The PLA Benefits from Commissars
金門調酒 - Kinmen Cocktails #7
The political officer (commissar) system is an important part of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA). It is too often dismissed by American observers and analysts who do not understand it. We covered this topic in one of our recent articles, but we need to continue beating this drum due to the poorly informed hot takes that flood the information environment. The PLA is not ineffective simply because it does not follow American doctrine.
To ensure unity of effort and consistency with Chinese Communist Party (CCP) political goals, the PLA believes in the principle of division of command. Throughout the PLA in echelons from deputy company leader grade through theater leader grade, there is a defined Commander and Political Officer who are in equal command of nearly every echelon of the armed forces.
The political officer ensures that higher intent is understood throughout his echelon and builds, maintains, and runs that echelon of troops so that the echelon is ready to be employed by the commander through appropriate tactics and campaigning. In the PLA system, a division of labor does not mean a house divided; it means a house unified to achieve the political goals set out by the party.
Historically, this system has worked well for the PLA. The political officer system was key to the CCP’s survival and eventual victory in the Chinese Civil War against the Kuomintang (KMT). In particular, political work in the northern campaigns of 1945-1949 (Huai-Hai, Liao-Shen, Ping-Jin) was critical to preserving PLA combat power and paralyzing the Nationalist command structure at key points.
The political officer system sustained the PLA during the Korean War, when UN and American material overmatch was far wider than it is today. The PLA was able to march a second world army onto the peninsula and fight to a standstill with a superpower.
During the Vietnam War, the CCP and PLA advised and shaped the Northern Vietnamese forces in their own image. To this day, Vietnam maintains its own political officer system. During the war, political work was critical to the defeat of US forces.
Even the American side belatedly recognized the importance of political work, and by the end of the war, Taiwan's political warfare officers were deployed to the Republic of South Vietnam to consolidate the armed forces and counterattack in the political domain against the north.
In the US military, modern service members too often blow off the political officer system as ineffective while ignorant of the historical record. If you are serious about understanding the PLA problem set, start studying the history of PLA political work and the role of the commissar.