The Nature of General Issues in the Unit

Abstract

We shall move now from questions of organizational and human context to those of political process. In this chapter we shall inquire into the nature of “issues” within the unit, i.e., the relatively stable and recurring events and problems which have caused concern among members of the unit, and tension or conflict between them and the unit leadership. How did these issues relate to the unit’s structure and how did the political and administrative leadership deal with them? What forms of political interaction took place around these issues between personnel and leadership? What was the structure of political relationships which developed between personnel and cadres? We begin by focusing on those basic issues which seem to have remained constant in the unit from its inception until the mid-1970s. This chapter should thus provide some insight into basic-level politics in the unit in “normal” times, acting as a backdrop for our later discussion of the specific issues which arose in the unit during the Cultural Revolution between 1967 and 1970.