Red terror

The Red Terror in Russia was a set of punitive measures that the Bolsheviks used during the Civil War of 1917-23. This regime was applied against those social groups that were declared class enemies, as well as against those who were accused of counter-revolutionary activity. The Red Terror was an inseparable part of the repressive state policy pursued by the Bolsheviks. In practice, this complex of punitive measures was implemented with the use of legislative acts, and with the implementation of various provisions that are not within the scope of any legislation. The Red Terror was a means of intimidating not only anti-Bolshevik movements, but also civilians.

Today, the set of measures used has two definitions.

Some historians believe that the Red Terror includes the whole policy of repression and lynching in 1917. In their opinion, this complex of measures in some way continued the October Revolution. Historians point out that the White and Red Terror began at different times. In this case, the second developed earlier than the first. The Red Terror was considered to be logically inevitable and was associated with Bolshevik violence, directed not so much against resistance as against whole social classes that were outlawed. First of all, they included noblemen and Cossacks, kulaks and priests, officers and landlords.

Another part of historians considers Bolshevik terror to be a forced and extreme measure, a response and defensive reaction against the White terror.

The leadership of the Communist Party as a whole and Lenin in particular spoke out against the "softness" in reaction to the actions of counter-revolutionaries. At the same time, Vladimir Ilyich strongly encouraged the "mass appearance and energy of terror", calling it "the initiative of the masses is quite correct." Along with this, in some statements of Lenin, there was a need to avoid "cruel, unjust and unmotivated sentences."

Many thinkers and historians, in particular Kautsky, criticized the behavior of the new government, its policies and measures taken by them. It was noted that before the revolution the Bolsheviks were against the use of the death penalty. After the seizure of power, the government began to use mass executions. Lenin, in contesting this point of view, in his turn declared that the Bolsheviks were not against execution. The question, in his opinion, was different. Pointing out that no revolutionary government will not do without execution, it is necessary to solve only the issue with the class against which this measure will be taken.

After the seizure of power, the Bolsheviks in large cities of the country began to introduce Marxist economic reforms. At the same time, the transformations amounted to the confiscation of property that was available to citizens, the mobilization of human resources in order to ensure the speedy construction of the socialist regime.

Lenin believed that it was necessary to take tough measures against elements alien to the proletariat. All these elements, in his opinion, should be re-educated using different methods.

The official date of the announcement of the Red Terror was September 5, 1918. It was terminated on November 6 of the same year.

The reprisals were carried out by the Cheka's organs to combat counter-revolutionary manifestations, crimes and speculations in office, as well as "responsible comrades of the Party" (under a special resolution).

The direction of the activity of the punitive organs was formulated quite accurately in Izvestia VTsIK. According to Danishevsky (the first chairman of the Revolutionary Military Council), military tribunals should not be guided by absolutely no legal norms, in view of the fact that they were created (tribunals) in the conditions of intense revolutionary confrontation.