But because the working class disintegrated as a class during the civil war, and because economically backward Russia remained unaided from abroad, he was fighting against impossible odds. . ..…

With the onset of the post-revolution civil war, waves of disease once again crashed over the Russian population. ... For a brief summary of the devastating impact of the civil war and blockade on Russia’s economy, the peasantry, and its working class, see E. ..…

And, of course, Russia had emerged from a period of civil war victorious, but with the working class battered and exhausted. ..…