Related Research Articles
The Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU), at some points known as the Russian Communist Party, All-Union Communist Party and Bolshevik Party, and sometimes referred to as the Soviet Communist Party (SCP), was the founding and ruling political party of the Soviet Union. The CPSU was the sole governing party of the Soviet Union until 1990 when the Congress of People's Deputies modified Article 6 of the 1977 Soviet Constitution, which had previously granted the CPSU a monopoly over the political system. The party's main ideology was Marxism-Leninism.
The General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union was the leader of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU). From 1924 until the country's dissolution in 1991, the officeholder was the recognized leader of the Soviet Union. Prior to Stalin’s accession, the position was not viewed as an important role in Lenin’s government and previous occupants had been responsible for technical rather than political decisions.
The Secretariat of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) was responsible for managing and directing the day-to-day operations of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, while the Politburo was charged with the policy-making aspects of the party. The Secretariat was a component agency of the party's Central Committee.
The history of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union was generally perceived as covering that of the Bolshevik faction of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party from which it evolved. In 1912, the party formally split, and the predecessor to the Communist Party of the Soviet Union became a distinct entity. Its history since then can roughly be divided into the following periods:
The Communist Party of Tajikistan is a communist party in Tajikistan, and the oldest political party in the country. The party was founded on 6 January 1924 and was the ruling party of the Tajik Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic from 1924 to 1929 and the Tajik Soviet Socialist Republic from 1929 to 1990 as part of the Soviet Union as a republican branch of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. It was banned in 1991 following the 1991 coup.
Demokratizatsiya was a slogan introduced by Soviet Communist Party General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev in January 1987 calling for the infusion of "democratic" elements into the Soviet Union's single-party government. Gorbachev's Demokratizatsiya meant the introduction of multi-candidate—though not multiparty—elections for local Communist Party (CPSU) officials and Soviets. In this way, he hoped to rejuvenate the party with progressive personnel who would carry out his institutional and policy reforms. The CPSU would retain sole custody of the ballot box.
Andrey Andreyevich Andreyev was a Soviet Communist politician. An Old Bolshevik who rose to power during the rule of Joseph Stalin, joining the Politburo as a candidate member in 1926 and as a full member in 1932, Andreyev also headed the powerful Central Control Commission of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1930 to 1931, and then again from 1939 until 1952.
The Communist Party of Byelorussia was the ruling communist party of the Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic, a constituent republic of the Soviet Union from 1922, that existed from 1917 to 1991.
The Communist Party of Ukraine was the founding and ruling political party of the Ukrainian SSR operated as a republican branch of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU).
The Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, or Politburo was the highest political body of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union and defacto a collective presidency of the USSR. It was founded in October 1917, and refounded in March 1919, at the 8th Congress of the Bolshevik Party. It was known as the Presidium from 1952 to 1966. The existence of the Politburo ended in 1991 upon the breakup of the Soviet Union.
The Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union was the highest organ of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union between two congresses. According to party statutes, the committee directed all party and governmental activities. The Party Congress elected its members.
The Central Committee (CC) composition was elected by the 11th Congress, and sat from 2 April 1922 until 25 April 1923 . The CC 1st Plenary Session renewed the composition of the Politburo, Secretariat and the Organizational Bureau (OB) of the Russian Communist Party (Bolsheviks).
Collective leadership is a distribution of power within an organizational structure.
The Central Committee (CC) composition was elected by the 12th Congress, and sat from 25 April 1923 until 31 May 1924. The CC 1st Plenary Session renewed the composition of the Politburo, Secretariat and the Organizational Bureau (OB) of the Russian Communist Party (Bolsheviks).
The Central Committee (CC) composition was elected by the 13th Congress, and sat from 2 June 1924 until 31 December 1925. The CC 1st Plenary Session renewed the composition of the Politburo, Secretariat and the Organizational Bureau (OB) of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks).
The Central Committee (CC) composition was elected by the 14th Congress, and sat from 31 December 1925 until 19 December 1927. The CC 1st Plenary Session renewed the composition of the Politburo, Secretariat and the Organizational Bureau (OB) of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks).
The Central Committee (CC) composition was elected by the 16th Congress, and sat from 13 July 1930 until 10 February 1934. Its 1st Plenary Session elected the Politburo, Secretariat and Orgburo. The 16th Congress was the first party convention since the 13th Congress which saw no organized opposition, and the first congress in party history in which there was no opposition to the party leadership. Ukrainian historian Oleg Khlevniuk considers the period 1930–1934 to be a "transitional period" between collective leadership (referred to interchangeably by him as oligarchy) and Joseph Stalin's personal dictatorship (autocracy). The removal of Alexei Rykov, the Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars (SNK, the Soviet government), from the Politburo at the 1st Joint Plenary Session of the CC and the Central Control Commission (CCC) has been marked in historic literature as "the definitive Stalinization of that body [Politburo]" according to Khlevniuk.
The Central Committee of the 17th Congress of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks) sat from 10 February 1934 until the convening of the 18th Congress on 10 March 1939. Its 1st Plenary Session elected the Politburo, Secretariat and Orgburo. The 17th Congress was labelled the "Congress of Victors" to mark the success of the first five-year plan and the collectivization of agriculture. The CC 1st Plenary Session elected Joseph Stalin General Secretary of the Central Committee, and Lazar Kaganovich continued to serve as Stalin's deputy, an informal post referred to by Sovietologists as Second Secretary, and was empowered to manage party business and sign Politburo resolutions when Stalin was away from Moscow.
The All-Union Party «Union of Communists» is a communist party created in 1991 in the USSR, operating in the territory of the countries of the former Soviet Union, the second communist party created after the dissolution of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU).
References
- ↑ Gill, Graeme (2004). "Communist Party of the Soviet Union". In Millar, James R. (ed.). Encyclopedia of Russian history. New York: Macmillan Reference USA. pp. 306–313. ISBN 0-02-865694-6.
All aspects of the Party's life came under vigorous debate within leading Party circles. However, during Vladimir Lenin's lifetime, all of these debates ended with the victory of the position that he espoused. Following his death, the maneuvering between different groups of Party leaders for the succession saw conflict between a group around Stalin and, successively, Leon Trotsky, the Left Opposition, the United Opposition, and the Right Opposition. In all cases, Stalin and his supporters were victorious. With the defeat of the Right Opposition in 1929, Stalin emerged as Party leader. He consolidated his position during the 1930s, especially through the Terror of 1936 to 1938, emerging as the vozhd, or unquestioned leader of the party and the people. This process of a shift from the collective leadership of the Lenin years to the personal dictatorship of Stalin had direct implications for the Party. In the initial years of power, leading Party organs were real arenas of debate and conflict, and although Lenin manipulated Party organs, the principal basis upon which he was victorious in inner-party conflict was his ability to persuade sufficient members to support the position he advocated. With Stalin's personal dictatorship, party organs ceased to be the scene of open political debate and instead became stylized assemblies for the laudation of Stalin. While this was not as much the case at the level of the Politburo, even here the cut and thrust of debate was blunted by the personal dominance of Stalin.
- ↑ "Program of the CPSU, 27th Party Congress (1986)".
