USSR: A Military Society Part II - Military Society

Part II: Military Society 

"If I should ever violate this, my solemn oath, then let the severe punishment of Soviet law, and the universal hatred of the working masses, fall upon me." - Voennaia Prisiaga (the Military Oath)

You can read part one here.

Introduction
Soviet Russia, January 1918; The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army was organized by Lenin, and thus intertwined military and political authority at the birth of the new state. This intermingling of civilian and military authority was engraved into Soviet thought, and is something not seen in the West, where separation of the two is usually fundamental.

Brezhnev

At the top of the Soviet power structure resided the leaders of the state, often dressed in military attire, such as Brezhnev in the uniform of the marshal of the Soviet Union. Lower down in the power structure the civil-military integration could also be seen. For example, in the Supreme Soviet, there were fifty-seven active duty military members spanning all ranks in the mid-1970s, with more than one hundred and fifty military personnel serving as deputies across the Supreme Soviets of the USSR, and thirteen thousand servicemen as deputies in local Soviets.[1] Hence, active duty military personnel served roles and occupied positions of responsibility within the civilian government at national, regional, and local levels. This integration is also observed in other organisations such as Aeroflot (the Soviet civil air transport organisation), and Soviet merchant marine and fishing fleets which supported the Soviet Navy. [2]

The Soviet Armed Forces also actively engaged in the economy of the nation. Every year, the military participated in the harvest in the USSR and NSWP (non-Soviet Warsaw Pact) states wherever Soviet forces were based. Construction projects were also fronted by the military, such as the extension of the Trans-Siberian Railroad. In a mirror like reflection, the military could make use of civilian assets for military purposes, through avtokollona. There were downsides to this integration, however. To a large degree, the logistics of the Soviet state and Soviet military relied upon each other.

National Military Service
In 1918 Lenin established obligatory military service for the entire male population, and military service for the whole populace, and in the Soviet union, upon the order of the minister of defence, induction into the armed forces was carried out twice a year. [3]

In the 1980 Constitution of the USSR, Article 62 stated "defense of the Socialist Motherland is the sacred duty of every citizen of the USSR," and Article 63 stated "Military Service in the ranks of the Armed Forces of the USSR is an honorable duty of Soviet citizens." [4] In the law of the USSR, Article 3 stated "all male citizens of the USSR ... shall serve their term of service in the ranks of the Armed Forces of the USSR." This meant that by law all fit and abled bodied males would begin active service at the age of eighteen for either two years in the Soviet Army, three years in the Navy, or one year for those who possessed a higher education degree.

Suvorov Military School cadets marching
through Red Square in the 1985 Moscow
Victory Day Parade

This service would have been started within two years of the eighteenth birthday, and would only be avoidable in extremely rare cases. Once a man completed their two years, they were obliged for military service in event of mobilisation until the age of fifty (reserve women until the age of forty). [5] Those who wished to enroll as officers may have done so when they reach seventeen years of age or once they had completed secondary education. Commissioning took two years, at which point they would serve in one of the branches of the Armed Forces.

Soviet women were not drafted, and could not serve in combat units. As of 1976, there were only about ten thousand women serving in the armed forces, in roles such as medical, administrative, and communications. Women had it easier in the armed forces and would not endure the same discipline or rigid living conditions as the men, despite receiving the same pay. [6]

In theory, the nature of the twice-a-year enrollment had a significant cyclical impact on the Soviet combat capabilities and training. Large scale spring and autumn maneuvers mark the end of the training cycle, and shortly after these maneuvers troops completing their service-by-law were demobilised and replaced with fresh recruits.

Military service was not popular among the youth of the USSR. The reasons are obvious; serving meant a disruption of education, career, and life plans, and also meant leaving home for a hard life of strict discipline and low pay. The Soviets did not have to make the military appealing, as there would always be a turnover of new recruits every two years. Marhsal Kutuzov (commander of the Russian Army against Napoleon in the War of 1812) had the dictum: "The harder the training, the easier the battle." This became a common tradition in the Russian army, and was not absent with the Soviets. From 1977 however, commanders were required to assure troops in garrison eight hours of sleep and one hour of free time a day.

"In the Soviet Army, however, progress does not come without its drawbacks. One unit commander found that when he poured tea at the required 90°C temperature into his newly issued teacups, the bottom broke out of almost every cup. Soviet industry can provide excellent tanks for the Soviet Army, but the teacup problem has yet to be solved." [7]

Despite the unpopularity of the service, it would be unwise to assume an unwillingness to serve or protect the motherland. The youth of the USSR were motivated by patriotism, to the point of fighting bravely and well for Russia against foreign invaders. Therefore, unlike their western counterparts, the USSR did not need to instill patriotism and love of country into their soldiers, it exploited it for its own purposes. 

Moulding Soviet Citizens
The issue with exploiting nationalism is that it is un-Marxist. Marxism-Leninism teaches to instill class loyalties, not those drawn by borders, and should supersede those of ethnicity or nation. Another issue of exploiting nationalism is that it is not always alluring to minorities incorporated into the Soviet Empire whom are not ethnically Russian, such as the Muslims of central Asia, or the Catholics of the Baltic, both of which saw years of oppression from the Russians, or resistance to occupation. The Soviets sought to solve the ethnicity issue by creating a morale based upon Soviet patriotism as opposed to Russian patriotism, build upon a class identity. 

A Soviet junior political officer
(Politruk) urges Soviet troops
forward against German
positions

Military training was used as an opportunity to mold boys into men of socialist society. [8] The goals of military training was thus twofold: (1) to produce disciplined soldiers prolific in military specialities, and (2) to produce a loyal Soviet citizen. Not only would soldiers endure political lectures by political agitators, but the GPU (the Main Political Directorate of the Soviet Army and Navy) directed the political staffs to assume roles such as planning social activities (such as sports), and teaching. Teaching would have covered Russian-language skills to non-Russian ethnics.[8]

The Kollektiv
The Kollectiv was a form of social organisation built around every single citizen's residence or place of work. Members of the Kollektiv supported and looked out for each other, and formed the base for voluntary labor projects and demonstrations. Kollektivs in the army generally coincided to squad level organisations. The leaders of the Kollektivs were elected and were often connected to the GPU. The leaders enthused their comrades for the military task at hand and provided a method for checking performance outside the chain of command. The Kollectiv was a way for a soldier to be constantly observed, even during free time. 

The Kollectiv was used as the principle method to indoctrinating servicemen with basic military values. Within one and a half months of joining the Armed Forces, a serviceman would have taken the military oath (voennaia prisiaga), reciting it in front of their Kollektiv:

Propaganda poster of the 70’s
by Boris Parmeev. “We grow
under the sun of our country.”

"I _______, a citizen of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics entering into the ranks of the Armed Forces, take an oath and do solemnly swear to be an honorable, brave, disciplined, vigilant warrior, strictly safeguarding military and state secrets, unswervingly fulfilling all military regulations and orders of commanders and chiefs. 
"I conscientiously swear to master military affairs to protect fully military and national property and, to my last breath, to be loyal to my nation, to my Soviet homeland, and to the Soviet Government.
"I am always prepared upon orders of the Soviet government to go to the defense of my homeland - the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and, as a warrior of the Soviet Armed Forces, I swear to defend her manfully, for the achievement of total victory over the enemy.
"If I should ever violate this, my solemn oath, then let the severe punishment of Soviet law, and the universal hatred of the working masses, fall upon me."[9]

Lessons of the Past
Prior experiences of the twentieth century for Russia and the USSR had left the people distrusting of the west. Unpreparedness had caught the motherland off-guard more than once, and they always paid the toll; World War I, the revolution, the Civil War, and last but not least World War II. The lives lost in these tragedies were brutal reminders of military security to national and individual freedom and security. For the Soviets especially, World War II saw unimaginable death tolls, estimated at a figure of twenty million, with an estimated total of eighty million casualties. What this figure means is that over one in every three of the Soviet population was a war casualty. 

Soviet prisoners of war after their
arrival in Mauthausen concentration
camp in October 1941.

The impact the first half of the twentieth century had on all those in Soviet Russia who could remember it was large and looming. It led the Soviet citizen to feel a need for a sense of security, one which only a powerful military force could offer. A majority of Soviet citizens would have happily picked a large and expensive military over an improved standard of living, because of their historical experiences. This may give an image of a war-like people who did not want improved economic condition. The impression could not have been farther from the truth.

“Forward, to the victory of communism!”

To summarise...
Soviet citizens felt the need for a large army to act as a protective shield against an untrustworthy world. From birth, a Soviet child would have been exposed to information and activities designed to mould them into a Soviet citizen. Indoctrination took many forms, from general propaganda, to military service and local kollektivs. It was found to be effective in creating a body of compliant citizens, the men of which would practice military skills from an early age - practicing military maneuvers as pre-teens or joining clubs which train guerilla warfare. Like the generations before them, Soviet youths were indoctrinated from birth to desire a need for security, and togetherness against class struggle. 

References
[1] V. Ryabov, The Soviet Armed Forces of Yesterday and Today, 1976
[2] Harriet F and William F. Scott, The Armed Forces of the USSR, 1979
[3] A. A. Grechko, The Armed Forces of the Soviet State, 1975
[4] Constitution of the Union of Socialist Soviet Republics, 1980
[5] S. S. Maksimov, High Duty, Honorable Obligation, 1978
[6] Mitzi Leibst, Women in the Soviet Armed Forces, 1976
[7] Lt Col William Baxter, Soviet Airland Battle Tactics, 1986
[8] M. Ruben, The Soviet School of Courage and Warcraft, 1976
[9] Ustav Vnutrennei Sluzhby, Vooruzhennykh Sil SSSR (Internal Service Regulations of the Soviet Armed Forces), 1977