222 
Although various interpretations of the Secretariat’s power exist, 
there is general agreement on its importance. The Secretariat is the 
administrative head of the party. The party rules state that it is “to 
direct current work, chiefly the selection of personnel and the verifica- 
tion of the fulfillment of party decisions.’”’3? The Secretariat deals 
with the registration of leading cadres and controls all appointments 
to important positions in the party apparatus, the state apparatus, 
trade unions, the Komsomol and other social organizations. t. 
In addition to the extensive control over personnel appointments, 
the Secretariat has a number of functional departments paralleling. 
economic and social organizations and giving it control in these fields. 
The Secretariat’s structure and functions have changed over time, 
in efforts to adapt it to tasks of economic control. It was reorganized 
in 1934 to correspond to specialized branches in industry and adminis- 
tration. The industrial branch organizations were eliminated in 1939 
and criticized for diluting lines of responsibility. They were restored 
in 1948 in order to improve work in the selection of cadres and 
control of government, economic, and public organization activities.*4 
About a dozen departments dealing with branches of the economy 
and monitoring the respective ministries are known to exist. Their 
exact areas of competence are not known, but many of them could 
be involved in aspects of ocean issues. For example, there could 
be ocean considerations in the Departments of Agriculture (headed 
by A. D. Kulakov, possibly concerned with development of pond 
fisheries and fish meal production); Construction (I. N. Dmitriyev, 
transportation construction); Defense Industry (I. D. Serbin, naval 
issues); Heavy Industry; Light and Food Industries (F. I. Machalin, 
fishing); Science and Educational Institutions (S. P. Trapeznikov, 
Academy of Sciences, and Higher Educational Institutions in ocean 
scientific research activities); Trade and Domestic Services; and Trans- 
port and Communications. Other departments operate in the fields 
of Socialist Countries, Foreign Communist Parties, and Party Affairs. 
The operating procedures of the Secretariat are not described in 
the literature but it has a large staff and broad areas of competence. 
Some ‘speculate that the Secretariat departments are in effect the 
real ministries of the U.S.S.R. They are seen as having complete 
administrative responsibility in their subject field and direct control 
of the ministries and central agencies.** Others state that the 
Secretariat’s function is to monitor industrial activity, check on the 
implementation of decisions, and draft reports for the Politburo. Under 
this schemata, the Secretariat is used to pass down decisions to the 
basic party organizations formed in every institution, plant or farm 
where there are at least three Party members.* Still others assume 
that the Secretariat conducts the day-to-day servicing of the Politburo 
and the Central Committee.*’ 
33 Robert G. Wesson, ‘‘The Soviet State: An Aging Revolution” (New York: John Wiley and Sons, 
Inc., 1972), p. 107. 
34Merle Fainsod, ‘‘How Russia is Ruled’? (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1963), pp. 
ene aee Adam B. Ulam, “‘The Russian Political System’? (New York: Random House, 1974), pp. 
35 Avtorkhanov, p. 217. 
36 Cook, p. 7. 
37 Fainsod, p. 220. 
