Cossacks Back in the Army
Central Executive Committee of the USSR, Decree on the Removal of Restrictions on Service in the Red Army from the Cossacks. April 20, 1936
Translated by James von Geldern
The Soviet government decided in 1936 to remove restrictions on Cossacks serving in the Red Army. This decision was accompanied by an order issued by Marshal Voroshilov, the People's Commissar of Defense, to recreate special Cossack divisions within the army.
Original Source: Pravda, April 21, 1936.
Given the loyalty of the Cossacks to Soviet power, and the desire of the broad masses of Soviet Cossacks, along with all workers of the Soviet Union actively involved in defense of the country -- the Central Executive Committee of the USSR decrees:
Remove all previously existing restrictions on Cossacks' service in the ranks of the Worker-Peasants' Red Army, excepting those rights deprived them by a court of law.
Chairman of the Central Executive Committee of the USSR M. Kalinin
Acting Secretary of the Central Executive Committee of the USSR I. Unshlikht