Socialist Homeland is in Danger! (russian: Социалистическое отечество в опасности!) is one of the most notorious decrees of the

Sovnarkom The Councils of People's Commissars (SNK; russian: Совет народных комиссаров (СНК), ''Sovet narodnykh kommissarov''), commonly known as the ''Sovnarkom'' (Совнарком), were the highest executive authorities of ...

, written as a decree-appeal. The decree was published in February 1918 due to the German advances at the front lines that started on February 18, 1918, as a result of stagnation at the Brest-Litovsk peace talks (see

Treaty of Brest-Litovsk The Treaty of Brest-Litovsk (also known as the Treaty of Brest in Russia) was a separate peace, separate peace treaty signed on 3 March 1918 between Russian SFSR, Russia and the Central Powers (German Empire, Germany, Austria-Hungary, Kingdom of ...

). It was claimed in Soviet times that the decree was written by the chairman of Sovnarkom,

Lenin Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov. ( 1870 – 21 January 1924), better known as Vladimir Lenin,. was a Russian revolutionary, politician, and political theorist. He served as the first and founding head of government of Soviet Russia from 1917 to 19 ...

, adopted on February 21 and published on February 22, 1918. But modern scholars give authorship of the decree to

Leon Trotsky Lev Davidovich Bronstein. ( – 21 August 1940), better known as Leon Trotsky; uk, link= no, Лев Давидович Троцький; also transliterated ''Lyev'', ''Trotski'', ''Trotskij'', ''Trockij'' and ''Trotzky''. (), was a Russian ...

. Trotsky also claimed that it was he who wrote the draft to decree.

Description

In his decree, Lenin requested "Soviets and revolutionary organizations" to "protect each position to their last drop of blood" and destroy food stocks that could end up in "enemy hands". Railway workers were instructed to divert to the east of the country the rolling stock, during the retreat to destroy the tracks and railway buildings. Also, a mobilization of workers and peasants was declared to dig trenches.Cherepanov, A. ''Near Pskov and Narva''.
"Military Literature (Military history)". Article 7 of the decree ordered to close "... publications opposing the cause of revolutionary defense and siding with the German bourgeoisie as well as seeking to exploit the invasion of imperialist hordes in order to overthrow the Soviet regime... labor ready editors and staff of these publications are mobilized to dig trenches and other defensive works". Based on the decree, the

Bolsheviks The Bolsheviks (russian: Большевики́, from большинство́ ''bol'shinstvó'', 'majority'),; derived from ''bol'shinstvó'' (большинство́), "majority", literally meaning "one of the majority". also known in English ...

' appointed Commander-in-Chief

Nikolai Krylenko Nikolai Vasilyevich Krylenko ( rus, Никола́й Васи́льевич Крыле́нко, p=krɨˈlʲenkə; May 2, 1885 – July 29, 1938) was an Old Bolshevik and Soviet politician. Krylenko served in a variety of posts in the Sovie ...

signed the order about "revolutionary mobilization" on February 21, 1918.

Richard Pipes Richard Edgar Pipes ( yi, ריכארד פּיִפּעץ ''Rikhard Pipets'', the surname literally means 'beak'; pl, Ryszard Pipes; July 11, 1923 – May 17, 2018) was an American academic who specialized in Russian and Soviet history. He publish ...

in his work "The Bolsheviks in the struggle for power" draws attention to the last bullets of the decree. Article 6 included the mobilization to dig trenches, "under the supervision of the Red Guards", "all labor ready members of the bourgeois class, men and women", in fear of being shot. According to the researcher, "from here derived the practice of forced labor, which has since been applied to millions of citizens of the country."{{citation needed, date=July 2018

References

External links

The Socialist Fatherland is in Danger!
Russian Revolution Official documents of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic Soviet decrees 1918 documents