During the past two weeks I have been reading the autobiography: The Persecutor, by Sergei Kourdakov. Because this book is an autobiography it is about the author, Kourdakov’s life. Kourdakov grew up in Soviet Russia, he lost his parents early on in life and grew up in the State run, Children’s Home. He was able to become part of the communist youth league, which he eventually became the leader of. Thanks to him the youth league became the best at the time in Russia. Kourdakov at a really young age was ambitious and highly focused; at a certain point in his teens he made a choice to focus on communism or working for communism, instead of turning to crime. He also decides to join the navy, and gets accepted to the naval academy. At the naval academy he chooses radio because he has an interest in it. Again like at the Children’s Home Kourdakov rises up and becomes in charge of the other cadets in matters such as: punishment, promotion, depromotion, teaching communism, etc. But though he succeeded in this leadership position in the communist standpoint, I would consider that he failed this assignment, and here is why.
Kourdakov when he had this leadership role was highly effective and made sure that things were done, and that the other cadets were in order. But he was terribly harsh, and punished the cadets severely if they did something wrong, he also pressured them severely. A lot of these cadets could not handle the pressure and the punishments, and many quit or committed suicide. The academy and Kourdakov covered up these suicides by saying that these deaths were caused by other reasons such as falling while drunk(alcoholism was a problem in the navy at the time, and in Russia), to protect the academy’s reputation.
The reasons why I think Kourdakov failed this assignment? The first reason why I think he failed this assignment is the fact that he was not a good leader. He did get things done, and was able to “control” and severely “punish” the cadets, but he did not care or lead them about those cadets, whatsoever; which was not good leadership because to be a leader you have to consider the people you are leading, to listen to them, support them, help them, etc. But he just wanted to rise up. The second and final reason why I think that Kourdakov failed this assignment relates to the first reason. He wanted to rise up himself, no matter the cost. He also seeked power, and dominance. Which is one of the main reasons why he did not care for those cadets whatsoever and had no problem inflicting severe punishment, because as long as he rose up it was fine. Also him lying about the suicides further proves that he did not care for those cadets and just wanted to rise higher in rank, by saving his and the academy’s reputation.
In summary Kourdakov failed his leadership role or assignment because he was a poor leader, who used his leadership position for his personal gains, and he harshly punished the other cadets to the point that many quit or committed suicide. Also he used the position to rise up himself, not to lead and help the other cadets to rise up also.
The Dreamer 