Putin’s "Light Calvary"
In his speech to the 8th Komsomol Congress in 1928, Nikolai Bukharin called for new methods for fighting bureaucratism in Soviet institutions. While there were already groups like the “Group for the Struggle Against Bureaucratism,” the “Help Groups of the RKI (Workers’ and Peasants’ Inspectorate)”, and a variety of “shock brigades” to fight bureaucratic red tape, corruption, and mismanagement, for Bukarin, these “didn’t take a such a large scope.” Bukharin suggested something a lot more focused and voluntary. “From these groups it is necessary to organize a Light Calvary of the RKI.” The Komsomol, he declared, would be on its “front line.”
What was this Light Calvary? They were a “secret shopper” of sorts, though with the power to denounce and weed out “class enemies.” They were to pose as ordinary citizens and not representatives of Soviet power. “These ..read more
