Main Political Directorate of the Soviet Army and Soviet Navy

The Main Political Directorate of the Soviet Army and Soviet Navy (Russian: Главное политическое управление Советской армии и Военно-морского флота СССР, Glavnoe politicheskoe upravlenie Sovietskoy armii i Voenno-morskogo flota SSSR) was the central military-political organ of administration in the Soviet Armed Forces in 1919 through 1991 and controlled by the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.

The directorate was created at the 7th Congress of the Russian Communist Party (Bolsheviks) on the order of the Republic's Revolutionary Military Council No.674 of 18 April 1919 to implement political control in the Red Army and Fleet.^[1]

Names and leaders

Revolutionary Military Council (RMC)
Politdepartment and politdirectorate of the Republic's RMC (1919—1922) 31 May 1919 — ?? January 1921 — Ivar Smilga (1892—1937) 3 January 1921 — 13 May 1921 — Vasiliy Solovyov (1890—1939) 13 May 1921 — 9 January 1922 — Sergey Gusev (1874—1933)
Political directorate of the Soviet RMC (1922—1924) 9 January 1922 — 28 August 1922 — Leonid Serebryakov (1888—1937) 28 August 1922 — 17 January 1924 — Vladimir Antonov-Ovseyenko (1883—1938) 17 January—28 March 1924 — Andrei Bubnov (1884—1938)
Army	Fleet
Political directorate of the WP Red Army (1924—1940) 28 March 1924 — 1 October 1929 — Andrei Bubnov 1 October 1929 — 31 May 1937 — Yan Gamarnik (1894—1937), Army Commissar of 1st rank June—December 1937 — Pyotr Smirnov (1897—1939), Army Commissar of 1st rank 30 December 1937 — 25 July 1940 — Lev Mekhlis (1889—1953), Army Commissar of 1st rank	Political directorate of the WP Red Fleet (1938—1940) January —June 1938 — Mikhail Shaposhnikov (1899—1938), Corps Commissar^[2] 21 June 1938 — ?? May 1939 — Ivan Nadyoshin (1900—1958), Brigade Commissar^[2] ?? May 1939 — ?? August 1940 — Ivan Rogov (1899—1949), Army Commissar of 2nd rank
Main directorate of political propaganda of the Red Army (1940—1941) 25 July—6 September 1940 — Lev Mekhlis, Army Commissar of 1st rank 6 September 1940 — 21 June 1941 — Aleksandr Zaporozhets (1899—1959), Army Commissar of 1st rank 21 June—16 July 1941 — Lev Mekhlis, Army Commissar of 1st rank	Main directorate of political propaganda of the Soviet Navy (1940—1941) ?? August 1940 — 22 July 1941 — Ivan Rogov, Army Commissar of 2nd rank
Main political directorate of the WP Red Army (1941—1946) 16 July 1941 — 12 June 1942 — Lev Mekhlis, Corps Commissar (с 04.06.1942) 12 June 1942 — 10 May 1945 — Aleksandr Shcherbakov (1901—1945), Colonel General 8 September 1945 — ?? February 1946 — Iosif Shikin (1906—1973), Colonel General	Main political directorate of the Soviet Navy (1941—1946) 22 July 1941 — ?? February 1946 — Ivan Rogov, Colonel General
Soviet Armed Forces
Main political directorate of the Soviet Armed Forces (1946—1950) ?? February 1946 — ?? February 1949 — Iosif Shikin, Colonel General ?? February 1949 — ?? February 1950 — Fyodor Kuznetsov (1904—1979), Colonel General
Army	Fleet
Main political directorate of the Soviet Army (1950—1953) February—March 1950 — Fyodor Kuznetsov, Colonel General March—July 1950 — Konstantin Kraynyukov, (1902—1975), Colonel General ?? July 1950 — ?? April 1953 — Fyodor Kuznetsov, Colonel General	Main political directorate of the Soviet Navy (1950—1953) ?? March 1950 — 6 March 1953 — Semyon Zakharov (1906—1986), Admiral June—16 March 1953 — Leonid Brezhnev (1906—1982), Major General
Soviet Ministry of Defense
Main political directorate of the Soviet MOD (1953—1958) ?? April 1953 — ?? January 1958 — Aleksey Zheltov (1904—1991), Colonel General January 1958 — 25 April 1958 — Filipp Golikov (1900—1980), Colonel General
Soviet Army and Soviet Navy
Main political directorate of the Soviet Army and Soviet Navy (1958—1991) 25 April 1958 — 30 April 1962 — Filipp Golikov, Marshal of the Soviet Union 30 April 1962 — 17 July 1985 — Alexei Yepishev (1908—1985), General of the Army 17 July 1985 — ?? July 1990 — Aleksey Lizichev (1928—2006), General of the Army ?? July 1990 — 11 January 1991 — Nikolay Shlyaga (1935—2004), Colonel General
Soviet Armed Forces
Main military-political directorate of the Soviet Armed Forces (1991) 11 January—29 August 1991 — Nikolay Shlyaga (1935—2004), Colonel General

Educational institutions

Military-political academy

Lenin Military-Political Academy (Moscow)

Military-political colleges (higher schools)

KGB Military-Political Border Service College (Golitsyno, Moscow Oblast)
General Yepishev Military-Political College of Engineers and Signal troops (Donetsk)
Kiev Naval Political College (Kiev)
Kurgan Military-Political Aviation College (Kurgan, Kurgan Oblast)
Komsomol 60th Anniversary MVD Political College (Leningrad)
Andropov Military-Political College of Anti-Aircraft Defense (Leningrad)
Military-Political College (Lviv)
Military-Political Combined Arms College (Minsk)
Great October 60th Anniversary Military-Political Combined Arms College (Novosibirsk)
Marshal of the Soviet Union Biryuzov Military-Political College (Riga)
Brezhnev Military-Political Tank-Artillery College (Sverdlovsk)
Military-Political Construction College (Simferopol)
Military-Political Construction College (Tallinn)
Military-Political Faculty of the Marshal of Artillery Nedelin Command and Engineer College

References

^ Политическое управление Красной Армии. Центральный государственный архив Советской армии. В двух томах. Том 1. Путеводитель. 1991
^ ^a ^b Военная энциклопедия: В 8 томах. Vol. 2: Вавилония — Гюйс. М.: Воениздат. 1994. p. 176. ISBN 5-203-00299-1. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |agency= ignored (help)

Resources

Тезисы ПУРа, согласованные с АПО ЦК ВКП(б) и материалы для докладов на собраниях, посвящённых XI годовщине РККА. Н. Новгород. 1929. Archived from the original on 2014-04-22.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
КПСС в резолюциях и решениях съездов, конференций и пленума ЦК, 7 изд., ч. 1. — М., 1954.
КПСС о Вооружённых Силах Советского Союза. Документы 1917–1968. — М.: Воениздат, 1969.
Мозговой С. А. «Не за страх, а за совесть…». К 100-летию создания Политорганов ВМФ // Морской сборник, 2019, No. 5. С. 38–41.
Петров Ю. П. Строительство политорганов, партийных и комсомольских организаций Армии и Флота. — М.: Воениздат, 1968.

External links

Historic reference
GlavPUR. Handbook of the Workers'-Peasants' Red Army
History of Political institutions in the Russian Army. Dossier (История военно-политических органов в российской армии. Досье). TASS. 30 July 2018.

Communist Party of the Soviet Union

Central Committee

Leaders	Vladimir Lenin (1912–24) Joseph Stalin (1929–53) Nikita Khrushchev (1953–64) Leonid Brezhnev (1964–82) Yuri Andropov (1982–84) Konstantin Chernenko (1984–85) Mikhail Gorbachev (1985–91)
General Secretaries	Elena Stasova (1917–18) Yakov Sverdlov (1918–19) Elena Stasova (Mar.–Dec. 1919) Nikolay Krestinsky (1919–21) Vyacheslav Molotov (1921–22) Joseph Stalin (1922–52) Nikita Khrushchev (1953–64) Leonid Brezhnev (1964–82) Yuri Andropov (1982–84) Konstantin Chernenko (1984–85) Mikhail Gorbachev (1985–91) Vladimir Ivashko (acting, Aug. 1991)
Decision-making bodies	Politburo / Presidium Secretariat Orgburo Control Commission
Departments	Administrative Organs Agriculture Chemical Industry Construction Culture Defence Industry Foreign Cadres General Heavy Industry Information International Light- and Food Industry Machine Industry Organisational-party Work Planning and Financial Organs Political Administration of the Armed Forces Propaganda Science and Education Trade and Consumers' Services Transportation-Communications Women
Publications	Pravda Bolshevik / Kommunist

National meetings

Congress	1st (1898) 2nd (1903) 3rd (1905) 4th (1906) 5th (1907) 6th (1917) 7th (1918) 8th (1919) 9th (1920) 10th (1921) 11th (1922) 12th (1923) 13th (1924) 14th (1925) 15th (1927) 16th (1930) 17th (1934) 18th (1939) 19th (1952) 20th (1956) 21st (1959) 22nd (1961) 23rd (1966) 24th (1971) 25th (1976) 26th (1981) 27th (1986) 28th (1990)
Conference	1st (1905) 2nd (1906) 3rd (Aug. 1907) 4th (Nov. 1907) 5th (1908) 6th (1912) 7th (1917) 8th (1919) 9th (1920) 10th (May 1921) 11th (Dec. 1921) 12th (1922) 13th (1924) 14th (1925) 15th (1926) 16th (1929) 17th (1932) 18th (1941) 19th (1988)

Leadership sittings

Elected by the
Central Committee

Politburo	Aug.–Oct. 1917 Oct.–Dec. 1917 6th (1917–18) 7th (1918–19) 8th (1919–20) 9th (1920–21) 10th (1921–22) 11th (1922–23) 12th (1923–24) 13th (1924–25) 14th (1925–27) 15th (1927–30) 16th (1930–34) 17th (1934–39) 18th (1939–52) 19th (1952–56) 20th (1956–61) 22nd (1961–66) 23rd (1966–71) 24th (1971–76) 25th (1976–81) 26th (1981–86) 27th (1986–90) 28th (1990–91)
Secretariat	6th (1917–18) 7th (1918–19) 8th (1919–20) 9th (1920–21) 10th (1921–22) 11th (1922–23) 12th (1923–24) 13th (1924–25) 14th (1925–27) 15th (1927–30) 16th (1930–34) 17th (1934–39) 18th (1939–52) 19th (1952–56) 20th (1956–61) 22nd (1961–66) 23rd (1966–71) 24th (1971–76) 25th (1976–81) 26th (1981–86) 27th (1986–90) 28th (1990–91)
Orgburo	7th (Jan.–Mar. 1919) 8th (1919–20) 9th (1920–21) 10th (1921–22) 11th (1922–23) 12th (1923–24) 13th (1924–25) 14th (1925–27) 15th (1927–30) 16th (1930–34) 17th (1934–39) 18th (1939–52)
Control Committee	17th (1934–39) 18th (1939–52) 19th (1952–56) 20th (1956–61) 22nd (1961–66) 23rd (1966–71) 24th (1971–76) 25th (1976–81) 26th (1981–86) 27th (1986–90)

Elected by the Central
Control Commission

Presidium	12th (1923–24) 13th (1924–25) 14th (1925–27) 15th (1927–30) 16th (1930–34) 28th (1990–91)
Secretariat	12th (1923–24) 13th (1924–25) 14th (1925–27)
Collegium	12th (1923–24) 13th (1924–25) 14th (1925–27) 15th (1927–30) 16th (1930–34)

Elected by
Congress

Central Committee	1st (1898–1903) 2nd (1903–05) 3rd (Apr.–Dec. 1905) CC of the 1st Conf. (1905–06) 4th (1906–07) 5th (1907–12) CC of the 6th Conf. (1912–17) CC of the 7th Conf. (Apr.–Aug. 1917) 6th (1917–18) 7th (1918–19) 8th (1919–20) 9th (1920–21) 10th (1921–22) 11th (1922–23) 12th (1923–24) 13th (1924–25) 14th (1925–27) 15th (1927–30) 16th (1930–34) 17th (1934–39) 18th (1939–52) 19th (1952–56) 20th (1956–61) 22nd (1961–66) 23rd (1966–71) 24th (1971–76) 25th (1976–81) 26th (1981–86) 27th (1986–90) 28th (1990–91)
Auditing Commission	8th (1919–21) 10th (1921–24) 13th (1924–25) 14th (1925–27) 15th (1927–30) 16th (1930–34) 17th (1934–39) 18th (1939–52) 19th (1952–56) 20th (1956–61) 22nd (1961–66) 23rd (1966–71) 24th (1971–76) 25th (1976–81) 26th (1981–86) 27th (1986–90)
Control Commission	9th (1920–21) 10th (1921–22) 11th (1922–23) 12th (1923–24) 13th (1924–25) 14th (1925–27) 15th (1927–30) 16th (1930–34) 28th (1990–91)

Wider organisation

Republican-level	Armenian Azerbaijani Byelorussian Bukharan Estonian Georgian Karelo-Finnish Kazakh Khorezmi Kirghiz Latvian Lithuanian Moldavian Russian SFSR Tajik Transcaucasian Turkestani Turkmen Ukrainian Uzbek

Local-level	Obkom Okrugkom Gorkom Raikom Partkom

Other organs	Statute All-Union Leninist Young Communist League (Komsomol) Vladimir Lenin All-Union Pioneer Organization Main Political Directorate of the Soviet Army and Soviet Navy

Groupings

Ban on factions
Group of Democratic Centralism (1919–21)
Workers' Opposition (1920–21)
Workers' Truth (1921–23)
Left Opposition (1923–27)
Workers' Group (1923–30)
Right Opposition (1924–33)
United Opposition (1926–27)
Left-Right Bloc (1930)
Union of Marxist-Leninists (1932)
Bloc of Soviet Oppositions (1932–33)
Anti-Party Group (1957)
Soyuz (1990–91)
State Committee on the State of Emergency (1991)

Authority control databases
International	VIAF
National	Israel United States