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Soviet Union [USSR] Military Policy of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union
In addition to developing military doctrine, the CPSU developed
military policy, which was much broader than doctrine. Whereas
doctrine contains the guiding principles on the essence of future
wars and on the methods and weapons for fighting them, military
policy guides the development and strengthening of the state's
military might through improving the organization and armaments of
the armed forces so that they can be used successfully to achieve
the state's political goals. Military policy is closely linked to
military strategy. Policy defines the objectives of war and focuses
the attention of strategy on the tasks to be performed. Strategy's
dependence on policy increased with the acquisition of nuclear
weapons, the use of which was controlled by the political
leadership. Like military doctrine, Soviet military policy had two
components: military-political and military-technical. Soviet
military theorists frequently refered to these components simply as
military-political policy and military-technical policy.
According to the Soviet understanding of the term, militarypolitical policy defined the political aims of the state, evaluated
the international environment and the military potentials of
probable adversaries, and established guidelines for Soviet
military involvement in the world. It both overlapped with and
supported Soviet foreign policy. Military-political policy took
into account the economic, social, scientific, and specifically
military capabilities of the Soviet state and was used by the party
to determine the optimal directions for structuring the armed
forces and for strengthening the economic-technical base of the
state's defense. Concerned about the integrity and security of the
state, the party could modify its military policy as the interests
of the state changed. Soviet spokesmen nevertheless stressed the
continuity and consistency of the party's military policy and of
the military-political course of the Soviet Union.
The Soviet military-industrial complex was run according to the
military-technical component of the party's military policy, which
determined the cycles of military modernization. According to
Soviet sources, major weapons development programs were carried out
every ten to twelve years. As in doctrine, military recommendations
influenced policy, but the party retained complete control over the
formulation of a uniform military-technical policy and over its
implementation by government organizations.
Data as of May 1989
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