Chapter 11
The institution of military commissars was introduced into the Red Army at the beginning of the Civil War Thousands of men from the imperial officer corps had been drafted into the Red Army and commissars were appointed to keep them in line. Commissars were given great powers, controlling each step of the commanders, whose orders were only validated by a commissar‘s signature. Commissars were, therefore, ultimately responsible for the actions of the commanders. They were also responsible for promotions and staff appointments. And they reported everything to the higher echelons of command. After the Civil War the official standing of the commissars changed. The new People's Commissar of Military and Naval Affairs, M.V Frunze, favoured undivided authority. During a period of military reform, the position of commissar was abolished in those units under the charge of a member of the Communist Party. Thus the commander would, in effect, be the commissar himself, aided by a political assistant, known as a ‘pompolit’. Meanwhile, commissars proper worked with non-party commanders, who remained under their jurisdiction. Later, in 1937, the role of commissar was fully restored and they regained power over all large military formations. Smaller units – such as battalions – were overseen by ‘political officers’ known as ‘politruks’.
The crew of an armoured train enjoy free time. While several Red Army soldiers enthusiastically follow the chess duel, a soldier in the foreground finds a place to read the newspaper, Krasnaya Zvezda [i.e. The Red Star – trans.].
In 1940 commissars were fully abolished and replaced by ‘pompolits‘. But the defeats of summer 1941 prompted the government to reinstate commissars yet again. They finally became history in the autumn of 1942, when the concept of ‘undivided authority’ was introduced for good. Then commissars became ‘zampolits’ [deputies performing political work – trans.] and were awarded officer status. The duties of a ‘zampolit’ were generally the same as those of a commissar, but their powers were greatly reduced. Basically, a ‘zampolit’ was simply one of a commander's deputies and was subordinate to him. As the soldiers joked:' There is only one difference between a commissar and a zampolit. The commissar says: “Follow me!” The zampolit says: “Follow my orders!”'
There is no common opinion of the role of political officers during the war Semyon Chervyakov remembers:
Their duty was to explain, to support, to encourage. Good political officers sowed kind seeds in one's soul. I knew two political officers in the ground-attack aviation regiment in which I served at the end of the war: I recall only bad things about the first one, but I was prepared to follow the other anywhere, even to hell.
So attitudes varied depending on the individual. Often the most educated and sensible men were promoted as political officers. A gun-layer of a flak gun, Gennady Schutz, remembers:
When the regimental Komsomol leader was wounded the political department appointed me as his successor During leisure time I visited batteries, told men about the situation at the front, about the actions of the Allies. The men were mostly illiterate, after all – there were only two men with secondary education in the whole battery, the rest had between four and seven years of schooling. Of course, I had to converse with them. The Germans ran their propaganda work as well.
Certainly, the political officers carried out supervisory functions apart from the explanatory work, frequently impeding the combat control exercised by commanders. Nevertheless, it was the political officers who served as examples for the fighting men, and who took charge when commanders were killed.
A howitzer crew reads the leading article of the latest Red Army newspaper, V boy za Rodinu [i.e. ‘Fight for the Motherland’ – trans.]. This newspaper was an organ of the political department of 20th Army or 243rd Rifle Division. The photo may have been taken in 1942 in the Western sector of the front.
A political officer reads a document in front of a group of political activists. Notice the commander in the foreground, writing something in his notebook, and wearing a ‘For Labour Valour’ medal on his chest. It may well be that he is a literary man from the Army or Front newspaper.
Having read aloud the leading article of a newspaper, a deputy political instructor briefs a unit on the current situation.
Reading newspapers and books in an improvised Lenin's room [i.e. a room containing propaganda material and decorated in patriotic style. Such rooms were common in the USSR in schools, factories, barracks etc. – trans.]. Many propaganda papers adorn the walls – from official directives to motivational posters.
A military journalist, Yury Ardi (who became a famous radio commentator after the war), reads the Wermacht propaganda magazine, Signal, in Vilnius, 1944. Considering the strict prohibition against any sort of German propaganda, he and the photographer may well have been detained by SMERSH. Fortunately for them, this photo ended up in the archives without any consequences.