The Conference of Commanders-in-Chief. Standing on the pathway, from left to right: Generals Denikin, Danilov, Hanjin. Seated (left): Doukhonin, Gourko, Brussilov. Centre: Alexeiev. Right: Dragomirov, Scherbatchev.
A group of “prisoners” at Berdichev. From left to right: Captain Kletzando, General Elsner, General Vannovsky, General Denikin, General Erdeli, General Markov, General Orlov.
[CHAPTER XIX.]
The Democratisation of the Army: The Commissars.
The next measure for the democratisation of the Army was the introduction of the Institution of Commissars. The idea was derived from the history of the French Revolutionary Wars, and was fostered in various circles at different times; it was prompted chiefly by distrust of the Commanding Staffs. Pressure was brought to bear from below. The Conference of the Delegates of the Front addressed an emphatic demand to the Soviet in the middle of April that Commissars should be introduced in the Army. The excuse was that it was no longer possible to preserve order in respect of the attitude of the men towards individual Commanding Officers, and that, if cases of arbitrary dismissal had as yet been avoided, it was only due to the fact that the Army expected the Soviet and the Government to take the necessary steps and did not wish to handicap their work. At the same time, the Conference suggested the absurd idea of the simultaneous appointment to the Army of three kinds of Commissars: (1) from the Provisional Government, (2) from the Soviets, and (3) from the Army Committees. The Conference went very far in their demands, and demanded that the Commissariats, as controlling organs, should: discuss all matters appertaining to the competence of the Commanders of Armies and Fronts; counter-sign all Army Orders; investigate the activities of the Commanding Staffs, with the right to recommend their dismissal.