:''"CPSU" redirects here. For other uses, please see
CPSU (disambiguation).''
The 'Communist Party of the Soviet Union' (
Russian: ''Коммунисти́ческая Па́ртия Сове́тского Сою́за'',
transliterated ''Kommunisticheskaya Partiya Sovetskogo Soyuza'',
acronym: ''КПСС'' (''KPSS'')) was the ruling
political party in the
Soviet Union. It emerged in 1912 as the
Bolshevik faction of the
Russian Social-Democratic Labour Party created a separate party. The party led the
October Revolution, which led to the establishment of a socialist state in Russia. The party was dissolved in 1991, at the time of the break-up of the Soviet Union.
For most of the history of Soviet Russia and the Soviet Union, the Communist Party was virtually indistinguishable from the government, as it was generally the only political party tolerated by the government. Consequently, the history of the USSR and the CPSU are deeply intertwined and overlapping. Therefore, it is useful for those interested in the history of the CPSU to also consult the
History of Russia series of articles.
Structure
CPSU
Main articles: Organization of the Communist Party of the USSR
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
Leonid Brezhnev in 1966.
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.
At lower levels, the organizational hierarchy was managed by Party Committees, or 'partkoms' (партком). A partkom was headed by the elected 'partkom secretary' (секретарь парткома). At enterprises, institutions,
kolkhozes, etc., they were called as such, i.e., "partkoms". At higher levels the Committees were abbreviated accordingly: 'raikoms' (райком) at
raion level, 'obkoms' (обком) at
oblast levels (known earlier as 'gubkoms' (губком) for
guberniyas), 'gorkom' (горком) it city level, etc.
The bottom level of the Party was the 'primary party organization' (первичная партийная организация) or 'party cell' (партийная ячейка). 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' (партийное бюро, партбюро). A partbureau was headed by the elected 'bureau secretary' (секретарь партбюро).
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' (освобожденный секретарь), who drew his salary from the Party money.
Membership
Membership in the party ultimately became a privilege, with a small subset of the general population of Party becoming an elite class or
nomenklatura in Soviet society. Nomenklatura enjoyed many perquisites denied to the average Soviet citizen. Among those perks were shopping at well-stocked stores, access to foreign merchandise, preference in obtaining housing, access to
dachas and holiday resorts, being allowed to travel abroad, send their children to the best universities, and obtain prestigious jobs (as well as party membership itself) for their children. It became virtually impossible to join the Soviet ruling and managing elite without being a member of the Communist Party.
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, may 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. However, membership also had its obligations. Komsomol and CPSU members were expected not only to pay dues but also to carry out appropriate assignments and "social tasks" (общественные поручения).
In
1918 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.
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 until 1990 as affairs were run directly by the CPSU.
History
''Main article:
History of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union''
★ The
Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (
Russian: ''Росси́́йская Социал-демократи́ческая Рабо́чая Па́ртия'' , ''РСДРП'') was formed in
Minsk in
1889.
★ The Russian Social Democratic Labour Party was finally divided in 1912, although the
Bolshevik and
Menshevik factions had ''de facto'' functioned as separate political blocs. Henceforth, the Bolshevik party was known as RSDLP (bolsheviks) (
Russian: ''Росси́́йская Социал-демократи́ческая Рабо́чая Па́ртия (большевико́в)'' , ''РСДРП(б)'').
★ In
1918 the party took the name Russian Communist Party (bolsheviks) (
Russian: ''Росси́йская Коммунисти́ческая Па́ртия (большевико́в)'' , ''РКП(б)'').
★ In
1925 the party was renamed the
All-Union Communist party (bolsheviks) (
Russian: ''Всесою́зная Коммунисти́ческая Па́ртия (большевико́в)'' , ''ВКП(б)'').
★ In
1952 the party was renamed the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.
End of Communist rule
The growing likelihood of the dissolution of the USSR itself led conservative elements in the CPSU to launch the
August Coup in
1991 which temporarily removed Gorbachev from power. On
August 19, 1991, a day before the ''
New Union Treaty'' was to be signed devolving power to the republics, a group calling itself the "State Emergency Committee" seized power in Moscow declaring that Gorbachev was ill and therefore relieved of his position as president. Soviet vice-president
Gennadiy Yanayev was named acting president. The committee's eight members included
KGB chairman
Vladimir Kryuchkov, Internal Affairs Minister
Boris Pugo, Defense Minister
Dmitriy Yazov, and Prime Minister
Valentin Pavlov. The coup dissolved because of large public demonstrations and the efforts of
Boris Yeltsin who became the real power in Russia as a result. Gorbachev returned to Moscow as president but resigned as General Secretary and vowed to purge the party of conservatives. Yeltsin had the CPSU formally banned within Russia. The
KGB was disbanded as were other CPSU-related agencies and organisations. Yeltsin's action was later declared unconstitutional but by this time the USSR had ceased to exist.
After the
collapse of the Soviet Union, Russian adherents to the CPSU tradition, particularly as it existed before Gorbachev, reorganised themselves as the
Communist Party of the Russian Federation. Today there is a widespread flora of parties in Russia, claiming to be the successors of CPSU. Several of them used the name CPSU. However, CPRF is generally seen (because of its massive size) as the inheritor of the CPSU in Russia.
In other republics, communists established the
Armenian Communist Party,
Communist Party of Azerbaijan,
Party of Communists of Kyrgyzstan,
Communist Party of Ukraine,
Party of Communists of Belarus,
Party of Communists of the Republic of Moldova,
Communist Party of Kazakhstan and the
Communist Party of Tajikistan. Along with the CPRF, these parties formed the
Union of Communist Parties - Communist Party of the Soviet Union (SKP-KPSS).
★ In
Turkmenistan, the local party apparatus led by
Saparmurat Niyazov was converted into the
Democratic Party of Turkmenistan.
★ In
Uzbekistan,
Islom Karimov converted the CPSU branch into the
Democratic People's Party.
★ In
Georgia, the Socialist Labour Party was founded in
1992. This party would later evolve into the
Communist Party of Georgia (SKP). Another communist faction in Georgia, which is larger than SKP, is the
United Communist Party of Georgia (SEKP).
★ In
Estonia, the CPSU branch was in the hands of reformers, who converted it into the
Estonian Democratic Labour Party (EDTP). A minority regrouped into the
Communist Party of Estonia.
★ In
Lithuania, the CPSU was officially banned in 1991. A branch of "progressive" communists led by
Algirdas Brazauskas established the
Democratic Labour Party of Lithuania in 1992.
★ In
Latvia, communist organizations were officially banned and a major part of the party there had broken away in
1990 and formed the
Latvian Social Democratic Party. The remnants of CPSU became the
Union of Communists of Latvia, which went underground. Later, communists regrouped into the
Socialist Party of Latvia.
In Estonia
Main articles: Communist Party of Estonia
Like in the rest of the Russian empire, the RSDLP branches in the
Estland gubernia had been ravaged by division between Bolsheviks and Mensheviks. In 1912 the Bolsheviks started a publication, ''Kiir'', in
Narva. In June 1914 the party took a decision to create a special Central Committee of RSDLP(b) of Estland, named the ''Northern-Baltic Committee of the RSDLP(b)" ().
After the
February Revolution, as in the rest of the empire, Bolsheviks started to gain popularity with their demands to end the war immediately, as well as their support for fast land reform and originally even ethnic claims (to introduce Estonian as an official language parallel to Russian). During the summer of 1917 Bolsheviks and their supporters took the control over the Tallinn Soviet.
By the end of 1917 Estonian Bolsheviks were stronger than ever - holding control over political power and having significant support - remarkably more than in Russia. In the elections into the Russian Constituent Assembly their list got 40,2% of the votes in Estonia and 4 out of 8 seats allocated to Estonia. The support for the party did however start to decline, and the Estonian Constituent Assembly election of January 1918 was never completed. Moreover the party faced the situation in which it had difficultly building alliances. Their opponents, the Democratic Bloc, was able to initiate cooperation with the Labour Party, Mensheviks and the
Socialist-Revolutionary Party. Those parties supported different ideas but were united around the demand for an independent or Finland-linked Estonia and wished to distribute land to the peasants. In the first question the Estonian Bolsheviks, although having introduced
Estonian as an official language after their takeover, promoted the idea of Estonia as a part of Soviet Russia. In the land reform policy, Estonian Bolsheviks continued to support immediate collectivisation.
Bolshevik rule in Estonia was ended by the German invasion in the end of February 1918. The party branch continued to function in exile in Russia.
After the German revolution in November, when an Estonian government took office, the party together with support of Soviet troops attempted an armed attack against the new state. However, by this time the support for the party had waned, and it failed to mobilize mass support for revolutionary warfare. An
Estonian Workers Commune was setup, but with limited real influence. At this time the party branch had been reorganized into the ''Central Committee of the Estonian Sections of the RCP(b)'' (). After the war a reorientation was found to be necessary (since Estonia was now an independent state) by the central leadership of the RCP(b) and thus on the
November 5,
1920 the
Communist Party of Estonia (EKP) was founded as a separate party.
In 1940 EKP was merged into the CPSU(b). The territorial organization of CPSU(b) in the
Estonian SSR became known as Communist Party of Estonia (bolshevik) (EK(b)P).
The EK(b)P was purged in
1950 of many of its original native leaders; they were replaced by several prominent Russian Estonians who had grown up in Russia.
When the CPSU(b) changed its name in 1952, the EK(b)P removed the (b) from its name.
EKP was divided in
1990, as the pro-sovereignty majority faction of EKP separated itself from the Communist Party of the Soviet Union and became the
Estonian Democratic Labour Party. The minority faction of pro-Soviet hardliners broke away forming a party called
Communist Party of Estonia (CPSU) (EKP (NLKP)).
In Lithuania
By the time of the formation of the
Lithuanian SSR, the
Communist Party of Lithuania (LKP) was headed by
Antanas Sniečkus. In 1940 the LKP merged into the CPSU(b). The territorial organization of the party in Lithuania was called Communist Party of Lithuania (bolshevik) (LK(b)P).
In the Lithuanian territorial organization, the first secretary of the Central Committee of the party (always a Lithuanian) was de facto governor of the country. The second secretary was always a Moscow-appointed Russian.
In 1952 the name of the old Lithuanian party, LKP, was retaken.
In 1989, during
mass protests against Soviet Union in Lithuania the party declared itself independent from Communist Party of the Soviet Union.
An alternative Communist Party of Lithuania ('on platform of Communist Party of the Soviet Union') existed in 1990-1991 under leadership of
Mykolas Burokevičius. It was established after the "traditional" party declared its independence from its Soviet Union counterpart, and was eventually banned in 1991.
In 1990 the Communist Party of Lithuania was renamed into
Democratic Labour Party of Lithuania, which in turn was later merged with
Social Democratic Party of Lithuania under the later's name, but with leadership dominated by ex-communists.
In Moldova
Main articles: Communist Party of Moldova
The Communist Party of Moldova (, PCM) was the republic-level chapter of the CPSU in the Moldavian SSR from 1940 to 1991. During that time, except for the period of 1941-1944, it was the sole legal political party in the republic. It was outlawed by the pro-Romanian Popular Front government in August 1991, just after Moldova declared independence.
After the Communist party was legalised again by the Parliament of the Republic of Moldova on 7 September 1993, the PCM was reborn as the
Party of Communists of the Republic of Moldova, which has governed Moldova since 2001.
Branches
[1]
Name
★ 1912-1918: Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (bolsheviks)
★ 1918-1925: All Russian Communist Party (bolsheviks)
★ 1925-1934: All Union Communist Party (bolsheviks)
★ 1934-1952: Communist Party of the Soviet Union (bolsheviks)
★ 1952-1991: Communist Party of the Soviet Union
Name in different Soviet languages
| Language | Abbreviation | Full name |
|---|
| Russian | КПСС | Коммунистическая Партия Советского Союза, ''Kommunisticheskaya Partiya Sovetskogo Soyuza'' |
| Ukrainian | КПРС | Комуністична Партія Радянського Союзу, ''Komunistychna Partiya Radyans’koho Soyuzu'' |
| Belarusian | КПСС | Камуністычная Партыя Савецкага Саюза, ''Kamunistychnaya Partyya Savyetskaha Sayuza'' |
| Uzbek | | |
| Kazakh | СОКП | |
| Georgian | | |
| Azerbaijan | СИКП | Совет Иттифагы Коммунист Партијасы |
| Lithuanian | TSKP | ''Tarybų Sąjungos komunistų partija'' |
| Moldovan | ПКУС | Партидул Комунист ал Униуний Советиче |
| Latvian | PSKP | ''Padomju Savienības Komunistiskā Partija'' |
| Kyrgyz | ССКП | Советтер Союзунун Коммунисттик партиясы |
| Tajik | | |
| Armenian | ՍՄԿԿ | |
| Turkmen | | |
| Estonian | NLKP | ''Nõukogude Liidu Kommunistlik Partei'' |
See also
★
Communist Party
★
List of socialists
References
1. [1]
External links
★
Executive Bodies of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (1917-1991)
★
Program of the CPSU, 27th Party Congress (1986)
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