The Red Commissars

The Red Commissars
by Jaroslav Hasek

This book came into my book collection via 48th birthday booty. Thank-you once again Janet and TJ. The book made it on my books to read list by way of recommendation within a book preview of Catch 22. This book was also chosen as an attempt to illuminate through literature a rationale where man deviated from a sense of self-accountability in deflecting of such to his government. Jaroslav Hasek I believe is Russian. But many of his stories portray life in Eastern Europe of the USSR Communist or Habsburg dominance. The book is of satiric comedy for which brought Hasek to fame. Enclosed between the covers is a collection of short stories, each coloring an aspect of the working mans success in manipulating and out foxing his overseer. I am reminded of the Pole who came to work for me right after the Solidarity Movement in Poland. I clearly remember him painting the trim of my building during the rain. I said, “Mark why are you painting in the rain.” He said, “Because you asked me to paint, so I’ll paint. “ During my read I often reflected upon my time with Mark to connect this book with actual paradigms of a person under oppressive rule. I can picture his smile with his silver crowned front tooth. They are ever so happy to meet the call of duty without a thought to the wisdom of his master’s orders. The last story is presented as a recollection of Hasek’s claim to fame not only as a writer but also as a politician. A sense of politics that also connects me to my neighbor, an immigrant from Bulgaria, once said: “political party, yeah I was a member of the Beer Party.”

The Red Commissar, the first of the collection, is a short story about a high placed Russian who is sent to a far away town of Bulguma to conquer from the White Army and hold it. He is completely on his own to figure out where the town is, where the enemy position is, or any specifics about the town. With these limitations, Svejk continues his good disposition of solving problems with little concern over a negative outcome. As he arrives to the town he learns that the White Army had fled two days prior in fear of the large Red Army led by an inept leader. They fled for fear of the size of the Red army who would not attack for lack of leadership and fear of the size of the White Army. This allowed Svejk to ride in with his small band of Kassaks and establish himself as Mayor of the town. He was well received and thus had no plans to use force or brutal tactics on the villagers. Soon the inept leader discovers it is safe to ride his army into the town to assume command and control in an old fashion military manor. The story continues in this fashion with Svejk using his intellect to out wit the Red Army leader. To Svejk's advantage, the higher command has little intellect or leadership, to override Svejk’s command. The communication with the Central Command displays an equal amount of low intellect and high bravado. I would suspect the humor displayed in the day to day events were largely influential in the television series Hogan’s Heros, where the witty Mayor Svejk is best situated under the cloak as the manipulative submissive, to reach his objectives in the face of the Red Army dictatorship.

The final short stories are presented in somewhat of a bibliography fashion, as Hasek becomes the spokesman of a political party during the Austro-Hungarian elections of 1911. The party name being the Party of Moderate Progress Within The Bounds Of The Law was founded primarily for capitalistic reason and executed through entrepreneurial scheme. Hasek’s friend was forced to move his Inn from one section of Prague to another where competition was steep and vested upon the heat of political debate. In order to draw in customers, Hasek founded this party and began his orations of life aimed at debunking the Monarchy; it’s institutions and its social and political systems. As he was no professional speaker, his speeches evolved to orations that often lost its track and bore no relevancy to pertinent issues. Yet they were humorous and captivating to the extent that he filled the Inn every evening. His word began to catch favor in the countryside and so they sent out disciples of the word, chosen in a precarious way, to evangelize in an equally precarious manor. Eventually they were convinced that not only did they succeed in filling the Inn, there was a chance of Hasek winning the election carried forth with much question to improprieties. The reader finds himself not only laughing quietly at the prevailing logic and mood in these stories, but as well in reflection of recent elections here in the United States; laughing at how no matter how things change they remain the same. I look forward to raising a glass of beer with my neighbor Norbert and toasting to the good humor to be found in the political process.