The Reorganisation of the Communist Party

Abstract

During the years of Stalin’s rule real power in the Soviet Union resided not in the government, but in the upper echelons of the Communist Party. In fact, until World War II, Stalin never held any formal government office. His power came from his post as Party General Secretary. Policy was discussed and made in the Politburo and, to a lesser extent, in the Central Committee. The party bureaucracy controlled all major appointments to Party and government posts (the so-called nomenklatura). Equally as important, the Party was responsible for overseeing the execution of policy through its local branches and cells. The Party carried out a similar role in the Brezhnev years [42: 176]. Yet, as surprising as it may seem, during the last years of Stalin’s life the Party had relatively little influence. Power resided in Stalin’s personal Secretariat, which oversaw all the different functions of government and management of the economy. It was Khrushchev who placed the Party back in the centre of the political stage. Here he had two motivations. First, Khrushchev used the Party as his base of political power. Secondly, he was well aware of the conservatism and inertia of the existing governmental and ministerial bureaucracies, and thought that through the Party he could revitalise popular morale and initiative, while still keeping such initiative under tight control [42: 178].