From the Russian State Military-Historical Archive (RGVIA)

From the time of its establishment, the Red Army served the particular political needs of the Soviet state. During the Civil War (1918-1921), the army conducted extensive intelligence operations not only of counter-revolutionary forces but of their own ranks as well. This recently declassified collection contains unfiltered, unedited intelligence reports -- many of them handwritten -- from Red Army operatives throughout the country. Included are traditional operational and intelligence reports and evaluations. Of particular interest are the political intelligence reports. These contain surveys of civilian attitudes and assessments of the mood and circumstances of Red Army troops. These reports provide extraordinary opportunities for the scholar to examine the the nature of the Soviet military's apparatus of surveillance, as well as the extent and nature of opposition, both small and large, to the Communist regime.