Cadre (politics)
In some socialist states, cadre is a group of people trained to carry out the goals of the Party-State and disseminate and enforce the official ideology.
However, due to the shortage of cadres, massive government surveillance and inconsistent policies produced an environment full of distrust and abuse.
These operational struggles were made worse by the fact that the cadres already had their work cut out for them due to the relative difficulty the party experienced in spreading their ideological base.
The Romanian Communists attempted to execute a top-down conversion of their citizenry to communism, as opposed to a grassroots-style upheaval that was the case in Russia.
The state saw its operatives increasingly turn inwards and ensure their own well-being, frequently at the cost of other members of the party.
As the RCP grew in Romania, the main tasks of the cadres shifted from focusing on the collectivization of agriculture to stirring up class warfare and separating the communist “enemies” from the “good communists.”[1] In establishing the Romanian Communist Party (RCP), many characteristics of the Soviet model were imitated as groundwork for the Party.
[1] Collectivization also provided a seemingly easy way to unite the masses under a single umbrella of social, political, economic control as well as limit individuality.
For many communist countries, the Soviet Union’s ‘extensive experience in collectivizing agriculture’ served as their guiding light and provided the basic script.
One issue was finding people who were qualified; the majority of the “healthy” population was illiterate and impoverished, and therefore had limited productivity to accomplish many assigned tasks.
Additionally, the people who were qualified were often the educated “chiaburs” (wealthy peasants) who were later labelled as “enemies” by the Party, so they were also unqualified.
Similarly, any horizontal exchanges were deemed unacceptable by the RCP due to the vertically integrated state structure.
"[1] The main function of cadres was to convince peasants to join collectives and ensure that they sign contracts stating their “voluntary” consent.
They were tasked with ensuring that peasants met their quotas, and keeping detailed records and notes to report back to higher-up Party officials.
The African National Congress government in South Africa commonly practises cadre deployment to ensure that societal leaders actively implement redress policies.
[4] However, in 2021 the Zondo Commission of inquiry into the State capture of South Africa by corrupt interests found that cadre deployment was a significant channel for diverting and looting public funds.
