ABSTRACT
In the communist Eastern Bloc nations between 1956 and 1991, there was virtually no effort to recruit volunteers. All the armies of the Warsaw Treaty Organization (WTO) were conscript armies, and the vast majority of men aged 20–24 served in the armed forces whether they wanted to or not. Despite the obligatory nature of service, the WTO regimes all sought to gain youths’ willing compliance and to minimize draft evasion by inculcating within them support for military service through indoctrination by the communist parties, the various young communist leagues, the national education systems, the respective militaries, and dedicated pre-induction military training organisations. The superiority of the socialist system, the threat of capitalist aggression, and the unity of the peoples of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and the Eastern Bloc were prominent themes of pre-induction indoctrination. Above all, military service was portrayed as fulfilment of their civic duty. More than just for national defence, the pre-service preparation and active service were intended to generate loyalty to the idea of socialism, subordination to the one-party state, and acceptance of the need to maintain the Soviet bloc. All WTO nations failed to achieve this goal.
