THE RUSSIAN ARMY

Taranaki Central Press, Volume IV, Issue 459, 17 June 1937, Page 7

THE RUSSIAN ARMY

KREMLIN HOLD TIGHTER Recent Reorganisation The drastic. reorganisation of the Red Army announced to-day is r-> rded as bringing the army under closer control of the civilian governmen, whu-.li means -in Effect the ruling Communis Parly, wrote the •Afoicow corre-spondem Of the Cliris«kan Science Monitor on May 14. The shakeup in the higher stages of !-every branch of the army’ in Europe I involves the demotion • of the Vice- | Commissar of Usfehco and the Comi mander of Rhe Ukrain.Vn Army. The ’ Vice-Commissar is given the coniI paratively unimportant, post of Com- [ m nder of the Interior Volga Army, , while the Ukrainian Commander is 1 transferred to Leningrad. A. E. Yergorov is L ppointed Vice-Commis-sar of Defence, and a veteran Bolshevik has succeeded Mr Yegorov as Chief of S < ff. The important Uk-ra-nian post has not yet b en filled. The change o/er, coming so soon after the wriest and degradation of Henry G. Yagoda, for ten years acting chief of Soviet Russia’s powerful political police, with no more than a temporary ripple of public excitement, illustrates the concentrated powers of the Bolshevist General Staff, the nine members of the Communist Party**;- Political Bureau, who live and work in Moscow’s Kremlin. Mr Yogada’s degradation revived abroad The rumour, repeated whenever changes occur in the higher Bolshevik staff, of an alleged struggle for power between the Red Army an'd> the political police, which is a separate armed force. These two military groups have been pictured as contending for the upper hand, with first one and then the other in a predominant position. After three years’ residence in Russia, the writer believes that this notion is based ppon a complete misunderstanding of the presenlt Bolshevik system. It is difficult to imagine how any such struggle could occur without fund mental changes in the entire political machine.

Further Reorganisation. In the last teh\years the whole Bolshevik Store has been recognised, on military rather than civilian lines. It is hardly an exaggeration to say that every Soviet citizen is subject to an almost military discipline. The Red Army and Khe political police (Giayr-pay-oo) are merely two sections of the' militarised State. Andthe Bolshevik Poli.ical Bureau is the acknowledged genet LI staff. Many .foreign observers have failed' to distinguish between the Bed Army and such regular armies as -the Reichswehr in Gerpiany. The latter is the old German regular.army, preserving most of its old leaders and traditions. The Reel Army is a new army, built from tjie ground up by the Bolsheviks. After coming to Potter, Bolsheviks almost completely destroyed the old Russian regular army; on the other hland’lhe National Socialists in Germany have hardly touched the Reichswehr.

Conceivably, of course, the Red Army might become a .sort of Frankenstein, beyond l control of its creators. But the Bolsheviks have skilfully guarded against such a possibility. They have thoroughly broken down (traditional distinctions between civilian and military control. Most of the present civilian members of the Bolshevik Political Bureau formerly served in the Red Army. Their mentality is more military thlan civilian; they give the men and materials, and organise civilians cn military lines.

This military organisation of the Soviet State makes- improti.ble the . c 9 n .£9Ption of- the Red Army and 'the armed forces of the political police as independent organisations struggling for predominance. The commanders of both organisations' are Bolsheviks, with Hare exceptions, and readily acknowledge (their primary allegiance to the higher command of the Bolshevik Party Mr Yogoda never served on this Bureau, and was not-therefore on the real Bolshevik general staff. It would be far more significant if a member of (the Political Bureau were removed, but there has been no such change in ten years. Mose Severe Tests. The Bolshevik system faced its severest test during the internai d ruggies which followed the parsing °"f «ts founder, Lenin, between 1924 and 1929. During his period the members of the Political Bureau disputed among themselves, tl „ d the Bqlshevik General Staff was 'disrupted more than once. Member t of -the •nreau during this period included Trotsky, Kamenev, Zinoviev, Rykov and Bukchariu, all of whom were smee e,iher shot, banish.d, or ini prisoned. But there is no evidence whlafever of any lack of harmony in the prssent Political Bureau. So long as that is true, the higher Bolshevik

command remains ;i:itad , and-* it is difficult to imagine- '-. ny struggle for supremacy between the Red Army •’nd the political police or any other branches of the —irrttttarki lc Stale.:Under the present Poli.ical Bureau, the process of militarising the Stale IDs been carried- much further. Until 1927 open opposition was permitted within the Communist Party; since that time opposition has beroms- punishable by shooting. Any Sovicii citizen who refuses to take orders unquestionly < from -the Boi.. eiig higher command may bo punished at summarily <-s a private soldier who refuses to take orders from a superior .officer. So long as harmony prevails in the Bolshevik higher' command—the Pol.t.cal Bureau—subordinate officers like M. Yagoda can be removed at will with hardly a stir. And .their removal cannot logically be interpreted as evidence of any sort of struggle for power among Soviet organisations, military or o.herwise.