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The Kremlin's Professional Staff: The “Apparatus” of the Central Committee, Communist Party of the Soviet Union

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 September 2013

Louis Nemzer
Louis Nemzer
Affiliation:
Ohio State University
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Extract

Soviet leaders have long understood the need for effective administration in the modern state, despite their great interest in questions of theory and matters of policy. Joseph Stalin, in his first report as Secretary General of the Central Committee of the Russian Communist Party, warned in 1923 that “policy loses its sense and is transformed into a waving of hands,” unless an efficient system for policy-execution exists. Consequently, Stalin and his lieutenants have constructed an extensive and diversified system for this purpose, using many agencies and reaching into every corner of Soviet society. Although the paucity of essential data makes a comprehensive analysis of the entire system virtually impossible at this time, it is noteworthy that recent Soviet materials have thrown some light on the functions and operations of one important segment of that system. This is an agency attached to the highest level of the Communist Party, the “Apparatus” of the Party's Central Committee.

The Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) guides and controls all governmental, economic, social and other organizations in the USSR.

Type
Research Article
Information
American Political Science Review , Volume 44 , Issue 1 , March 1950 , pp. 64 - 85
Copyright
Copyright © American Political Science Association 1950

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References

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2 Unfortunately, these sources appear to be drying up. Thus, the two most important were Partiinaya zhizn' [Party Life], a magazine which ceased publication in 1948, and Kul'tura i zhizn' [Culture and Life], a newspaper which has decreased considerably its coverage of inner Party operations since mid-July, 1948.

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5 Even before Stalin became Secretary General of the Party's Central Committee, he secured control of one department of the Apparatus (Stalin, Sochineniya, Vol. 5, p. 427Google Scholar). For reports on the work of the Apparatus by top Party leaders, see Stalin's speech to the XIIth Party Congress (ibid., p. 210); Kaganovich's, L. statement to the Orgburo (“On the Apparatus of the Central Committee of the CPSU [B]”, Partiinoe Stroitel'stvo, No. 2, pp. 9–15 [February, 1930]Google Scholar; and A. Zhdanov's proposals to the XVIIIth Party Congress (Pravda, February 1, 1939).

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43 Sharev, op. cit., p. 30.

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60 For examples, note an article by the Chief of the School Section in Bol'shevik, No. 11, pp. 22–35 (June, 1947)Google Scholar, and his speech before a national conference on education (Komsomol'skaya Pravda, August 9, 1946).

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62 For examples, see reports in these issues of Kul'tura i zhizn': No. 19 (July, 1948); No. 21 (July, 1947); No. 36 (December, 1947); and No. 13 (May, 1949).

63 Virtually every issue of Kul'tura i zhizn', from June, 1947, to July, 1948, contains reports on the activities of the School Section.

64 Kul'tura i zhizn', No. 17 (June, 1948).

65 Ibid., No. 13 (May, 1948).

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70 For examples, see the following issues of Kul'tura i zhizn': No. 11 (April, 1948); No. 12 (October, 1946); No. 15 (May, 1947). See also: “On the work of the Propaganda groups of the Propaganda Department, Central Committee, CPSU”, Propagandist, No. 17, pp. 30–31 (November, 1942)Google Scholar; Sputnik Agitatora, No. 23–24, pp. 42–44 (December, 1943)Google Scholar.

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91 Ibid., April 6, 1948; Komsomolskaya Pravda, December 30, 1948.

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97 Krasnaya Zvezda, August 20, 1949.

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103 Compare Kul'tura i zhizn' of July 11,1948, with the following issue of July 21, 1948.

104 For examples, see the following issues of Pravda: August 10, 1949; June 5, 1949; May 28, 1949; December 19, 1948. On the lower levels of Party organization, where more complete information has been released, there are also departments for trade, planning, commerce, machine construction, and coal. Pravda Vostoka, March 6, 1949; Pravda, August 10, 1949; Partiinaya zhizn', No. 6, p. 8 (March, 1948)Google Scholar.

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116 Barmine, op. cit., p. 309.

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122 For some details, see articles in the following issues of Pravda: September 2, 5, 9, 23, and October 8, 1949.

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128 Kul'tura i zhizn', No. 25, p. 1 (September, 1947)Google Scholar; Partiinaya zhizn', No. 20, p. 96 (October, 1947)Google Scholar; Pravda, June 1, 1947.

129 Kul'tura i zhizn', No. 28, p. 1 (September, 1948)Google Scholar; Ibid., No. 14, p. 2 (May, 1947).

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