Soviet Soldiers in WWII: Mother Russia or Defending the Worker's Homeland?

[MarxSchmarx]

Of course it is impossible to pin the reasons why soldiers fight. But during world war ii on the eastern front, how much were ordinary soviet soldiers motivated by a genuine belief that they were fighting for international socialism against fascism?

After all, many of the regular soldiers came of age after the revolution, meaning they were raised to believe that the struggle to create international socialism was their raison d'etre. And the Spanish Civil war was a hot topic of conversation throughout the 30s.

Indeed, it seems popular to portray Soviet partisans and soldiers as fighting for the homeland. Does anybody know about their "true" motivations? Is there anything research that addresses what motivated Soviet soldiers to fight so hard?

[Revy]

It was probably a combination of both, but moreso fighting for the motherland. It was called the Great Patriotic War in the USSR.

[ComradeOm]

The problem is, as always, one of class. The large majority of the Red Army's recruits (over three fifths according to Harrison) were of peasant origin. That is, they were drawn from a class that until very recently had suffered immeasurably at the hands of Soviet authorities. Peasants tend to be unresponsive to the calls international socialism at the best of times and the traditional coercive measures of Soviet governance were obviously not applicable. Hence the shift in tone; although even then Stalin initially prophesied that it would take six months or so for the peasantry to "come to their senses" as the reality of the German invasion sank in

I've not read it myself but Ivan's War (Catherine Merridale) is supposed to be a decent, if hardly unbiased, account of the individual experiences of Soviet soldiers during the war

Edit: Of course its not particularly novel for any regime to turn towards the 'Motherland' in times of crisis. During the German advance on Petrograd in 1918 the rallying cry at all levels of Soviet government was that The Socialist Fatherland is in Danger! (http://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1918/feb/21b.htm)