Communist Party of the Soviet Union

:For other usage of the initials CPSU see CPSU (disambiguation).

Structure

VKP(b)

In 1919 a Politburo was created initially with five members, to run the party on a day to day basis. Previously, the highest body of the party had been the Central Committee. The first full members of the Politburo were Lenin, Trotsky, Kamenev, Stalin and Krestinsky with Bukharin, Zinoviev and Kalinin as candidate members (ie alternates). Through the 1920s Party Congresses were held almost every year.

Related Topics:
Politburo - Central Committee - Lenin - Trotsky - Kamenev - Stalin - Krestinsky - Bukharin - Zinoviev - Kalinin - Party Congress

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CPSU

The governing body of the CPSU was the Party Congress which initially met annually but whose meetings became less frequent, particularly under Stalin. Party Congresses would elect a Central Committee which, in turn, would elect a Politburo. Under Stalin the most powerful position in the party became the General Secretary who was elected by the Politburo. In 1952 the title of General Secretary became First Secretary and the Politburo became the Presidium before reverting to their former names under Brezhnev in 1966.

Related Topics:
Party Congress - Stalin - Central Committee - Politburo - General Secretary - Brezhnev

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In theory, supreme power in the party was invested in the Party Congress, however, in practice the power structure became reversed and, particularly after the death of Lenin, supreme power became the domain of the General Secretary.

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At lower levels, the organizational hierarchy was managed by Party Committees, or partkoms (???????). A partkom was headed by the elected partkom secretary (????????? ????????). At enterprises, institutions, kolkhozes, etc., they were called as such, i.e., "partkoms". At higher levels the Committees were abbreviated accordingly: raikoms (??????) at raion level, obkoms (?????) at oblast levels (known earlier as gubkoms (??????) for guberniyas), gorkom (??????) it city level, etc.

Related Topics:
Kolkhoz - Raion - Oblast - Guberniya

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The bottom level of the Party was the primary party organization (????????? ????????? ???????????) or party cell (????????? ??????). It was created within any organizational entity of any kind where there were at least three communists. The management of a cell was called party bureau (????????? ????, ????????). A partbureau was headed by the elected bureau secretary (????????? ????????).

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At smaller party cells, secretaries were regular employees of the corresponding plant/hospital/school/etc. Sufficiently large party organizations were usually headed by an exempt secretary (????????????? ?????????), who drew his salary from the Party money.

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Membership

Membership in the party ultimately became a privilege with Communist Party members becoming an elite, or nomenklatura, in Soviet society. Members of the nomenklatura would enjoy special privileges such as shopping at well-stocked stores, have preference in obtaining housing and access to dachas and holiday resorts, being allowed to travel abroad, send their children to the best universities and obtain prestigious jobs for them. It became virtually impossible to join the Soviet ruling and managing elite without being a member of the Communist Party.

Related Topics:
Nomenklatura - Dacha

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Membership had its risks, however, especially in the 1930s when the party was subjected to purges under Stalin. Membership in the party was not open. To become a party member one had to be approved by various committees and one's past was closely scrutinised. As generations grew up never having known anything but the USSR, party membership became something one generally achieved after passing a series of stages. Children would join the Young Pioneers and then, at the age of 14, graduate to the Komsomol (Young Communist League) and ultimately, as an adult, if one had shown the proper adherence to party discipline or had the right connections one would become a member of the Communist Party itself.

Related Topics:
Stalin - Young Pioneers - Komsomol - Party discipline

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When the Bolsheviks became the All-Russian Communist Party it had a membership of approximately 200,000. In the late 1920s under Stalin, the party engaged in a heavy recruitment campaign (the "Lenin Levy") of new members from both the working class and rural areas. This was both an attempt to "proletarianize" the party and an attempt by Stalin to strengthen his base by outnumbering the Old Bolsheviks and reducing their influence in the party.

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By 1933, the party had approximately 3.5 million members and candidate members but as a result of the Great Purge party membership fell to 1.9 million by 1939. In 1986, the CPSU had over 19 million members or approximately 10% of the USSR's adult population. Over 44% of party members were classified as industrial workers, 12% were collective farmers. The CPSU had party organizations in fourteen of the USSR's 15 republics. In the Russian federation itself there was no separate Communist Party as affairs were run directly by the CPSU.

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