A serious achievement of the historiography of the October Revolution in recent years is the elaboration of the problem of the revolutionary and democratic movement of the soldier masses in the garrisons of the Russian army. By the beginning of the 70s, a significant step was taken in the regional study of it, and the prerequisites for creating generalizing works appeared. At the same time, the activities of military organizations of the RSDLP(b) were particularly intensively studied. About 50 books, hundreds of articles in collections and magazines are devoted to the revolutionary struggle of the soldiers ' masses on the eve of and during the October Revolution .1 Source studies articles have appeared 2 . But relatively few works have been published about the revolutionary events in the garrisons of the rear districts, although in all major studies about the conquest of Sol-
1 P. A. Golub. Party, Army and Revolution. March 1917-February 1918, Moscow, 1967; N. M. Yakupov. The Bolshevik Party in the struggle for the Army in the period of dual power. Kyiv. 1972; same name. The Struggle for the Army in 1917 (The activity of the Bolsheviks in the front-line districts), Moscow, 1975; I. N. Vasin. Army and Revolution (The Struggle of the Moscow Bolsheviks for the Soldier Masses in Three Revolutions), Moscow, 1973; V. I. Miller. Soldiers ' Committees of the Russian Army in 1917, Moscow, 1974, etc.
2 G. L. Sobolev. Letters to the Petrograd Soviet of R. and S. D., as a source for the study of social psychology in Russia in 1917. "Auxiliary historical disciplines". Vol. 1. L. 1968; his. Protocols of the elective organizations of the Petrograd Garrison (March-April 1917). Ibid., vol. 2. L. 1969; his. Source studies and socio-psychological research of the October era. "History and Psychology", Moscow, 1971; T. F. Kuzmina. Troops of the center of Russia on the way to October (Bulletin of the Moscow Military District as a historical source). "Military-historical journal", 1968, N 11; L. G. Protasov. An important source on the history of the revolutionary movement in the Tsarist Army before the February Revolution. "Source studies". Issue I. Tambov. 1970; his own. Source study aspects of the history of the revolutionary movement of the Russian army in 1917 In the same place. Issue 3. Tambov. 1973; N. A. Vakhrusheva. Soldiers ' letters and censor reports as a historical source (1915-1917). "October in the Volga region". Kazan. 1972.
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The most striking and significant facts describing the actions of spare parts are presented on the side of the revolution.
The monograph of the senior researcher of the Institute of History of the USSR of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR, Doctor of Historical Sciences A. M. Andreev, is the first attempt to create a generalizing work on this problem. At the same time, the author continued to study the revolutionary and democratic movement among reserve soldiers, military units of the Russian army in 1917. He examines the revolutionary processes in the largest garrisons of the provinces of Central and Northwestern Russia, the Volga region and the Urals.
The book covers a wide range of issues: the dynamics of the number, composition and deployment of spare units during 1917; soldiers 'Councils and committees; military organizations of the Bolsheviks, changes in their tactics in the struggle for the masses of soldiers; types and forms of soldiers' actions in garrisons against the imperialist policy of the Provisional Government. The author finds out their numerical composition both in general and for individual military districts and garrisons. He explains the existence of significant discrepancies in the literature in determining the number of individual garrisons by the fact that the sources do not always give the full - time number, list composition, and availability of soldiers and officers separately (pp. 30-31). Tables describing the composition, cantonment and condition of military units, as well as calculations of the number of Councils and grassroots soldiers ' committees are of interest. However, it is difficult to accept the claim that the garrison committees that emerged in March 1917 were part of the Soviets or served as Soviets (p. 52). In the rear districts, as a rule, these were officer committees that opposed grassroots soldier organizations and soldier sections in the Soviets. The author pays special attention to the emergence of soldiers ' councils and sections in the largest garrisons, while identifying two trends:: the attraction of the local Soviets to Petrograd, their orientation towards its political line in the revolution, and the desire of the soldiers 'Soviets to unite with the Soviets of Workers' Deputies.
The book examines in detail, with the introduction of new documents, the process of struggle for the democratization of the army at all stages of the revolution. Using previously published data and documents from the funds of the Central Military Administration of the Navy, A. M. Andreev lists officer organizations and shows their counter-revolutionary nature. At the same time, he reveals the Soviets ' efforts to democratize the officer corps. The material used by the author and the observations made by him once again confirm that the issue of officer organizations in the rear districts needs special study.
The formation of military organizations of the RSDLP(b) is most thoroughly traced in the monograph. A large amount of concrete material is collected and summarized here, especially on the bases and fortresses of the Baltic Fleet, and in general, a huge systematic work on political education of the soldier masses, carried out in various forms, is revealed.
The author also studies data on the movement of the soldiers ' masses in support of the revolutionary-democratic demands of the working class and peasantry. The book draws attention to the development of the agrarian revolution in the countryside and the involvement of soldiers of rear garrisons who were released for agricultural work in the struggle for land. Using the example of the Kronstadt Soviet, it is shown how mass organizations of soldiers and sailors sought to grant urgent leave for field work, primarily to soldiers aged 40 and older. In 1917, the struggle for the leave of older military personnel, and then against their recall from the countryside, formed one of the forms of the revolutionary movement in the army.
A thorough analysis of the policy of continuing the war and "revolutionary defencism" allowed A. M. Andreev to cover in detail such a form of speeches as the refusal of marching companies to be sent to the active army. At the same time, many new facts are given, especially in the Petrograd district. The author exposes the attempt of the military authorities to send entire reserve regiments to the front for political reasons (in order to weaken the armed forces of the Soviets on the ground), which caused a new wave of indignation and open disobedience of the soldiers.
The author reports new data on the emergence and activity of counter-revolutionary organizations in the army after the July days. To combat the movement for the democratization of the army, the Provisional Government introduced the institute of military commissars. But, as the book convincingly reveals, the opposition of those who were under the influence of the Bolsheviks
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All the plans of the counter-revolution were thwarted by the grassroots soldiers ' organizations. It also failed to use the movement for national formations, which is defined by A. M. Andreev as progressive in its content, expressing "the interests of many millions of workers, soldiers and peasants of multinational Russia" (p.156).
The monograph comprehensively covers the activities of the Petrograd military organization of the Bolsheviks in the July days and the entire course of events in the capital, as a result of which the dual power was eliminated and a new stage in the preparation of the socialist revolution began. The author shows in what difficult conditions (repressions of the Provisional Government) the Bolsheviks had to work in the army, especially in the Moscow Military District. The right SRS and Mensheviks directly and directly participated in carrying out repressions against the Bolsheviks and mass revolutionary-democratic soldiers ' organizations. Against this background, the author examines the changes in the tactics of the Bolsheviks and the process of increasing influence of the Leninist party among the soldiers of the garrisons, and the author turns to new facts, especially in the Petrograd and Minsk military districts (pp. 187-199). A. M. Andreev presents data indicating a split in the top ranks of the army and the negative attitude of a certain number of officers and generals to the establishment of a military dictatorship. This issue could be covered in more depth if the author took into account interesting facts about the Kazan Military District 3 . Revolutionary organizations quickly responded to political differences among officers, intensifying the fight against monarchist elements and their organizations.
The monograph describes in great detail the activities of the Bolsheviks among the soldiers, aimed at exposing and thwarting attempts to establish a military dictatorship in the country. For the first time in the literature, the author traced how the counter-revolution carried out a mass relocation of spare parts for political purposes, and considered the difficulties associated with this in the work of the Bolsheviks.
Based on the data of official reports on the state of military units and other materials, A. M. Andreev gives a picture of the completion of the process of winning the soldier masses to the side of the socialist revolution. Assessing the struggle of the soldiers in the garrisons in the autumn of 1917, he emphasizes that in general it is characterized by an organized and clear political goal (p.238), although some of the actions in the Orel, Tambov and other garrisons were spontaneous.
Much attention is paid in the book to the Bolshevization of Soviets and grassroots soldiers ' organizations, and a sharp increase in the number of Bolshevik military organizations in garrisons is revealed: the most class-conscious soldiers (by social origin, workers and the poorest peasants), as well as young ensigns, especially from students who were mobilized on the eve of the February Revolution, joined the Bolshevik party; in many garrisons there were cases of to the Bolshevik Party of the left Socialist-Revolutionaries-internationalists. The results of the mass political work of the Bolsheviks in the army are also shown by A. M. Andreev in the results of the municipal campaign (city duma elections), which, according to Lenin, were a striking symptom of "the deepest turn in the national mood."4
In a new way, the author paints a picture of the opposition on the part of the Soviets and military committees to the plans of the counter-revolution in the days of the"second Kornilovschina". Perhaps for the first time, it is revealed with such completeness how the Provisional Government's attempts to withdraw revolutionary units and deprive the citadel of the Revolution of a reliable ring of defense were thwarted in the capital, in the area of the bases and fortresses of the Baltic Fleet near Petrograd, and in Finland. Lenin's instructions to prevent the withdrawal of the revolutionary garrisons from Finland were carried out.
Thus, through a thorough analysis of the work of the Bolsheviks and the behavior of soldiers in garrisons, A. M. Andreev reveals the invincibility and effectiveness of the proletariat's militant alliance with the poor peasants dressed in soldiers ' overcoats in the October armed Uprising.
3 TsGA TASSR, f. 210, d. 8; "Izvestiya KVOK", 25 and 31. VIII. 1917.
4 V. I. Lenin. PSS. Vol. 34, p. 278.
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The author also uses new materials to assess the participation of soldiers in the establishment of Soviet power on the ground. However, this least developed question occupied a relatively small place in the monograph (pp. 308-324). It is emphasized here that together with the Red Guard detachments, spare units and subunits in the vast majority of cities, especially in the center of Russia, ensured a peaceful transition of power into the hands of the Soviets. In this regard, A. M. Andreev considers the first decisive stage in the liquidation of the old army. By the end of November, complete democratization, and hence the victory of the Soviet government, had been achieved on the Western and Northern fronts and in the immediate rear, as well as in the garrisons of the rear districts. As a result, the process of disintegration of units was restrained, revolutionary elements were distinguished among the officers, and the level of political consciousness of soldiers who went to the countryside noticeably rose. And, most importantly, the attempts of the counter-revolution to use military units against the Soviet government were thwarted. In this regard, we note that the subtitle "Completing the democratization of the army" should not have been highlighted (p. 308). The reader may get the impression that the author does not clearly distinguish the broad movement for democratization on the eve of the October Revolution from the complete democratization of the army carried out by the Bolsheviks during the days of the triumphal march of Soviet power.
The democratization of the army in the rear districts, for example, in Kazan, had some features that were noted in a number of works of the 60s .5 Unfortunately, the author is sometimes not attentive enough to the observations and conclusions of his predecessors. The November orders and orders of the new Soviet district command are not even mentioned, and yet these documents contain the most important information about the first stage of development of this process in spare parts .6 This shortcoming only confirms the need for a more in-depth study of the first days of the struggle for full democratization of the army in the rear districts and especially in national formations.
The monograph introduces a lot of new things to the development of the most important aspects of the socialist revolution in Russia. At the same time, there is a need to create a generalizing collective work on the rear districts of Russia as a whole. Regional modifications of the revolutionary process are being studied in all military districts, which makes it possible to successfully resolve the issue of preparing such a consolidated work. It is also useful and quite possible to publish a collection of documents on the revolutionary struggle in the garrisons of the rear military districts on the basis of the funds of the Central Military Academy of the USSR.
In recent years, the backlog of source studies of documentation on the soldier's movement has become noticeable. The greatest difficulty for researchers is the analysis of the socio-class composition of the old army. When solving this problem, changes in the mood of the soldiers 'masses should be specially studied, and for this it is advisable to refer to soldiers' letters, documents of grassroots soldiers ' organizations, materials of military censorship commissions, etc.
The activities of sailors and soldiers sent to the countryside from the revolutionary garrisons of the Petrograd District and the Baltic Fleet after the February Revolution are still poorly understood. An urgent problem is the generalization of data describing the role of soldiers in the establishment of Soviet power on the ground. Without solving these problems, it is difficult to fully and comprehensively reveal the activities of the Bolshevik party in winning over the masses of soldiers to the side of the socialist revolution, in liquidating the old army through its complete democratization and gradual demobilization.
5 See, for example, I. M. Ionenko. The struggle of the Bolsheviks of Kazan for the control of troops and the demobilization of the old army in the Kazan Military District (November 1917-February 1918). "Scientific Notes" of Kazan University, vol. 122, book 2, 1962, pp. 5-46.
6 TSGVIA USSR, f. 1720, op. 1, dd. 85, 92, 93, 96, 108, 111.
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