The mandate of delegate the all-Union (19) XIX Congress of the
CPSU
The Nineteenth Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union was held from 5 to 14 October 1952. It was the first party congress after World War II and the last under Joseph Stalin's leadership. It was attended by many dignitaries from foreign Communist parties, including Liu Shaoqi from China. Stalin made his last speech at this Congress.[1]
Changes [edit]
- Stalin's request, voiced through Malenkov, to be relieved of his duties in the party secretariat due to his age, was rejected by the party congress, as delegates were unsure about Stalin's intentions.[2] In the end, the congress formally abolished Stalin's office of General Secretary, though Stalin remained one of the party secretaries and maintained ultimate control of the Party.[3] In September 1953 the office was reintroduced as First Secretary.
- The Politburo of the Central Committee became the Presidium of the Central Committee and was greatly expanded (to 15 members) in preparation for the purge scheduled the next year. The Secretariat and Central Committee were doubled in size (to ten and 133 members, respectively). The Orgburo was abolished, and its duties were transferred to the Secretariat.
An unofficial "inner circle" of Stalin's closest associates included Lavrentiy Beria, Nikolai Bulganin, Kliment Voroshilov, Lazar Kaganovich, Georgy Malenkov, Mikhail Pervukhn, Maksim Saburov, and Nikita Khrushchev.
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