Uploaded December 2020 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
This video explains how the Red Guard was created, how it functioned, and how it became an armed force.
(I didn't mention this in the video, but there also was a Red Guard in the Finnish general strike of 1905. It served as an inspiration to some in 1917-18 and some Reds were veterans of 1905.)
PARTS 1-5
youtube.com/watch?v=xygUXauKEY0
youtube.com/watch?v=n2-MLMZmSTk
youtube.com/watch?v=HaHWnFL3wfA
youtube.com/watch?v=ySHnFhbdjos
youtube.com/watch?v=kRIKQBXbbPg
Script:
mltheory.wordpress.com/2020/12/05/episode-6-the-red-guard-and-red-army
SOURCES:
Holodkovski, Suomen Työväenvallankumous 1917-1918
Pertti Haapala, Kun yhteiskunta hajosi. Suomi 1914-1920
Aimo Klemettilä, Tampereen punakaarti ja sen jäsenistö
Suodenjoki ja Peltola, Köyhä Suomen kansa katkoo kahleitansa: Luokka, liike ja yhteiskunta 1880-1918 (Vasemmistolainen työväenliike Pirkanmaalla osa I)
Marja-Leena Salkola, Työväenkaartin synty ja kehitys punakaartiksi 1917-18 ennen kansalaissotaa
Pertti Haapala, Tehtaan valossa. Teollistuminen ja työväestön muodostuminen Tampereella 1820-1920, Historiallisia tutkimuksia 133
Punakaarti Rintamalla
Some basic information about Red troop formations jaegerplatoon.net/FORMATIONS1.htm
Koskinen, Veljiksi kaikki ihmiset tulkaa
Anthony Upton, The Finnish Revolution 1917-1918
Osmo Rinta-Tassi, Kansanvaltuuskunta punaisen Suomen hallituksena
V. Rasila, Kansalaissodan sosiaalinen tausta
Hyvönen, Suurten tapahtumien vuodet 1917-1918
Jussi Koivuniemi, Tehtaan pillin tahdissa. Nokian tehdasyhdyskunnan sosiaalinen järjestys 1870-1939
Nieminen Jaana, Kansallisesta jakautumisesta kunnalliseen eheytymiseen: vuoden 1918 sota Virroilla
Laitinen Erkki, Kurun historia 1867-1918, Vanhan Ruoveden historia III:5,1
Suomen luokkasota: Historiaa ja muistelmia
Vainio Marko, Yksi opisto – yksi liike. Tampereen teknillisen opiston suojeluskuntakomppania
Tampereen suojeluskunnan osana 1917-1918.
E. Raikkönen, Svinhufvud ja itsenaisyyssenaatti
O. Talas, Muistelmia
This video explains how the Red Guard was created, how it functioned, and how it became an armed force.
(I didn't mention this in the video, but there also was a Red Guard in the Finnish general strike of 1905. It served as an inspiration to some in 1917-18 and some Reds were veterans of 1905.)
PARTS 1-5
youtube.com/watch?v=xygUXauKEY0
youtube.com/watch?v=n2-MLMZmSTk
youtube.com/watch?v=HaHWnFL3wfA
youtube.com/watch?v=ySHnFhbdjos
youtube.com/watch?v=kRIKQBXbbPg
Script:
mltheory.wordpress.com/2020/12/05/episode-6-the-red-guard-and-red-army
SOURCES:
Holodkovski, Suomen Työväenvallankumous 1917-1918
Pertti Haapala, Kun yhteiskunta hajosi. Suomi 1914-1920
Aimo Klemettilä, Tampereen punakaarti ja sen jäsenistö
Suodenjoki ja Peltola, Köyhä Suomen kansa katkoo kahleitansa: Luokka, liike ja yhteiskunta 1880-1918 (Vasemmistolainen työväenliike Pirkanmaalla osa I)
Marja-Leena Salkola, Työväenkaartin synty ja kehitys punakaartiksi 1917-18 ennen kansalaissotaa
Pertti Haapala, Tehtaan valossa. Teollistuminen ja työväestön muodostuminen Tampereella 1820-1920, Historiallisia tutkimuksia 133
Punakaarti Rintamalla
Some basic information about Red troop formations jaegerplatoon.net/FORMATIONS1.htm
Koskinen, Veljiksi kaikki ihmiset tulkaa
Anthony Upton, The Finnish Revolution 1917-1918
Osmo Rinta-Tassi, Kansanvaltuuskunta punaisen Suomen hallituksena
V. Rasila, Kansalaissodan sosiaalinen tausta
Hyvönen, Suurten tapahtumien vuodet 1917-1918
Jussi Koivuniemi, Tehtaan pillin tahdissa. Nokian tehdasyhdyskunnan sosiaalinen järjestys 1870-1939
Nieminen Jaana, Kansallisesta jakautumisesta kunnalliseen eheytymiseen: vuoden 1918 sota Virroilla
Laitinen Erkki, Kurun historia 1867-1918, Vanhan Ruoveden historia III:5,1
Suomen luokkasota: Historiaa ja muistelmia
Vainio Marko, Yksi opisto – yksi liike. Tampereen teknillisen opiston suojeluskuntakomppania
Tampereen suojeluskunnan osana 1917-1918.
E. Raikkönen, Svinhufvud ja itsenaisyyssenaatti
O. Talas, Muistelmia

![Truth About the Kronstadt Mutiny (1921)
In this video we delve into the 1921 Kronstadt sailor mutiny.
Script on my blog:
https://mltheory.wordpress.com/2021/03/04/truth-about-the-kronstadt-mutiny/
My patreon
https://www.patreon.com/TheFinnishBolshevik
My discord
https://discord.gg/DjT5P7GfbD
SOURCES:
Paul Avrich, Kronstadt: The 1921 Uprizing of Sailors in the Context of the Political Development of the New Soviet State*
White Guard Memorandum On Organizing An Uprising In Kronstadt, reprinted in Avrich
Primary source documents printed in “Kronshtadtskaia tragediia 1921 goda, dokumenty v dvukh knigakh” (“Kronstadt Tragedy”):
-Kuzmin Report, 25 March 1921
-Agranov Report, April 1921
-“To All Posts of Kronstadt,” Kronstadt Izvestia
-Ivan Oreshin, Volia Rossii (April-May 1921)
-Kronstadt March 1 Resolution
-Tseidler, Red Cross Activity in Organizing Provisions Aid to Kronstadt, 25 April 1921.
-Kupolov, Kronstadt and the Russian Counterrevolutionaries in Finland: From the Notes of a Former Member of the PRC”
-Komarov Report, 25 March 1921
-Von Lampes Diary entry
-Minutes of Cheka Interrogation of Anatoly Lamanov
Kronstadt 1921: Bolshevism vs. Counterrevolution, Spartacist #6 Spring 2006
[Very good article, which brought many primary source documents to my attention. The article propagates erroneous Trotskyist views but luckily they have practically nothing to do with the topic of Kronstadt and can thus be ignored.]
Macartney, Documents on British Foreign Policy 1919-1939
Russkaia voennaia emigratsiaa 20-x—40-x godov
Radek, The Kronstadt Uprising, 1921
History of the USSR volume 3
http://ciml.250x.com/archive/ussr/english/history_of_the_usssr_part3.pdf
Stalin, Articles and Speeches, Moscow, 1934, Russ. ed., p. 217, quoted in History of the USSR vol. 3
Hufvudstadsbladet, March 8, quoted in “The Truth about Kronstadt” by Wright
Kronstadt Izvestia, March 7 & 11, quoted in Wright
Sotsialisticheski Vestnik April 5, 1921, quoted in Wright
“Petrograd et Moscou Seraient aux Maine des Insurgés qui ont Formé un Gouvernement Provisoire.”, Matin, March 7, quoted in Wright
“Der Aufstand in Russland.”, Vossische Zeitung, March 10, quoted in Wright
The Mensheviks in the Kronstadt Mutiny, Krasnaill Letopis, 1931, No.2
Dernières Nouvelles de Paris, 8th March quoted in Radek
Trotsky, More on the Suppression of Kronstadt
History of the CPSU(B) short course
https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/stalin/works/1939/x01/ch09.htm
Lenin, Once Again On The Trade Unions,
The Current Situation and the Mistakes of Trotsky and Buhkarin
https://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1921/jan/25.htm
Lenin, The Trade Unions, The Present Situation And Trotsky’s Mistakes
https://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1920/dec/30.htm
Lenin, On the Kronstadt revolt
https://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1921/mar/15.htm
Lenin, Tenth Congress of the R.C.P.(B.)
https://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1921/10thcong/index.htm
Lenin, The All-Russia Congress Of Transport Workers
https://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1921/mar/27.htm
Lenin, Third Congress Of The Communist International https://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1921/jun/12.htm
Lenin, The Tax in Kind
https://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1921/apr/21.htm
*Avrich provides a lot of useful factual information, however he is pro-anarchist. He sees the Kronstadt mutiny as a tragedy which could never have succeeded but he sympathizes with it. Despite everything he tries to deny that the mutiny was orchestrated by the Whites. He admits that the Kronstadt mutineers collaborated with Whites, Monarchists, Capitalists, foreign powers, Mensheviks and SRs but basically claims “that doesnt matter”. His book is from 1970 when the archives were still closed. For that reason he relies quite heavily on dishonest Menshevik and Anarchist sources which have nothing to support their claims, and often he takes Petrichenkos words at face value. He also doesnt understand Marxism and therefore distorts it. Perhaps it was impossible to publish in American academia unless one reached an anti-bolshevik conclusion? Still he deserves credit for his discoveries. Truth About the Kronstadt Mutiny (1921)](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/TnUNrTX8YCo/mqdefault.jpg)








