Central Committee of the Army in the Field and the Fleet

(Tsekodarf), a high-level revolutionary body attached to the General Headquarters of the Supreme Commander in Chief in Mogilev from December 1917 (from Feb. 26, 1918, in Orel) to Mar. 9, 1918. Tsekodarf replaced the interim Military Revolutionary Committee at General Headquarters, headed by A. F. Boiarskii, which had been formed Nov. 22 (Dec. 5), 1917, and made permanent December 10 (23). On December 16 (29) the All-Army Congress resolved to rename the Military Revolutionary Committee the Central Committee of the Army in the Field and the Fleet; N. V. Rogozinskii was elected chairman.

Adhering to Bolshevik policies, the Military Revolutionary Committee and later the Central Committee exercised political control over the General Headquarters, for which purpose commissars were assigned to all divisions and directorates. The committee organized the struggle against counterrevolution in the field forces and along the front, directed front and army military revolutionary committees, and published the daily newspaper Revoliutsionnaia Stavka. The Central Committee played an important role in democratizing the Russian Army and transforming the General Headquarters into an auxiliary operational organ of Soviet power in the field forces.