The Imperial Russian state had also almost completely disintegrated in large parts of the country. The disastrous campaigns on the Eastern Front resulted in the mobilization of large numbers of able-bodied men from the rural state security forces, while also producing massive waves of deserters, many of whom dispersed into the countryside and became bandits preying on travellers and the peasantry. When the revolutionaries stepped up, and especially when the Bolsheviks took power, they returned state control and infrastructure to these areas, solidifying them as the only legitimate state power. Meanwhile in Germany, although losing WW1 shook up the state and got the Kaiser deposed, the state never lost control over its territory in the same way. And as OrnluWolfjarl says, when the Imperial Army recalled units from the front line to crush the communists, by the time they’d marched all the way back to the heartlands a majority of the soldiers had changed allegiance and just joined the Red Army instead.
The communists had taken a firmly anti-war stance, or more precisely a ‘revolutionary defeatist’ stance: their position was that WW1 was an inter-imperialist war between capitalist powers (over who would win control of the European colonies in Africa, Asia and to a lesser extent South America) with the only real loser being the members of the working class sent to the slaughter at the front lines. Therefore, instead of fighting each other, the workers of each nation should fight against their own government, bringing the war between countries to an end by turning it to a civil war within each participating country, to overthrow the capitalist states and create new workers’ states - or, failing that, to at least stop the slaughter of working people for the capitalists’ benefit as soon as possible. As part of this, they firmly and vocally opposed Imperial Russia’s part in WW1 and made it the leading part of their slogan, “Peace, land and bread”.
This being the Bolshevik position would have been widely known throughout Russia, especially among the working-class conscript soldiers sent to die in the trenches, so when they were ordered back to Russia in order to crush the communist uprising, just so they could then be sent back into WW1 again without any further distractions, a large part of them naturally rebelled.
This is also why the October revolution happened just months after the February revolution that deposed the Tsar - the “social democratic” bourgeoise government that took control of the country, having promised to end Russia’s part in the war as soon as possible, quickly started drafting plans to send more troops to the frontline. This was completely intolerable to the Bolsheviks, who had previously been content with the overthrow of absolute monarchy, but now having been immediately betrayed by the liberals (many such cases) instead overthrew them too and made certain Russia withdrew from WW1, even at the cost of a deeply unfavorable peace settlement.
Indeed, the brainworms over how Russia needed to stay in the war and keep throwing workers to their deaths to eke out a little more inter-imperialist gain were so ingrained that it was the motivation for the assassination attempt against Lenin, complications of which almost certainly led to the series of strokes a few years later that led to his death.
The Imperial Russian state had also almost completely disintegrated in large parts of the country. The disastrous campaigns on the Eastern Front resulted in the mobilization of large numbers of able-bodied men from the rural state security forces, while also producing massive waves of deserters, many of whom dispersed into the countryside and became bandits preying on travellers and the peasantry. When the revolutionaries stepped up, and especially when the Bolsheviks took power, they returned state control and infrastructure to these areas, solidifying them as the only legitimate state power. Meanwhile in Germany, although losing WW1 shook up the state and got the Kaiser deposed, the state never lost control over its territory in the same way. And as OrnluWolfjarl says, when the Imperial Army recalled units from the front line to crush the communists, by the time they’d marched all the way back to the heartlands a majority of the soldiers had changed allegiance and just joined the Red Army instead.
Why did so many join the Red Army? Do you think it was moral?
The communists had taken a firmly anti-war stance, or more precisely a ‘revolutionary defeatist’ stance: their position was that WW1 was an inter-imperialist war between capitalist powers (over who would win control of the European colonies in Africa, Asia and to a lesser extent South America) with the only real loser being the members of the working class sent to the slaughter at the front lines. Therefore, instead of fighting each other, the workers of each nation should fight against their own government, bringing the war between countries to an end by turning it to a civil war within each participating country, to overthrow the capitalist states and create new workers’ states - or, failing that, to at least stop the slaughter of working people for the capitalists’ benefit as soon as possible. As part of this, they firmly and vocally opposed Imperial Russia’s part in WW1 and made it the leading part of their slogan, “Peace, land and bread”.
This being the Bolshevik position would have been widely known throughout Russia, especially among the working-class conscript soldiers sent to die in the trenches, so when they were ordered back to Russia in order to crush the communist uprising, just so they could then be sent back into WW1 again without any further distractions, a large part of them naturally rebelled.
This is also why the October revolution happened just months after the February revolution that deposed the Tsar - the “social democratic” bourgeoise government that took control of the country, having promised to end Russia’s part in the war as soon as possible, quickly started drafting plans to send more troops to the frontline. This was completely intolerable to the Bolsheviks, who had previously been content with the overthrow of absolute monarchy, but now having been immediately betrayed by the liberals (many such cases) instead overthrew them too and made certain Russia withdrew from WW1, even at the cost of a deeply unfavorable peace settlement.
Indeed, the brainworms over how Russia needed to stay in the war and keep throwing workers to their deaths to eke out a little more inter-imperialist gain were so ingrained that it was the motivation for the assassination attempt against Lenin, complications of which almost certainly led to the series of strokes a few years later that led to his death.