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Commissar (or sometimesKommissar) is anEnglish transliteration of theRussianкомиссáр (komissar), which means 'commissary'. In English, the transliterationcommissar often refers specifically to thepolitical commissars ofSoviet and Eastern-bloc armies or to the people's commissars (effectivelygovernment ministers), while administrative officers are calledcommissaries.
The Russian word комисса́р, from Frenchcommissaire, was used in Russia for both political and administrative officials. The title has been used in theSoviet Union and inRussia since the time of the emperorPeter the Great (r. 1682–1725).
In the 18th and 19th centuries in the Russian armykommissars, thenkrigs-komissars (fromGerman:Krieg 'war') were officials in charge of supply for the armed forces (see Rus.Генерал-кригскомиссар).[1]
Commissaries were used during theProvisional Government (March–July 1917) for regional heads of administration, but the term commissar is associated with a number ofCheka and military functions inBolshevik and Soviet government military forces during theRussian Civil War (theWhite Army widely used the collective term "bolsheviks and commissars" for their opponents) and with the later termsPeople's Commissar (ornarkom) for government ministers andpolitical commissar in the military.
A People's Commissar (informally abbreviatednarkom) was a government official serving in aCouncil of People's Commissars. This title was first used by theRussian SFSR (out of dislike for the tsarist and bourgeois termminister) and then copied among the many Soviet and Bolshevik-controlled states in theRussian Civil War.
The government departments headed by a People's Commissar were calledPeople's Commissariat (informally abbreviated narkomat).
People's Commissars and People's Commissariats were renamed Ministers and Ministries in 1946 by a decree of theSupreme Soviet of the Soviet Union.
In theRed Army, apolitical commissar was a high-ranking functionary at a military headquarters who held coequal rank and authority with the military commander of the unit. TheBolshevik 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 summarised the solution to the issue: "We took a military specialist and we put on his right hand and on his left a commissar [...]."[2] 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 encounteredin 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 atregimental andfront 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 thePeople's Liberation Army (PLA) of China has become one resembling that of anHR specialist.[3]
Thevoenkom (Russian:военком), translated aswar commissar, is the head of amilitary commissariat — a regional office thatconscripts men for military service, executes plans for militarymobilization and maintains records on military reserves.
Until the late 1930s, thePeople's Militsiya andInternal Troops of theNKVD 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 createdMain Directorate of State Security (GUGB) in their rank structure, although they had Commissar-style ranks for top officers in place of Militsiya-styleinspector anddirector.
From 1943, the Militsiya switched to a new rank system and insignia introduced in theSoviet Army. Instead of General ranks, top officers usedCommissar 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.
Commissar is linked to titles in a variety of languages, such ascommissary in English,commissaire in French,Kommissar in German, and komisszár (or népbiztos; archaic: csendbiztos) in Hungarian.
The termcommissary was used by theBritish andU.S. military to denote an officer in charge of supplying an army with provisions and equipment (andCommissariat).
A similar term in French describes the equivalent of the rank ofMajor both in the army of theAncien Régime and theFrench Revolution. Such officials were notmilitary officers but reported back to the political authorities: the king and theNational Assembly (French Revolution), respectively.
Various historical German states have used an equivalent title,Reichskommissar (a compound ofReich and the GermanKommissar), for several administrators who held responsibility over a territory or area of government.
We took a military specialist and we put on his right hand and on his left a commissar — who was in those days something different from what he is today.
Some analysts of the PLA believe that professional performance is increasingly important, and that the political commissar's job is increasingly that of a personnel manager and 'human resources' specialist, rather than ideological policeman