Today, the superficial and frivolous attitude to the impending world war that we see both in the left (primarily the Bolshevik left) and in the working environment is of great concern. Kerch conflict on November 25, 2018 between Russian government and Ukraine, the subsequent imposition of martial law in Ukraine, the mutual pulling up of troops, the growth of all kinds of weapons in the Donbas region - all this seems to be watched on TV in our country. The guns are already resting on the sides of the working people of our countries, and we still think that the war is somewhere far away, not at home.

Meanwhile, there are many signs the last stage of preparation wide regional war. Yes, so far the Ukrainian and Western oligarchies have not officially declared war on Russia, but we are well aware that it is not at all necessary to declare war in order to start fighting. For 100 years, imperialism has shown that in wars more often crawled in than they piled on with all their might at once with preliminary diplomatic notes. Regional wars flared up gradually, and the positional war in Donbass, which has been going on for the fifth year, is just such a smoldering ember that can be quickly inflated to the scale of half of Eurasia.

Bolshevik Magazine, No. 1, 1934, pp. 96-120

The doctrine of Lenin-Stalin on the wars of the imperialist era and the tactics of Bolshevism

A. Ugarov

Imperialism, being the highest and last stage of capitalism, brings the contradictions inherent in capitalism to the extreme, to the utmost acuteness and tension, and puts the revolutionary assault on capitalism on the order of the day. In the context of imperialism, "the proletarian revolution has become a matter of direct practice", "The old period of preparation of the working class for the revolution rested and grew into a new period of direct assault on capitalism"(Stalin, "On the Foundations of Leninism"). The 13th Plenum of the ECCI set before the Communist Parties the task of rapidly preparing for decisive revolutionary battles.

A few questions to fill in:

How many citizens of Russia died during the First World War (1914-1918)?
How many citizens of Russia and the USSR died during the Civil War (1917-1923)?

Losses during World War I (1914-1918)

Losses armed forces of all the powers participating in the world war amounted to about 10 million people. Until now, there is no generalized data on the losses of the civilian population from the impact of military weapons. Famine and epidemics caused by the war caused the death of at least 20 million people*.

Combat losses of the Russian army killed in battle (according to various estimates from 775 to 911 thousand people) corresponded to such losses of the Central bloc as 1:1 (Germany lost about 303 thousand people on the Russian front, Austria-Hungary - 451 thousand and Turkey - about 151 thousand). Russia fought the war with much less effort than its opponents and allies... Even taking into account the significant sanitary losses and those who died in captivity, the total losses were incomparably less sensitive for Russia than for other countries...

Famine and other disasters caused by the war led to an increase in mortality and a decrease in the birth rate. The decline in population for these reasons alone in 12 warring states amounted to over 20 million people, including in Russia 5 million people., in Austria-Hungary 4.4 million people, in Germany 4.2 million people **.

Losses during the Civil War in Russia (1917-1923) ***

From 1917 to 1922, the population of Russia decreased by 13-16 million people, while most of them died from starvation and epidemics. Taking into account the decrease in population growth compared to peacetime, the loss of the population of Russia amounted to 25 million people ****.

Brief summary:

The human losses of Russia during the Civil War turned out to be approx. 3 times higher than during WWI ...

Lenin on the Civil War

Anyone who claims it's a civil war
in Russia there is no conscious cause of the Bolsheviks
either cunning, or does not know his history

V. I. LENIN, VOLUME 26, July 1914 ~ August 1915, PUBLISHING HOUSE OF POLITICAL LITERATURE MOSCOW. 1969

ON THE DEFEAT OF HIS GOVERNMENT IN THE IMPERIALIST WAR

The revolutionary class in a reactionary war cannot but desire the defeat of its government.

This is an axiom.

There is a revolution during the war Civil War , and the transformation of the war of governments into a civil war, on the one hand, is facilitated by military failures (“defeat”) of governments, and on the other hand, it is impossible in practice to strive for such a transformation without thereby contributing to the defeat.

ON THE SLOGAN OF TURNING THE IMPERIALIST WAR INTO A CIVIL WAR

The only correct proletarian slogan is the transformation of the modern imperialist war into a civil war. Precisely such a transformation results from all the objective conditions of the present military catastrophe, and only by systematically propagating and agitating in this direction can the workers' parties fulfill the obligations they assumed at Basel.

Only such tactics will be truly revolutionary tactics of the working class, corresponding to the conditions of the new historical epoch.

VOLUME 26, FOREWORD.

Proceeding from the imperialist nature of the war, Lenin determined the position of the party in relation to it. He put forward the slogan: turn the imperialist war into a civil war.“A revolution during a war is a civil war,” Lenin pointed out. Therefore, the Bolsheviks fought for the revolution in the conditions of the world imperialist war under the slogan of turning it into a civil war. This slogan flowed from all the conditions of the war, from the fact that it had created a revolutionary situation in most of the countries of Europe.
Of course, Lenin wrote, it is impossible to know in advance whether this revolutionary situation will lead to revolution, when exactly the revolution will occur. But it is certainly the duty of all socialists to work systematically and unswervingly in this direction, to reveal to the masses the reality of the revolutionary situation, to awaken the revolutionary consciousness and revolutionary determination of the proletariat, and to help it pass over to revolutionary action. The slogan summarizing and guiding this work was the slogan of turning the imperialist war into a civil war.

The civil war that the revolutionary social democracy called for at that time, meant, as Lenin pointed out, the struggle of the proletariat with arms in hand for the overthrow of the power of the bourgeoisie in the developed capitalist countries, for the democratic revolution in Russia, for the republic in backward monarchical countries, etc. As the first steps towards turning the imperialist war into a war Lenin planned the following measures for the civil war: an unconditional refusal to vote military credits and an exit from the bourgeois ministries, a complete break with politics " national peace»; creation of an illegal organization; support for the fraternization of soldiers of warring countries; support for all kinds of revolutionary mass actions of the proletariat.

Along with the slogan of civil war, Lenin, in opposition to the bourgeois and social-chauvinist policy of supporting "his" government and "defending the fatherland," put forward the slogan of defeating "his" government in an imperialist war. “In every country,” wrote Lenin, “the struggle against its own government, which is waging an imperialist war, must not stop at the possibility of the defeat of that country as a result of revolutionary agitation. The defeat of the government army weakens the given government, contributes to the liberation of the peoples enslaved by it, and facilitates the civil war against the ruling classes” (p. 166). Lenin's article "On the defeat of one's own government in the imperialist war" is devoted to explaining the meaning of this slogan. In it, Lenin put forward the important fundamental proposition that "The revolutionary class in a reactionary war cannot but desire the defeat of its government." He stressed that in the conditions of the world imperialist war in all imperialist countries the proletariat must desire the defeat of "their" government and contribute to such a defeat without this it is impossible to turn the imperialist war into a civil war.

“The transformation of the imperialist war into a civil war is the only correct proletarian slogan, indicated by the experience of the Commune, outlined by the Basel (1912) resolution and arising from all the conditions of an imperialist war between highly developed bourgeois countries. No matter how great the difficulties of such a transformation at one moment or another may seem , socialists will never give up systematic, persistent, unswerving preparatory work in this direction, since the war has become a fact" (Lenin, article "War and Russian Social Democracy", September 1914)

Here we must stop and pay attention to a very important feature of Lenin's plan. Ilyich was not at all going to save the Russians from the horrors of the war, he only wanted to redirect the cannons and machine guns so that the war would go against part of his own people. But to achieve this transformation of the "wrong" war into the "right" one - so that brother against brother and son against father - was easier with the defeat of "one's own" government. This defeat weakened him and made the road to revolution easier. And Lenin points out: “A revolution in time of war is a civil war, and the transformation of the war of governments into a civil war, on the one hand, is facilitated by military failures (defeat) of governments, and on the other hand, it is impossible in practice to strive for such a transformation without helping those the very defeat ... The revolutionary class in a reactionary war cannot but desire the defeat of its government ... (article "On the defeat of its government in the imperialist war"). In principle, Lenin proclaimed the slogan of the defeat not only of the tsarist, but also of all other governments participating in the First World War. However, at the same time, he did not care much whether the socialists of Germany, Austria-Hungary, England and France would support his call with their practical actions. In addition, only one of the belligerents can suffer defeat in a war. Therefore, the defeat of Russia in practice means a military victory for Germany and the strengthening of the Kaiser's government. But Lenin is in no way embarrassed by this circumstance, and he insists that the initiative of defeatism must come precisely from the Russian Social Democrats: "... The last consideration is especially important for Russia, for it is the most backward country in which a socialist revolution is directly impossible. That is why the Russian Social Democrats were to be the first to come up with the theory and practice of the slogan of defeat" (Lenin, "On the Defeat of Their Government in the Imperialist War").

Admire the following quotes from the leader of the world proletariat, in which every letter and punctuation mark is saturated with terry Russophobia: "Down with priestly sentimental and stupid sighs about peace at all costs! Let us raise the banner of civil war ..." (Lenin, "The situation and tasks socialist international). "The slogan of peace, in my opinion, is wrong at the moment. This is a philistine, priestly slogan. The proletarian slogan should be: civil war..." interests of the working masses and the working class of Russia, cannot be subject to the slightest, absolutely no doubt that the least evil would now and immediately be the defeat of tsarism in this war. For tsarism is a hundred times worse than Kaiserism ... "(Lenin, "Letter to Shlyapnikov 17.10.14.) Stunning cynicism statements! And after all, not just "losing the war", but turning it into a civilian one is already a double betrayal! Lenin demands, furiously insists on the need for a civil war! It is unfortunate that the tsarist government did not think of sending an intruder to Europe with an ice pick for Mr. Ulyanov, who is scribbling his Russophobic libels in European coffee houses. You see, the fate of Russia in the twentieth century would have been much less tragic.

And still very important point: look at the dates of Lenin's statements. The leader of Bolshevism put forward the tasks of the defeat of Russia and the need for a civil war immediately and unequivocally, when no one yet knew the impending course of the war. N. Bukharin, who was with him in Switzerland, told the Moscow Izvestia in 1934 that the very first propaganda slogan that Lenin wanted to put forward was the slogan for the soldiers of all warring armies: "Shoot your officers!" But something confused Ilyich and he preferred the less specific formula "transformation of the imperialist war into a civil war." There were no serious problems at the front yet: no heavy losses, no lack of weapons and ammunition, no retreat, and the Bolsheviks, according to Lenin's plan, had already launched a fierce struggle to reduce the country's defense capability. They created illegal party organizations at the front, conducting anti-war propaganda; issued anti-government leaflets, appeals; carried out strikes and demonstrations in the rear; organized and supported any actions of the masses that weakened the front. That is, they acted like a classic "5th column".

Anti-war rally in a military unit

A.A. Brusilov writes in his memoirs: “When I was the commander-in-chief of the Southwestern Front during the German war, the Bolsheviks, both earlier and after the February coup, strongly agitated in the ranks of the army. During the time of Kerensky, they had especially many attempts to infiltrate the army ... I remember one case ... My chief of staff, General Sukhomlin, reported to me as follows: several Bolsheviks arrived at the headquarters in my absence. They told him that they wanted to infiltrate the army for propaganda. Sukhomlin, apparently at a loss, and allowed them to go. I, of course, did not approved and ordered them to be brought back. Arriving in Kamenetz-Podolsk, they came to me, and I told them that in no case could I allow them into the army, since they want peace at all costs, and the Provisional Government demands war until a common peace along with all our allies. And then I sent them out of the limits subject to me. "

Anton Ivanovich Denikin testifies: "Bolshevism spoke most definitely. As we know, he came to the army with a direct invitation - to refuse obedience to the commanders and stop the war, finding fertile ground in the spontaneous sense of self-preservation that gripped the mass of soldiers. Delegates sent from all fronts to the Petrograd Soviet with requests, requests, demands, threats, sometimes they heard there from a few representatives of the defense bloc reproaches and requests to be patient, but on the other hand they found complete sympathy in the Bolshevik faction of the Soviet, taking with them into the dirty and cold trenches the conviction that peace negotiations would not begin until all power passes to the Bolshevik soviets."

The tsarist regime had many shortcomings, but it was by no means "rotten", as Soviet propaganda zealously tried to convince us. The Black and Baltic Seas were controlled by the Russian fleet, the industry dramatically increased the production of ammunition and weapons. The front stabilized in the western regions of Ukraine, Belarus and the Baltic states. Losses? In total, in the First World War, Russia irretrievably lost less than 1 million people, compare with the gigantic multimillion-dollar losses in the Civil and Great Patriotic Wars. But in what the autocracy is very much underdeveloped, it is in countering people of different political colors, conducting subversive anti-state activities, including the so-called liberals. February Revolution of 1917 was a severe blow to the country's defense capability. From the memoirs of the so-called "old Bolshevik" V.E. Vasiliev "And our spirit is young" the active role of the Bolsheviks in organizing the February revolution is clearly visible: "Late in the evening, Putilovets Grigory Samoded came to our company. He brought an appeal from the St. Petersburg Committee of the Bolsheviks, in which , in particular, it was said: “Remember, comrade soldiers, that only the fraternal alliance of the working class and the revolutionary army will bring liberation to the perishing oppressed people and put an end to the fratricidal and senseless war. Down with the tsarist monarchy! Long live the fraternal alliance of the revolutionary army with the people!" We immediately went to all the Izmaylovo barracks to raise soldiers. Samoded went with us to the 1st battalion. As early as the morning of February 25, rallies began in the barracks. Officers, among whom Colonel Verkhovtsev was in charge , captains Luchinin and Dzhavrov, tried to interrupt the speeches. But the soldiers refused to obey the officers and began to act together with the revolutionary companies. At the rallies, the soldiers called for decisive action - arming the workers, dispersing and disarming the police, policemen ... Izmailovsky and Petrograd regiments, leaving the barracks ", joined the workers' columns. All the streets and alleys on the Peterhof highway were reliably guarded by armed workers and our companies. That evening, leaflets of the St. Petersburg Committee of the Bolsheviks were passed from hand to hand, calling for decisive action: "Call everyone to fight. It is better to die a glorious death fighting for a working cause than lay down your head for capital gains at the front or languish from hunger and overwork ... We stopped one of the cars. Let's go to the barracks. We shot the officers who offered desperate resistance."

Street fighting in Petrograd in February 1917

We read further the curious memoirs of V.E. Vasiliev with particular attention: “On March 1, 1917, an event of great importance took place. units of the garrison. I remember well this order, which in the post-February days blocked the path of reaction, counter-revolutionary elements to arms. The order ordered the troops to obey only the Petrograd Soviet and their regimental committees. From now on, weapons were to be at the disposal of the soldiers' committees and were not subject to issue to officers even on their requirement. civil rights, which they could use out of service and order. Order 1 (the soldiers perfectly understood who initiated it) raised the authority of the Bolsheviks even higher. The nascent bond strengthened. In early March, under the St. Petersburg Committee of the Party, headed by N. I. Podvoisky, one of the most experienced organizers of military and combat work, a Military Commission was created - the core of the future "Voenka". At the end of March, a meeting of the Bolsheviks of the garrison (97 representatives from 48 military units) was held. It established, instead of the Military Commission, a permanent apparatus - the Military Organization - with the aim of "unifying all the party forces of the garrison and mobilizing the masses of soldiers to fight under the banner of the Bolsheviks."

So who actually inspired the adoption of the infamous Order No. 1 - again, these are the Bolsheviks! The situation in Petrograd was critical, huge crowds of armed soldiers rushed around the city, starting fierce battles with the junkers and gendarmes; took place in Kronstadt massacres sailor officers. Uniform anarchy! In such a situation, it cost nothing to push any, even the most anti-Russian, resolution through the new authorities, if only to calm the raging "defenders of the Fatherland." And for some reason we still blame only the so-called "liberals" for the collapse of the army. General A.S. Lukomsky noted that the order of the 1st Petrograd Soviet "undermined discipline, depriving the officer command staff of power over the soldiers." With the adoption of this order in the army, the principle of unity of command, fundamental for any army, was violated, as a result, there was a sharp drop in discipline. All weapons passed under the control of the soldiers' committees. But this was to the advantage of the Bolsheviks, and during this period they became the most active defenders of the so-called "army democracy." The order to the delegates to the Minsk Soviet, drawn up by the Bolshevik A.F. Myasnikov, said: "Considering it right ... the destruction of standing armies ... we see the need to create a more democratic order in the army." Among the new Bolshevik slogans is "arming the people." It is interesting that when the Bolsheviks began to create their own - really combat-ready Red Army - they completely forgot about order number 1 of the Petrosoviet, and about "army democracy", and about "arming the people" too. In the army headed by Trotsky, without any sentimentality, they shot their soldiers even for minor offenses, achieving the strictest discipline. So, in August 1918, Trotsky used decimation to punish the 2nd Petrograd Regiment of the Red Army, which arbitrarily left its combat positions.

The memoirs of another "old Bolshevik" - F.P. Khaustov - refer to April and May 1917: "District Bolshevik committees are being elected. This makes the regiment soldered ... The committee establishes ties with neighboring regiments and the same work is also carried out there, according to elections of Bolshevik committees. Things are expanding, and in mid-March the entire 43rd Corps was organized on the Bolshevik program. A corps committee was elected. The Bolshevik Committee of the 436th Novoladozhsky Regiment almost entirely entered the corps committee, replenished with representatives from other regiments. At the same time, the Bolshevik Committee of the 436th Novoladozhsky Regiment established contact with the Central and St. Petersburg Committees of the Bolsheviks through Comrade A. Vasiliev and received literature and guidance from there. Central Committee of the Bolshevik Party In early March, the committee organizes, contrary to the order of the commander-in-chief on the northern front, in a section of at least 40 versts, fraternization with the Germans. At that time I was chairman of the Corps Bolshevik Committee. The fraternization took place in an organized manner .... The result of the fraternization was the actual cessation of hostilities in the sector of the corps.

So, the tsarist government was unable to keep the situation in the country under control. Instead of reliably isolating or liquidating the organizers of anti-state activities, law enforcement agencies exiled them to well-fed Siberia, where they gained strength, ate, freely communicated with each other, making revolutionary plans. If necessary, the revolutionaries easily escaped from exile. During the war, the fight against subversive activities was also not active enough and did not meet the realities. After the attempted Kornilov rebellion, the Military Revolutionary Committees (VRC), under the control of the Bolsheviks, seized all command and administrative power in the regiments, divisions, corps and armies of the Western Front. The provisional government, like the tsarist government, was unable to promptly and harshly stop the subversive activities of the Leninists. For the sake of truth, let us once again recall that it itself did a lot to destabilize the army with ill-conceived decisions and orders. But one should not attribute too much to the Kerensky government, despite serious mistakes, it did not at all intend to surrender the country to the Germans. From January to September 1917, about 1.9 million people joined the active army from the rear garrisons, which significantly blocked the increased flow of desertion. In the summer, Germany continued to keep significant forces on the Eastern Front: 127 divisions. Although their number dropped to 80 in autumn, it was still a third of the total German ground forces. In June 1917, Kornilov's army by a decisive assault broke through the positions of the 3rd Austrian army of Kirchbach to the west of the city of Stanislav. During the further offensive, about 10,000 enemy soldiers and 150 officers were taken prisoner, and about 100 guns were captured. However, the subsequent breakthrough of the Germans on the front of the 11th Army, which fled before the Germans (despite its superiority in numbers) due to moral decay, leveled the initial successes of the Russian troops. So the supporters of the defeat of Russia hit their own country in the back.

Of course, the defeatist activity of the Russian revolutionaries was received with great enthusiasm by the Germans. The German General Staff organized a massive campaign to support the subversive efforts of the Bolsheviks. Special offices were engaged in agitation among Russian prisoners of war. German intelligence financed the Bolsheviks in large sums through the left-wing political adventurer Parvus (real name Gelfand). He settled in Stockholm, which became an outpost of German intelligence to control events in Russia. On March 2, 1917, the German representation in Stockholm receives the following instruction 7443 of the German Imperial Bank: “You are hereby informed that demands will be received from Finland for funds to promote peace in Russia. The demands will come from the following persons: Lenin, Zinoviev, Kamenev, Trotsky, Sumenson, Kozlovsky, Kollontai, Sievers or Merkalin Current accounts are opened for these persons in branches of private German banks in Sweden, Norway and Switzerland in accordance with our order 2754. These demands must be accompanied by one or two of the following signatures: "Dirschau " or "Milkenberg". Demands endorsed by one of the above-mentioned persons must be executed without delay." After the war, Erich von Ludendorff (quartermaster general, de facto head of the German general staff) recalled: "... Our government, having sent Lenin to Russia, took on a huge responsibility! This trip was justified from a military point of view: it was necessary that Russia fell ...". And one more thing: "By November, the degree of decomposition of the Russian army by the Bolsheviks had reached such a level that the OKH was seriously considering using a number of units from the Eastern Front to strengthen its positions in the West. Then we kept 80 divisions in the East - a third of all available forces. "

Erich von Ludendorff: "... Our government, by sending Lenin to Russia, took on a huge responsibility! This trip was justified from a military point of view: it was necessary for Russia to fall"

After the October Revolution, the Bolsheviks first published Lenin's decree on peace. This treacherous step became a powerful and decisive impetus for the complete collapse of the front, it practically ceased to exist. Soldiers drove home in huge crowds. At the same time, a mass exodus of officers began from the army, who did not agree with the new conditions of service, with the new government, and who reasonably feared for their lives. The murders and suicides of officers were not uncommon. Guards assigned to guard warehouses scattered, because of which a lot of property was plundered or perished under open sky. Due to the mass death of the horse composition, the artillery turned out to be completely paralyzed. In January 1918 on everything Western front 150 thousand people remained; for comparison - in the middle of 1916 it included more than 5 million people.

General Brusilov testifies again: “I remember a case when it was reported to the Commander-in-Chief of the Northern Front in my presence that one of the divisions, having driven out its superiors, wants to go home entirely, I ordered to let them know that I would come to them the next morning to talk with them "I was dissuaded from going to this division, because it was in an extreme brutality and that I would hardly get out of them alive. Nevertheless, I ordered to announce that I would come to them and that they were waiting for me. I was met by a huge crowd of soldiers, raging and not realizing her actions. I drove into this crowd in a car ... and, standing up to my full height, asked them what they wanted. They shouted: "We want to go home!". I told them what to say with the crowd I can’t, but let them choose a few people with whom I will speak in their presence. With some difficulty, but nevertheless, the representatives of this crazed crowd were chosen. When I asked which party they belong to, they answered me that used to be social revolution erami, and now they have become Bolsheviks. "What is your doctrine?" I asked. “Land and freedom!” they shouted ... “But what do you want now?” They frankly declared that they no longer wanted to fight and wanted to go home in order to divide the land, taking it away from the landlords, and live freely, not To my question: “What will happen to Mother Russia then if you don’t think about her, and each of you will only care about yourself?” To this they told me that it was none of their business to discuss what will happen to the state, and that they firmly decided to live at home calmly and clover. "That is, to gnaw seeds and play the harmonica ?!" "That's right!" - the nearest ranks laughed ... “I also met my 17th infantry division, which was once in my 14th corps, who greeted me enthusiastically. But to my exhortations to go against the enemy, they answered me that they themselves would have gone, but other troops adjacent to they will leave and will not fight, and therefore they do not agree to die uselessly. And all the units that I have only seen, to a greater or lesser extent, declared the same thing: "they do not want to fight," and everyone considered themselves Bolsheviks .. ."

Lenin, in his speech at the All-Russian Congress of Soviets of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies on June 9 (22), 1917, said: "When they say that we are striving for a separate peace, this is not true ... We do not recognize any separate peace with the German capitalists, and neither in what kind of negotiations we will not enter into with them. It seemed to sound patriotic, but Ilyich impudently lied, went to any tricks to come to power. Already at the end of 1917. The Bolsheviks entered into negotiations with Germany, and in March 1918. they signed a separate peace on fantastically onerous terms. Under its terms, a territory of 780 thousand square meters was torn away from the country. km. with a population of 56 million people (a third of the total population); Russia pledged to recognize the independence of Ukraine (UNR); indemnity in gold (about 90 tons) was transported by the Bolsheviks to Germany, etc. Now Leninists had a free hand for the long-awaited war with their own people. By 1921, Russia was literally in ruins. It was under the Bolsheviks from the former Russian Empire the territories of Poland, Finland, Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania, Western Ukraine and Belarus, the Kars region (in Armenia), Bessarabia, etc. departed. During the Civil War, from hunger, disease, terror and in battles, from 8 to 13 million people died (according to various sources). Up to 2 million people emigrated from the country. In 1921 there were many millions of homeless children in Russia. Industrial production fell to 20% of the 1913 level.

It was a real national disaster.

"Even earlier, Lenin called for turning the imperialist war into a civil war"

First of all, we note that appeals, slogans are always specific and aimed at achieving a specific goal. Therefore, some slogans are eternal (for example, "Glory to labor!"), Some are designed for many decades ("Proletarians of all countries, unite!"), Some - for years of certain events ("Our cause is just, the enemy will be defeated, victory will be for us!" - 1941-45), some - for months ("Not a step back!" - order No. 227), others - on the contrary, being loyal in a certain situation, were removed for some time ("All power to the Soviets ").

Lenin's idea of ​​turning the imperialist war into a civil war was formulated in his work Socialism and War, written in July-August 1915, and sounded like this: this war, the shameless lies of the bourgeoisie of all countries, which cover up their predatory aims with a "national" ideology - all this, on the basis of an objective revolutionary situation, inevitably creates revolutionary moods among the masses. Our duty is to help realize these moods, to deepen and formalize them. This task is correct expresses only the slogan of turning the imperialist war into a civil war, and every consistently class struggle during a war, every seriously pursued tactic of mass actions inevitably leads to this.

Thus, this slogan was put forward when autocracy ruled in Russia, when World War was carried out in his (and other imperialist states too) interests.

Now to the essence of the myth. If you, dear readers, analyze the history of all civil wars known to you, i.e. wars waged between groups of citizens of the same state, you will see that the initiator of a civil war has never been that part of the citizens whose representatives were in power. Indeed, what is the meaning of this for them? As the Russian proverb says, "Horses do not prowl from food, but they do not seek good from good." Classes and social groups that have lost power or are seeking it are another matter. It is they who, unable to defend their power or being unable to take it by other means, may resort to civil war, to armed confrontation, as a last resort.

And how did events develop in our country after October 25 (November 7), 1917? By the spring and summer of 1918, the Bolshevik Soviets of Workers', Peasants' and Soldiers' Deputies assumed full power throughout the country. This process is known in history as the triumphal procession. Soviet power. Well, now think: in such a situation, do the Bolsheviks, exercising state power in the country, need a civil war? It is clear that they just did not need this war at all. The very process of taking power took place almost peacefully. In Petrograd, casualties during the armed uprising were minimal (the October Revolution is known in history as one of the most bloodless). There were slightly more losses in Moscow, and history did not record major actions of armed resistance to Soviet power throughout the country at that time (the speeches of Kerensky-Krasnov, Kaledin and Dutov were not serious and were easily suppressed by revolutionary detachments, but there were no others).

However, the classes (social groups, estates), thrown off the neck of the working people, still did not reconcile themselves to the loss of power and, after a brief shock, began to gather strength and prepare for the fight. These forces themselves were clearly not enough for a serious struggle against the victorious people, therefore it is quite natural that they entered into an agreement with their class ally - with international imperialism (this agreement was called the "conspiracy of ambassadors"), received from him a complete understanding and comprehensive help and began to get down to business - the overthrow of the people's power. Isn't it true, a direct analogy from our recent past immediately suggests itself: the actions of the interregional deputy group in 1991 and its leader B.N. Yeltsin?

All the facts convincingly show that the civil war became possible only as a result of its initiation by direct foreign intervention. Judge for yourself: on March 9, 1918, the Anglo-French-American invaders landed in Murmansk, on April 5, Japanese samurai occupied Vladivostok, the French tried to host in Odessa, in May, Turkish troops entered the Transcaucasus, on May 25, the rebellion of the Czechoslovak corps began. And only after these direct military actions of foreign armies did armed actions of the internal opposition begin - the Savinkov rebellion in Yaroslavl, the July Left SR rebellion in Moscow. On August 30, the chairman of the city Cheka, Uritsky, was killed in Petrograd; on the same day, an attempt was made on V.I. Lenin, he was seriously wounded. So, under conditions of massive foreign intervention the counter-revolutionaries, the overthrown exploiting classes, went over to a full-scale armed struggle, started a civil war, as a result of which in the summer of 1918 already significant territories of Russia were captured by the enemies of Soviet power - the interventionists and the White Guards.

It is now clear who unleashed a civil war in our country? However, gentlemen falsifiers of history, this was already clear. In our materials, we appeal to those who really want to understand the truth of history. If someone, under the influence of the massive lies that have fallen upon us, does not fully trust the evidence from Soviet sources, then turn to those who by no means can be classified as communists and who, in order to maintain decency, do not risk lying openly. Watch the English movie "Sydney Reilly - King of Spies". Read the memoirs of Baron Wrangel or the chairman of the royal State Duma Shulgin. Read the memoirs of General Denikin recently published with great fanfare - well, you need to show that only now, with "freedom", we got the opportunity to read the truth that the Bolsheviks so carefully concealed. Yes, these memoirs indeed contain mostly truthful data (of course, with a discount on the fact that an active participant in the events cannot be completely objective). It is only interesting that for the first time Denikin's book was published in full in 1928, in the most Stalinist times, and in a larger circulation than now. Who does not believe - look at the imprint of the current book and read from which edition it was reprinted. This is to the question of who is afraid of the truth, and who, on the contrary, is interested in the truth. So we just encourage you to read these books. Then their authors could not even imagine that someone would try to inspire people with such nonsense that the Bolsheviks unleashed a civil war, then the truth about these events was obvious to the living witnesses of the events.