SUMMARY:

Elizaveta Khatanzeiskaia’s article studies the Red Army’s moral climate mostly using the example of the Arkhangelsk military district during the period of “war without a war” after the end of the Soviet–Finnish War in March 1940 – so that the circumstances of military service cannot be attributed to or obscured by active combat. She discovers evidence of truly massive and often spectacular violations of military regulations and public order, from drunkenness to shoot-outs between officers. While obviously too ubiquitous for a well-ordered force despite all the harsh measures taken to prevent them, these incidents do not represent the typical behavior of Soviet service members. They do, however, accurately capture the popular perception of the social norm as manifested in typical responses to delinquency. Drunkenness and insubordination seemed so widespread that they were not usually punished, but an important caveat is necessary: Khatanzeiskaia shows a rigid caste divide between officers and conscripts in the Red Army, which manifested itself in stark differences in punishment for the same offenses. This divide was institutionalized by the new Disciplinary Regulations of October 1940 that authorized the officers’ use of coercion to maintain good discipline and relieved them of any responsibility for such actions. The application of physical force including battery, even for minor violations and disobedience, was left completely to the discretion of commanders, who immediately seized the opportunity. At the same time, the new regulations placed all responsibility for executing orders on the officers personally, regardless of any objective hindrances. Their arbitrary power over subordinates matched equally arbitrary liability vis-à-vis their superiors, unmediated by any formal criteria and rules.