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 Scrazza wrote:
The commissar from dead men walking wasn't a Krieger. Commissars are never appointed to a regiment from their own home world. In case of dead men walking, the commissar was there to put some humanity in the death korps. They served as a public relations agent more than a commissar. Death Korps of krieg don't really need a political morale officer, it's somewhat bred into them (for example they don't have names, just numbers, codes).

Cadians see it as an insult to have a non-Cadian Commisar assigned to them.

 Ailaros wrote:

Rather than being chain-of-command driven, these staff officers are task oriented. They get a job, and are responsible for that task being done, and have carte blanche for whatever methods they think will make sure things run smoothly (including shooting people). If the commissar's job is to make sure everyone is fed, and the troops are going hungry, the commissar can execute whoever he wants and put someone new in his place, so long as the troops are brought back up to fighting strength by being well-fed. Likewise, if there is an imperial guard commander, of whatever rank (rank being irrelevant to a person not in the system), he can shoot him, and put a better leader in his place to make sure everything runs smoothly.

So, really, when you think of commissars, think of thankless civil servants, doing all of the background work to keep the imperial guard as well-oiled and smoothly-functioning of a military body as it's possible for the imperial guard to be. If a sergeant or captain or some other officer is making things non-smooth, or making the machine work incorrectly, then, like a mechanic, they can remove the dud parts and put new ones in at their discretion.

That does make me wonder though; if they don't fall under the command structure of the Imperial Guard, who assigns a Commissar to a unit, formation, or task? Is it some clerk within the Departmento Munitorum? Another Commissar perhaps? I've heard the word 'Commissieriate' (not sure of the spelling), is there a sub-section of the DM, made up entirely of Commissars, who decides these things? Also; is there any oversight on the Commissars themselves? If a Commissar shots a commander, when that commander did nothing to 'deserve' it, can they be held to account?

 Pendix wrote:
That does make me wonder though; if they don't fall under the command structure of the Imperial Guard, who assigns a Commissar to a unit, formation, or task?

The Commissar-General (aka top dog of the Commissariat).

Is it some clerk within the Departmento Munitorum?

Nope.

Another Commissar perhaps?

Yep.

Also; is there any oversight on the Commissars themselves?

There is no need. A Commissar can do no wrong. Otherwise (s)he would not be a Commissar.

If a Commissar shots a commander, when that commander did nothing to 'deserve' it, can they be held to account?

If a Commissar shoots the Commander, he deserved it.

 Pendix wrote:


That does make me wonder though; if they don't fall under the command structure of the Imperial Guard, who assigns a Commissar to a unit, formation, or task? Is it some clerk within the Departmento Munitorum? Another Commissar perhaps? I've heard the word 'Commissieriate' (not sure of the spelling), is there a sub-section of the DM, made up entirely of Commissars, who decides these things? Also; is there any oversight on the Commissars themselves? If a Commissar shots a commander, when that commander did nothing to 'deserve' it, can they be held to account?

The Commissariat is basically a sub-department of the Departmento Munitorum that handles everything involving Commissars, from assigning their curriculum in the Schola Progenium to assigning them to Junior-Commissar traning camps and "ride alongs" with more-experienced Commissars, to selecting them for whatever units they will be assigned to for however long they will be assigned to that unit.

The only checks and balances on Commissars is the Commissariat itself... and, also, the fact that they are raised in the Schola Progenium, and so have it drilled into them from a very young age, that they live to serve the Imperium and the God-Emperor. It is very rare that a Commissar is going to go around shooting Commanders they disagree with, because in such events the needs of the Imperium are not served, and His Glory is not served by having to delay military operations while a replacement is found. Corrupt or incompetent Commissars are rare in the extreme.

Psienesis wrote:assigning their curriculum in the Schola Progenium

In some Black Library novels. It's worth pointing out that, in GW's original material, there are no Commissars in the Schola. Only progena and Drill-Abbots. Specialised training follows when the progena have been transferred to the organisation that has agreed with the appropriate recommendations of the Arch Drill-Abbot. In case of progena assigned to the Commissariat, they will then be organised into Junior Commissar squads to be schooled by a regimental Commissar within an existing regiment. On-the-job training, so to speak, in the first stages consisting of following their teacher around, looking over his or her shoulders, assisting with enforcement of Munitorum doctrines and probably occasionally being quizzed about appropriate penalties for infractions. Oh, and they also serve as a firing squad. Dropouts are reassigned to the rank-and-file soldiery, whilst passing Commissars are then transferred to a new regiment to take on a position of full authority.

+1 to the rest of your post, though!

Dan Abnett's novel Blood Pact gives a few clues into how the commissariat operates. Its basically a law unto itself, very reminiscent of the NKVD. It has its own fighting force, S-Company, its own command structure, ranks, intelligence service etc. This is the IoM every department tries to build its own private empire and often engages in jurisdiction conflicts with the others.

Technically I suppose the inquisition has oversight over the commissariat, however in blood pact the commissariat gets in a bit of a turf war with the inquisition, indicating they have enough political pull of their own to resist the inquisition's demands.

Cadia is a little strange because it runs its own schola system, but I digress.

Remember, here that a "commissar" is merely an agent of a "commissariat" and "commissariat" is nothing more than the Russian word for "bureau". Or for Americans, "department", or for Brits "ministry". Commissars are first and foremost bureaucrats.

Of course, this is 40k, which means that in addition to preforming staff officer and civil service functions and pushing paperwork around, they also carry power swords and bolt pistols, because grimdark.

Put another way, commissars are bureaucrats who use bolt pistols to cut through red tape.

The Mordian 814th needs a new commanding officer because their current one is doing the job very badly (letting people run away, and not follow orders, etc.). Proper protocol dictates that we put in a requisition for a court martial to begin preliminary inquiry into the officer's recent conduct, while also setting up an exploratory committee to find a suitable replacement from all of the appropriate candidates who are -

BLAM!

Incompetent officer problem solved. Hey you, lead these men around. And don't screw it up - I won't be interested in doing paperwork later any more than I'm interested in doing it now.

 Ailaros wrote:

Put another way, commissars are bureaucrats who use bolt pistols to cut through red tape.

The Mordian 814th needs a new commanding officer because their current one is doing the job very badly (letting people run away, and not follow orders, etc.). Proper protocol dictates that we put in a requisition for a court martial to begin preliminary inquiry into the officer's recent conduct, while also setting up an exploratory committee to find a suitable replacement from all of the appropriate candidates who are -

BLAM!

Incompetent officer problem solved. Hey you, lead these men around. And don't screw it up - I won't be interested in doing paperwork later any more than I'm interested in doing it now.

This. The Imperium doesn't have time to muck around when a fleet of hungry Tyranids is overrunning the planet.

However, I am finding hard to believe that a Mordian Iron Guardsman would ever disobey an order...

While commissars formally have no ranks and no superiors (lord-commissar and commissar-general are just honorary titles), they are not above imperium law and would be judjed by the other commissars if they cross the line.

The less known fact (even to commissars themselves) is that Commissariat is in fact a branch organization of Inquisition Ordo Militum and is secretly monitored by them. Too zealous or incompetent commissars usually find out that they have not expected Spanish Inquisition.

I'll add two "facts" of my own to that:

#1 An "Ordo Militum" was never mentioned anywhere in GW's own material. I have no idea where this comes from. Some novel perhaps, or fanmade?

#2 A Commissar-General is not just a honorary title, it denotes the regiment's leading Commissar, who has authority over the subordinate Commissars assigned throughout the formation.

"The Commissar-General is the senior Commissar of the regiment, with the longest service and most extensive campaign experience. He assigns Commissars to Imperial Guard officers according to his judgement of the battlefield situation or the character of the Imperial Guard officers in question. Cadet Commissars are allocated to Commissar Training Squads by the Commissar-General of an Imperial Guard regiment."
- WD #115


When it comes to 40k fluff, "fact" is a very malleable term. Most of the material is not meant to tie into each other, creating such confusion.