Table Of ContentBy GENE SEABOLT
Additional Material by HANS-CHRISTIAN VORTISCH
Edited by STEVE JACKSON with LOREN WISEMAN
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An e23 Sourcebook for GURPS®
STEVE JACKSON GAMES
®
Stock #37-8007 Version 1.0 – November 2009
CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4 The Commissars . . . . . . . . . . . . .28 Night Witch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .49
About the Author . . . . . . . . . . . . .4 The Officers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .28 Commissar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .50
From Modernity . . . . . . . . . . . . .29 Opolchenie . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .51
1. THE SOVIETS To Madness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .29 MAJORPERSONALITIES . . . . . . . . . .52
AT WAR . . . . . .5 A People Prepared . . . . . . . . . . .29 The Generals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .54
THESOVIETARMEDFORCES . . . . . .30
ALIENATEDNATION . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6 The Red Army . . . . . . . . . . . . . .30 4. THE SOVIET
THETSARS’ LASTBATTLE . . . . . . . . .7 Special Forces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .33 ARMORY . . . .56
The Air Force . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .34
THECIVILWAR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .8
ORPHANINACOLDWORLD . . . . . . . .9 The Navy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .35 PERSONALGEAR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .57
Slow, Hastened Death . . . . . . . . .9 THEREDROAD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .36 SMALLARMS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .60
The Stalin Era Begins . . . . . . . .10 Training . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .36 Soviet Small Arms Table . . . . . .60
ALLIESOFTHEAXIS . . . . . . . . . . . . .11 Replacements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .37 Weapon Descriptions . . . . . . . . .61
Following Orders . . . . . . . . . . . .38
Fateful Timing . . . . . . . . . . . . . .11 VEHICLEDESIGN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .64
Not Following Orders:
The Pact in Practice . . . . . . . . . .11 New Weapons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .64
The Penal System . . . . . . . . . .38
The Buffer States . . . . . . . . . . . .12 New Components . . . . . . . . . . . .65
The Winter War . . . . . . . . . . . . .12 WHATTHEYCARRIED . . . . . . . . . . .39 New Chassis Options . . . . . . . . .65
What Carried Them . . . . . . . . . .39
The Nervous Year . . . . . . . . . . . .12 THEMOTORPOOL . . . . . . . . . . . . . .66
A CRASHINGGRAYWAVE . . . . . . . .13 FIGHTINGATNIGHT . . . . . . . . . . . . .40 Vehicles Key . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .66
The First Days . . . . . . . . . . . . . .13 Artillery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .67
3. CHARACTERS .41
Off the Canvas . . . . . . . . . . . . . .14 GAZ-67 4x4 Light Cars . . . . . . .68
Unblunted Momentum . . . . . . . .14 GAZ-60 Caterpillar Truck . . . . .68
A Lull in the Heat . . . . . . . . . . . .15 CREATINGACHARACTER . . . . . . . . .42 Zis Trucks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .69
Female Roles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .42
Southern Sacrifice . . . . . . . . . . .15 BA-10 6x4 Armored Car . . . . . .70
BREAKWATERMOSCOW . . . . . . . . . .16 ADVANTAGES, DISADVANTAGES, BA-64 4x4 Armored Car . . . . . .71
Winter Reprieves . . . . . . . . . . . .16 ANDSKILLS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .42 T-60 Light Tank . . . . . . . . . . . . .72
Red Reach . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .17 Advantages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .42 BT-Series Fast Tanks . . . . . . . . .73
Exceeded Grasp . . . . . . . . . . . . .17 Disadvantages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .44 T-28 Medium Tank . . . . . . . . . . .74
Skills . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .45 T-44 Medium Tank . . . . . . . . . . .75
SEACHANGEATSTALINGRAD . . . . .18
Status . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .45 KV-Series Heavy Tanks . . . . . . .76
The Last Straws . . . . . . . . . . . . .18
Winner Take All . . . . . . . . . . . . .19 CHARACTERTEMPLATES . . . . . . . . .46 KV-2 Heavy Tank . . . . . . . . . . . .77
Frontovik . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .46 IS-Series Heavy Tanks . . . . . . . .78
Turning it Around . . . . . . . . . . . .19
Tank Hunter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .47 SU-76 Self-Propelled Gun . . . . .79
HIGHWATERATKURSK . . . . . . . . . .20
Cossack . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .48 SU-122 Self-Propelled Gun . . . .80
Initiative Seized . . . . . . . . . . . . .20
No Rest for the Wicked . . . . . . .21
THEREDTIDE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .22
Ten to Win . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .22
THEWORLDASTHESTAKES . . . . . . . .23
An Ominous Pause . . . . . . . . . . .24
The End Is Nigh . . . . . . . . . . . . .24
The Final Blows . . . . . . . . . . . . .25
Rush to the Reichstag . . . . . . . . .25
A DIFFERENTSORTOFWAR . . . . . .26
New Dawn in the East . . . . . . . .26
From One to the Next . . . . . . . .26
2. THE SOVIET
ARMY . . . . . . .27
A NEWKINDOFMILITARY . . . . . . .28
2 CONTENTS
The Terrain . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .93
The Climate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .94
The Great Rivers . . . . . . . . . . . .95
People and Places . . . . . . . . . . . .95
HAZARDSOFATOTALWAR . . . . . . .96
Fatigue . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .96
Cold . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .97
Heat . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .98
Starvation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .98
Dehydration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .99
Sleep Deprivation . . . . . . . . . . . .99
Combat and Stress . . . . . . . . . . .99
LIFEONTHEFRONT . . . . . . . . . . . .100
Welcome to the War . . . . . . . . .100
And Farewell . . . . . . . . . . . . . .100
MOVINGTHEPLANTS . . . . . . . . . . . .101
In the Meantime . . . . . . . . . . . .102
The Next Battle . . . . . . . . . . . .103
THEEASTERNFRONT . . . . . . . . . .103
BEHINDENEMYLINES . . . . . . . . . .104
Civilians . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .104
Civilian Partisans . . . . . . . . . . .104
Partisan Soldiers . . . . . . . . . . . .105
TAKINGTHEOTHERSIDE . . . . . . . .106
The Russians . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .106
The Ukrainians . . . . . . . . . . . . .107
Others . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .107
THECOMMUNISTLIFE . . . . . . . . . .108
Family . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .108
Work . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .108
Housing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .109
Religion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .109
6. CAMPAIGNS . .110
CAMPAIGNSTYLES . . . . . . . . . . . . .111
Stalin’s Sacrifices . . . . . . . . . . .111
Tobacco and Sweat . . . . . . . . . .112
Red Razors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .114
Sinister Allies . . . . . . . . . . . . . .115
Into the Fray . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .116
Sheathed Sword . . . . . . . . . . . .117
THEPIECESOFPEACE . . . . . . . . . .118
THEREDS, ORCHESTRATED . . . . . .121
ALTERNATEHISTORIES . . . . . . . . . .122
Purging the Purges . . . . . . . . . .122
The First Shots Fired . . . . . . . .122
Lieutenant Winter . . . . . . . . . . .122
ISU-152 Self-Propelled Gun . . .81 Kamov A-7 Autogyro . . . . . . . . .88
THEBEARANDTHEDOGS . . . . . . . .123
Lavochkin-Gorbunov-Gudkov G5 Fast Patrol Boat . . . . . . . . . .89
The Rout of Moscow . . . . . . . .124
Fighters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .82 K-Class Submarine . . . . . . . . . . .90
Seizing the Day At Stalingrad . .124
Mikoyan-Gurevich Kirov-Class Cruiser . . . . . . . . . .91
Interceptors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .83 DU, SS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .125
Yakovlev Fighters . . . . . . . . . . . .84 5. THE EASTERN
REFERENCES . .126
Petlyakov Pe-2 Dive Bomber . .85 FRONT . . . . . .92
Tupolev SB-2 Fast Bomber . . . .86
Polikarpov U-2 (Po-2) HISTORY’SWIDESTLINE . . . . . . . . .93 INDEX . . . . . . .127
Light Bomber . . . . . . . . . . . . .87
CONTENTS 3
INTRODUCTION
A GURPS
BOUT
Steve Jackson Games is committed to full sup-
Those who know a little history, and like to toy with the less
port of GURPSplayers. Our address is SJ Games,
informed, sometimes assert that the Russians won WWII pretty
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sians would have lost without U.S. and British aid. That, also, is a
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half-truth at best.
To begin with, half of those “Russians” weren’t Russians at all,
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These aggregate Soviets had to deal with internal grudges far worse
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They made common cause, for the most part, to fight Fascism.
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To modern American eyes, Stalin and his supporters were cal-
GURPS WWII: Red Tide can be found at
lous, even to the point of evil. That said, two points should be kept in
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mind. First, many of Stalin’s victims would have done the same, or
Bibliographies. Many of our books have exten-
worse. The heavy hand of the Communist state wrongfully
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oppressed millions. The USSR was also home to millions of violent
– with links to let you buy the resources that inter-
racists and ultra-rightists, who were only prevented from slaughter-
est you! Go to each book’s web page and look for
ing their neighbors by that same heavy hand. Certainly, Stalin’s state
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took its security to paranoid excess, using terror as a weapon, but a
Errata. Everyone makes mistakes, including us
frightening reckoning awaited if its iron grip slipped. Whether or not
– but we do our best to fix our errors. Up-to-date
we agree with their choice, many clear-eyed Soviets willingly traded
errata pages for all GURPSreleases, including this
personal freedoms to get the stability Stalin offered.
book, are available on our website – see above.
Second, the Soviets saved the western Allies from a conflict of a
Page References far greater magnitude. Some of us would not be here – because our
Rules and statistics in this book are specifi- father or grandfather would not have made it back alive – if the Sovi-
cally for the GURPS Basic Set, Third Edition. ets had folded their tent and waited for the Nazi regime to collapse,
Any page reference that begins with a B refers or for others to take it down.
to the GURPS Basic Set – e.g., p. B102 means Alone, the Soviets might have won the war . . . or they might
p. 102 of the GURPS Basic Set, Third Edition. have collapsed, giving the Nazis critical momentum. We’ll never
Page references that begin with CI indicate know. The brutal Communist rule may have cost more lives than the
GURPS Compendium I. Other references are Balkan feuding that it prevented. We’ll never know that, either. By
CII to Compendium II, HT to High-Tech, turns clumsy and cunning, awful and noble, the early Soviets were
W to WWII, W:D to WWII: Dogfaces, hard men negotiating the hardest of times. At a minimum, we can
W:FH to WWII: Frozen Hell, W:HS to WWII: honor their monumental sacrifice by attempting to understand – if
Hand of Steel, W:IC to WWII: Iron Cross, not embrace – the tough choices that defined them.
W:MP to WWII: Motor Pool, and W:RH to A A
BOUT THE UTHOR
WWII: Return to Honor. The abbreviation
for this book is W:RT. For a full list, see
Gene Seabolt was the GURPS WWII line editor at the time he
p. CI181 or the updated web list at
wrote GURPS WWII: Iron Cross. He lives in San Antonio with
www.sjgames.com/gurps/abbrevs.html.
his wife and sons.
4 INTRODUCTION
5
ALIENATED NATION
In June 1812, the man who had mastered Europe – the The Communists Diverge
French Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte – set out to conquer the
In 1871, Paris’ laborers refused to give up their guns after
Eurasian giant that was Russia. He took along 500,000 troops.
having been armed to defend the city from the Germans (see
Six months later, he returned with a few thousand survivors.
p. W6). They formed the socialist Paris Commune, then bun-
This set a slippery stage for Russia and its autocratic
gled its defense. A disappointed Marx wrote off mainstream
Romanov rulers. Napoleon’s successors took it as self-evident
socialists, with their preference for ballot boxes over bullets.
that no nation could hope to master Russia – what madman
His writings focused on the revolution that would manifest
would try where Bonaparte had so utterly failed? – but noth-
despitethese moderates, not in harmony with them.
ing kept Russia from attempting its own conquests. Even as
His extreme measures, or Marxism, to create a humanistic
the tsars joined Prussia and Austria in enforcing conservative
utopia, or Communism, would appeal to a generation of frus-
world politics, Russia became a mysterious bogeyman in the
trated revolutionaries. They failed, or refused, to see the conflict
minds of some world leaders.
between means and goal, while others could not see past it.
Socialism’s Uneasy Birth
From Straggling to Soviets
Any eastern menace lurked in the future, however. The
By the time of Marx’s death in 1883, capitalism’s profits
present had its own concerns. For the first half of the 19th cen-
were trickling down to the workers. An expanding bourgeoisie
tury, Britain led Europe into industrialization. This created
dampened the revolutionary fires. Russia, however, was still in
immense social pressures, as the new factory owners amassed
industrialization’s first agonies in 1905 when Tsar Nicholas II
splendid wealth while the growing urban masses found their
illustrated his brutal ineptitude in a losing war with Japan. A
lives intolerably squalid. Benjamin Disraeli said this wealth
workers’ demonstration on “Bloody Sunday” left more than
gap created “two nations, between whom there is no inter-
100 dead, and the crew of the battleship Potemkinbegan a wide
course and no sympathy.” In response, liberal theorists began
mutiny. A revolution was born. The moderate Communist (or
proposing socialism, in which the state would guarantee every-
“Menshevik”) Leon Trotsky established the first of more than
one a job and a minimum standard of living.
50 workers’ soviets (councils). The expatriate Marxist Lenin
Of course, all that splendid wealth would have to be spread
returned to lead the extreme Communist (or “Bolshevik”) fac-
about to pay for this, giving those in power reason to resist the
tion to the fore. Agrarian reformers, the Social Revolutionaries,
new political model. Some socialist subgroups, such as the
led more moderate elements of the left-wing uprising.
Communists led by the German exiles Karl Marx and Friedrich
Nicholas II destroyed early resistance with false promis-
Engels, began to argue that the working class (proletariat)
es of reform. The skeptical holdouts were crushed by force.
would have to seize power, not just wait for upper-class bene-
Within a few years, he was running things as boldly and badly
faction. This proved less than tactful. In 1848, the first of sev-
as before, but with an even sharper eye out for leftist agitators.
eral continental uprisings created the supposedly socialist
Second Republic in France. By the time the shouting and
shooting died down, Europe’s already oppressive regimes
were equating socialism with villainy.
The gap was especially wide between Russia’s few
haves and teeming have-nots, but Nicholas Iruled an illit-
erate citizenry who had little hope of pronouncing, much
less embracing, dialectical materialism. No unrest divert-
ed him from the eroding Ottoman Empire and the temp-
tation to take Constantinople.
The Crimean War
In 1853, Nicholas I struck. Britain and France rapid-
ly joined Turkey and, with tacit Austrian support,
repulsed the Russian invasion. Alarmed by the waking
eastern colossus, they invaded the Crimea to destroy the naval
The Eve of Armageddon
base there to discourage future Russian offensives. The result-
ing land campaign featured nasty new technology, becoming Nicholas II did not confine his bluffs to the internal sphere.
what many historians consider the first modern war. (The gen- When Austria declared war on Serbia in 1914 (see p. W6), Rus-
erals in the U.S. Civil War would learn as much from the sia declared war to keep Austria – and by association, Germany
Crimean War as the Civil War would teach to Europe in turn.) – safely away from the Balkans and Constantinople. The tsar
Eventually, the western allies forced satisfactory peace terms thought that Austria was engaging in diplomacy by threat of
from Russia, but not before Nicholas’ favorite generals – Janu- force, and that he was, too. He didn’t expect armed conflict, nor
ary and February – had taken an eye-opening toll. had Russia prepared for a war. Nevertheless, it got one.
6 THE SOVIETS AT WAR
THE TSAR’S LAST BATTLE
Russia began WWI with its easiest victory. Entering East hardships rapidly spread to civilian life. The military authorities
Prussia on Aug. 17, 1914, its 1st Army under General von Ren- commandeered the rail cars, shipping troops instead of grain.
nenkampf met the Germans three days later, and beat back a The price of food quintupled as the peasants realized that the
clumsy counterattack. The Germans found some braver gener- tsar’s paper war currency was worthless.
als to put in charge (see p. W:IC7) while the Russian 2nd Army Russia’s various socialists had gone to ground after the
under General Samsonovadvanced from farther south. 1905 uprising, staging scattered demonstrations but living
The Russian armies moved west haphazardly and slowly, much like bandits in fear of the tsar’s brutal secret police, the
broadcasting their uncoded orders over the radio, while the Ger- Okrana, and his Cossack enforcers. As discontent swept the
mans massed their troops quickly and quietly. Beginning Aug. land, they began to re-emerge. Unrest grew into localized labor
26, at Tannenburg, the Germans encircled the 2nd Army, inflict- strikes. In St. Petersburg – renamed Petrograd in 1914 to scour
ing 125,000 casualties to 15,000 of their own and virtually away all things German – a food riot broke out in March 1917.
destroying it. Samsonov shot himself. His rival, von Ren- (It remained February by the old Russian calendar, which
nenkampf, had stood idle even when ordered to help, but his lagged 13 days behind everyone else.) The soldiers sent to quell
turn came on Sept. 9, when the Germans wheeled and struck the the uprising joined it instead. The revolution was reborn.
1st Army at the Masurian Lakes,
adding another 125,000 casualties.
Victory had about-faced into debacle.
Never again would the tsar’s armies
enter Germany.
The Eastern Grind
Through 1915, the Germans
kept hammering away in hopes of
landing a fatal blow. The Russians
endured it all, just barely, losing well
over 1 million men in the process.
On Sept. 8, disgusted with the state
of the war, Tsar Nicholas II sacked
his commander in chief and took the
post himself.
In February 1916, the French
appealed for a Russian diversion as
the Germans began their Verdun
offensive in the west. The tsar
unwisely agreed, and lost more than
100,000 men in a brief offensive. In June, the competent The October Revolution
General Brusilov launched a larger attack against the Austri-
Nicholas II quickly abdicated, ending the 301-year
ans. This would become their finest hour for the tsar’s troops,
Romanov dynasty in favor of a bourgeoisie Provisional Gov-
but ultimately their own ammunition shortages and lack of
ernment. This regime kept fighting the Germans, as well as
support from their flanking armies halted Brusilov’s men.
the socialist agitators. One of those agitators, Lenin, returned
Afterward, the front wound down into an exhausted stale-
from his Swiss exile in April only to go into hiding in July.
mate. Russian troops in the Caucasus would make some fur-
Meanwhile, Brusilov led Russia’s last offensive into defeat,
ther gains against Turkey, but in the main Russia already had
causing an uproar. As Tsarist loyalists began to plan the recap-
done its best fighting – with nothing to show for it.
ture of Petrograd, the Germans mounted their own attack Sept.
The February Revolution 1. Only Lenin’s Bolsheviks stood in unalloyed opposition to
this “imperialistic” war. War-weary soldiers and socialists of all
The public grew tired of this poorly conducted war, and of stripes gathered under the Bolshevik banner, even after Lenin
its conductor. Nicholas’ decision to run the army himself grew demanded armed revolution. After dark on Nov. 6, armed work-
even less popular when it came to light that he was spending lit- ers seized key Petrograd buildings. The next day the cruiser
tle time at the capital, leaving many decisions to the German- Aurorashelled the palace, signaling the Red Guard to seize it
born Tsarina Alexandra and her unpopular adviser, Rasputin. and capture the Provisional Government. The Bolsheviks had
It hardly helped that the war effort had gone from bad to seized at least the trappings of power in Russia.
worse. Ammunition for the army’s obsolete weapons became Lenin signed an armistice with Germany on Dec. 15, but
critically scarce. The troops lacked food, clothing, decent Europe’s pariah nation had now taken on Europe’s pariah
medical care, even barbed wire to defend their trenches. The political philosophy. True peace would yet prove elusive.
THE SOVIETS AT WAR 7
THE CIVIL WAR
Never free from labor woes themselves, Britain, the Unit- was squaring off against socialist rebels and Reds alike. (Also,
ed States, and other free-market countries feared the prospect of an anarchist army, of sorts, fought both Reds and Whites in the
Russia illustrating that socialism could prosper. They also Ukraine, and the Japanese set up a puppet frontman at Vladi-
loathed the idea that Germany, or even Japan, would poach ter- vostok. Manysmaller factions muddied this war’s waters . . .)
ritory from their sickly former ally. They made the latter their In 1919, with their western support, the varied Whites got
pretext to make sure the former did not happen. the Reds on the ropes. By October, Denikin was within a fort-
Being Marxists, the Bolsheviks expectedthis conflict, but night’s march of Moscow, where Lenin had moved the capital
the Great War left them with far more rubble than rubles. Win- in March 1918 fearing a German invasion of Petrograd.
ningthe coming battles would prove quite the greater challenge. Yudenich’s troops stood within 10 miles of Petrograd itself.
The Enemy Within
In December 1917, the Japanese
had landed the first of more than
72,000 troops at Vladivostok, and the
Don Cossacks had begun revolting.
With these worries at home, the Bol-
sheviks began discussing permanent
peace with Germany, negotiations in
which Lenin and company would
prove they were better revolutionar-
ies than statesmen. Sensing that the
Reds were coming from hunger, the
Germans raised their demands. The
Russians had to give them a third of
their best lands and people, and half
of their industry, in the March 1918
Treaty of Brest-Litovsk.
The harsh terms stirred up oppo-
sition within the shaky socialist coali-
tion, and added credibility to Tsarists
and others opposing the Bolsheviks. By May, Trotsky’s new The Whites’ Night
Red Army was sparring with a Czech contingent (see p. W7)
As militarily savvy as he was savage, Trotsky exploited
formed to fight Germans. The Czechs had been moving east,
his main advantage over the Whites. Holding the railroad hub
taking the long route back to the war. They seized the Trans-
of Moscow, he could move most of the Red Army to face each
Siberian Railroad and, with the local Social Revolutionaries,
White army in turn. In addition, Britain, France, and the Unit-
declared two independent governments in Siberia. On July 17,
ed States had begun withdrawing their war-weary troops, thus
the Bolsheviks murdered the tsar and his family at Ekaterin-
abandoning the Whites to a piecemeal defeat.
burg, rather than have them fall into the Czechs’ hands.
In October 1919, Trotsky personally led a defense of Pet-
Throughout the civil war, Lenin and Trotsky would demand this
rograd that shattered the Baltic Whites and sent Yudenich into
sort of unblinking ruthlessness, both with their foes and in their
exile. By February 1920, the Reds had captured and executed
own ranks. Their ends justified any means in their Marxist eyes.
Kolchak. The next month, the Bolsheviks had pushed Denikin
As early as March 1918, with Bolshevik blessings, the
out of the Ukraine. The White cause had faded to black.
British had landed at Murmansk to guard the arms stored there
against German invasion. By August, the British and French
Polish Climax
were seizing Archangel in opposition to the Bolsheviks, and
U.S. troops landed at Vladivostok, ostensibly to support the After some 1919 skirmishes, the Poles invaded the Ukraine
Czechs but in reality to defy both Bolsheviks and Japanese. In in April 1920. They rapidly took Kiev, but the Reds then turned
November, a general armistice ended the Great War, and with it the overextended Polish troops. Caught up in their recent suc-
much of the western rationale for intervention. Still, western cess, Lenin and Trotsky pushed their counterattack to just short
troops continued to take territory the Reds could not defend. of Warsaw by August. They envisioned sweeping across
In the meantime, the ramshackle Cossack rebellion had Europe as revolutionary fervor swept the continent.
expanded into a White, or vaguely imperialist, army led by Instead, the Poles routed the Red troops, who had become
General Denikin. Baltic troops joined Russians in forming severely overextended in their turn. In October, the chastened
another White army under General Yudenich aimed at seizing Lenin signed an armistice, turning his attention back to crucial
Petrograd. A White army in Siberia, led by Admiral Kolchak, matters in Russia itself.
8 THE SOVIETS AT WAR
ORPHAN IN A COLD WORLD
After taking power, the Bolsheviks called themselves with a capitalism-laced “New Economic Policy.” Private own-
simply “Communists.” By 1922, they had killed or assimilat- ers, called nepmany, could reclaim small factories, hire up to
ed all other Russians with claim to that title, or to “socialist” or 20 workers, and sell their goods at market. Free-market farm-
“Soviet” for that matter. They soon renamed their empire as the ers, called kulaks, enjoyed similar liberties. These reforms, in
Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. turn, infuriated many of the hard-liners who had fought for
The Soviet leadership had also muscled its way to the fore Communism, but they revitalized the Soviet economy.
of the international socialist movement. They saw this as a mat-
S , H D
ter of survival; they did not think that the Soviet Union could LOW ASTENED EATH
stand alone. In addition, Marxist doctrine assumed immediate
conflict with capitalism. During their civil war, Communist In May 1922, Lenin suffered a stroke. After a second
uprisings had failed in Hungary, Austria, and Germany. (Lenin stroke in December, the new and still fragile Soviet Union
even anticipated that Germanywould take the lead role in the appeared likely to undergo a change of leadership.
coming Communist epoch.) The Polish debacle further illus- An informal dictator can’t really formalize a plan of suc-
trated that this revolution would not be sweeping the world like cession. Officially, the party took directions from a Politburo
wildfire, but the Soviet leadership continued to aggressively with four full members other than Lenin – among them Trot-
support Marxist agitators wherever found. sky and Josef Stalin (see pp. W104-105) – and a few junior
Aghast at Red methods, some of the world’s socialists members. These men had an inside track on assuming Lenin’s
declined to join the Soviet bandwagon. At home, a 1917 elec- role as first among equals, with Stalin holding an ace up his
tion had given the Social Revolutionaries more than twice the sleeve because Lenin and his intellectual aides had governed
representation of the Bolsheviks, prompting Lenin to form a via a vast bureaucracy. They had expected many of these agen-
dictatorship that paid mere lip service to democracy. The SRs cies to limit themselves to narrow agendas, or tackle short-term
attempted to assassinate Lenin in August 1918, leading him to issues and then disband. Predictably, the men running these
unleash his secret police – the Cheka – to terrorize the work- agencies did neither, instead creating a Byzantine court of
ing masses that they ostensibly served. Lenin had gathered bureaucrats assembling webs of personal power that even they
support by promising freedom and bread, with the implication found hard to navigate. Stalin had mastered these machine pol-
that tough measures today would usher in utopia tomorrow, itics, in which just keeping score was a challenge.
but Soviet practice was beginning to take a totalitarian turn Lenin endorsed Trotsky, a former critic who had become
from the already ruthless Marxist theory. his merciless equal in theories and superior in putting them into
Capitalistic nations could hardly ignore this cold-blooded practice. He also moved to remove Stalin from power, having
regime with intent to spread its red-handed ways. They demo- come to perceive him as a crude thug. In March 1923, a third
nized Lenin as both an oppressive dictator and an anticapital- stroke left Lenin helpless. The physicians attending him worked
ist intellectual with a gaping ignorance of economic realities. for Stalin. The world’s foremost Marxist died Jan. 21, 1924,
perhaps nudged along by his doctors.
War Communism and the NEP
A War Commissar of Words
Lenin left himself open to both charges. From 1914 to
1922, fighting, terror programs, and a 1920-21 drought had The skirmishing began before Lenin’s death, with two
killed some 20 million Soviet subjects. These crises had rav- serious contenders from the Politburo, Lev Kamenev and
aged the agricultural infrastructure, which could barely feed Grigorii Zinoviev, taking on Stalin as a junior partner to form
the 147 million souls that remained, and industry had shrunk to a triumvirate with the goal of keeping Trotsky at bay.
miniscule outputs of the 19th century. Through 1924, this internal war intensified. Both sides
The de facto dictator had contributed mightily to this state wanted to consolidate power; an old-school socialist did not
of affairs by plunging the country into a purely Communist last long in this battle if he suggested that the time had come
economic model. The state seized all industry. It determined to put power in the people’s hands. Trotsky and his supporters
needs, then ordered its factories to meet them. The Soviets wanted to move in strict step with Marxist principle, an intel-
forced subjects to work in specific jobs. Troops tried to gather lectual exercise that the pragmatic Stalin derided as “Trotsky-
all produce for redistribution by master plan. ism.” As part of that pure Marxism, Trotsky wanted to aim
Production collapsed. Factories’ state orders rarely Soviet efforts further toward igniting a world revolution. With
matched the raw materials that were supplied. Peasants balked a cynical eye on the assets of their paper-mâché juggernaut,
at giving up the harvests that would keep them alive through Stalin formed a convenient “Socialism in One Country” theo-
winter. Uprisings and protests reached a dangerous frequency ry, arguing that the USSR could and should go it alone.
as living standards plummeted and Red soldiers enforced the The two camps waged war in Lenin’s venerable propa-
unpopular measures. ganda organ, the newspaper Pravda, and various committees,
Covering his tracks, Lenin dubbed these policies “War with Stalin more willing to resort to the low blow. Little by lit-
Communism,” though wartime expediencies had not motivat- tle, Trotsky’s position slipped, until in January 1925 he lost his
ed him. Ideology had. In March 1921, he began replacing them most important state post, that of war commissar.
THE SOVIETS AT WAR 9
