V. SCIENTIFIC POLICY

CHAPTER 1. SCIENTIFIC ORGANIZATIONS

Apart from major policies and certain high-priority projects, decisions on scientific research and development are made by administrative agencies of the government to which Soviet scientific institutions are subordinate.

The Academy of Sciences, U.S.S.R., which is directly responsible to the Council of Ministers, is the most important scientific body in the U.S.S.R.16 The academy's membership, comprised of 167 academicians and 361 corresponding members, includes the Soviet Union's most eminent scientists. In addition to academicians, it employs roughly 10 percent of all scientific workers in the U.S.S.R. The Academy of Sciences controls about 195 scientific institutions and coordinates the activities of 13 affiliated union-republic academies of sciences. Theoretical research is emphasized in academy institutions, and its scientists conduct more than half of all the U.S.S.R.'s fundamental research.

The Ministry of Higher and Specialized Secondary Education controls research done by higher educational institutions. Nearly half of all Soviet scientists are employed in institutions of higher education, where they are primarily concerned with teaching but also perform both basic and applied research.

The state planning committee (Gosplan), U.S.S.R., controls a number of central scientific research institutes and design bureaus in certain basic industrial fields such as steel. These institutes coordinate research and design activities in their respective fields throughout the country.

The Ministries of Defense, Medium Machine Building (responsible for nuclear weapons), Communications, Health, and Agriculture control institutions which conduct research related to their respective fields.

The state committees of defense technology, aviation technology, radio-electronics, shipbuilding, chemistry, and automation and machine building control research institutions which are either directly related to the U.S.S.R.'s defense effort or to high-priority nondefense fields.

The councils of national economy (sovnarkhozes) control all research institutions not subordinate to the five types of agencies listed above. These are specialized in industrial fields and are concerned primarily with applied research.

16 Regardless of its actual powers, it formally occupies a special status as a quasi-independent, ostensibly self-perpetuating body; thus its chairman is not a member of the Council of Ministers.

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CHAPTER 2. FORMULATION OF POLICY

Bits of organizational information on the party and government and policy directives on science and technology provide the basis for deducing the probable mechanism for policy decisionmaking on scientific and technological matters.

Role of the party presidium

Decisions by the party presidium on science and technology seem to be limited primarily to general organizational problems and to the establishment of economic priorities which determine priorities in scientific research. After broad policy directives on science and technology are approved, decisions by the party presidium on scientific and technical matters appear to be limited to the following situations:

(a) A specific scientific or technical problem involving the initiation of a research and development program which requires considerable investment of money, manpower, and facilities, e.g., the space rocket program.

(b) An ideological or political issue of major importance in the scientific community, e.g., the dismissal of the editorial board of the Botanical Journal in connection with the genetics controversy.

(c) A major deviation from or change in previous party policy. Policy decisions by the party presidium on scientific and technical matters can come about in several ways: the Presidium of the Council of Ministers may assume the initiative in referring problems to the party presidium; the Secretariat of the Central Committee, on the basis of staff work done by its various departments, may bring an important scientific and technical matter to the presidium's attention; the party presidium members themselves may propose that certain scientific and technical matters be studied by the party apparatus. Functioning of the mechanism

The Presidium, with the assistance of the Secretariat, schedules meetings specifically for the consideration of scientific and technical policy. In support of the Presidium, the apparatus of the Central Committee through its departments maintains constant vigilance over its fields of responsibility and gathers information with the aid of regional and primary party organs. For example, notes published from the Central Committee plenum of July 1955 called for an increase in the role of the lower organs in convening scientific-technical conferences meetings of scientists, inventors, and rationalizers. During 1956-58, such meetings were held in all oblast centers of the U.S.S.R. and in various cities. The practical aim of the Central Committee in having these meetings is to get information and ideas and, on the basis of these, to take organizational and administrative measures to improve the work of scientific organizations.

Scientists and technical experts are probably called to advise the Presidium further on the problems under consideration. The Presidium then formulates broad policy proposals on science and technology which are to be given emphasis in the preparation of directives for the development of the national economic plan or for the establishment of a policy on a specific scientific and technical matter.

Once decrees on scientific and technical matters are issued, they have the force of law. For example, a directive of the June 1959 Central Committee plenum required certain agencies to furnish

recommendations on specified subjects to the Council of Ministers, U.S.S.R.:

The U.S.S.R. Gosplan, the Councils of Ministers state committees for different branches of industry and construction, ministries, and departments are to be asked to prepare by January 1, 1960, and to submit to the U.S.S.R. Council of Ministers proposals relating to the establishment of research institutes directly at major enterprises, to the amalgamation of certain research institutes with higher educational establishments, and to the amalgamation of scientific establishments working in the same field.

Role of the Council of Ministers

The Council of Ministers is responsible for the implementation of party policy on science and technology through the elaborate network of state organs subordinate to it. Therefore it must make decisions on scientific research and development problems within the broad policy framework of party directives.

Within the Council of Ministers, policy decisions on scientific research and development matters are probably handled by a network of committees. These committees possess considerable policymaking authority and probably refer only the most important scientific and technical matters of long-term and of far-reaching impact on the national economy to the Presidium of the Council of Ministers. For example, a committee on scientific and technical matters relating to defense would be headed by Deputy Premier Ustinov, who is generally responsible for defense production, and be composed of the chairman of the state committees for defense technology, aviation technology, shipbuilding, and radio-electronics, and the Ministers of Medium Machine Building and of Defense. Such a committee would have a staff to study scientific and technical problems related to defense research and development. It could initiate projects for consideration of the appropriate scientific and technical organizations, call in specialists for advice, and maintain a general check on progress of various areas of research and development.

The presidium of the Academy of Sciences, which is directly subordinate to the Council of Ministers, may also constitute a special committee of an advisory nature to report directly to the party presidium on particular problems in fundamental scientific fields assigned to it; e.g., on the 1957 decision to establish "scientific cites" in Siberia.

In connection with the initiation of the new 7-year plan, approved by the 21st Party Congress in February 1959, several supervisory agencies jointly produced a paper called the "Main Directions for Scientific Research." The supervisory agencies involved were the U.S.S.R. Academy of Sciences, the Republic academies, the state scientific-technical committee, and the Ministry of Higher and Specialized Secondary Education. This paper listed about 150 tasks in basic and applied research fields which were to serve as a guide for research planning under the 7-year plan. It appeared to be the most detailed policy guide yet produced for science planners.

Soviet leaders, pleased with this first "major directions" paper, have decided to make this type of policy planning a permanent feature of their scientific organization. They have accordingly charged groups

of existing supervisory agencies with the task of working out future "major directions." Representatives of these agencies are apparently organized into five interagency advisory committees responsible for determining the "major directions of research" within the framework of the party directives. The Presidium of the Council of Ministers may call on these committees for advice or recommendations on major problems referred to it for decision. The interagency committees represent the following agencies:

(a) For the natural and social sciences: the Academy_of Sciences, U.S.S.R.; the academies of sciences of the union Republics; and the Ministry of Higher and Specialized Secondary Education, U.S.S.R.

(b) For technical sciences and new technology: the state scientific-technical committee of the Council of Ministers, U.S.S.R.; the Academy of Sciences, U.S.S.R.; the Ministry of Higher and Specialized Secondary Education, U.S.S.R.; and the committees of the council of ministries, U.S.S.R., in the appropriate field of technology.

(c) For the agricultural sciences: the Ministry of Agriculture, with its all-union academy of agricultural sciences; and the department of biological sciences of the Academy of Sciences.

(d) For the medical sciences: the Ministry of Public Health, U.S.S.R., with its Academy of Medical Sciences, U.S.S.R.; and the department of biological sciences of the Academy of Sciences, U.S.S.R.

(e) For architecture and construction: the committee for construction affairs of the Council of Ministers, U.S.S.R.; and the academy of construction and architecture.

To improve the coordination and fulfillment of plans at the institute level, the concepts of "head" institutes and joint scientific councils have been introduced. Presumably, those institutes which have demonstrated themselves to be the most competent and the best equipped scientific institutions in a given discipline have been designated "head" institutes and are to provide leadership to other institutions in the same or related disciplines. "Head" institutes apparently serve as staffs to the joint scientific councils, which are associations of institutions in given fields of science or of institutions brought together for the purpose of solving a particular problem. These councils may include representatives of related production enterprises and other agencies. Their purpose is to review draft plans of member institutions to see that duplication is avoided, that tasks are divided properly among the institutions most qualified to do them, and that planning policies have been taken into account. The councils may also make recommendations concerning the determination of "main directions" to the supervisory groups listed in the paragraph above. The U.S.S.R. has been experimenting with these new forms of planning and coordination since 1957; the final organizational form has not yet been decided.

Introduction

VI. MILITARY POLICY

Soviet military thinking has for some years reflected the belief that victory in a future war could only be effected by the coordinated and unified efforts of all services. The subordination of the armed forces at the national level to the centralized Ministry of Defense is unquestionably a reflection of this belief. It is worth noting, however, that the armed forces have not always been unified under a single ministry; they were combined from 1946 to 1950, separate from 1950 until the death of Stalin in 1953, and combined again since then. The air forces have never had their own ministry.

Organization

Within the military, all forces and commands report to the Minister of Defense (chart O). The present Minister is Marshal of the Soviet Union, R. Ya. Malinovsky, who succeeded Marshal Zhukov on the occasion of the latter's fall from grace in October 1957. Assisting the Minister are 10 First Deputy and Deputy Ministers, the most important and influential officers in the armed forces; 8 are from the ground forces and 1 each from the navy and the air force. For example, the commander in chief of the Warsaw Pact forces and the chief of the general staff are both First Deputy Ministers. The Soviet General Staff of the army and the navy combines the functions of the U.S. Joint Staff and the staffs of the individual U.S. services.

At the same level as the general staff is the chief political directorate, the main instrument for party control of the armed forces; it is in fact a department in the party secretariat. Accordingly, its chief reports both to the Minister of Defense and to the party secretariat. He has his own command channels to the political officers who are to be found at every level down to battalion, and they in turn send up periodic reports and in general act as representatives of the party. The role of the political officers has somewhat declined in importance since the death of Stalin-the post of political officer at the company level was abolished in 1955 but this organizational aspect is still the key to party control of the armed forces. The gravest charge made against Zhukov was that he had sought to eliminate party control. At present the chief political directorate is headed by a widely respected regular officer, Colonel General Golikov, who was appointed shortly after Zhukov's demotion.

Responsible under the general staff for the preparation of tactical doctrine and the development of weapons are the four chief directorates of force components: ground forces, air forces, antiair defense forces, and naval forces. These directorates are on a staff level and do not have command functions.

The last echelon to be considered is that of the operational commands, the actual fighting elements. These report to the Minister of Defense and include the groups of forces in Germany, Poland, and Hungary, the military districts, the naval fleets, the long-range air armies, and the air defense districts in the U.S.S.R. The Warsaw Pact command is almost certainly treated as an operational command, despite its supposed international character.