Socialist Homeland is in Danger! () is one of the most famous decrees of the

Sovnarkom The Council of People's Commissars (CPC) (), commonly known as the ''Sovnarkom'' (), were the highest executive authorities of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (RSFSR), the Soviet Union (USSR), and the Soviet republics from 1917 ...

, written as a decree-appeal. The decree was published in February 1918 in response to the German attack on Bolshevik-controlled territory of the former

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire that spanned most of northern Eurasia from its establishment in November 1721 until the proclamation of the Russian Republic in September 1917. At its height in the late 19th century, it covered about , roughl ...

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 was a separate peace treaty signed on 3 March 1918 between Soviet Russia and the Central Powers (Germany, Austria-Hungary, the Ottoman Empire, and Bulgaria), by which Russia withdrew from World War I. The treaty, whi ...

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

Lenin Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov ( 187021 January 1924), better known as Vladimir Lenin, was a Russian revolutionary, politician and political theorist. He was the first head of government of Soviet Russia from 1917 until Death and state funeral of ...

, 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,; ; also transliterated ''Lyev'', ''Trotski'', ''Trockij'' and ''Trotzky'' was a Russian revolutionary, Soviet politician, and political theorist. He was a key figure ...

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

Description

In this decree, the author 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, led by Vladimir Lenin, were a radical Faction (political), faction of the Marxist Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (RSDLP) which split with the Mensheviks at the 2nd Congress of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party, ...

' appointed Commander-in-Chief

Nikolai Krylenko Nikolai Vasilyevich Krylenko (, ; 2 May 1885 – 29 July 1938) was an Old Bolshevik and Soviet politician, military commander, and jurist. Krylenko served in a variety of posts in the Soviet law, Soviet legal system, rising to become Minis ...

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

Richard Pipes Richard Edgar Pipes (; July 11, 1923 – May 17, 2018) was an American historian who specialized in Russian and Soviet history. Pipes was a frequent interviewee in the press on the matters of Soviet history and foreign affairs. His writings als ...

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!
Official documents of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic Soviet decrees 1918 documents Council of People's Commissars of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic Vladimir Lenin Leon Trotsky Treaty of Brest-Litovsk Anti-German sentiment in Europe German involvement in the Russian Civil War Scorched earth operations