I read once that the brutal oppression of the Finnish revolution made it clear to the Russian Bolcheviks that they had to defeat the bourgeoisie with any means possible as they would not be shown any mercy if they lost.
Russian communists used terror and violence against the enemies of the proletariat. It was not pretty and in a better world it could have been avoided. But in this world it was either kill or get killed.
I read once that the brutal oppression of the Finnish revolution made it clear to the Russian Bolcheviks that they had to defeat the bourgeoisie with any means possible as they would not be shown any mercy if they lost.
Where did you read that?
I looked it up and it turns out to be from Victor Serge:
One more observation. The butcheries in Finland took place in April 1918. Up to this moment the Russian revolution had virtually everywhere displayed great leniency towards its enemies. It had not used terror. We have noted a few bloody episodes in the civil war in the south, but these were exceptional. The victorious bourgeoisie of a small nation which ranks among the most enlightened societies of Europe [11] was the first to remind the Russian proletariat that woe to the vanquished! is the first law of social war.
https://www.marxists.org/archive/serge/1930/year-one/ch06.htm
