IV.
The Red Army and the Czecho-Slovak
Forces.
A comparison between the Red Army and the Czecho-Slovak forces should reveal factors which may go a long way towards explaining some of the sharp contrasts in the two movements in Russia that stand at the back of these bodies.
Among the motives which induced men to join the Red Army of the Bolsheviks these may be noted. There was a feeling in the minds of many people that the ideals which the Revolution stood for were in some danger of being crushed. They felt impulsively that if considerable numbers joined the Army of the Revolution a greater security would result, and thus the delicate task of embodying the national desire and the national consciousness in a suitable instrument of government would be facilitated. They set about forming this army with the forgetfulness of self so characteristic of the Russian, and often considered that good intentions might be a substitute for the colder task of political and military organisation. While this desire for security influenced many men in the earlier days of the Bolshevik movement, the hard conditions of life in Russia and increasing poverty led many family men with dependents to seek employment in the Red Guard, because the wages were good and the conditions as to food and clothing were excellent. For the latter reasons many joined towards the end of the winter of 1917–18 who saw no other alternative but starvation. This probably was the reason why many Austro-German prisoners of war found themselves in the ranks of the Red Army. But another motive in this case must also be considered. The Bolshevik programme stood for internationalism, and while few prisoners of war that I spoke to were able to explain exactly what this meant, yet a very strong impression was gathered that in the minds of these men internationalism meant some kind of international brotherhood.
The source from which the Czecho-Slovak forces were drawn was almost entirely the body of deserters from the Austro-German armies. Very few comparatively were of other nationality than Czecho-Slovak, or from any other source. While the source of recruits for the Czecho-Slovaks was of one nationality, the sources of the Bolshevik armies were more numerous. While the motives for joining the Red Army were in nearly all cases complex, those which caused allegiance to the Czecho-Slovaks were simple, and among them we may name intense anti-German feeling, promises (and pay) from the French, and—of less weight—an element of adventure which at any time and at any place may cause young men in a foreign country, without dependents, to approximate to the position of being soldiers of fortune.
Discipline and Fighting Ability.
The Bolshevik recruits were familiar with the village form of government. It was therefore natural that they should introduce into their army the same type of administration and discipline which obtains in the mir, or village council. In our sense of the word, discipline was lax, but the spirit of brotherhood was strong, and the men were accustomed to acting upon the compelling force, not of orders from a superior officer, but of the will of the meeting. Putting this into other words, the men obeyed a committee of the regiment or platoon, which was elected by themselves and which took its authority solely from the will of the regiment or platoon expressed in mass meetings. The nature of the Czecho-Slovak discipline is determined by its origin—severe German army training, officered by men who had learnt their method in Germany and received encouragement under the old régime of the Tsar.
The type of fighting natural to each follows from the character of the discipline on the two sides. The Bolsheviks were good at guerilla warfare. The excitement and comradeship of fighting in small machine-gun squads and in daring exploits on the part of small platoons seriously limited the character of the campaigns of which, they were capable. Their General Staff work and their artillery were praised by all observers, and in these branches of the service they received much assistance from the anti-German pro-internationalist Austrian and German prisoners of war who adhered to their cause. The Czecho-Slovaks were good at fighting in open formation, at timed attacks, and at methods of warfare which might involve co-operation among widely extended units. Relatively to the Bolsheviks, I think it is correct to say that their staff work and their artillery were poor, but their weakness in theory was made good by the excellence of their practice. The Bolsheviks were stronger in theory than in practice.
The contrast between the two forces reveals itself in the spirit in which their campaigns were conducted. The Bolshevik recruits were largely boys to whom fighting for the Revolution was a kind of romance. They felt that they were protecting the liberties and the unity of Russia. There was a strong romantic attachment to their cause, and though conscious of many back-slidings they were also conscious of a power which lay within themselves to lead them on with courage and devotion to great service for their country and humanity.
Czecho-Slovak Bitterness.
The Czecho-Slovaks also were fired with the idea of fighting for the liberation of their country from an oppressor, and they were banded together for this end. They came naturally or were led to see this oppressor stretch out his hand into a distant country and thwart them in their task of national liberation by the method of turning the Bolsheviks against them. What justification they had for holding this idea was discussed in the previous article, but it may be repeated here that what ideas did not come to them through their own observations were pressed upon them by the Allies. Thinking as they did that the underhand methods of Germany were working in the Bolshevik community, they vented their hatred of the oppressor on his supposed ally. Seeing no hope for Europe or for humanity unless the German power was completely crushed, it was but a step for them to come to the position that there was no hope for humanity unless Bolshevism and the Bolsheviks were annihilated.
Their sense of duty to this new undertaking induced a bitterness of spirit towards the new enemy which characterised not only the details of their military operations, instanced by executing all the prisoners they took, but also their relation to the civil Government of Russia. It may here be mentioned that in assisting in the establishment of a new Government they showed their antagonism to the old by permitting a régime which differed so far from the Bolsheviks' as closely to resemble the Imperial administration of Germany.