When Lenin and other Bolshevik leaders were consolidating their power bases after the Revolution, one of many problems came into light: how to convert the Red Guards, a military form of council or soviets formed in many Russian cities to act as the military of the Bolsheviks. Transforming them into a regular military would be difficult in light of the egalitarian nature of Bolshevik/Marxist theories. Simply put, officers and soldiers in traditional armies were social classes that the Revolution hoped to eliminate. (Bullock: 31-33) Lenin and most of the Bolshevik leadership found that this was not possible.
The White forces had more military professionalism particularly in the higher ranks. Many Red Army officers were drawn from Red Guard leaders and former Czarist non commissioned officers who had little practical command experience. To bolster their professionalism, the architect of the Red Army, Leon Trotsky, utilized former Czarist officers as 'specialists' who would advise the Red Army on military and technical matters. Extra rations and higher levels of responsibility were rewarded. Given the danger of using former Czarist officers and to quell any potential resistance, Trotsky also appointed commissars to insure political loyalties. Families of these specialists were recorded as a way of ensuring political correctness to the Bolshevik cause. Their lives would be forfeit as were their families; loyalty to the Red Army was paramount above all else.
Little time was available to fully organize the Red Army as the White forces began their campaigns to retake Russia from the Bolsheviks.
The Russian Civil War: 1918-22 by David Bullock, Osprey Publishing 2008.
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