Surveillance Reports of National Units of the Red Army Political Departments in 1918–1920
Journal: Latvijas Universitātes Žurnāls Vēsture
Year: 2023

While surveillance as a mechanism of political control was a common prac-tice of states even before the First World War, the introduction of the Political Departments to the Red Army in 1918–1920 was a completely new historical-military phenomenon. Surveillance reports submitted by the commissars of the political departments had to provide an overview of the attitudes of soldiers, progress in political education, and the condition of various military aspects, such as the supply of uniforms. Next