# Other Organisations explained — Ten Days That Shook the World

> Chapter companion for Ten Days That Shook the World by John Reed.

## What happens

This chapter catalogs the various paramilitary and civic organizations that emerged or were revived during the Russian Revolution of 1917, including the Red Guards, White Guards, Tekhintsi, Death Battalions, Union of Officers, Knights of St. George, and the Peasants' Union, highlighting their origins, composition, and political alignments.

## Themes in this chapter

### Class Conflict and Polarization

The White Guards emerged as bourgeois volunteers defending private property against Bolshevik abolition, while the Red Guards represented armed factory workers, illustrating the deepening class divide.

### Counterrevolution and Civil War

Organizations like the Union of Officers and the White Guards formed to combat the revolutionary forces, presaging the civil war.

## Character check-ins

### General Lavr Kornilov

The Tekhintsi, or 'Savage Division,' were personally devoted to General Kornilov.

### Alexander Kerensky

Kerensky formed the Death Battalions in the summer of 1917 to strengthen army discipline.

## Key lines

> The Red Guards were first formed during the Revolution of 1905, and sprang into existence again in the days of March, 1917, when a force was needed to keep order in the city.

The Red Guards originated in the 1905 Revolution and were revived in March 1917 to maintain urban order.

_Describes the origin and re-emergence of the Red Guards._

> White Guards. Bourgeois volunteers, who emerged in the last stages of the Revolution, to defend private property from the Bolshevik attempt to abolish it.

The White Guards were bourgeois volunteers who appeared late in the Revolution to protect private property against Bolshevik policies.

_Defines the White Guards' class basis and purpose._

> The Tekhintsi were noted for their blind obedience and their savage cruelty in warfare.

The Tekhintsi were known for unquestioning loyalty and extreme brutality in combat.

_Characterizes the Tekhintsi's reputation._

> The Death Battalions were composed mostly of intense young patriots. These came for the most part from among the sons of the propertied classes.

The Death Battalions were largely made up of fervent young patriots, primarily from wealthy families.

_Describes the social composition of the Death Battalions._

> In 1917, however, it had become the political expression of the more prosperous peasants, to fight the growing power and revolutionary aims of the Soviets of Peasants' Deputies.

By 1917, the Peasants' Union represented wealthier peasants opposing the revolutionary Soviets of Peasants' Deputies.

_Explains the political shift of the Peasants' Union._

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/ten_days_that_shook_the_world_se/chapters/other-organisations
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- All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/ten_days_that_shook_the_world_se/chapters