In theory you're not wrong. The Red Army did ban shoulder boards as 'Tsarist'. They only brought them back in 1943, when Stalin was instilling some Russian Nationalism back into the Red Army. It's why you should have one set of Russians for 1939-42, and another set for '43 onwards.
I remember reading why Red Army soldiers wouldn't have worn them, because if the commissars caught you wearing them, they were nailed into your shoulders...with nails. Those Russians 
Oh, believe me, I know about the Russians enough
The fate of commissars and communists who were captured by the whites was also unenviable. Often, gentlemen officers cut out the stars on their backs or on their foreheads.
Do not forget that then people who lived under serfdom were still alive. This is when landlords could sell their peasants, flog them ... and could kill with impunity. Is it any wonder hatred grown over the centuries of injustice?
Not only the Red Army then abandoned the shoulder boards. Many anti-Bolshevik formations also did not want to use them. For example Komuch, the Siberian Army, the Czechoslovak Corps, various rebels, many nationalists. Shoulder boards have become a symbol of social inequality.
