Lev Trotsky was the one organizing the former Tsarist military heirarchy. There were defectors from both sides:Tsarist and Bolshevik. Lev was a good organizational manager. He knew if merit is due to a soldier whether former Tsarist, rebellious Tsarist, or inserted Bolshevik. He even offered his resignation which Lenin did not accept. Credit should be given to him.

The Finnish Army of 45 thousand soldiers were on advantageous ground while they fought the 1 million Soviet soldiers. I remember reading about some tough Finns who survived or barely survived frostbites. The Finns were lucky the Soviets do not know the terrain. Nonetheless. Stalin forced them to grant him some concessions. The Soviets still won but for a price.

It was only in 1991 that Russia experimented with free enterprise. Other nations had this kind of system since time immemorial. Hence, you cannot expect miracles to happen right away. The Soviets had no experience with rule of law, accountabilty and autonomy. The former Soviet Union was a totalitarian dictatorship. Stalin thought he knew best. But there are areas where Soviets excel at the expense of consumer goods, food, and other necessities. They were able to achieve military superiority at the expense of the needs of the people. American could have done it too. But you would not see hundreds of millions and millions of 5-bedroom detached homes and cars driven by workers on their way to work. America could have taxed the populace and alloted them to military expenditures. But they know that taxes discourage investments. China should had been as stimulated in commerce and trade like Taiwan if she did not allot its resources to military expenditures. They became military superior at the expense of peasants who were driven away by fences and gates erected in city boundaries when they decide to migrate in the cities. Not only is there no right to migrate to cities but also to other countries.They should have invested their resources to highways and roads to function as stimulants to commerce and trade. So if Russia masters economic principles it wouldn't be long until they attain commercial superiority over USA, Britain and Australia. These countries I have mentioned were free markets since time immemorial. As I said, Russia embraced feemarket only in 1991. So Russian communists should not expect economic miracles to happen overnight. When Russia attains commercial superiority, then reform of its military will follow and become a professional army. But for now, there should be peace and order so as not to drive investors away. So the military should devote its time in fighting terrorism and communist subversion.