October 25, 1917 is the day when the October Revolution begins. During the revolutionary uprising led by Lenin, the Provisional Government was overthrown, and at the Second All-Russian Congress of Soviets the Bolsheviks officially assumed power in the country. A number of decisions of the new government, including the nationalization of production, the signing of the humiliating Brest-Litovsk peace treaty with Germany and the activities of food detachments, lead to a split in the country. Early in 1918, two main opposing forces are formed: the Red Army (also known as The Workers’ and Peasants’ Red Army) and the Volunteer Army (or the White” movement), headed by Denikin since March. In May, the Soviet government issues a decree on the nation-wide mobilization to the Red Army.
The conflict is made even worse through the intervention of the countries participating in the World War I. Wishing to retain the people’s support and drop out of the war without accepting Germany’s enslaving conditions of peace, Lev Trotsky, the head of the Soviet delegation at the talks, makes a paradoxical statement: Russia does not sign a peace treaty, but drops out of the war and demobilizes the army. Three days later, the delegation of the Ukrainian People’s Republic, which has previously signed a separate peace treaty with Germany, asks for help in the struggle against the Bolsheviks and receives it in the form of the Austro-German troops’ invasion into the territory of Russia.
After the signing of the extremely disadvantageous Brest Peace in March 1918, the split takes place within the Soviet government as well. The left-wing Socialist-Revolutionaries, who voted against the peace, tear up the agreement with the Bolsheviks. In July, bypassing the Socialist-Revolutionaries, the Bolsheviks adopt a constitution that consolidates the dictatorship of the proletariat (peasants could submit 5 times less delegates to the elections to the Soviets than workers, while the bourgeoisie and civil servants were deprived of this right at all). The left Socialist-Revolutionaries decide to take control and continue the war with Germany. Boris Savinkov’s League for the Protection of the Native Land and Freedom arranges regional uprisings, while Yakov Blumkin kills the German ambassador.
In July 1918, the Emperor’s exiled family is shot. Post-revolutionary chaos covers whole Russia and divides its people into two opposing camps.
Visualization in the Road to Calvary
Telegin goes to the Red Army. Roshchin joins the White movement. Two friends are on the opposite sides of the barricades. In Rostov, an ideological discord occurs between Roshchin and Katya. Roshchin goes to the front, enters the ranks of the Red, but during the battle runs over to the White, joining the army of General Markov. Roshchin takes revenge on the Bolsheviks for the collapse of Russia, but participates in executions himself and begins to suffer from the torments of conscience. In Samara, the father of Katya and Dasha, Dr. Bulavin, awaits the arrival of the Volunteer Army and foreign interventionists, and becomes Minister of Health with the White Government. In Moscow, Dasha meets anarchists Boris Savinkov and Mamont Dalsky. She is charged with a mission to prepare assassination of Lenin. However, the leader’s speech makes a strong impression on the girl, and she leaves the League for the Protection of the Native Land and Freedom. She doesn’t feel she is the right person for the mission…
Ghastly, incomprehensible, unfathomable. All was over. The past was cancelled. (…) Rank, distinctions, pensions, epaulettes, God, private property, the very right to live as one liked — all were gone. Cancelled! The bill poster shot ferocious glances from beneath the brim of his hat through plate-glass windows, behind which the inmates, in felt boots and fur coats, still paced the cold rooms, wringing their hands, and saying over and over again:
— What’s it all about? What’s going to happen? The ruin of Russia, the end of all… Death!”
The Road to Calvary by A. N. Tolstoy