pp 
reestablished an independent Ministry of the Navy and appointed Ad- 
miral Nikolai Kuznetsov as minister.” After Stalin’s death the ministry 
was integrated into the Ministry of Defense and has since been subor- 
dinated to the dominance of the army officers.?* Khrushchev drasti- 
cally cut back the naval building program and focused on submarines. 
Admiral Kuznetsov was fired for his vigorous opposition and lobbying 
against the cutback. The choice of appropriate naval policy was linked 
with considerations of military strategy and economic resource alloca- 
tion. The wider evaluation of the danger of war and the appropriate 
Soviet strategy were key components influencing naval policy. As 
the present Admiral of the Fleet Sergei Gorshkov recounts, 
“Unfortunately, we had very highly influential ‘authorities’ who felt 
that with the appearance of nuclear arms, the Navy completely lost 
its importance as a type of armed force. In their opinion all fu- 
ture wars could be decided without any participation from the 
Navy.” ?° The decision on naval policy was also made in the context 
of scarce resources and their allocation. After the naval program 
cutback, shipbuilding resources were shifted to mercantile and fishing 
ship construction.*° 
_ Similar divergent views arise frequently in the Soviet Union because 
lof the complex nature of policy problems and the existence of a 
number of well defined opinions on major issues. The much analyzed 
series of articles by Admiral Sergei Gorshkov is a clear instance of 
the continuing discussion concerning appropriate naval policy and 
development.?! This push and pull of individuals and groups also takes 
place on other maritime issues. 
THE SECRETARIAT OF THE CENTRAL COMMITTEE 
The Secretariat consists of about 25 departments. There are nine 
Secretaries and the General Secretary with highly overlapping mem- 
bership with the Politburo. Each secretary is responsible for a group 
of subjects and the entire Secretariat staff comprises several thousand 
party officials.*? 
27The Ministry of the Navy (at that time People’s Commissariat for the Navy) was integrated into 
the People’s Commissariat for Defense in February 1946, and its standing relative to the Army was 
reduced. Admiral N. G. Kuznetsov who had advocated a stronger fleet was replaced as head of the 
Navy less than a year later (January 1947). See Jurgen Rohwer, “Superpower Confrontation on the 
Seas: Naval Development and Strategy Since 1945” (Beverly Hills/London: Sage Publications, 1975), 
pp. 11-12. 
28 The general staff, until 1972 was the preserve of the ground force generals. The first break was 
the appointment of Admiral S. M. Lobov as assistant chief of the general staff. Drew Middleton, 
“Soviet Generals Show New Style,” New York Times, April 23, 1973. 
285 G. Gorshkov, ‘‘The Development of Soviet Naval Science,” trans. Morskoi Sbornik No. 2, 
(1967): p. 19. 
30 Michael K. MccGwire, ‘‘Soviet Maritime Strategy, Capabilities, and Intentions in the Caribbean” 
in ‘Soviet Seapower in the Caribbean,” J. D. Theberge, ed. (New York: Praeger, 1972), p. 40. The 
resource shift ‘‘included the reassignment of the remaining cruise building ways and sharp cuts in 
naval building programs, both current and projected.” 
31 The series appeared in the journal Morskoi Sbornik (published under the auspices of the Soviety 
Navy) in 1972 and 1973. For a sampling of Western interpretations see Robert G. Weinland, Michael 
K. MccGwire, James M. McConnell, Admiral Gorshkov on ‘“‘Navies in War and Peace,” (Arlington, 
Va.: Cenier for Naval Analysis, September 1974). 
32 Paul K. Cook, “The Political Setting,” in U.S. Congress Joint Economic Committee, “Soviet 
Economic Prospects for the Seventies,’ A Compendium of papers submitted to the Joint Economic 
Committee, 93d Cong., Ist sess., 1973, p. 7. Avtorkhanov estimates that there are about 1,500 ad- 
ministrators in the Secretariat, p. 209. 
