise a hand against their masters pushed the whites to extrajudicial executions of tens of thousands of ordinary Red Army soldiers - workers and peasants. Thus, the memoirs of participants in the white movement, in contrast to modern “liberal democrats,” indicate that it was the whites, and not the reds, who subjected them to mass terror working people Russia. That is why the workers and peasants for the most part supported the Bolsheviks led by V.I. Lenin, and not the white guard of Denikin, Wrangel and Yudenich.

Sholokhov devoted many pages to the white and red terror in his immortal epic “ Quiet Don" And if the Reds, as follows from the novel, terrorized, first of all, rich Cossacks, officers, atamans and merchants, then the Whites terrorized mainly captured Red Army soldiers, whom they either simply shot, starved, or hanged to intimidate the population. But they mocked the commanders and commissars in a sophisticated way. This is how Sholokhov describes the death of the commander of one of the red detachments under torture by the rebel Cossacks.

“The next day they drove him to Kazanskaya. He walked ahead of the guards, lightly stepping on the snow with bare feet... He died, seven miles from Veshenskaya, in the sandy, stern breakers, the guards brutally hacked him to death. The living man's eyes were gouged out, his hands, ears, and nose were cut off, and his face was mangled with sabers. They unbuttoned their pants and violated and desecrated a large, courageous, beautiful body. They violated the bleeding stump, and then one of the guards stepped on the flimsily trembling chest, on the prone body, and with one blow cut off the head obliquely.”

How the whites abused the civilian population in the Far East was described in the newspaper “Duel” dated February 25, 2003 in an essay about the popular commander Krasny Cossack detachment Shevchenko Gavriil Matveevich (1886-1942). He carried out many successful operations against the White Guards and Japanese invaders and rose to the rank of deputy commander of the Ussuri Front. The Japanese even put a reward of ten thousand yen on his head. But Shevchenko was elusive. Then the faithful dog and hired the Japanese, Ataman Kalmykov, ordered his mother to be stripped naked along with her daughters-in-law and, through the autumn slush, drove them captives along the main street of the city of Grodekov. Then they tracked down the commander’s younger brother Pavlushka in the neighboring area, cut off his nose, lips, ears, tore out his eyes, and cut off his arms and legs with sabers. Only after this they cut the body into pieces. As you can see, reader, both on the Don and in the Far East the White Guards behaved the same way.

Shevchenko still continued to attack white outposts and derail trains. Then Kalmykov doused the commander’s hut with kerosene and burned it and his family.

For sympathy or assistance to the partisans, the White Guards shot peasants, and their families were mercilessly flogged with ramrods and their huts were burned. And sometimes people were grabbed on the street without any pretext or raided. The prey was dragged into the “death train”, where drunken sadists mocked innocent victims. Behind medieval torture Ataman Kalmykov himself loved to watch. From this he quickly went into a rage and took his vile soul away by torturing people. In the “train of death”, those arrested were flogged with whips with wire ends, their noses, tongues and ears were cut off, their eyes were gouged out, bloody strips of skin were torn off, their stomachs were ripped open, and their arms and legs were chopped off with butcher axes. This is how the whites were sophisticated throughout the Kolchak movement under the reliable protection of the Japanese interventionists.

And there were quite a lot of executioners in the White Guard like Ataman Kalmykov: atamans Dutov and Semyonov, Baron Ungern and others, not to mention Admiral Kolchak himself. It is not surprising that the people, having experienced all the delights of Kolchakism on their own skin, joined the partisans and resisted as much as possible.

Other materials on the topic:

47 comments

cat Leopold 29.09.2014 19:03

..."General A.I. Denikin also writes about this in his “Essays on the Russian Troubles.” He bitterly admits that it was the “white terror” that discredited the “white idea” and alienated the peasants from the whites...
Thus, the memoirs of participants in the white movement, in contrast to modern “liberal democrats,” indicate that it was the whites, and not the reds, who subjected the working people of Russia to mass terror. That is why the workers and peasants for the most part supported the Bolsheviks led by V.I. Lenin, and not the white guard of Denikin, Kolchak, Wrangel and Yudenich.”
And for the “liberal democrats” lies and fraud - the only way to stay afloat. True, the limit of this method is almost over for them.

Maryana Zavalikhina 30.09.2014 13:33

Don't cheat, dear cat Leopold. If A.I. Denikin, as an educated Russian officer and a talented writer, who put the personal dignity of a person at the head of his work, condemned cruelty, including his subordinates, which in those conditions was not always possible to resist, this does not mean that there was no cruelty with opposing side. Especially those that are freely available archival documents testify to atrocities on both sides. And this dispute is resolved very simply. We open any search engine and look at photos of the Bolsheviks in the dungeons of tsarism, sitting in prison cells with books in their hands and eating “inkwells” made of soft bread with milk poured into it and photos of “enemies of the people” in the dungeons of the NKVD, when the civil war was officially over a long time ago . And no comments are needed. And, by the way, it was not Nicholas II who called on his gendarmes to throw acid in the faces of the Bolsheviks, but V. Lenin who called on his supporters to throw acid in the faces of the gendarmes.

Maryana Zavalikhina 04.10.2014 01:48

Who is this Lavrov?

Vilorik Voytyuk 29.09.2014 19:31

The history and meaning of the Civil War are distorted by Bolshevik historians. The Reds were those who voted in the elections to the Constituent Assembly for the Socialist Revolutionary Party and for the socialism that was proclaimed by the leadership of this party that won the elections. The Whites were those who fought against the results. February Revolution and for the revival of the monarchy and the power of the landowners in the country, no one represented the Bolshevik meaning in this war EXCEPT THE COMMISSARS AND REVIEW COMMITTEES, THE HERO OF THE CIVIL

Maryana Zavalikhina 30.09.2014 13:49

Leave the Constituent Assembly alone. The very fact that the Bolsheviks took power from him speaks of his non-viability. And I want to make a note to you, V. Voytyuk, that before you begin discussing a subject, you need to study it. And the study of the creativity of A.I. Denikin gives us the discovery that both he and his comrades in White movement, remaining convinced monarchists at heart, made the choice Russian people during the February Revolution and have already continued to serve it. And it should be noted that, in their understanding of personal dignity and honor, they turned out to be completely superior to the SA and Navy officers who, 70 years later, found themselves in a similar situation.

Vilorik Voytyuk 01.10.2014 00:31

THE ENTIRE TRUTH ABOUT THE PARTICIPANTS AND HEROES OF THE WAR IS EXPRESSED IN THE WORDS OF THE COMMANDER OF THE SECOND CAVED ARMY MIRONOV, WHO TOGETHER WITH THE MAKHNO DIVISION LIBERATED THE CRIMEA FROM VRANKEL. NOT FRUNZE AND BUDYONNY, BUT MIRONOV AND MAKHNO DID THIS. SO, MIRONOV SAID AT THE RALLY, LET'S BREAK DENIKIN - LET'S TURN BAYONETS TO MOSCOW.

Vilorik Voytyuk 01.10.2014 00:47

The entire Russian history is smeared with fraudulent class approach should be washed. So, Pugachev’s uprising was not an uprising of peasants and Cossacks with landowner Russia. The people’s uprising under the leadership of Pugachev was a campaign for the salvation of the Motherland. In St. Petersburg, the Orthodox Tsar was killed and power in the country was seized by the Germans, Basurmans, and Latins.

Maryana Zavalikhina 01.10.2014 04:06

I draw the attention of V. Voytyuk and his associates that both K. Marx and V. Lenin were right when they said that nothing can be understood in politics and economics if one does not see class interest. Another thing is that, in addition to the fact that K. Marx made a number of miscalculations and mistakes in his theory, which are well known, as well as the reasons that caused them are known, communist political parties pull out parts from K. Marx’s theory to satisfy their party interests. And V. Lenin cannot be blamed for the fact that he turned out to be more dexterous than the leaders of other political parties of a communist orientation. Moreover, due to the fact that I have already given an example of Lenin’s article, in which he got confused in his thoughts and spoke nonsense, among V. Lenin’s political opponents there was no one who would theoretical level exposed his demagoguery (as indeed today). And the problem of today's communists is that they are going to continue to extract fragments from the theory of K. Marx to satisfy their party interests, in which, in addition to the already known miscalculations and mistakes, the moral obsolescence of the political economy of the 19th century was added. Not only among the communists, but also among their political opponents from among the “leftists,” there is no one visible who would simply try to give new principle definitions of classes that fit into the logic of developing modern political economy and globalization of the economy.

Vilorik Voytyuk 01.10.2014 17:13

RUSSIA, THANK GOD, HAS NOT LIVED TO SUCH IDIOTISM THAT SOME CLASSES APPEARED IN A NORMAL ORTHODOX HUMAN ENVIRONMENT. BUT SHE LIVED UNTIL THE TIME WHEN FOREIGN SCAMBLERS BEGAN TO USE THIS FOUL WORD TO DIVIDE PEOPLE AND PICK THEM AGAINST EACH OTHER, WHILE THEMSELVES STAYING SIDE. ABOUT THE CIVIL WAR TROTSKY SAID ‘THE NON-JEWS ARE KILLING HER VREEV.Long live the civil war.

Vilorik Voytyuk 01.10.2014 17:21

MARX WOULD BE ROLLING IN HIS GRAVE IF HE KNEW THAT SOMEONE WAS USING HIS THEORY IN APPLICATION TO RUSSIA.

Vilorik Voytyuk 01.10.2014 17:31

Fraudsters and only scammers can explicitly or implicitly introduce Marxism in Russia. Russia has its own from head to toe and its own millennial socialism.

Vilorik Voytyuk 01.10.2014 17:58

Russia is the country of the world, if we take the development of the human spirit on Earth as progress and history, and not something else, albeit important. RUSSIA HAS PROVED THIS IN THE LAST THREE HUNDRED YEARS OF EUROPEAN HISTORY. And the rich West is the most reactionary piece of territory on this very Earth..

Maryana Zavalikhina 02.10.2014 00:50

I won’t even ask V. Voytyuk what the theory about the ruling class and the source of income of the ruling class has to do with Orthodox teaching, for the simple reason that he is illiterate in both.

Vladlen 02.10.2014 02:30

02.10.2014 07:18

Maryana, you shouldn’t have a bad opinion of the officers. Especially about the Soviet ones. It was they who all wrote their resignation reports in the 90s from the then-formed Ukrainian army, and it was they, as I see from information in the media, and under their leadership in Donbass and Lugansk who defended the right of people to their lives.
In general, history cannot be perceived and interpreted one-sidedly and based on unverified sources; it cannot be conjectured without reservations. Otherwise, in Russia it will be the same as in Ukraine: a large historical lie, causes mass death innocent people (children).

alexander chelyab.reg.city of asha 04.10.2014 20:15

Well, let them “knock it out.” You have nothing to be ashamed of: after all, they won’t give you too much anyway. If you don’t remind them, they won’t remember.

Alexander Chelyabinsk region Asha 02.10.2014 07:24

The big historical lie becomes, in the hands of unclean-minded people (non-humans), a political and ideological tool for manipulating people’s consciousness.

cat Leopold 02.10.2014 14:36

Hello, Alexander. Haven't met for a long time. Always glad to hear from you. What's up? What worries?

Alexander Chelyabinsk region Asha 02.10.2014 15:28

Hello, cat Leopold! My life is busy. I've been very busy all summer. Over the summer I completely moved away from political life. I watched and worried only about our “Kievan Rus”.
Now the computer at home is broken, we need to fix it. In short, it’s a mess. That’s why I can only communicate briefly at work. And now I’m already heading home. I wish you all the best, and I always praise the site’s editors for their feedback from the site’s fans. This consistency will lead in the future qualitative change communist propaganda work.

cat Leopold 03.10.2014 10:35

All the best to you too, Alexander.

Alesya Yasnogortseva 02.10.2014 21:37

The White Terror, of course, was 100 times worse than the Red Terror. It's clear why.
http://knpk.kz/wp/?p=38575
http://knpk.kz/wp/?p=48026
Another thing is not clear: why was Grevs not quoted in Soviet times? Where he says: “I will not be mistaken if I say that for every one person killed by the Bolsheviks, there are 100 people killed by anti-Bolshevik elements.”

Vilorik Voytyuk 03.10.2014 10:45

Alesya, you are talking about the white terror, that it was worse than the red one. Alesya, the Civil War was one part of the Russian people against another part of the also Russian people. The third force - the Bolsheviks did not go to the bayonet and did not participate in saber attacks, but sat in Moscow with their tail between their legs, waiting for who would take it, and also because their interests did not coincide with the interests of the Reds and Whites.b They had their own special interest-how to defeat the Russian people, invincible for a thousand years, and create in place of the former Russian Empire yours nation state Stalin was the first to disperse them in 1937

Vilorik Voytyuk 03.10.2014 11:13

Stalin was the first to figure out the secret meaning of the Bolsheviks - these Kremlin pederasts / Stalin... and destroyed them all.. Stalin was the first. who began to build real socialism in Russia, relying on its indigenous people. I stopped calling the Communist Party Bolshevik. AND YOU ARE HERE ON THIS page, whatever you want, whatever you don’t like..

Maryana Zavalikhina 03.10.2014 13:27

Stop the fight! I. Stalin was the only Bolshevik who consistently carried out the work of V. Lenin. And if someone cannot understand this, then this is his personal problem. It seems that this site claims to be a Marxist-Leninist site, but its readers, it is not clear what relation they have not only to Leninism, but also to Marxism in general.

Maryana Zavalikhina 03.10.2014 14:13

And regarding which terror was more terrible, white or red, I note that in the Far East, the Red Guard detachments were mainly led by representatives of the criminal world, who had the opportunity, on behalf of the working people’s power, to rob those who could previously give them a worthy rebuff. By the way, the pogrom of the monastery, in the buildings and on whose territory the Shmakovsky military sanatorium was located, by a detachment of the Red Guard began with the abbot driving a rifle bayonet into his foot with a demand to tell where the treasury was hidden. And what is curious is that traces of the valuable things collected in the monastery were lost immediately outside the gates, after the Red Guards left. Yes, what can I say, if it’s enough to look at sites selling antiques, where countless personalized jewelry is offered for sale, including pectoral crosses, not even always from precious metals, made at the end of the 19th, beginning of the 20th centuries.

Vilorik Voytyuk 03.10.2014 20:42

Maryana is talking about some matter. Lenin. This person never thought about socialism in Russia. Speaking before the security officers, where not a single person was Russian, this socialist said, “Let 90 percent of Russian people die, if only 10 percent live to see communism'. Obviously, in order to have someone to sweep the streets and clean the toilets.

Maryana Zavalikhina 04.10.2014 02:22

Really, how stubborn you are, you think that you surprised someone with your discovery, if not one generation Soviet people I studied from a school textbook, which told how the Bolsheviks were preparing the world revolution.

Vilorik Voytyuk 05.10.2014 03:09

Marxism-Leninism in the field of sociology and philosophy is the same fraud as abstract art in painting, like tarpabarism in music, like the soulless ballet of Plisetskaya, Bejart, Grigorovich. The authors of this common soulless, nationalless, cosmopolitan, deceptive creation are the characters of the famous to the whole world of nationality in order to fool the European nations and in such a deceptive way to finally establish themselves, persecuted and unfortunate from everywhere, on European soil. The Russian people especially suffered from this Zionist cosmopolitan idea

Vilorik Voytyuk 05.10.2014 03:24

Wake up, Maryana. WE NEED REAL SOCIALISM AND OUR OWN NATIONAL WORLDVIEW..We don’t need to be taught how to live. We have existed for a thousand years and we defeated Napoleon

Vilorik Voytyuk 05.10.2014 06:59

The case of Lenin, Sverdlov, Trotsky is the genocide of the Russian people...;The most best territory- this is empty space. This was the case with the Indians in America, and it will also be with Russia ‘Trotsky.

Maryana Zavalikhina 05.10.2014 15:04

Dear V. Voytyuk! The truth will be with those who will be the first to present the concept of building a modern state, capable of rallying around itself Russian society. Everything else is demagoguery, which has a very specific purpose - a split in Russian society.
It's a pity that you advertise the lack of your own national worldview. I don’t need to wake up, because the noodles falling on my ears don’t let me sleep.

Nicholas II demonstrated real atrocity by not caring about his responsibility to Russia and handing over the reins of government to an absolutely incompetent Constituent Assembly, consisting of political punks who never fully realized that they had become the head of the Great State.

Vilorik Voytyuk 06.10.2014 08:07

The real atrocities were demonstrated not by the Reds and Whites, but by a third force - hired foreigners, who were widely used by the Bolsheviks. Among the Russian people, as the results of the elections to the Constituent Assembly showed, these people, for obvious reasons, did not enjoy SUPPORT. Then they decided to help the foreigners of Poland, Latvia, Lithuania, Finland and Bessarabia in exchange for a promise of independence to them. Add here 40 thousand prisoners of Austro- Hungarians and 2oo thousand Chinese thugs, from whom they formed punitive detachments. THE 6TH LATVIAN REGIMENT UNDER THE LEADERSHIP OF URITSKY SHOOTED A DEMONSTRATION IN SUPPORT OF THE CONSTITUENT ASSEMBLY, FINNISH SPECIAL FORCES UNDER THE COMMAND OF SMILGI ARRESTED THE PROVISIONAL GOVERNMENT, and AUSTRO-VEN GRY and MRE NAD BAYONETED THE CHILDREN OF THE RUSSIAN TSAR, THE CHINESE MERCENARIES TOGETHER WITH LATTIVANS SUPPRESSED THE PEASANT UPRISING IN THE TAMBOV PROVINCE. IN LENIN’S PERSONAL GUARD CONSISTED OF 70 CHINESE...LATVISH REGIMENTS SUPPRESSED WITH THE HELP OF CANnonS THE MUTINY OF LEFT SOCIALIST REVOLUTIONARIES IN MOSCOW’.

Vilorik Voytyuk 06.10.2014 08:41

The Tsar of Maryana transferred power to his brother Mikhail, whom the Bolsheviks killed. And the many millions of people of Russia elected not punks, as you say, to the Constituent Assembly. and the overwhelming majority of deputies from the Socialist Revolutionary Party, who proclaimed the country’s transition to socialism.

Alexander Chelyabinsk region Asha 08.10.2014 06:28

Vilorik Voytyuk, where did you get this from? And in what place did the peasants (approximately no less than 93% of the population) in the conditions of the First World War “many millions” choose the Constituent Constitution?

Vilorik Voytyuk 11.10.2014 07:47

Maryana, the Zionists were the first to introduce the form of statehood of Russia in October 1917, and to this day they have not given this concept to anyone. They sank their teeth in. They even managed to remove the huge titular Russian people from the legal field, taking away two capitals from them and forgetting about their existence altogether..

Vilorik Voytyuk 12.10.2014 06:28

Maryana says that Vilorik Voytyuk is illiterate. Well, if five years at the Faculty of Philosophy of Moscow State University is not enough for her, then I don’t know what else she needs.

Masha Smart 06.08.2015 03:07

two idiots (Vilorik and Maryana) have gathered and are talking complete nonsense to each other.)) one blames some Jewish Bolsheviks for everything (apparently he has such a new race :)), and the other positions herself as a kind of communist, but at the same time vows to the Red Guards , thanks to which, by the way, Soviet power and socialism took place in the country (and secretly probably pities the white officers as representatives of the “white and fluffy” last intelligentsia).)) in short, a parade of schizophrenics.)))

vilora73 29.08.2016 09:11

Masha is smart, you are talking about two idiots, but add yourself, because God loves a trinity.

vilora73 29.08.2016 09:30

Alexander from Asha, there were no military actions on Russian territory, so the elections to the Constituent Assembly took place normally and calmly. Another interesting thing is that the Bolsheviks received a crushing minority in the elections, even taking into account the alliance with the left Socialist Revolutionaries.

Vasilina 21.12.2016 16:55

White terror served as victory common man They not only just killed, they executed the Reds and those who sympathized with them. There is testimony from an American general and the Whites themselves. The destruction of churches was transferred to the Reds, but this was what the Whites did when they went abroad and they also had to destroy the parish books, because many remained in Russia and changed documents, etc. Vasilina

Adolf 22.05.2018 01:10

What are you ignoramuses arguing about? Apart from Soviet propaganda, you haven’t read anything and haven’t spoken to any of the eyewitnesses?
First, ask yourself why the “revolutionaries” were all Jews and came from Switzerland, England and the USA, where they lived on handouts from Jewish bankers? Why did their numerous guards initially also consist of foreigners: Latvians, Finns, Poles, and Chinese? Why are numerous urban and peasant riots suppressed by Latvians, Magyars and Chinese? And has no one really thought about how peasants and tsarist officers (some) were driven into the “Red Army”, and who did the driving? If you are faced with the question of choosing to join the Red Army or the death of you or your family, what could people do? Thank you, Stalin gained power and cleaned up a lot of Jews and non-Russians, whose hands were up to their elbows in blood. And you don’t have to discuss the “whites”, these are Russian people and this was their land and fatherland, which cannot be said about the Jew, especially about the one who lived outside Russia for decades and did nothing for Russia.

The Red Terror was officially proclaimed by the All-Russian Central executive committee Soviets (VTsIK) on September 2, 1918 and terminated on the anniversary of the Bolshevik Revolution, November 6 of the same year. However, the Red Terror is usually referred to as a set of repressive measures used by the Bolsheviks against their enemies from the time they came to power until the end of the Civil War (until 1922).

White terror refers to similar repressions of opponents of the Bolsheviks in the same period. For the first time in history, the definition of “white terror” was used in relation to the actions of royalists during the Bourbon Restoration in France (1814-1830) in relation to individual figures of the revolution and the Napoleonic empire. He was called white after the color of the Bourbon banner. Name " White Guard“The Russian counter-revolution took from the same history for its armed forces.

The boundaries of the concepts of “red terror” and “white terror” are very vague. Do they include only executions carried out by special authorities, or also any acts of retaliation and intimidation committed by troops in places of hostilities? Should the acts of violence of such opponents of the Bolsheviks as the Directory of the Ukrainian People's Republic, Baltic states, Poland, Czechoslovak Corps, Cossack troops, peasants rebel armies in Russia (the army of Alexander Antonov in the Tambov region, the West Siberian army, etc.)?

Due to the collapse of state and social institutions at that time it was impossible to even approximately compile statistics of such repressions. More or less accurately, the number of victims of terror on both sides can only be determined in small Finland, where a civil war also raged from January to May 1918. It is generally accepted that the White Terror in Finland was bloodier than the Red Terror. The first claimed the lives of approximately 7-10 thousand people, the second - 1.5-2 thousand. However, the power of the radical left in Finland was too short-lived to draw any final conclusions on this basis, much less extend them to the whole of Russia.

Terror became one of the main tools for creating a new society from the very first steps Soviet power. At first, the actions of intimidation were spontaneous, such as the shooting of captured cadets after the suppression of their rebellion in Petrograd on October 29 and the capture of the Moscow Kremlin on November 2, 1917. But soon the conduct of terror was systematized and put on stream. On December 7 (20), 1917, for this purpose, the All-Russian Extraordinary Commission (VChK) “to combat counter-revolution and sabotage” was formed. Within its framework, their own armed forces. However, other bodies of Soviet power, especially locally, and military units carried out their own repressions.

Terror management anti-Bolshevik forces was less centralized. Usually, various types of “counterintelligence” were involved in intimidation. Their actions were poorly coordinated, were unsystematic, chaotic in nature, therefore, as a mechanism political repression they were ineffective. It is often noted that the White Guards and Petliurists in Ukraine organized pogroms against Jews, but units of the Red Army were also guilty of this.

The Red Terror was directed against entire social groups as “class aliens”. The decree of the Council of People's Commissars on the Red Terror of September 5, 1918 introduced the institution of hostage-taking. For a terrorist act against a figure of the Soviet government, hostages taken from the so-called “bourgeoisie” - former civil servants, intelligentsia, clergy, etc. - were subject to execution. In the first week of the decree alone, according to incomplete data, more than 5,000 people were shot, since they bore “class responsibility” for F. Kaplan’s attempt on Lenin’s life.

The purposeful nature of the Red Terror is evidenced by the orders Soviet leaders. “To carry out merciless mass terror against priests, kulaks and White Guards,” Lenin telegraphed on August 9, 1918 to the Penza provincial executive committee after Penza was recaptured from the White Czechs. – Lock up the suspicious ones in concentration camp outside the city". “We are exterminating the bourgeoisie as a class,” taught one of Dzerzhinsky’s deputies, M. Latsis. “During the investigation, do not look for materials and evidence that the accused acted in deed or word against the Soviet regime.”
There was nothing similar in the statements of the anti-Bolshevik leadership. True, according to the memoirs of G.K. Gins, a member of the White Guard government in Siberia, A.V. Kolchak admitted to him that he had given the order to shoot all captured communists. However, no written traces of such an order remain. Some atamans Cossack troops, subordinate to Kolchak (Annenkov, Kalmykov), committed atrocities against the Red partisans, completely burning down the villages in which they were hiding. But the Reds acted even more cruelly, and in accordance with the instructions of the Soviet authorities, suppressing the peasant uprising in the Tambov province. The Plenipotentiary Commission of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee for the suppression of the rebellion of A. Antonov issued such an order on June 11, 1921, signed by V.A. Antonov-Ovseenko and M.N. Tukhachevsky:

"1. Citizens who refuse to give their name are shot on the spot, without trial.
2. To the villagers who are hiding weapons, announce a verdict on taking hostages and shoot them if they do not surrender their weapons.
3. The family in whose house the bandit took refuge is subject to arrest and deportation from the province, its property is confiscated, the senior worker in this family is shot without trial.
4. Families harboring family members or property of bandits shall be treated as bandits and the senior employee of this family shall be shot on the spot without trial.
5. In the event of the escape of the bandit’s family, its property should be distributed among peasants loyal to the Soviet regime, and the houses left behind should be burned.
6. This order must be implemented severely and mercilessly.”

Although it is impossible to accurately determine the number of victims of bilateral terror in Russia, one can reasonably assume that there were several times more deaths as a result of the Red Terror than during the White Terror. Considering the lack of ideological justification among whites, centralization and systematic punitive measures, one can generally question the legitimacy of such a definition as “white terror” in relation to the events of the Civil War in Russia.

The Red Terror was officially proclaimed by the All-Russian Central Executive Committee of Soviets (VTsIK) on September 2, 1918 and ended on the anniversary of the Bolshevik Revolution, on November 6 of the same year. However, the Red Terror is usually referred to as a set of repressive measures used by the Bolsheviks against their enemies from the time they came to power until the end of the Civil War (until 1922).

White terror refers to similar repressions of opponents of the Bolsheviks in the same period. For the first time in history, the definition of “white terror” was used in relation to the actions of royalists during the Bourbon Restoration in France (1814-1830) in relation to individual figures of the revolution and the Napoleonic empire. He was called white after the color of the Bourbon banner. The Russian counter-revolution took the name “White Guard” for its armed forces from the same story.

The boundaries of the concepts of “red terror” and “white terror” are very vague. Do they include only executions carried out by special authorities, or also any acts of retaliation and intimidation committed by troops in places of hostilities? Should the acts of violence of such opponents of the Bolsheviks as the Directory of the Ukrainian People's Republic, the Baltic states, Poland, the Czechoslovak Corps, Cossack troops, peasant rebel armies in Russia (the army of Alexander Antonov in the Tambov region, the West Siberian Army, etc.) be considered as white terror? ?

Due to the collapse of state and social institutions during that period, it is impossible to even approximately compile statistics of such repressions. More or less accurately, the number of victims of terror on both sides can only be determined in small Finland, where a civil war also raged from January to May 1918. It is generally accepted that the White Terror in Finland was bloodier than the Red Terror. The first claimed the lives of approximately 7-10 thousand people, the second - 1.5-2 thousand. However, the power of the radical left in Finland was too short-lived to draw any final conclusions on this basis, much less extend them to the whole of Russia.

Terror became one of the main tools for creating a new society from the very first steps of Soviet power. At first, the actions of intimidation were spontaneous, such as the shooting of captured cadets after the suppression of their rebellion in Petrograd on October 29 and the capture of the Moscow Kremlin on November 2, 1917. But soon the conduct of terror was systematized and put on stream. On December 7 (20), 1917, for this purpose, the All-Russian Extraordinary Commission (VChK) “to combat counter-revolution and sabotage” was formed. Within its framework, its own armed forces were gradually formed. However, other bodies of Soviet power, especially locally, and military units carried out their own repressions.

The control of terror among the anti-Bolshevik forces was less centralized. Usually, various types of “counterintelligence” were involved in intimidation. Their actions were poorly coordinated, were unsystematic, chaotic, and therefore they were ineffective as a mechanism of political repression. It is often noted that the White Guards and Petliurists in Ukraine organized pogroms against Jews, but units of the Red Army were also guilty of this.

The Red Terror was directed against entire social groups as “class aliens.” The decree of the Council of People's Commissars on the Red Terror of September 5, 1918 introduced the institution of hostage-taking. For a terrorist act against a figure of the Soviet government, hostages taken from the so-called “bourgeoisie” - former civil servants, intelligentsia, clergy, etc. - were subject to execution. In the first week of the decree alone, according to incomplete data, more than 5,000 people were shot, since they bore “class responsibility” for F. Kaplan’s attempt on Lenin’s life.

The orders of Soviet leaders testify to the purposeful nature of the Red Terror. “To carry out merciless mass terror against priests, kulaks and White Guards,” Lenin telegraphed on August 9, 1918 to the Penza provincial executive committee after Penza was recaptured from the White Czechs. “The suspects should be locked up in a concentration camp outside the city.” “We are exterminating the bourgeoisie as a class,” taught one of Dzerzhinsky’s deputies, M. Latsis. “During the investigation, do not look for materials and evidence that the accused acted in deed or word against the Soviet regime.”
There was nothing similar in the statements of the anti-Bolshevik leadership. True, according to the memoirs of G.K. Gins, a member of the White Guard government in Siberia, A.V. Kolchak admitted to him that he had given the order to shoot all captured communists. However, no written traces of such an order remain. Some atamans of the Cossack troops subordinate to Kolchak (Annenkov, Kalmykov) committed atrocities against the Red partisans, completely burning down the villages in which they were hiding. But the Reds acted even more cruelly, and in accordance with the instructions of the Soviet authorities, suppressing the peasant uprising in the Tambov province. The Plenipotentiary Commission of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee for the suppression of the rebellion of A. Antonov issued such an order on June 11, 1921, signed by V.A. Antonov-Ovseenko and M.N. Tukhachevsky: