The Commission on Combating Desertion as a Form of Combating the Anti-Bolshevik Protest of the Population of Grayvoronsky, Korochansky and Starooskolsky Counties of Kursk Province 1917-1921

Abstract

The article presents an analysis of such a social phenomenon as desertion, which the Bolsheviks faced during the Civil War, the study is based on regional material. Desertion was one of the forms of the population social protest against the policy of "war communism" implemented by the Soviet government. Desertion became widespread not only at the front, but also in the rear – the so-called labor desertion. Desertion had a massive character, and therefore the response from the Soviet state was quite harsh. To counteract desertion, commissions to combat desertion began to be formed locally, the system of work of special bodies responsible for the capture of military and labor deserters, as well as evaders from mobilization into the Red Army, was debugged. The provinces of the Central Black Earth Region of the RSFSR during the Civil War became the scene of large-scale military operations. In this regard, the fight against desertion, the identification of two main categories of evaders from military service and labor mobilization, as well as methods of combating deserters in the designated region were particularly intensive, and eventually showed a positive result.