Secretariat of the 18th Congress of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks)

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The 18th Secretariat of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union was elected by the 18th Central Committee following the 18th Congress, [1] of the Communist Party, held in March 1939. The Congress took place during a critical period of pre-World War II tensions, with the Soviet leadership [2] consolidating its control under General Secretary Joseph Stalin. [3] Delegates at the Congress discussed economic policies, including the ongoing implementation of five-year plans, and affirmed the party's priorities in the face of growing international uncertainty. The Secretariat, as a key administrative body, played an instrumental role in overseeing the implementation of party directives during this time.

List of members

Name
(birth–death)
Took officeLeft officeDurationNote
Joseph Stalin [4]
(1878–1953)
22 April 193914 October 195213 years, 175 days
Andrey Andreyev
(1895–1971)
22 April 193918 March 19466 years, 330 days
Alexey Kuznetsov
(1905–1950)
18 March 194628 January 19499 years, 281 daysThe official explanation for his removal was that he was being "reassigned".
Andrei Zhdanov
(1896–1948)
22 April 193931 August 19479 years, 131 daysDied in office of natural causes.
Georgy Malenkov
(1902–1988)
22 April 19396 May 19467 years, 14 daysRemoved on Stalin's orders.
1 July 194814 October 19524 years, 105 daysReelected to the Secretariat at Stalin's proposal.
Nikita Khrushchev
(1894–1971)
16 December 194914 October 195213 years, 175 days
Nikolay Patolichev
(1908–1989)
5 June 194624 May 19472 years, 87 days
Panteleimon Ponomarenko
(1902–1984)
1 July 194814 October 19524 years, 105 days
Georgy Popov
(1906–1968)
18 March 194616 December 194910 years, 238 days
Alexander Shcherbakov
(1901–1945)
5 May 194110 May 19456 years, 18 daysElected to the Secretariat at the 6th Plenary Session, but died of natural causes during his tenure.
Mikhail Suslov
(1902–1982)
24 May 194714 October 19525 years, 112 days

References

  1. Getty, J. Arch; Naumov, Oleg V. (1999). The road to terror: Stalin and the self-destruction of the Bolsheviks, 1932-1939. Annals of communism. New Haven, Conn: Yale University Press. ISBN   978-0-300-07772-8.
  2. Mccauley, Martin (4 February 2014). "The Soviet Union 1917-1991" . doi:10.4324/9781315846743.{{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  3. Service, Robert (2005). Stalin: a biography. Cambridge, Mass: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press. ISBN   978-0-674-01697-2. OCLC   57001809.
  4. Brooks, Jeff (1 March 2007). "Stalin: A Biography. By Robert Service. (Cambridge, Mass.: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2005. Pp. xi, 715. $29.95.)" . The Historian. 69 (1): 167–168. doi:10.1111/j.1540-6563.2007.00175_62.x. ISSN   0018-2370.