The emergence of the military agency of the Soviet state is a crucial
but neglected aspect of inter-war Soviet history, and in this pioneering
study Francesco Benvenuti provides a detailed analysis of the politics
(as opposed to the operational activities) of the Red Army during the
Civil War. Several historians have suggested that the roots of Stalinism
may be found in the Bolshevik experience during the Civil War, and
Benvenuti shows that the military opposition inside the party was much
stronger than conventionally supposed: Trotsky's subsequent political
weakness owed much to his ruthless pursuit of military goals not always
in direct harmony with party interests, as did his technocratic attempts
to extend the role of specialist advisers at the expense of party
officials.