10 
PART |. ADMINISTRATION OF SCIENCE 
AND TECHNOLOGY IN THE U.S.S.R. 
The administrators of the Soviet Union have assignedimportant roles to 
science, technology, and education, and have created numerous channels for 
their control and coordination. A recent State decree states, ''At the present 
time when our country has enteredthe period of the comprehensive building of 
the communist society, the role and the importance of science and technology 
become even greater,''(1)* K. N. Rudnev, animportant science administrator, 
called attention to a major development, saying that "'the pace of scientific 
development itself has made coordination of the work...an urgent problem... 
At the present time it is one of the most important conditions of the giant 
growth of production and it will gradually become the decisive factor for the 
development of the productive forces of our society."'(2) P, L. Kapitsa, a 
leading Soviet scientist, reflected the official attitude in his statement that 
"science has now begun to be viewed as an essential component of the social 
system and not only auseful but anindispensable part. The government devotes 
more and more attention to science as an important element in national life; 
now scientific institutions are placed on an equal level withother branches of 
our social structure, such as education, transport, and the army.''(3) 
During the several decades of Soviet history, the national leadership has 
developed an elaborate system for achieving its major objectives through a 
variety of Party and State agencies, and is still experimenting with organiza- 
tional patterns and institutional forms. With the exception of the Communist 
Party of the Soviet Union, administrative units in the U.S.S.R. are either 
attached directly or indirectly to the highest governmental administrative 
organ called a Council of Ministers. Educational institutions are directly 
administered by the government. The academies devoted to sciences and the 
professional societies operate under charters fromthe State and are regulated 
by State laws and decrees. See Figure 1 for the interrelationships of Soviet 
top-level organs for the administration of scientific, technological, and 
educational institutions and facilities. 
*References are given on page 49. 
