Describe the position and role of the peasantry in the civil war.

During the Civil War, the peasantry at different times took the side of the Reds, then the side of the Whites. The illiterate, intimidated people suffered from both. The armies of both camps took away food from the peasants, horses and carried out forcible mobilization into their ranks. But the terror of the whites turned out to be much tougher than the red terror, and gradually the peasantry went over to the side of the revolutionary forces. The first decree issued by Lenin was about land and this became the main condition for the acceptance of the new power by the peasantry.