This article considers the breakdown in discipline in the British Army which occurred in Britain and on the Western Front during the process of demobilization at the end of the First World War. Many soldiers, retained in the army immediately after the Armistice, went on strike, and some formed elected committees, demanding their swifter return to civilian life. Their perception was that the existing demobilization system was unjust, and men were soon organized by those more politically conscious members of the armed forces who had enlisted for the duration of the war. At one stage in January 1919, over 50,000 soldiers were out on strike, a fact that was of great concern to the British civilian and military authorities who miscalculated the risk posed by soldiers. Spurred on by many elements of the press, especially the Daily Mail and Daily Herald, who both fanned and dampened the flames of discontent, soldiers' discipline broke down, demonstrating that the patriotism which had for so long kept them in line could only extend so far. Though senior members of the government, principally Winston Churchill, and the military, especially Douglas Haig and Henry Wilson, were genuinely concerned that Bolshevism had 'infected' the army, or, at the very least, the army had been unionized, their fears were not realized. The article examines the government's strategy regarding demobilization, its efforts to assess the risk of politicization and manage the press, and its responses to these waves of strikes, arguing that, essentially, these soldiers were civilians first and simply wanted to return home, though, in the post-war political climate, government fears were very real.

中文翻译：

---

“英国士兵不是布尔什维克”：英国军队、纪律和 1919 年的复员罢工

本文考察了第一次世界大战末期复员过程中在英国和西线发生的英国军队纪律崩溃。许多在停战后立即留在军队中的士兵开始罢工，一些人成立了民选委员会，要求他们更快地恢复平民生活。他们的看法是，现有的复员制度是不公正的，很快就被那些在战争期间入伍的、更有政治意识的武装部队成员组织起来了。在 1919 年 1 月的某个阶段，超过 50,000 名士兵进行了罢工，这一事实令英国文职和军事当局非常关注，他们错误地估计了士兵所带来的风险。在众多媒体的推动下，尤其是《每日邮报》和《每日先驱报》，既煽动又扑灭不满的火焰，士兵的纪律崩溃了，这表明长期以来使他们保持一致的爱国主义只能延伸到这里。尽管政府的高级成员，主要是温斯顿·丘吉尔和军队，尤其是道格拉斯·黑格和亨利·威尔逊，真的很担心布尔什维克主义已经“感染”了军队，或者至少军队已经加入工会，但他们的恐惧是没有意识到。这篇文章考察了政府关于复员的战略、评估政治化风险和管理媒体的努力，以及政府对这些罢工浪潮的反应，认为，基本上，这些士兵首先是平民，只是想回家，尽管如此，在战后的政治气候中，政府的担忧是非常真实的。