Resolution of the Fifth All-Russian Congress of Soviets on the organization of the Red Army

Decree on the organization of the Workers 'and Peasants' Red Army

January 15 (28), 1918

Decrees of the Soviet Power. T.I. M., State publishing house of political literature, 1957.

The old army served as an instrument of class oppression of the working people by the bourgeoisie. With the transfer of power to the working and exploited classes, it became necessary to create a new army, which will be the bulwark of Soviet power in the present, the foundation for replacing the standing army with nationwide weapons in the near future and will serve as support for the coming socialist revolutions in Europe.

I

In view of this, the Council of People's Commissars decides: organize a new army called the "Workers' and Peasants' Red Army", on the following grounds:

1) The Workers 'and Peasants' Red Army is created from the most conscious and organized elements of the working masses.

2) Access to its ranks is open to all citizens of the Russian

The Republic is not younger than 18 years old. Anyone who is ready to give his strength, his life to defend the gains of the October Revolution, the power of the Soviets and socialism enters the Red Army. To join the ranks of the Red Army, recommendations are required:

military committees or public democratic organizations standing on the platform of Soviet power, party or professional organizations, or at least two members of these organizations. When joining in whole parts, mutual guarantee of all and a roll call vote are required.

II

1) The soldiers of the Workers 'and Peasants' Red Army are on full state allowance and, in addition, receive 50 rubles a month.

2) Disabled members of the families of soldiers of the Red Army, who were previously dependent on them, are provided with everything necessary according to local consumer standards, in accordance with the decisions of local bodies of Soviet power.

III

The Council of People's Commissars is the supreme governing body of the Workers' and Peasants' Red Army. The direct leadership and management of the army is concentrated in the Commissariat for Military Affairs, in the special All-Russian Board created under it.

     Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars V. Ulyanov (Lenin).

     Supreme Commander N. Krylenko.

     People's Commissars for Military and Naval Affairs:   Dybenko and Podvoisky.

     People's Commissars: Proshyan, Zatonsky and Steinberg.

     Managing Director of the Council of People's Commissars  Vlad. Bonch-Bruevich.

     Secretary of the Council of People's Commissars N. Gorbunov.

Decree on the formation of the Supreme Military Council

Not later than March 4, 1918

The Supreme Military Council, consisting of: M.D. Bonch-Bruevich, military leader, and two political commissars P.P. Proshyan and K.I. Shutko, is entrusted with the leadership of all military operations with unconditional subordination to the Supreme Council of all military institutions and persons without exception.

Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars

V. Ulyanov (Lenin).

Managing Director of the Council of People's Commissars

V. Bonch-Bruyevich.

For the Secretary of the Council Koksharov.

Decrees of the Soviet Power. Volume I. October 25, 1917 - March 16, 1918. Moscow: State. publishing house of political literature, 1957.

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Decree of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee on the procedure for filling positions in the Workers 'and Peasants' Red Army

April 22, 1918

1. The positions of squad commanders are filled at the discretion of the company commander.

2. Lists of candidates for platoon commanders are maintained by local commissariats for military affairs and are compiled from among persons who have received training in special schools or, although they have not received school training, but have proven themselves to be courageous and able to manage in a combat situation.

According to these lists, the commanders of individual units, together with the corresponding military commissariats, admit candidates to the positions of platoon commanders. In case of disagreement between the military commissariat and the unit commander, the issue is referred to the corresponding higher military commissariat for consideration.

Not less than 5 days before the appointment, a general list of candidates with brief data on their service activities is published in the local Soviet press. When substantiated objections are raised against individual candidates, the military commissariat is obliged to check these objections and to exclude definitively or until a new check the names of unacceptable candidates.

3. During the first 6 weeks from the date of admission of candidates to the command of platoons, a comprehensive check of the suitability of their position is carried out. The verification is carried out by the relevant military commissariats together with the unit commanders. If the result of the check is positive, the platoon commander is approved in his position, if the result is negative, an investigation is appointed.

In the event of a clear unfitness of the platoon commander, that one is removed.

4. In the newly formed units, the positions of company and battalion (non-separate) commanders are filled in the same manner.

5. In battle and campaign, all command posts in separate units are replaced by the appointment of the commander.

6. In units recognized by the relevant commissariat for military affairs as fully completed formations, when a vacancy for a company commander is opened, the unit commander proposes 5 candidates to a company from among the platoon commanders of the brigade. The company elects one of them as company commander.

7. The positions of commanders of a non-separate battalion are filled in the corresponding order, and soldiers from among the company commanders of divisions are appointed as candidates.

8. In a separate part, the positions of the head of the economic unit, the clerk for the economic part, the treasurer, the quartermaster and the head of weapons are replaced by the appointment of the unit commander. Elected officials for the economic part are members of the control and economic council of a separate unit, consisting of 3 soldiers, regimental captains, foragers, bakers, company captains and artel workers.

9. The commanders of individual units and brigades are appointed by the People's Commissariat for Military Affairs on the proposals of the divisional commissariats (consisting of a military leader and two commissars) from among the candidates on the candidate list. The appointment of each of these persons must be subject to the consent of the Supreme Military Council.

10. Heads of divisions and above are appointed by the People's Commissariat for Military Affairs with the consent of the Supreme Military Council, and each appointment is brought to the attention of the Council of People's Commissars.

Note. The formation of headquarters and the appointment of their personnel is carried out by the respective chiefs.

Chairman of the Central Executive Committee

Y. Sverdlov.

Secretary of the Central Executive Committee

V. Avanesov.

Decrees of the Soviet Power. Volume II. March 17 - July 10, 1918 M .: State. publishing house of political literature, 1959.

Resolution of the joint meeting of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee and the Moscow Council, adopted on the report of V.I. Lenin on foreign policy

May 14, 1918

After listening and discussing the report of comrade. Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars V.I. Lenin on foreign policy, the joint meeting of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee and the Moscow Council fully approves the policy of the Soviet government, consistently implementing the decisions and instructions of the IV Extraordinary All-Russian Congress of Soviets.

The joint meeting believes that the main task of the Soviets, in the extremely difficult and menacingly dangerous situation that has arisen, is to intensify work on organizing a powerful Soviet army, on strengthening all organizations that unite the broad working masses of workers and peasants, on strengthening internal cohesion and discipline in the ranks of these organizations. .

In the troubled period we are living through, the Soviet government must strengthen the dictatorship over the bourgeoisie.

With the united, energetic work of all the comrades truly devoted to the achievements of the October Revolution, we will come through all obstacles to the complete triumph of the world social revolution.

Reconciled according to the edition: Decrees of the Soviet Power. Volume II. March 17 - July 10, 1918 M .: State. publishing house of political literature, 1959.

Resolution of the Fifth All-Russian Congress of Soviets on the organization of the Red Army

July 10, 1918

1. The Russian Soviet Republic is like a fortress besieged from all sides by imperialist troops. Inside the Soviet fortress, the counter-revolution is raising its head, having found temporary support in the Czechoslovak mercenaries of the Anglo-French bourgeoisie. The Soviet Republic needs a strong revolutionary army capable of crushing the bourgeois-landlord counter-revolution and repulsing the onslaught of imperialist predators.

2. The old tsarist army, which was created through violence and in the name of maintaining the rule of the possessing upper classes over the working classes, suffered a terrible defeat in the imperialist massacre of the peoples. It turned out to be finally finished off by the lies of the Cadet and conciliatory policy, by the criminal offensive of June 18, by the Kerensky and Kornilov views.

Together with the old system and the old army, the old apparatus of military administration in the center and in the localities collapsed and crumbled.

3. Under these conditions, the workers', and peasants' power at first had no other ways and means of creating an army, except for the recruitment of volunteers who were ready to become under the banner of the Red Army.

4. At the same time, the Soviet government has always recognized, and the Fifth All -Russian Congress of Soviets once again solemnly confirms this, that every honest and healthy citizen between the ages of 18 and 40 has a duty, at the first call of the Soviet Republic, to stand up for its defense from external and internal enemies.

5. For the purpose of conducting compulsory military training and compulsory military service, the Council of People's Commissars established Soviet bodies of local military administration in the form of district, provincial, district and volost military commissariats. In approving this reform, the All-Russian Congress of Soviets makes it the duty of all local Soviets to carry it out in the localities with the utmost rigor.

The condition for the success of all measures in the matter of creating an army is consistent centralism in the matter of military administration, i.e. strict and unconditional subordination of the volost commissariats to the uyezd ones, the uyezd commissariats to the provincial ones, the provincial ones to the district ones, and the district ones to the People's Commissariat for Military Affairs.

6. The Fifth Congress of Soviets demands from all local institutions a strict accounting of military property, its conscientious distribution and expenditure according to the states and regulations established by the central organs of Soviet power; Arbitrary seizure of military property, its concealment, misappropriation, dishonest spending must henceforth be equated with the gravest state crimes.

7. The period of random formations, arbitrary detachments, handicraft construction, must be left behind. All formations must be carried out in strict accordance with the approved states and according to the layout of the All-Russian General Staff. The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army must be built in such a way as to produce the greatest results with the least expenditure of forces and resources, and this is possible only with the systematic application of all types of military science, which it has learned from the experience of the present war.

8. To create a centralized, well-trained and equipped army, it is necessary to use the experience of knowledge of many military specialists from among the officers of the former army. They must all be registered and must take up the posts that the Soviet government directs them to. Every military specialist who honestly and conscientiously works to develop and strengthen the military might of the Soviet Republic has the right to respect the Workers' and Peasants' Army and to the support of the Soviet government. A military specialist who treacherously tries to use his responsible post for a counter-revolutionary conspiracy or betrayal in favor of foreign imperialists should be punished by death.

9. The military commissars are the guardians of the close and inviolable internal connection of the Red Army with the workers' and peasants' regime as a whole. Only impeccable revolutionaries, staunch fighters for the cause of the proletariat and the rural poor, should be appointed to the posts of military commissars, to whom the fate of the army is entrusted.

10. The most important task in creating an army is to educate a new commanding staff wholly imbued with the ideas of the workers' and peasants' revolution. The congress charges the people's commissar for military affairs with the obligation to redouble his efforts along this path by creating a wide network of instructor schools and attracting capable, energetic, and courageous soldiers of the Red Army to their walls.

11. The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army must be built on the basis of iron revolutionary discipline. A citizen who has received weapons from the Soviet government to protect the interests of the working masses is obliged to unquestioningly obey the requirements and orders of the commanders appointed by the Soviet government. Hooligan elements who rob and rape the local population or organize robberies, self-seekers, cowards, and deserters who leave their posts of battle must be punished mercilessly. The All-Russian Congress obliges the Military Commissariat to bring first of all to account those commissars and commanders who condone atrocities or turn a blind eye to violations of military duty.

12. As long as the bourgeoisie is not finally expropriated and subjected to universal service, as long as the bourgeoisie strives to restore its former rule, arming the bourgeoisie would mean arming the enemy, who {544} at any moment is ready to betray the Soviet Republic to foreign imperialists. The congress confirms the resolution of the Council of People's Commissars on the formation of the bourgeoisie from the military age. rear militia to staff non-combatant units, service, and work teams. Only those bourgeois elements who in practice show their loyalty to the working classes can be honored with a transfer to combat units.

13. The Congress obliges all Soviet institutions, all professionals, factory organizations to assist the War Department in every possible way in the field of compulsory military training for workers and peasants who do not exploit the labor of others. It is necessary everywhere to set up rifle associations and shooting ranges, organize maneuvers and revolutionary military festivities, and conduct extensive agitation aimed at raising interest in military affairs among the working class and peasantry.

14. Welcoming the call of workers of two ages in Moscow and Petrograd, as well as the start of mobilization on the Volga and the Urals and taking into account the desire of world predators to again involve Russia in imperialist slaughter, the congress considers it necessary to mobilize several ages of workers and working peasants throughout the country. The Central Executive Committee and the Council of People's Commissars are charged with issuing a decree determining the number of age categories subject to immediate conscription, as well as the terms and conditions of admission.

15. Surrounded on all sides by enemies, face to face with the counter-revolution relying on foreign mercenaries, the Soviet Republic is creating a strong army that will protect workers' and peasants' power until the hour when the insurgent European and world working class deals a mortal blow to militarism and creates conditions for a peaceful and fraternal cooperation of all peoples.

Chairman of the V All-Russian Congress of Soviets and the All-Russian Central Executive Committee

 Y. Sverdlov.

Secretary of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee 

V. Avanesov.

Reconciled according to the edition: Decrees of the Soviet Power. Volume II. March 17 - July 10, 1918 M.: State. publishing house of political literature, 1959.