In political contexts, a cadre (, , ) consists of a person recognized as a capable militant within a political organization. In some socialist states, a cadre is a group of people trained to carry out the goals of the Party-State and disseminate and enforce the official pedagogy. These groups are meant to stimulate loyalty and obedience to party rules and regulations by mobilizing citizens and encouraging collectivization. Cadres can be deployed in the field or employed in the office by the ruling party, the state, or the secret police. They are often created to break apart existing class hierarchies among citizens of the Party-State. Cadres were present in a number of communist countries that enforced collectivization, including the Soviet Union and Romania. Additionally, the People's Republic of China still maintains a cadre system to this day.
Revolutionary socialist usage
For revolutionary socialists including Leninists and some anarchists, a cadre is a group of committed, active, and experienced intellectuals who share political beliefs and participate in the revolutionary movements they see the most promise in. It can also refer to a member of said group.
Cadres in Romania
The Socialist Republic of Romania was an example of the use of cadres in communism, and an exploration of their role in Romania can give an overall picture of the importance of cadres.
Cadres were vital to spreading the ideology of Marxism–Leninism in Romania because cadres were the medium in which official party ideology transmits between countries. A cadre can and has been used by more countries than just Russia; their primary role makes them indispensable in ideology shift among a population. They functioned in two fashions throughout Romania (in particular), first to spread the communist ideology throughout the country and monitor communism's opinions among the rural populations to ensure that the Romanians viewed communism popularly. Collectivization relied on cadres to keep the system in order. However, due to the shortage of cadres, massive government surveillance and inconsistent policies produced an environment full of distrust and abuse. As a result, the cadre system consumed itself as frustration, distrust, and violence increased. 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. This led to a situation where the workers and operatives they needed to most enthusiastically buy in were some of their strongest opposition most of the time. The state saw its operatives increasingly turn inwards and ensure their own well-being, frequently at the cost of other members of the party. There were even instances where the members would incriminate other cadres behaving the same way in the attempt to secure their own position and welfare within the party.
Collectivization in Romania
Collectivization was a system, first implemented in the Soviet Union, of taking land from peasants for government use, and then redistributing this land into large, government run farms. This worked, to a degree, in the USSR. However, in Romania this system was met with much more opposition and a lack of support from the general population. The cadres in Romania, at least at the beginning, were of a rather small number, so one of the most important cadres was an agitator, whose job was to go around from village to village trying to “whip up support” for the new party.
Cadre is a very general term, and refers to many positions within the communist bureaucracy. In addition to agitators, cadres were also responsible for the logistical aspects of collectivization, such as collecting quotas and getting people to join the collectives, as well as policing the state and making sure citizens were “good communists”. To help with doing so, cadres were responsible for neutralizing the social and economic power of wealthier peasants. They often abused their positions, either by using force to complete their objectives or by using their position for political gain. 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.”