Red Army Oath
Solemn Oath on Induction into the Worker-Peasant Red Army. 1918
This oath was designed as a compact civic ritual for the new army, turning enlistment into a public, moral commitment. It bound the recruit to “revolutionary discipline,” unquestioning obedience to commanders authorized by Soviet power, and protection of state and military property. It also made the pledge explicitly political, defining the soldier as a defender of the Soviet Republic and threatening “revolutionary law” against anyone who broke the promise.
Original Source: Торжественное обещание при вступлении в Рабоче-Крестьянскую Красную армию (агитационный плакат), 1918. Художник: Дмитрий Моор (Д. С. Орлов). The Russian text of the oath was printed on the poster itself.
I, son of the laboring people, citizen of the Soviet Republic, assume the title of warrior in the Worker-Peasant Army.
Before the laboring classes of Russia and the entire world, I accept the obligation to carry this title with honor, to study the art of war conscientiously, and to guard national and military property from spoil and plunder as if it were the apple of my eye.
I accept the obligation to observe revolutionary discipline and unquestioningly carry out all orders of my commanders, who have been invested with their rank by the power of the Worker-Peasant government.
I accept the obligation to restrain myself and my comrades from all conduct that might debase the dignity of citizens of the Soviet Republic, and to direct all my thoughts and actions to the great cause of liberating the laboring masses.
I accept the obligation to answer every summons of the Worker-Peasant government to defend the Soviet Republic from all danger and the threats of all enemies, and to spare neither my strength nor my very life in the battle for the Russian Soviet Republic, for the cause of socialism and the brotherhood of peoples.
If I should with malicious intent go back on this my solemn vow, then let my fate be universal contempt and let the righteous hand of Revolutionary law chastise me.