At several points in the interbellum I have seen the White Russians and Soviet cooperation against a common enemy. The first example is the battle of Baku and the second is at the Kumul Rebellion in 1934. This seems very odd to me, after all, these were two very hostile parties and I wouldn't expect them to have all to many common interests. Could anyone explain this cooperation to me?
Besides that I also find it somewhat odd that the Whites were even involved in the Kumul Rebellion. Weren't they pretty much a spent force after the Russian civil war? What sort of forces did they have left after this and how could they possibly sustain them?
Cooperation between White Russians and the Soviet regime stems mainly from the early days of the nascent RSFSR, when Leon Trotsky (founder and first commander of the Red Army) took it upon himself to move a Decree of Compulsory Military Training, which "established compulsory military training for all workers and for peasants who did not employ hired labour. The training was to be for twelve hours a week for eight weeks a year."^[1] Naturally, filling the vacuum of a diminishing army in this way would've meant that those with alternating opinions ended up under Red Army supervision and training. Not only that, but Trotsky further took it upon himself to employ Officers of the old Tsarist army, with the concession being allowed owing to their superior military knowledge (to combat the lacking speciality required to successfully wage a war within the radius of the Russian nation).^[1][2] This is yet another way that former Tsarist and White Officers ended up within the ranks of the Red Army, and eventually it ended in the full election of Officers, as this was diametrically opposed to the experiences and values of the newly-recruited Tsarist Officers in different uniforms.
As regards the battle of Baku, it was all relevant to Bolshevik military and political advantage. But the preservation of Baku as Russian territory was also relevant to the White Russians given its historical precedence. I suspect that it was definitely something to do with the fact that Baku "emerged as an industrial and commercial centre with a thriving population rising to 200,000 at the end of the century. The rush to Baku was driven by the discovery of rich oil resources. When the oil wells in Baku started producing the black gold, Tsarist Russia had begun exporting petroleum instead of importing it."^[3] In the Baku territory, there were three conflicting ethnicities and different nationalities, all of which had opposing socio-political outlook. This not only posed a serious threat to Bolshevik dictatorship (reflected in the aftermath of the battle, when units were absorbed into the Red Army and opposition parties and newspapers were closed down immediately), but also historically to the wellbeing of Russia. During the days of the British Empire, they would've looked to expand to regions which had the potential for military and resource-based advantage, and the regions in the Caucasus were perfect for such endeavours. Not only this, but Middle Eastern powers had interest in such tactical foreplay, and so competition to remove regions so rich in the likes of commerce, industry, and oil, played directly into the side of Russian interests.^[3]
I'm afraid I cannot answer your questions regarding the Kumul rebellion though, as I don't know a huge deal in that area. Still, I hope I've helped you to some degree.
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