Libmonster ID: KZ-2906
Author(s) of the publication: P. A. Golub

Moscow, Nauka Publ. 1983. 222 p.

The creation and activity of soldiers ' committees in the period of preparation for and victory in the Great October Revolution was one of the main problems of winning back the democratic majority of the army to the proletariat, which, in turn, was, according to V. I. Lenin, one of the main conditions for the victory of Bolshevism1 . The revolutionary processes in the army cannot be considered investigated until the role of soldiers ' committees in this process is thoroughly elucidated. It was key to the preparation and implementation of the revolution in the army, just as the role of the Soviets was key to the preparation of the revolution in the country as a whole. The committees and Soviets were organs of the same type, forming a single system through which the Bolshevik Party exercised ideological and organizational influence on the masses in the preparation of October. Soldiers ' committees were, as it were, a continuation of the Soviet system in the army (of course, while preserving specific features). Committees and Soviets met at united congresses, decided together on behalf of the people the fundamental questions of the revolution, and after its victory, the soldiers ' committees became organs of Soviet power in the troops.

All this underlines the importance of the problem that the monograph of the Candidate of Historical Sciences L. M. Gavrilov (Institute of History of the USSR of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR) is devoted to. Until recently, there were no special studies on this topic. An important step in its study was taken in general works on the revolution 2, which further emphasized the need for special works on the history of soldiers ' committees. Their research was initiated by V. I. Miller 3 . His monograph, based on a rich documentary material, contains many new facts about the history of the creation and activities of the committees, but the author, unfortunately, limited himself to its initial period.

L. M. Gavrilov's book presents for the first time the history of the main revolutionary organs of the democratic majority of the army, from the moment of their birth to their liquidation in 1918 in connection with the demobilization of the old army. The author, who has been working for many years on the study of revolutionary processes in the army 4, built his research on a fundamental source base, introduced a large number of new archival materials into scientific circulation, including documents from the State Archive of the Fin-

1 See Lenin V. I. PSS. Vol. 40, p. 10.

2 Mints I. I. Istoriya Velikogo Oktyabrya, Izd. 2-E. Tt. 1-3. Moscow, 1977-1979; see also: Golub P. A. Partiya, armiya i revolyutsiya: Otvoyevanie partiya Bolshevikov armii na sooke revolyutsii, March 1917-February 1918, Moscow, 1967; et al.

3 Miller V. I. Soldier's Committees in 1917 The emergence and initial period of activity. Moscow, 1974,

4 Gavrilov L. M. On the issue of Bolshevization of the soldiers ' Committees of the active Army during the preparation and victory of October. - Voprosy istorii CPSU, 1969, N 2; izd. Soldiers ' Committees in the struggle for the victory of the Great October Socialist Revolution. In: Istoricheskie zapiski, 1981, N 106; et al.

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lyandii. As a result, he recreated a grandiose picture of the revolutionary creativity of the soldiers ' masses after the overthrow of the autocracy, traced the rapid involvement of the army in revolutionary events, profound changes in this until recently the main support of the exploiting classes, the actual split of the army into its constituent class units, and the transition of its overwhelming democratic majority to the side of the Soviets.

The monograph analyzes the revolutionary impact of Order No. 1 of the Petrograd Soviet of Workers 'and Soldiers' Deputies of March 1 (14), 1917, on the creation and activity of committees in the field army, the struggle of various classes and political parties for the democratic organs of the soldiers, for the army's position in the decisive confrontation between the proletariat and the bourgeoisie largely depended on this. The author highlights the policy of the Provisional Government and Stavka in relation to the soldiers 'committees, shows that at the first stage of the revolution, the army's commanding leadership, with the help of compromisers, managed to transform most of the committees into mixed soldiers 'and officers' bodies (dominated by defencist compromisers who supported the imperialist foreign and counterrevolutionary internal policies of the bourgeoisie) and direct their activities to increase combat effectiveness the army, to solve economic, household and cultural and educational issues.

In accordance with the will of the soldiers expressed in Order No. 1, the author notes, the Bolsheviks sought to turn the committees into full-fledged organs of the soldiers ' masses. The Bolshevik committees launched an active struggle for the democratization of the army, the election of commanders and the establishment of revolutionary control over them, for the expansion of political and civil rights of soldiers, directed fraternization at the front, and the movement for the transfer of power to the Soviets.

The monograph extensively covers the position of the soldiers 'committees during the preparation of the June offensive at the front, the increasingly deep divergence between the lower (company, battalion, regimental) and upper (army and front) committees on this burning problem for soldiers; it describes the activities of the Bolsheviks in the soldiers' bodies, directed against the offensive at the front and against the repressions of the command in against those who refused to continue the criminal war. The monograph contains a lot of interesting data on the emergence and activity of Bolshevik groups and factions in the committees, which often became the centers of organization of Bolshevik collectives in the active army.

On a documentary basis, L. M. Gavrilov also shows the actions of the counter-revolution after the elimination of dual power. It dealt severe blows to the soldiers ' committees, which prevented the generals and the bourgeoisie from establishing a military dictatorship in the country, and above all to the committees that stood on revolutionary positions. The Bolsheviks everywhere led the counter-revolution, relying on the help of the working class, which defended the revolutionary organs of the mass of soldiers. During this period, the author emphasizes, the polarization of the committees, the divergence between their upper and lower levels are increasing, and the crisis of the policy of compromising parties in the army is deepening.

Soldiers ' committees played an important role in localizing and defeating the Kornilov mutiny. They managed to establish revolutionary control in units and formations and prevent the transfer of troops to help the rebels. The monograph reveals the work of the Bolsheviks to mobilize front-line soldiers for the defeat of the Kornilov region, shows the creation and activities of emergency bodies (revolutionary committees, staffs) to combat Kornilov, flexible tactics of the Bolsheviks, who skillfully used the contradictions in the camp of opponents of the revolution to eliminate the rebellion.

L. M. Gavrilov comprehensively analyzes the rapidly developing process of Bolshevization of soldiers ' organizations after the defeat of the Kornilov region. Tracing this process, which also increasingly affected the top ranks of the committees, the author shows how, relying on the revolutionary sentiments of the soldiers ' masses, the Bolshevik Party led the campaign to re-elect the committees and purge them of compromisers. On the eve of the October Armed Insurrection, the number of soldiers ' committees expressing distrust of the Provisional Government and demanding the transfer of power to the Soviets grew rapidly, especially on the Northern and Western Fronts, which occupied an important place in Lenin's plan of armed insurrection. On this basis, the monograph draws a conclusion of fundamental importance: as a result of the Bolshevization of soldiers ' committees on the fronts adjacent to the leading proletarian centers of the country, the command and control units of the armed Forces of the Soviet Union were not able to be formed.

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the upper ranks of the active army were deprived of the opportunity to use their troops against the main forces of the revolution.

The role of soldiers ' committees in the victory of the Great October Revolution is highlighted in the monograph with the involvement of new concrete material. Their participation in the liquidation of the Kerensky - Krasnov counterrevolutionary rebellion, which played an important role in consolidating the victory of the armed uprising in Petrograd and developing the proletarian revolution in the country, is described in detail. The book presents on a large scale the diverse activities of the Bolshevik soldiers ' committees aimed at establishing Soviet power in the units and formations of the active army, carrying out revolutionary transformations at the front, and resolutely suppressing the conspiracy of internal and external counterrevolution that was trying to form its own government in the Headquarters. The soldiers ' committees, responding to the call of the Soviet Government, raised millions of trench workers to fight for the immediate end of the imperialist war, led mass fraternizations of soldiers of the belligerent countries, concluded armistice agreements between them, and propagated revolutionary ideas among German and Austro-Hungarian soldiers.

The author also examines such poorly studied aspects of the activity of soldiers ' committees as involving the revolutionary masses of the active army in the agrarian movement of the front-line regions, helping the working peasantry to eliminate landowning and implement Lenin's Decree on Land; completing the full democratization of the army, carrying out the demobilization of the old army and creating new armed forces of the Soviet state.

Assessing the international significance of the Bolshevik Party's experience in the struggle to win back the army to the side of the revolution, L. M. Gavrilov shows that a working class party can successfully accomplish this task if it relies on such comprehensive revolutionary organizations as the soldiers ' committees.

Noting in general the thorough nature of the research on the topic, I would like to draw the author's attention to the opportunities that have not yet been used. Thus, it would be advisable to give an assessment of the situation that has developed in the army since February as a result of the formation of a broad system of soldiers ' Councils and committees. Although the majority of these organs, as in the Soviet system, were dominated by compromisers, there is reason to speak of the existence of dual power in the army as well. The study of this fact, already noted in our historiography5, will contribute to a deeper understanding of the role of soldiers ' committees in revolutionizing the army, as well as the impact that dual power in the army had on the creation of dual power in the country as a whole.

It is well known that by the beginning of the October Revolution, the process of Bolshevization of soldiers ' committees was still far from complete, and many of them, especially on the far-flung fronts, and above all the top committees, were in the hands of compromisers, although most of the soldiers were in favor of the power of the Soviets. The discrepancy between the policy of the compromise committees and the mood of the masses had to be eliminated by creating Bolshevik revolutionary committees in the army, which, carrying out the will of the masses, re-elected the compromise committees. This important circumstance needed to be clarified in more detail, especially since its essence is being distorted by anti-communists in order to falsify the history of the revolution in the army.

In the course of further work on the subject, the author may wish to pay more attention to the role of the revolutionary soldiers ' organs in implementing Lenin's plan of armed insurrection, in mobilizing revolutionary soldiers to suppress the first counterrevolutionary uprisings, and in training command cadres for the Red Army.

In general, with the publication of L. M. Gavrilov's book, Soviet historiography has been supplemented with valuable research, which largely fills in the gap in the coverage of one of the most important problems of the history of October.

5 See: Mints I. I. Istoriya Velikogo Oktyabrya [History of the Great October], Vol. 1, Moscow, 1967, p. 750; Golub P. A., Bolsheviks and the Army in three Revolutions, Moscow, 1977, p. 104.

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