Today, with the American military establishment under unprecedented domestic critical assault and the Pentagon chiefs driven to the defensive, it is instructive to explore how those high in the Soviet military view the role of armed forces within the context of their own society.
An unusually good opportunity for surveying the ideas of top Soviet military leaders presented itself in the weeks preceding the opening of the 24th Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. At that time four of the structural and ideological leaders of the huge military apparatus formulated their viewpoints on vital issues facing the armed forces of the Soviet Union. Their survey articles, published in the most authoritative newspapers, may be considered a quintessence of thinking at the top of the Soviet military hierarchy. The four writers in order of the appearance of their articles were: Major General S. Ilin, candidate of historical sciences1; General A. Epishev, head of the main political directorate of the Soviet army and navy2; Marshal Ivan Yakubovsky, First Deputy Defense Minister of the USSR and commander of the united military forces of the Warsaw Pact3; and Marshal A. A. Grechko, Minister of Defense of the Soviet Union.4
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