White Terror (Russia)

During the Russian Revolution of 1917 and Civil War (1918-20), the White Armies, foreign forces, and other opponents of the Soviet Government carried out mass violence against the population, including those with alleged revolutionary sympathies, associations with the revolutionary underground and guerrilla movement, and those who served in the organs of the Soviet Government. The terror started as the Soviets moved to assume governmental authority in November 1917 and continued until the defeat of the White Armies and foreign intervention.

The beginning of the terror

Some historians trace the terror to 28 October 1917 (old calendar) when in Moscow, counter-revolutionary Cadets seized control of the Moscow Kremlin and captured soldiers of the 56th Reserve Regiment. The soldiers were ordered to line up, ostensibly to check the monument of Alexander II. The rebels proceeded to shoot on the unarmed captives, killing about 300 people.

The White Armies, foreign forces, and other opponents of the Soviet Government carried out mass violence against the population, tortured and shot people suspected of being associated with the soviets, destroyed villages, and tormented Red Army prisoners. After each town was captured, there was a protracted massacre of suspected opponents. Historians emphasize the fact the White terror was premeditated and systematic, as orders for terror came from high officials in the White movement, as well as legislative actions of the White regimes.[8][9][10].

Some historians trace White Terror to 28 October 1917, when Moscow cadets captured revolutionary soldiers of the 56th Reserve Regiment, ordered them to line up ostensibly to check the Alexander II monument, and then proceeded to open fire with machine guns and rifles on unarmed people. More than 300 people were killed. [11].

White Guard leader Lavr Kornilov promised, "the greater the terror, the greater our victories." He vowed that the goals of his forces must be fulfilled even if it was needed "to set fire to half the country and shed the blood of three-fourths of all Russians."[12] An order issued by Krasnov stated: "It is forbidden to arrest workers. The orders are to hang or shoot them." Another order issued by Kaledin said: "The orders are to hang all arrested workers in the street. The bodies are to be exhibited for three days." [13]

In eastern Russia and Siberia, terror was practiced. There was a massacre at a munitions factory in Samara carried out by the SR-Menshevik regime with the support of the Czechoslovak interventionists. More than 1,500 men, women, and children were killed with sabres. The total number of victims of the Czechoslovak interventionists in the summer and autumn of 1918 in the Volga region numbered over 5000 people. According to one historian, their cruelty often knew no bounds. Near Samara, following the suppression of peasant uprisings, more than 500 people were executed. In Simbirsk, about 400 people were shot. In Kazan, more than a thousand were executed. [14]

In Ekaterinburg region alone, more than 25,000 people were shot or tortured to death by Kolchak's forces.[15] In March 1919 Admiral Kolchak himself demanded one of his generals to "follow the example of the Japanese who, in the Amur region, had decimated the local population."[16] Kolchak's regime also used mass floggings, especially with rods. Kolchak issued orders to raze to the ground whole villages. In a few Siberian provinces, 20,000 farms were destroyed and over 10,000 peasant houses burned down. Kolchak's regime destroyed bridges and blew up water stations.[17]

The Semenov regime in in Transbaikalia was characterized by mass terror and executions. At the Adrianovki station in summer of 1919, more than 1600 people were shot. 11 permanent death houses were set up, where refined forms of torture were practiced.[18] Semenov himself admitted in court that his troops burned villages. Semenov persronally was in charge of his torture chambers, during which thousands of people were killed. Companion of Ataman Semenov, Major General Vlasyevsky testified in August 1945:

   "White Cossack units of Semenyov brought much misery to the population. They shot people suspected of anything, burned villages, looted the population. Especially distinguished in this were teh forces of General Ungern. The greatest atrocities were committed by the death squads led by military chiefs like Filshin, Chistokin, and others who were aligned with Semenov.[19]

In Orenburg, under attack by Ataman Dutov's Cossacks, there was widespread terror. According to an order of August 4, 1918, Ataman Dutov imposed on his territory the death penalty for the slightest resistance to authorities, as well as military draft evasion. In only one Ural district in January 1919, Dutov's Cossacks killed 1050 people. On April 3, 1919, those who showed the slightest sign of disloyalty were ordered to be shot. In the village of Sugar Dutov's men had burned the hospital, along with 700 people sick with typhus. [20].

In 1918 alone, the White guard regime in the Northern territory with a population of about 400 thousand, more than 38 thousand people were put in Archangel prisoners, of whom about 8 thousand were killed outright and thousands more succumbed to beatings and disease. [9]

In the occupied territories of southern Russia, White Guard regimes carried out mass executions and plunder. Bands of Kornilov’s officers left behind more than 500 dead in a Don village in early 1918.[21] The press of the Denikin regime regularly incited violence against Jews. For example, a proclamation by one of Denikin's generals incited people to "arm themselves" in order to extirpate "the evil force which lives in the hearts of Jew-communists." In the small town of Fastov alone, Denikin's Volunteer Army murdered over 1500 Jews, mostly elderly, women, and children. An estimated 100,000 Jews in Ukraine were killed in pogroms perpetrated by Denikin's forces and Petlyura's nationalist-separatists.[22] Hundreds of thousands of Jews were left homeless and tens of thousands became victims of serious illness.[23] In the Don Province, where power was held by Krasnov's White Cossack regime, more than 45,000 people were shot or hanged.[24] In one particular incident on 10 May 1918, the White Cossacks shot 78 men and hanged chairman of the Don Soviet Republic F. Podtelkov and secretary of the Don Military Revolutionary Committee M. Krovhoshlykov.