History

I'm likely not as knowledgeable as some comrades about the Civil War period, but I will say that the amount of discretion given to local soviets even during the Stalinist era, which was considered by many to be the most harsh, was and is inconceivable to most contemporary Americans, even modern liberalism has harsher incentive structures due to contract law than the soviets did.

Hell, part of the problem of the Soviet Union was a distinct lack of extreme federal centralization, which allowed regions to vary greatly in how they governed themselves and enforced or didn't enforce production quotas created by the politburo. Like if you didn't meet your quotas it was difficult to advance your career, unless you were well connected or bribing people, but if you didn't care, it was only really during the Stalinist era that you had to justify why you didn't meet quota (like, if an essential machine broke down you had to have eyewitness verification from other plant workers this actually happened, so if you weren't liked people could 100% screw you over) or be detained, which is what led to alot of blackmarket graft during and prior to Peristrioka.

I would imagine during the Civil War even more political latitude was given to the soviets, but ultimately I am not very familiar with that period of history.