THE CIVIL WAR
“No regime placed in the Bolshevik predicament between 1917 and 1921 could have survived without resort to authoritarian measures. The move towards centralism in government increased as the Civil War dragged on. The emergencies of war required immediate day-to-day decisions to be made.”
Michael Lynch
“(The Bolsheviks had) a readiness to resort to coercion, rule by administrative fiat, centralised administration, summary justice.”
Robert Tucker
“Only during the civil war, when they stressed the need for strict centralized control to mobilize the resources of the country, did the Bolsheviks plan the general structure of the party-state”.
Orlando Figes
“Nothing did more to shape the ruling attitudes of the Bolsheviks than the experience of the civil war…The Bolshevism that emerged from the civil war viewed itself as a crusading brotherhood of comrades in arms, conquering Russia and the world with a red pencil in one hand and a gun in the other”.
Orlando Figes
“No regime placed in the Bolshevik predicament between 1917 and 1921 could have survived without resort to authoritarian measures. The move towards centralism in government increased as the Civil War dragged on. The emergencies of war required immediate day-to-day decisions to be made.”
Michael Lynch
“(The Bolsheviks had) a readiness to resort to coercion, rule by administrative fiat, centralised administration, summary justice.”
Robert Tucker
“Only during the civil war, when they stressed the need for strict centralized control to mobilize the resources of the country, did the Bolsheviks plan the general structure of the party-state”.
Orlando Figes
“Nothing did more to shape the ruling attitudes of the Bolsheviks than the experience of the civil war…The Bolshevism that emerged from the civil war viewed itself as a crusading brotherhood of comrades in arms, conquering Russia and the world with a red pencil in one hand and a gun in the other”.
Orlando Figes