Politburo of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union

Soviet Union

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The Politburo (in Russian: Политбюро, full: Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, abbreviated Политбюро ЦК КПСС, Politbyuro TsK KPSS), known as the Presidium from 1952 to 1966, functioned as the central policymaking and governing body of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.

Duties and responsibilities

Excerpt of protocol of Politburo meeting of 17 January 1940 noting the decision to put 457 persons on trial and to execute 346 of them with the rest (111) being sent to GULAG

The body was made up of the top members of the Central Committee. In theory, it acted as the political bureau (hence Politburo) of the Central Committee, elected by them to direct the Party between the sessions of the committee and with a mandate that only covered the Party. The Politburo was responsible to, and its membership was subject to, the approval of the Central Committee.

In reality, the Politburo was a self-perpetuating body that served as the executive branch of the Soviet Union, and its decisions de facto had the force of law. It oversaw the operations of the Committee and made all major policy decisions, which it then passed down through the Central Committee, the Supreme Soviet and the Party Congress. Its control extended from the Party and into government because Party personnel held all key government posts and party discipline therefore ensured that Politburo policy was implemented by all government organizations. One of the few known instances of the Central Committee overruling the Presidium (as the Politburo was known) was the defeat of the so-called Anti-Party Group in 1957.

Lenin set up a political bureau in 1917 specifically to direct the Revolution, but this precursor did not outlast the event; the Central Committee continued with the political functions. However, due to practical reasons, usually less than half of the members attended the regular Central Committee meetings during this time, even though they decided all key questions.

The Eighth Party Congress in 1919 formalized this reality and re-established what would later on become the true center of political power in the Soviet Union. It ordered the Central Committee to appoint a five-member Politburo to decide on questions too urgent to await full Central Committee deliberation. The original members of the Politburo were Vladimir Lenin, Leon Trotsky, Joseph Stalin, Lev Kamenev and Nikolai Krestinsky.

Although, in theory, the Politburo was elected by the Central Committee, in practice, the leading members of the Politburo and, of course, Lenin, were highly influential in determining the body's composition. This, in the end, reflected the weight and competing influence of various individuals within the party, their allies within the Politburo and supporters outside of it.

Under Stalin the processes under which the leadership of the party was determined became an entirely hierarchical matter with the General Secretary (i.e. Stalin) determining the composition of the Central Committee and even that of the Politburo rather than the reverse. After Stalin's death the authority of the General Secretary waxed and waned to various degrees and the composition of the Politburo again became a matter of shifting alliances among leading members and interest groups within the party, at least until a General Secretary was able to consolidate his position.

The Politburo had both full and candidate (non-voting) members. The actual size of the Politburo varied, but it usually consisted of fourteen full and eight candidate members. Although it had no formal head, the General Secretary of the Party, who was almost always head of the Central Committee, functioned as its de facto chairman. In practice the most powerful Politburo members also had membership of the Secretariat of the CPSU Central Committee, the General Secretary leading of this group. Those who had seats on only one of these two bodies had less influence. Only a few women ever became members of the Politburo.

In order to minimize personal clashes and avoid factionalism there was a convention of procedure which mandated that strong criticisms be circulated beforehand to avoid conflict during actual meetings.

In 1990, the 28th Party Congress agreed to transfer the powers of the Politburo to the Congress of People's Deputies and the Supreme Soviet, and the role of Politburo in everyday government of the country decreased considerably.

Politburo ceased to exist in August 1991, when the Communist Party was banned following the August Coup.

See also

• Organisation of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union
• List of members in the 1910s
• List of members in the 1920s
• List of members in the 1930s
• List of members in the 1940s
• List of members in the 1950s
• List of members in the 1960s
• List of members in the 1970s
• List of members in the 1980s
• List of members in the 1990s
• Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union

Further reading

• Oleg Khlevniuk [2006] Politburo. Yale University Press. ISBN 0-300-11066-9

External links

• Leadership of the CPSU Full list of members and candidate members of the Politburo includes dates on the body and year of death (or execution).