Red Guards and workers militias in the Russian Revolution

Introduced by Melbourne socialist activist Jess Lenehan.

The February revolution immediately raised the question of its own, armed, self defence. The existing police and army brass, counter revolutionaries, could not play this role. So workers and soldiers took it on themselves forming red guards and militias across Russia. They armed themselves with guns *acquired* from cops and storerooms, they convinced whole barracks of soldiers to hand over their weapons and sometimes to join them. These militias would prove extremely important at key points in 1917 and this talk will delve into that history.

Readings

Rex Wade, Red Guards and Workers’ Militias in the Russian Revolution

https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/nationalities-papers/article/rex-wade-red-guards-and-workers-militias-in-the-russian-revolution-stanford-stanford-university-press-1984

Diane Koenker & S A Smith, Notes of a Red Guard

https://www.press.uillinois.edu/books/catalog/28mhr9aq9780252062773.html?fbclid=IwAR2ie0RnRQWXrBKNZqid5eVrc61xG_oJbERxN34ASrl6PpPGj9U5LGTtr9I