Bolsheviks

The book by M. A. Vasilchenko reveals the degree of participation of soldiers and officers of the Czechoslovak Corps at the initial stage of the Civil War in the Volga region. The monograph traces the process of transformation of Czech units from an integral part of the Russian army into a national military formation pursuing narrow national interests in the conditions of Civil War. The author introduces the concept of “autonomization” into scientific circulation, which is successful enough to describe this process.

The article attempts to rethink one of the clichés of Soviet historiography of the great Russian revolution, known as the «triumphal March» of the socialist revolution in the country. The author, on the basis of the analysis of sources of personal origin and materials of periodicals, considers political, moral and psychological collisions, and also characteristic features of usurpation of the power by Bolsheviks in Saratov and the cities of province after October revolution.

The author considers the emigrant experience of understanding the Soviet regime that was born under the influence of Russian empire collapse and radical political transformations in 1917. Based on different sources, dynamic of Russian natives’ public moods throughout 1920 (the one that was affected by European life, inter-emigrant political struggle and Bolshevistic state-building) is analyzed.