On November 10, employees of the Russian internal affairs bodies celebrate their professional holiday. This significant date is rooted in the not so long Soviet past. It was in the Soviet Union that the professional holiday of law enforcement officers was established - the Day of the Soviet Militia. According to a special decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR dated September 26, 1962, it began to be celebrated on November 10 of each year - in honor of the resolution of the People's Commissar of Internal Affairs A. I. Rykov "On the workers' militia", adopted on October 28 (November 10) 1917, immediately after the October Revolution.
For almost a hundred years of the existence of Soviet and then Russian law enforcement agencies, they have repeatedly undergone major changes. The organizational structure, departmental affiliation, and methods of activity were changing. Of course, there were also changes in the system of ranks of employees. We will talk about this in more detail.
As you know, in the tsarist police, there were no special ranks similar to the modern special ranks of the Russian police or the special ranks of the Soviet militia. Officers of the tsarist police had civilian ranks established in the Russian Empire, but they wore shoulder straps that corresponded to the army shoulder straps, except that they were narrower - the width of the police shoulder strap was three quarters of the width of the army shoulder strap. At the same time, if an army officer passed into the police, then he retained his military rank and continued to wear army shoulder straps.
As for the lower ranks of the tsarist police - policemen, they were recruited from demobilized soldiers and non-commissioned officers, therefore they were divided into three categories. Soldiers and corporals who entered the police service became policemen with a lower salary, junior non-commissioned officers with an average salary, and senior non-commissioned officers with a higher salary. On the chase, the policeman wore such a number of stripes, which corresponded to his military rank in the army, and belonging to the category of policemen was determined by the number of gombochki on a twisted shoulder cord. For example, a policeman with a lower salary, demobilized from the army with the rank of corporal, wore one stripe on the pursuit and one gombochka on a cord. The demobilized sergeant-major, who belonged to the city's senior salaries, were usually appointed as assistants to the district warders. In turn, the district warders occupied a special position in the tsarist police - they did not belong to the lower ranks, but they did not belong to the class ranks, although, according to the law, they enjoyed the privileges of the 14th class officials. On their uniforms, the district warders wore shoulder straps with a longitudinal galloon - as ensigns of the pre-revolutionary army or foremen of the Soviet army and militia.
After the October Revolution of 1917, class ranks were abolished. Accordingly, the newly created law enforcement system of the country was left without a developed system of ranks. For a long time, Soviet militiamen had only positions - militiaman, senior militiaman, operative, and so on. The situation changed in the mid-1930s, when the Soviet leadership came to the conclusion that it was necessary to streamline both the army and the police hierarchy. In the militia, ranks appeared after the Workers 'and Peasants' Red Army and state security agencies.
On April 26, 1936, a special Resolution of the Central Executive Committee of the USSR and the SNK of the USSR was adopted, and on May 5, 1936, this resolution was announced by a special order of the People's Commissariat of Internal Affairs of the USSR No. 157. In accordance with this order, special ranks of commander and private were introduced in the Soviet police. composition. They differed significantly from the military ranks established in the Red Army. Although many special ranks were consonant with military ranks, in the police they carried a different load - for example, the rank of police sergeant belonged to the commanding staff and corresponded to the rank of lieutenant of the Red Army.
Thus, in 1936, special ranks appeared in the Soviet militia. The hierarchy of ranks looked as follows (in ascending order): 1) militiaman, 2) senior militiaman, 3) detached militia commander, 4) militia platoon commander, 5) militia sergeant, 6) militia sergeant, 7) militia junior lieutenant, 8) militia lieutenant, 9) senior militia lieutenant, 10) militia captain, 11) militia major, 12) militia senior major, 13) militia inspector, 14) militia director, 15) militia chief director. On June 15, 1936, the order of the NKVD of the USSR No. 208 was adopted, according to which new buttonholes and new insignia were introduced for the rank and file of the workers 'and peasants' militia. Buttonholes were sewn on the collar of an overcoat, raincoat, tunic or tunic and had the shape of a parallelogram. The length of the buttonhole with the piping was ten centimeters, the width was 5 centimeters, and the width of the edging was 2.5 millimeters.
On July 3, 1936, the Central Executive Committee of the USSR approved the "Regulations on the passage of service by the commanding staff of the Workers 'and Peasants' Militia of the People's Commissariat of Internal Affairs of the USSR". In accordance with it, the terms of service, the order of dismissal and many other important aspects were established. According to this decree, all special ranks were assigned to the commanding staff of the workers 'and peasants' militia, starting with the militia sergeant and above. The terms of tenure in each of the ranks and the procedure for their assignment were established. Thus, the terms of tenure in the ranks of a police sergeant, a junior police lieutenant, a police lieutenant and a senior police lieutenant were three years each, a police captain - four years, a police major - five years. As for the ranks of senior militia major, militia inspector, militia director and militia chief, no terms of service were set for them and were assigned on an individual basis. Early assignment of titles was provided only for great success in service or special merits.
Thus, the highest rank in the workers 'and peasants' militia of the USSR in 1936-1943. remained the title of "chief director of militia". In rank, this special rank corresponded to the ranks of the 1st rank state security commissar in the NKVD state security organs, the 1st rank army commander in the Red Army and the 1st rank fleet flagship in the RKKF. However, for the entire period of the existence of this title, it was never awarded to any of the representatives of the top leadership of the workers 'and peasants' militia of the USSR. Below the title of "chief director" was the title of "director of militia". It corresponded to the 2nd rank state security commissar in the NKVD, the 2nd rank army commander in the Red Army and the 2nd rank fleet flagship in the RKKF. Throughout the history of the existence of the title, it was awarded to four employees of the workers 'and peasants' militia - the head of the Workers 'and Peasants' Militia Directorate of the NKVD of the Ukrainian SSR Nikolai Bachinsky, the Head of the Workers 'and Peasants' Militia Directorate in Moscow Leonid Vul, the Deputy Head of the Main Directorate of the Workers 'and Peasants' Militia of the NKVD USSR Sergey Markaryan and the deputy head of the Main Directorate of the Workers 'and Peasants' Militia of the NKVD of the USSR, Dmitry Usov. By the way, all four in 1937-1939. were shot.
The next descending "general" rank in the workers 'and peasants' militia in 1936-1943. was the title of "police inspector", which corresponded to the titles of the State Security Commissioner of the 3rd rank in the state security organs of the NKVD, the corps commander in the Red Army and the flagship of the 1st rank in the RKKF. Throughout the history of the existence of the title, seven people have borne it - the heads of directorates and departments of the Main Directorate of the Workers 'and Peasants' Militia of the NKVD of the USSR.
Below the militia inspector was the rank of "senior major of militia", corresponding to the army division commander, naval flagship of the 2nd rank and senior major of state security. This title was awarded more actively than the titles of director and police inspector - for the period from 1936 to 1943. it was assigned to 31 employees of the workers 'and peasants' militia. The rank of "police major" corresponded to the ranks of the state security major in the NKVD, the brigade commander in the Red Army and the captain of the 1st rank in the RKKF. The rank of "police captain" corresponded to the ranks of the state security captain, lieutenant colonel of the Red Army and captain of the 2nd rank of the Red Army. The rank of "senior lieutenant of militia" corresponded to the ranks of senior lieutenant of state security, major of the Red Army and captain of the 3rd rank of the RKKF. The rank of "police lieutenant" corresponded to the ranks of state security lieutenant, captain of the Red Army and lieutenant-captain of the RKKF. The rank of "junior lieutenant of militia" corresponded to the ranks of junior lieutenant of state security, senior lieutenant of the Red Army and senior lieutenant of the RKKF. The rank of "police sergeant", the junior in the commanding staff of the RKM, corresponded to the ranks of the state security sergeant and lieutenant of the RKKA and RKKF.
In 1943, the Soviet leadership came to the conclusion that it was necessary to change the existing system of ranks in the internal affairs and state security agencies, bringing it into greater conformity with the army rank system. On February 9, 1943, the Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR "On the introduction of new insignia for the personnel of the organs and troops of the NKVD" and "On the ranks of the commanding staff of the organs of the NKVD and the police" were issued. In the militia, the following special ranks were established, closer to the army ranks and to a greater extent corresponding to them than the previous ranks. However, the differences still persisted.
So, after 1943, the following system of ranks was introduced in the Soviet militia (in ascending order): 1) militia officer, 2) senior militiaman, 3) junior militia sergeant, 4) militia sergeant, 5) militia senior sergeant, 6) militia sergeant, 7) junior militia lieutenant, 8) militia lieutenant, 9) militia senior lieutenant, 10) militia captain, 11) militia major, 12) militia lieutenant colonel, 13) militia colonel, 14) militia commissar of rank 3, 15) militia commissioner of rank 2, 16) 1st rank militia commissar. Thus, only the ranks of “militiaman” and “senior militiaman”, as well as the highest ranks - militia commissars of the 3rd, 2nd and 1st ranks, remained strictly “militia”. The highest rank in the militia was the rank of "militia commissar of the 1st rank", corresponding to an army colonel-general.
The first rank of militia commissar of the 1st rank was awarded on March 4, 1943 to the head of the Main Militia Directorate of the NKVD of the USSR, Alexander Galkin. He also turned out to be the only person who wore this highest militia rank throughout the entire period of its existence. By the way, the ranks of militia commissars existed for thirty years - until 1973.
On October 23, 1973, the Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR was issued, which provided for the reform of the system of special ranks in the police. Thanks to this decree, confusion and discrepancy between special police ranks and military ranks were practically eliminated. After 1973, special ranks in the Soviet militia were as follows (in ascending order): 1) ordinary militia, 2) junior militia sergeant, 3) militia sergeant, 4) militia senior sergeant, 5) militia foreman, 6) militia junior lieutenant, 7) police lieutenant, 8) police senior lieutenant, 9) police captain, 10) police major, 11) police lieutenant, 12) police colonel, 13) police major general, 14) police lieutenant general.
Militia commissars of the 2nd and 3rd ranks, thus, were awarded the rank of lieutenant general and major general of the militia. Also in the internal affairs bodies, parallel special ranks of the internal service were introduced. But, in contrast to the special ranks of the militia, the rank of "colonel-general of the internal service" was provided in the internal service. Thus, the rank of "Colonel-General of Internal Service" after 1973 turned out to be the highest special rank in the system of internal affairs bodies.
The latest change in the system of ranks of the Soviet internal affairs bodies was the introduction of the special titles "ensign of the internal service" and "senior ensign of the internal service" in accordance with the USSR law of May 17, 1991. As you know, as early as January 1, 1972, the military rank of "ensign" was introduced in the Soviet Army, and the rank of "warrant officer" in the USSR Navy. On January 12, 1981, the ranks of "Senior Warrant Officer" and "Senior Warrant Officer" were also introduced. Since the servicemen of the Internal Troops of the USSR Ministry of Internal Affairs wore military ranks, warrant officers, and then senior warrant officers, appeared in the Internal Troops of the USSR Ministry of Internal Affairs. It is interesting that warrant officers and senior warrant officers who served in special motorized militia units, which were a component of the internal troops, but performed the functions of a patrol and guard service, when going out on patrol in police uniform were forced to wear shoulder straps of militia foremen, since the ranks of "ensign" and The “senior militia warrant officer” did not exist at that time. The titles "militia warrant officer" and "senior militia warrant officer" were introduced to the militia after the collapse of the Soviet Union - on December 23, 1992. By the same decree, the highest rank of "Colonel General of Militia" was introduced, which was absent in the Soviet militia.
After the renaming of the police to the police in 2011, all special police ranks were transformed into special police ranks. In modern Russia, there has also appeared an older special rank than the colonel-general of the police - the general of the police of the Russian Federation. It is assigned only to the Minister of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation. In 2011-2014. the general of the police of the Russian Federation wore an epaulette with four stars, reminiscent of the epaulette of an army general, and since 2014 wears a epaulette with one large star. The only general of the police of the Russian Federation (not to be confused with the generals of the police of the Russian Federation in the Federal Drug Control Service) in the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation is the current Minister of Internal Affairs of Russia Vladimir Kolokoltsev.
