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Well, I'm sure the Soviets printed quite a few. :) Actually, the role of the Soviet political officer (zampolit) was by then subordinated to the commanding offi
by HillRat 12y ago
Well, I'm sure the Soviets printed quite a few. :) Actually, the role of the Soviet political officer (zampolit) was by then subordinated to the commanding officer -- political officers were expected to function as field officers (pilots, artillery officers, and so on), in addition to political education, morale-raising, and individual counseling. They also had specific authority over Communist Party members within units, who basically operated something like senior NCOs. In practice, I think, the zampolit system operated relatively smoothly -- the Red Army was never able to get rid of the political officers (Zhukov tried, and even he couldn't do it!), but they were able to effectively defang the position by being orthodox Communists themselves, and by insisting that political education not compromise practical competency.
- Intermernet 12y ago>not compromise practical competency. There's a quote from The Last Sentry[1] regarding this: "On major combatant vessels, the political officer was third in command, following the captain and his starpom (short for stariy pomoshnik, or senior assistant), who was the equivalent of an executive officer in the U.S. Navy. The zampolit was required to qualify as an underway watch officer like any other officer on the ship and so had to have some operational competence." I'm pretty sure that training and working with the regular crew would weaken the dedication to "The Party" over time. [1]: https://books.google.com.au/books?id=pThlAgAAQBAJ&lpg=PT15&ots=sXUZZ7-H9E&dq=zampolit&pg=PT15#v=onepage&q=zampolit&f=false https://books.google.com.au/books?id=pThlAgAAQBAJ&lpg=PT15&o...