Departments of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union

The Departments of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union were all specialised in their own field, for example, the International Department handled Soviet relations with non-ruling communist parties.

  • A–U is an abbreviation of All-Union, in this case All-Union Ministries. The All-Union ministries were ministries with no regional ministerial branches in the republics.
  • U–R is an abbreviation of Union Republic, in this case Union republican ministries. Union republican ministries were either All-Union ministries with republican branches or republican ministries without an All-Union affiliate.
  • Pres. is short for Presidium, in this case Presidium of the Council of Ministers. In the tables. Pres. denotes ministers or chairmen of state committees who held seats in the Presidium.

Departments

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Department Responsible for Sections
Administrative Organs
Agriculture
  • Land cultivation
  • Mechanisation
  • Procurements
  • Reclamations and water economy
  • Forestry
  • (Agricultural) science
  • Special sections for certain territories, for instance, their existed a Northern Caucasus section.
Chemical Industry
Construction
  • Industrial and transportation construction
  • Urban economy
  • Timber and woodworking industry
Culture
  • Cinematography
  • Literature
  • Musical arts
  • Theater
Defence Industry
Foreign Cadres
General
  • Responsible for handling intra-Secretariat and intra-Central Committee housekeeping, the handling of incoming communications, and security for classified documents
Heavy Industry
Information
International
  • Responsible for maintaining ties with communist parties in non-socialist states.
  • Probably supervised the ministries the Foreign Cadres Department was responsible for.
  • Africa
  • Central Europe
  • Great Britain and the Commonwealth
  • Latin America
  • Near East
  • Southeast Asia
  • Scandinavia and Iceland
  • United States
  • International Social Organizations
Light- and Food Industry
  • Fisheries
  • Food Industry
  • Meat and Dairy Industry
Machinery Industry
Organisational-party Work
Planning and Financial Organs
Political Administration of the Ministry of Defence
  • Political organs in the armed forces, and through them, the Ministry of Defence, however, the Administrative Organs Department was also responsible for the defence ministry.
Propaganda
  • Cultural-enlightenment work
  • Economic education
  • Mass-political work
  • Newspapers
  • Party education
  • Printing industry and press distribution
  • Sports and physical culture
  • Television and Radio
Science and Education
  • Responsible for diplomatic ties with ruling communist parties
  • May have supervised the ministries of the Foreign Cadres Department, at least when it came to relations with ruling-communist parties.
  • Economic sciences
  • Higher educational institutions
  • Philosophy and scientific communism
  • Public health and social security
  • Schools
  • Specialised secondary- and vocational-technical education.
Trade and Consumers' Services
Transportation-Communications
Women
  • Women affairs.
Sources: How the Soviet Union is Governed (1979) pp. 412–417 and pp. 420–421