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Commissar (or sometimes ''Kommissar'') is an
English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ...
transliteration of the Russian (''komissar''), which means ' commissary'. In English, the transliteration ''commissar'' often refers specifically to the political commissars of
Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...
and Eastern-bloc armies or to the people's commissars (effectively government ministers), while administrative officers are called ''commissaries''. The Russian word комисса́р, from French ''commissaire'', was used in Russia for both political and administrative officials. The title has been used in the
Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nationa ...
and in
Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-ei ...
since the time of the emperor
Peter the Great Peter I ( – ), most commonly known as Peter the Great,) or Pyotr Alekséyevich ( rus, Пётр Алексе́евич, p=ˈpʲɵtr ɐlʲɪˈksʲejɪvʲɪtɕ, , group=pron was a Russian monarch who ruled the Tsardom of Russia from t ...
().


History

In the 18th and 19th centuries in the Russian army ''kommissars'', then ''krigs-komissars'' (from german: Krieg 'war') were officials in charge of supply for the armed forces (see Rus. Генерал-кригскомиссар). Commissaries were used during the
Provisional Government A provisional government, also called an interim government, an emergency government, or a transitional government, is an emergency governmental authority set up to manage a political transition generally in the cases of a newly formed state or ...
(March–July 1917) for regional heads of administration, but the term commissar is associated with a number of Cheka and military functions in
Bolshevik The Bolsheviks (russian: Большевики́, from большинство́ ''bol'shinstvó'', 'majority'),; derived from ''bol'shinstvó'' (большинство́), "majority", literally meaning "one of the majority". also known in English ...
and Soviet government military forces during the
Russian Civil War {{Infobox military conflict , conflict = Russian Civil War , partof = the Russian Revolution and the aftermath of World War I , image = , caption = Clockwise from top left: {{flatlist, *Soldiers ...
(the
White Army The White Army (russian: Белая армия, Belaya armiya) or White Guard (russian: Бѣлая гвардія/Белая гвардия, Belaya gvardiya, label=none), also referred to as the Whites or White Guardsmen (russian: Бѣлогв� ...
widely used the collective term "bolsheviks and commissars" for their opponents) and with the later terms ''People's Commissar'' (or '' narkom'') for government ministers and '' political commissar'' in the military.


Variants


People's Commissar

A People's Commissar (informally abbreviated ''narkom'') was a government official serving in a
Council of People's Commissars The Councils of People's Commissars (SNK; russian: Совет народных комиссаров (СНК), ''Sovet narodnykh kommissarov''), commonly known as the ''Sovnarkom'' (Совнарком), were the highest executive authorities of ...
. This title was first used by the
Russian SFSR The Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, Russian SFSR or RSFSR ( rus, Российская Советская Федеративная Социалистическая Республика, Rossíyskaya Sovétskaya Federatívnaya Soci ...
(out of dislike for the tsarist and bourgeois term ''minister'') and then copied among the many Soviet and Bolshevik-controlled states in the
Russian Civil War {{Infobox military conflict , conflict = Russian Civil War , partof = the Russian Revolution and the aftermath of World War I , image = , caption = Clockwise from top left: {{flatlist, *Soldiers ...
. The government departments headed by a People's Commissar were called '' People's Commissariat'' (informally abbreviated narkomat). People's Commissars and People's Commissariats were renamed Ministers and Ministries in 1946 by a decree of the
Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union The Supreme Soviet of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics ( rus, Верховный Совет Союза Советских Социалистических Республик, r=Verkhovnyy Sovet Soyuza Sovetskikh Sotsialisticheskikh Respubl ...
.


Political commissar

In the
Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army (Russian language, Russian: Рабо́че-крестья́нская Кра́сная армия),) often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist R ...
, a political commissar was a high-ranking functionary at a military headquarters who held coequal rank and authority with the military commander of the unit. The Bolshevik Party established political commissars in 1918 to control and improve morale in the military forces. Commissars were in charge of communist political propaganda and indoctrinating the public with communist ideology. From 1917 the Bolshevik administration, like the Provisional Government before it, relied on experienced (ex-Tsarist) army-officers whose loyalty it distrusted.
Trotsky Lev Davidovich Bronstein. ( – 21 August 1940), better known as Leon Trotsky; uk, link= no, Лев Давидович Троцький; also transliterated ''Lyev'', ''Trotski'', ''Trotskij'', ''Trockij'' and ''Trotzky''. (), was a Russian M ...
summarised the solution to the issue: "We took a military specialist and we put on his right hand and on his left a commissar .." During the early stages of the usage of commissars, no military order might be issued which did not have the prior approval of both the commander and the commissar. Many lower-level political officers never received the same military training as commanding officers. Prior to becoming a commissar an individual had to be registered as a communist for a minimum of three years and had to attend specific political institutions, many of which never offered any military-oriented training. Following the problems encountered in 1941 with dual commanders in units, commissars and other political officers were removed from direct command-roles. Political officers were then more directly tasked with morale- and regulation-based goals. A political officer's classification changed to the form of a "Deputy for Political Matters" in 1942. The specific position of "Commissar" itself survived only at
regiment A regiment is a military unit. Its role and size varies markedly, depending on the country, service and/or a specialisation. In Medieval Europe, the term "regiment" denoted any large body of front-line soldiers, recruited or conscript ...
al and front levels, where the Commissars formed the Military Councils with their corresponding military commanders. Other Communist-bloc militaries also adopted systems of using political commissars. Mulvenon and Yang (2002) report that the role of the political commissar in the
People's Liberation Army The People's Liberation Army (PLA) is the principal military force of the China, People's Republic of China and the armed wing of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). The PLA consists of five Military branch, service branches: the People's ...
(PLA) of China has become one resembling that of an HR specialist.


Military commissar

The voenkom (russian: военком, links=no), translated as war commissar, is the head of a military commissariat — a regional office that conscripts men for military service, executes plans for military
mobilization Mobilization is the act of assembling and readying military troops and supplies for war. The word ''mobilization'' was first used in a military context in the 1850s to describe the preparation of the Prussian Army. Mobilization theories an ...
and maintains records on military reserves.


NKVD

Until the late 1930s, the People's Militsiya and
Internal Troops The Internal Troops, full name Internal Troops of the Ministry for Internal Affairs (MVD) (russian: Внутренние войска Министерства внутренних дел, Vnutrenniye Voiska Ministerstva Vnutrennikh Del; abbreviat ...
of the
NKVD The People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs (russian: Наро́дный комиссариа́т вну́тренних дел, Naródnyy komissariát vnútrennikh del, ), abbreviated NKVD ( ), was the interior ministry of the Soviet Union. ...
had no personal ranks, and used many various position-ranks instead. In 1935, the Militsiya created a special system of personal ranks that was a blend of standard military ranks and position-ranks; this system was largely reused by the newly created Main Directorate of State Security (GUGB) in their rank structure, although they had Commissar-style ranks for top officers in place of Militsiya-style ''inspector'' and ''director''. From 1943, the Militsiya switched to a new rank system and insignia introduced in the
Soviet Army uk, Радянська армія , image = File:Communist star with golden border and red rims.svg , alt = , caption = Emblem of the Soviet Army , start_date ...
. Instead of General ranks, top officers used ''Commissar of Militsiya'' 3rd, 2nd, and 1st rank, even though they used army-standard Major General, Lieutenant General and Colonel General shoulder boards. These Commissar ranks were replaced by corresponding General ranks in 1975. The GUGB also switched to military-style ranks and insignia in 1945, although they replaced Commissar-style ranks with General officer ranks right away.


Similar terms

Commissar is linked to titles in a variety of languages, such as commissary in English, ''commissaire'' in French, ''Kommissar'' in German, and komisszár (or népbiztos; archaic: csendbiztos) in Hungarian. The term '' commissary'' was used by the British and U.S. military to denote an officer in charge of supplying an army with provisions and equipment (and
Commissariat A commissariat is a department or organization commanded by a commissary or by a corps of commissaries. In many countries, commissary is a police rank. In those countries, a commissariat is a police station commanded by a commissary. In some ...
). A similar term in French describes the equivalent of the rank of
Major Major ( commandant in certain jurisdictions) is a military rank of commissioned officer status, with corresponding ranks existing in many military forces throughout the world. When used unhyphenated and in conjunction with no other indicato ...
both in the army of the ''
Ancien Régime ''Ancien'' may refer to * the French word for " ancient, old" ** Société des anciens textes français * the French for "former, senior" ** Virelai ancien ** Ancien Régime ** Ancien Régime in France {{disambig ...
'' and the
French Revolution The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in November 1799. Many of its ideas are conside ...
. Such officials were not military officers but reported back to the political authorities: the king and the National Assembly (French Revolution), respectively. Various historical German states have used an equivalent title,
Reichskommissar (, rendered as "Commissioner of the Empire", "Reich Commissioner" or "Imperial Commissioner"), in German history, was an official gubernatorial title used for various public offices during the period of the German Empire and Nazi Germany. Ger ...
(a compound of '' Reich'' and the German ''Kommissar''), for several administrators who held responsibility over a territory or area of government.


See also

* The 26 Baku Commissars *
Commissar Order The Commissar Order (german: Kommissarbefehl) was an order issued by the German High Command ( OKW) on 6 June 1941 before Operation Barbarossa. Its official name was Guidelines for the Treatment of Political Commissars (''Richtlinien für die Be ...


References

{{reflist Politics of the Soviet Union