A reversion to the darkest of ages.

[**The following is in regards to the stage of the Russian Revolution that is commonly known as the Red Terror.**] >The Red Terror was formally inaugurated with two decrees, issued on September 4 and 5, over the signatures of the commissars of the Interior of Justice. >The first instituted the practice of taking hostages. It was a barbarian measure, a reversion to the darkest of ages, which international tribunals after World War II would declare a war crime. The Cheka hostages were to be executed in reprisal for future attacks on Bolsheviks leaders or any other active opposition to Bolshevik rule. In fact, they were lined up before firing squads around the clock. ________________________________ **Author’s Note:** >The earliest mention of hostages was in a speech by Trotsky on November 22, 1917, in which he said that military cadets taken prisoner would be held hostage: “if our men fall into the hands of the enemy… for ever worker and for every soldier we shall demand five cadets”: *Izvestiia*, No. 211 (November 12, 1917), 2. ________________________________ **Source:** Pipes, Richard. "The Red Terror." *The Russian Revolution*. New York: Knopf, 1990. 818. Print. ________________________________ **Further Reading:** [Red Terror](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Terror) [Всеросси́йская чрезвычайная коми́ссия по борьбе́ с контрреволюцией и саботажем (The All-Russian Emergency Commission for Combating Counter-Revolution and Sabotage) / ЧК (Cheka)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cheka) [большевики (Bolsheviks)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bolsheviks)