Red Army Rank Structure (2)

The Red Army had attempted to be as different from the Imperial Russian army as possible.  They did this first by abolishing all officer ranks.  Initially there would only be Red Army Commanders (Krazny Komandir) and Red Army Men (Kraznoarmeyets).  Commanders in the Red Army soon were given titles of rank based on the number of men they commanded, but these were a far cry from actual officer ranks of Tsarist times.

The Red Army Commanders wore rank symbols on their collar, which was colored differently depending on the branch of service the soldier was serving in.

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Conscription

The early Soviet conscription laws were not very different from the Tsarist ones that they replaced.  Conscription law theoretically applied to all nationalities within the Soviet Union, but there were exceptions.  Some of the poorly educated ethnic minorities and groups that were extremely hostile to the Bolsheviks were not subject to the call up. Not all non-Russian speaking peoples were exempt however.

As in earlier times, most conscripts would be Russian, Ukrainian, or Belorussian.  In fact, these groups made up almost 90 percent of the early Red Army.

Certain social classes also found themselves exempt from conscription.  Former aristocracy, professionals like lawyers, writers, and artists, and Cossacks were generally not recruited or kept in certain rear echelon units.

Red Army Monthly Pay Rates (1)

Pay for the average conscript was little better than it was in Tsarist times.  It was only enough to keep the soldier equipped with his basic gear.  For officers the situation was worse, pay was much less for them than it was before the Revolution.  The pay for an army commander was equal to that of a well paid steel worker.  Red Army Commanders who were married were given accommodations of sorts, usually only part of a room shared with other families.

In 1926 the situation began to change when conscripts received small increases in pay.  The living conditions of Red Army Commanders had improved dramatically, to a level almost equal to their European counterparts.

Officer-Troop Relations

In the early 1920's relations between the men and commanders in the Red Army were very good.  They lived under similar conditions.  In fact, the ration scale was the same for both commanders and men who all ate sitting together in a common room during meals.  This was seen as essential for building camaraderie within the unit.  The only special treatment that commanders received was special accommodations if they were married, but even that did not amount to much.

The situation changed dramatically by 1926 when discipline was tightened throughout the Red Army.  The conscript soldier no longer dined together with his commanders.  The troops still ate their meals together in a large hall, but their commanders ate separately in cafeteria style setting.  The Red Army Houses soon became officer's clubs and the officers soon became a privileged class.  Many of the senior Red Army commanders even divorced their working class wives to marry actresses, former aristocrats, and ballerinas.  This angered some within the Bolshevik establishment, but little was done to discourage it.

The Commissar

The Commissar system originally was designed to keep an eye on former Tsarist officers (called military specialists) and make sure they were politically reliable.  It was clear that by the end of the Civil war the Commissar was here to stay.  He was the party's representative within the military structure.  He occupied a position of extreme power within the unit.  No soldier of any rank would challenge him, for to insult a commissar was a criminal offense.  

His responsibilities were to safeguard against counter-revolutionary activity and stop conspiracies.  He was also to make sure that the army remained a tool of the party.

The commissar was the co-commander of the unit.  He received all orders jointly with the unit commander, and had to sign all orders that the unit commander issued for them to be valid.  He also ensured that the military commander followed all orders received from higher authorities.

Relations between commanders and commissars varied considerably.  Some commissars used their power to ride roughshod over the military commander, while others simply rubber stamped orders without even reading them.  The worst type of commissars were those young fanatics who wanted to make a name for themselves.  They would denounce anyone in the way of their careers.  When faced with commissars like this, a commander would try to do as little as possible, and show as little initiative as possible.

Commissars also had their own chain of command and reported only to the men within that chain.  He would send his reports, messages, and denunciations though this secret chain of command.

Starting in 1925 the commissar system changed.  Certain military commanders who had been judged to be 'politically mature' would be designated as 'one-man commanders' who were no longer responsible to the commissars.  The commissars were renamed zampolits (deputy commanders) who would be responsible to political education within the unit.  He would also only deal with orders of a purely political nature rather than all military orders.  Even so, the commissar exercised a tremendous degree of influence over the units activities.

Military Schools and Training (1)

Training in the Red Army was uniformly poor.  In 1925 Frunze claimed that training had fallen far below Great War military standards.  One tenth of the commanders had no military education at all, and over half the senior military commanders were former Tsarist 'specialists'.  Most of the junior officers were former peasants with little experience.

The Red Army did have its own staff academy since 1918, it was the successor to the pre-revolution  Nikolaevsky staff academy.  In 1925 it was renamed the Frunze academy.  Mid-grade officers had to pass a one year course at the school before they could be promoted to company or battalion commander.

Women in the Early Red Army

Women had served in the Red Army from the start of the Revolution.  They entered  the service because of the promise of classless equality, but soon found numerous limitations placed in their way.  Women were first admitted to the military academies in 1929, but their numbers were very small.

Military Life
During the Civil War

Military Life
1930-1937

Bibliography

(1)  Seaton, Albert and Joan Seaton, The Soviet Army, 1918 to the Present, New York, NY: Meridian Publishing, 1986. Print.

(2) Khvostov, Mikhail and Andrei Karachtchouk, The Russian Civil War (I), The Red Army, London: Osprey Publishing, 1996. Print.