The film uses footage from newsreels of 1919, including the Civil War: Red Guards walk along the streets of one of the cities, explosions thunder, guns shoot, cavalry gallops, a parade of Red Army units on / Red Square /. Ya.Sverdlov at a meeting of the Council of People's Commissars. The funeral of Y. Sverdlov March 18, 1919. Lenin's speech at the funeral. Arrival of the Soviet delegation headed by Leonid Trotsky in Brest-Litovsk for peace negotiations: Leonid Trotsky leaves the train car, next to which is a group of German officers. L. Trotsky leaves the building. L. Trotsky in the military group. G. Zinoviev's speech at one of the events of the Soviet power. Lenin's speech at the parade of the Vsevobuch troops on Red Square. The film uses photographs of the commanders of the White Army during the Civil War in Russia: A. Kolchak, A. Denikin, N. Yudenich, E. Miller. The film includes photographs of the commanders of the Red Army and the leaders of the Soviet state: I. Vatsetis, Z. Peshkov, J. Sverdlov, V. Bonch-Bruevich, L. Trotsky, I. Stalin, N. Krestovsky, L. Kamenev, N. Bukharin, G. Zinovieva, M. Kalinina.