
Understanding the Russian Revolution - samclemens
http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/what-you-need-know-understand-russian-revolution-180961214/?no-ist
======
Synaesthesia
What's not often mentioned when discussing the revolution was that western
powers, including the USA immediately invaded the Soviet Union to attempt to
overthrow the government. This explains a lot in the ensuing history,
including the paranoid militancy of the Soviet Union.

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turar
Yes, there are some fascinating pictures of Allied troops marching through
Vladivostok in 1918. [1] The Red Scare followed that immediately, and wasn't
caused by any Russian aggression towards the US. [2]

1\.
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Expeditionary_Force_S...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Expeditionary_Force_Siberia)

2\.
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Scare](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Scare)

~~~
trhway
>The Red Scare followed that immediately, and wasn't caused by any Russian
aggression towards the US.

One of the pillars of the Bolsheviks world view (based on the Marx's
economical and political class theory) was "worlwide revolution", and it was
really happening in many parts of the world at the time (almost whole Europe
was basically on fire and China too - one can see why US had reasons to worry
especially given the active communist movement in US back then) And for
Bolsheviks it wasn't just passive view though, they did for example tried to
militarily help German revolutionary comrades and if not for the new Poland
state and army which happened to be on the way to Germany, the 20th century in
Europe may have looked somewhat differently.

From
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soviet_westward_offensive_of_1...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soviet_westward_offensive_of_1918%E2%80%9319#Background)
:

"The Bolsheviks were also implementing a new strategy, "Revolution from
abroad" (Revolutsiya izvne—literally, "revolution from the outside"), based on
an assumption that revolutionary masses desire revolution but are unable to
carry it out without help from more organized and advanced Bolsheviks. Hence,
as Leon Trotsky remarked, the revolution should be "brought on bayonets" (of
the Red Army), as "through Kiev leads the straight route for uniting with
Austro-Hungarian revolution, just as through Pskov and Vilnius goes the way
for uniting with German revolution. Offensive on all fronts! Offensive on the
west front, offensive on the south front, offensive on the all revolutionary
fronts!"."

From
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polish%E2%80%93Soviet_War](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polish%E2%80%93Soviet_War)
:

" Lenin, meanwhile, saw Poland as the bridge the Red Army had to cross to
assist other communist movements and bring about other European revolutions."

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Synaesthesia
Yes communnism represented a real threat to the American ruling class, the
threat of workers taking matters in their own hands. We must also look at the
US labor history which is among the most violent in the world, (except Tsarist
Russia) After many bloody labor wars, US labour was basically crushed in the
20's only to rise again in the 30's and then be mostly deestroyed after WW2
again.

[https://chomsky.info/nothing-for-other-people-class-war-
in-t...](https://chomsky.info/nothing-for-other-people-class-war-in-the-
united-states/)

~~~
candiodari
> Yes communnism represented a real threat to the American ruling class, the
> threat of workers taking matters in their own hands

No offence but we know exactly what Trotsky and Lenin represented ... and it
very much wasn't "workers taking matters in their own hands". This may have
been unknown at the time, maybe even to those men themselves, but it is not
unknown to me, or to you.

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chokolad
Not sure what to expect from the article which can't even get names right.
It's Sukhomlinov, not Suklominov.

~~~
Synaesthesia
A minor difference in an anglicisation of Russian which can vary anyway.

~~~
chokolad
Not really. Suhomlinov is pronounced very differently from Suhlominov.

EDIT: It's as different as Sherlock Holmes versus Sherlock Hlomes and roughly
as grating to one's ear.

