Corruption in the Soviet Union

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Corruption in the Soviet Union and Soviet Russia was observed since the early days of the Soviet Russia and until the last days of the Soviet Union. Corruption happened at all levels of positions of power, including political corruption.

Contents

History

Early years

Already on May 2, 1918, Moscow Revtribunal heard the case of four members of the Investigative Committee accused of bribery and blackmailing. [1] [2] [3] On May 8, 1918, the "Decree on Bribery" was signed by Lenin, which punished both givers and takers. [4] [5]

In February 1920, a special commission, Rabkrin (People's Commissariat of the Workers' and Peasants' Inspection) was set to combat two major plagues, inefficiency and corruption at all levels of administration. [lower-alpha 1]

Brezhnev and later

Corruption at highest levels had grown considerably during Brezhnev's tenure had become a major problem to the Soviet Union's economic development by the 1980s. When Andropov came to power, he initiated a nationwide anti-corruption campaign.

Notable cases

Khrushchev era

Brezhnev era

Andropov

Gorbachev era

See also

Notes

  1. In 1934 Rabkrin was superseded by the People's Control Commission of the Council of People's Commissars. Furter control organs: Stalin's CPSU Party Control Committee; Khrushchev merged it into the Committee of Party-State Control of the Central Committee of the CPSU and of the Council of Ministers of the USSR under Alexander Shelepin.

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References

  1. Liu Xianzhong, 苏联时期的腐败及其成因 (Corruption and its causes during the Soviet era)
  2. Pavel Sorokun, Исторический очерк возникновения и развития взяточничества и коррупции в России
  3. Часть 1. Коррупция в России, from Report "РОССИЯ И КОРРУПЦИЯ: КТО КОГО"
  4. Декрет о взяточничестве
  5. Финогентова Ольга Евгеньевна, Понятие взятки и ответственность за нее в советском законодательстве 1918-1926 гг
  6. Бриллианты и икра
  7. "2 High Soviet Officials Are Executed For Graft". The New York Times . 14 January 1984. Retrieved 1 October 2018.
  8. Алексей Горшков, Нет повести печальнее на свете
  9. Geldern, James von. "Our Little Father". Soviethistory.org. Archived from the original on 22 July 2011. Retrieved 4 February 2011.

Further reading