[dragoon500ly]

The official title of the political officer is "the deputy commander for political affairs", he is responsible to the Main Political Administration of the Armed Forces, an agency of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. A political officer is assigned to every unit down to company level and provides political control and tries to make good the slogan "the Army and the Party are one". They are party functionaries first, rather than military officers. Their duties include creating proper support for the Party, which includes moral and political training and organizing Komsomol and Communist groups in each unit. The political officer's presence, plus the near-universality of military service, makes the Army a superb instrument of indoctrination.

For all of his totalitarian implications, the political officer of today is a far cry from the bungling commissar of 1941. Although he no longer has command responsibilities, the political officer still plays an important role, especially in sub-units, where he greatly contributes to cohesion, efficiency and training. He still conducts his political and moral training classes, even though today's Soviet soldier is often more knowledgeable about conditions at home than he is about world events. The main reaction to the political officer's hyperbole is boredom, except when films, usually inspirational wartime efforts, are shown, rather than disrespect. The company political officer is one of the most well respected men in the Red Army. Even among recent emigrants, who hold no love for the Soviet system, very few would say anything negative about their company political officer. His duties are not limited to political instruction. As this includes maintaining morale, the political officer also performs other classroom training and is primarily responsible for sports and whatever recreation the Soviet soldier receives. It is the political officer who organizes and conducts off-post tours, even giving up his free time to do so. He also functions as a combined personnel officer and chaplain, and while his efforts on behalf of the soldiers are not always spectacular---obtaining leave for someone with family trouble, for example---he is always appreciated by the unit.

The political officer also has a military function. In addition to his political training, he is also a qualified officer in the branch of service to which he is assigned. Thus an artillery battery political officer is capable of performing the duties of an artillery officer. He often acts as the assistant to the unit commander, taking on some of his paperwork or, in action, bringing forward supplies or reorganizing a battered company. The political officer is usually a bright, aggressive young man, often on his way upwards. Most of the members of the inner circles of Soviet power were political officers in World War Two. The political officer is a powerful force for C-cubed and cohesion in the Red Army. In actuality, he wields great power and can influence the actions taken by his commander in war and peace. He brings the word (and eye) of the Party down to company level. In spite of all his other duties, the political officer remains primarily that-political.

I pulled this from FM-100, the US Army's bible on the Soviet Army.

Concerning the problems that the Soviet Navy has (at least in its submarines), its best to consider the Army political officer in this light, the Red Army is one of two means (the other is the KGB) that the Soviets use to control their population, they take care to insure that the Red Army is politically reliable.