translate English to French: From the Party's perspective, they served a dual purpose: on the one hand they contributed to the militarization of society, as part of the general oppressive structure; on the other, their establishment was designed to exert a kind of counterbalance to the regular armed forces by separating those bearing arms into competing units.
Leur dénomination officielle variait de pays à pays : "milice populaire" (ORMO) en Pologne, "milice ouvrière" en Hongrie (créée après l'écrasement de la révolution de 1956), "garde patriotique" en Roumanie, "unités de défense territoriale" en Yougoslavie - pratiquement chaque parti communiste avait sa "garde spéciale".