62 
PARTY CONTROL AND PERSONNEL POLICY 
Party control of the Soviet Armed Forces was established during 
the first days of their existence. In the summer of 1918, political 
departments started to be organized in the army units. The Eighth 
Party Congress in March 1919 ordered the creation of a Political 
Department headed by a Central Committee member as part of the 
Revolutionary Council. In May, 1919 the department became the 
Political Administration. A unified system of the political organs of 
the armed forces was established. The naval department of the Politi- 
cal Administration was organized in March 1922 by a decision of 
the Party Central Committee. In 1938, the Military Council of the 
Navy and the Political Administration of the Navy were organized.™ 
Throughout their history, the political organs have undergone the 
traditional Soviet shakeups and reorganizations, but have invariably 
maintained their importance and general structure. 
As an instrument of party control over the military, the Institute 
of Zampolits has a complex history in the development of the Soviet 
Armed Forces and even more so in the development of the navy. 
Before the Institute of Zampolit was finally established, there were 
three periods during which the Institute of Political Commissars ex- 
isted. When the Soviet Armed Forces were organized, and the need 
for political control arose, trusted party members were assigned as 
political commissars to each unit. They were responsible not only 
for political work, but were required to countersign each order given 
by the commanders. If a commissar considered an order counter- 
revolutionary, he had the right to negate it. Thus, in effect, a duel 
command system existed. The first introduction of system of one- 
man command (edinonachaliye) occurred during the second half of 
the 1920’s. In the navy, the introduction of the system was delayed 
for the reasons discussed previously by at least 2 or 3 years. Under 
the Edinonachaliye system, the Zampolit (Deputy Commander for 
Political Affairs) was introduced, and replaced the commissar. But 
if the commissar had equal rights with the commander, the Zampolit 
was his subordinate and the commander was fully responsible for 
the units condition, including its so called moral-political and spiritual 
potential not to mention combat readiness. The Institute of Political 
Commissars, however, was introduced twice again, first during Stalin’s 
purges in 1938, to be replaced again by the Institute of Zampolit 
in 1940 right after Finnish-Soviet War, and in 1941 right after the 
German attack on the Soviet Union, to be replaced, this time definitely 
in 1942, when it proved to be unworkable. 
While officially proclaimed, the Edinonachaliye was not immediately 
exercised in all services and units. In the navy, particularly in sub- 
marines, the commissars survived longer than in any other service 
or branch. However, the postwar period witnessed a genuine 
strengthening of the system of Edinonachaliye without weakening 
neither party control nor the intensity of party-political work. Marshal 
“Communist of Military Forces’, No. 7, 1969, pp. 9-22, and ‘“‘Morskoy Sbornik”, No. 3, 1971, 
prelilk 
