[Ingsoc]

Originally Posted by Lancer44

A bit of explanation is needed - shoulder boards were symbol of tzarist Russia, cutting officers shoulder boards - symbol of October Revolution.
During revolution soldiers throw out their shoulder boards and replaced them with red ribbon.
Stalin's departure from this tradition and also reintroduction of military ranks similar to tzarist ones, was a very politically strong move.
On the other hand Stalin also increasingly behaved like a Tzar.

Also the new order after the war was the wet dream of every Russian nationalist, a pan-slavic empire under the leadership of Moscow.