STATISTICAL INSPECTIONS IN THE RED ARMY IN THE 1920S

Igor V. Obraztsov

The article anticipates publication of the archival materials from the collections of the Russian State Military Archive on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the Worker-and-Peasant Red Army. It presents an analysis of the social problems in the military during the 1924–1925 military reform on the basis of statistical surveys. The article considers how the first statistical units in the structure of the military organization were formed and how they contributed to the development of military sociological research in the USSR in the 1920s. The main focus is on the activities of the Information and Statistics Division of the Worker-and-Peasant Red Army Political Department: the methods of collecting social information used at that time; composition and biographical data of employees; problems and results of the research. The article examines research projects related to the study of political and moral state of the Red Army soldiers, the Red Army officers and political staff material status, the military men work hours, as well as the analysis of the Red Army soldiers’ letters as an indicator of mass sentiments, social problems update for the army and society, and the nature of civil and military relations.