1898-1991, ruling party 1917-1991; in the pre-revolutionary period, the Russian Social Democratic Labor Party (RSDPR), since 1917 the Russian Social Democratic Labor Party (Bolsheviks) - RSDLP (b). In March 1918, at the Seventh Congress, it was renamed the Russian Communist Party (Bolsheviks) - RCP (b). The Fourteenth Party Congress (1925) renamed the RCP (b) into the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks) - VKP (b). The Nineteenth Party Congress (1952) renamed the All-Union Communist Party (Bolshevik) into the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.
The founding First Congress of the RSDLP took place in 1898 in Minsk. However, systematic work to create a grassroots party network began in 1900 after the publication of V.I. Lenin of the newspaper Iskra. The Second Congress of the RSDLP (1903) promoted the unification of scattered Marxist organizations in Russia into a mass political party and at the same time revealed two trends in Russian social democracy: the Bolshevik and the Menshevik. The leader of the Bolsheviks was V.I. Lenin. As a result of the October Revolution of 1917, the Bolshevik Party came to power. Since the 1920s, the VKP (b) was the only party in the country and became the basis of the state totalitarian regime headed by I.V. Stalin. If in 1917 there were 40 thousand party members in Russia, then by the mid-1980s this number had grown to 19 million.
At the Twentieth Congress of the CPSU (1956), part of the party leadership, headed by N.S. Khrushchev came out with the exposure of the personality cult of Stalin, marking the so-called period of the thaw. By the mid-1960s, the thaw period ended, conservative forces interrupted the process of updating the party and state apparatus, searching for ways to effectively develop the economy. In 1977, the leading role of the CPSU in Soviet society was enshrined in a special article of the Constitution of the USSR. Since 1985 M.S. Gorbachev initiated attempts to restructure Soviet society and the party. The desire for reforms was supported by the Soviet people, but the strategy and tactics of the leadership of the USSR led to a deep socio-economic crisis and, ultimately, to the collapse of the USSR. In 1991 by presidential decree Russian Federation B.N. Yeltsin, the activity of the CPSU on the territory of Russia was terminated and its organizational structures.
The CPSU became the first Marxist party in the world to establish political domination in its country, to implement the idea of creating a socialist state. As a party of scientific communism, the CPSU was based on Marxism-Leninism - the scientific foundation of the revolutionary transformation of society. At each historical stage, the CPSU was guided in its activities by a special document - the Program. The first Party Program was adopted in 1903 at the Second Congress of the RSDLP. It set the tasks of the working class conquering political power and establishing the dictatorship of the proletariat. This program was carried out during the Great October Socialist Revolution and the establishment of Soviet power. The Eighth Congress of the RCP (B) in 1919 adopted the second Party Program - the program for building socialism. The 22nd Congress of the CPSU in 1961 adopted the third Program - a program for building a communist society in the USSR. This program formulated, as a triune, the task of creating the material and technical basis of communism, the formation of communist social relations and the education of a new person. The creation of the material and technical base of communism meant not only the improvement of technology, technology and organization of social production in all sectors National economy, the development of economically efficient branches of production, the rapid pace of scientific and technological progress, the high cultural and technical level of the working people, but also superiority over the developed capitalist countries in labor productivity, which was a necessary condition for the victory of the communist system.
The CPSU was created as a single party of the proletariat of multinational Russia, internationalism became the principle of the party's national program. After the formation of the USSR, republican communist parties were created in all union republics, except for the RSFSR, which became an integral part of the unified CPSU. The organizational foundations of the CPSU were embodied in the Charter of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. He determined the norms of party life, methods and forms of party building, methods of party leadership in all spheres of state, economic, ideological, and social activity in the USSR. According to the Charter, the guiding principle of the organizational structure of the party was democratic centralism, which means: the election of all the governing bodies of the party from top to bottom; periodic reporting by party bodies to their party organizations and to higher bodies; party discipline and subordination of the minority to the majority; the obligatory decisions of the higher bodies for the lower ones. The supreme principle Party leadership was declared collective.
A member of the CPSU could be any citizen of the Soviet Union who recognizes the Program and the Charter of the party, participates in the building of communism, works in one of the party organizations, fulfills party decisions and pays membership fees. A party member had the right to elect and be elected to party bodies, to discuss at party meetings, conferences, congresses, at meetings of party committees and in the party press questions of the policy and practical activities of the party, make proposals, openly express and defend his opinion before the organization makes a decision; to criticize at party meetings, conferences, congresses, plenary sessions of a committee of any communist, regardless of the post he holds.
Admission to the members of the CPSU was carried out exclusively on an individual basis. Those who joined the party had a candidate's experience for a period of one year. Persons over eighteen years of age were admitted to the party; young people under 23 years old inclusive joined the party only through the Komsomol. For non-fulfillment of statutory duties and misconduct, a member or candidate for membership in the party was brought to justice and could be punished. The highest measure of party punishment was expulsion from the party.
The CPSU was built according to the territorial-production principle: the primary organizations of the party were created at the place of work of the communists and united into regional, city, and district organizations across the territory. The highest governing bodies of the party organizations were the general meeting for the primary organizations; conference for district, city, district, regional, regional organizations; congress for the communist parties of the union republics and for the CPSU. General meeting, conference, congress elected a bureau or committee, which were the executive bodies and directed the current work of the party organization. Elections of party bodies were held by closed (secret) ballot.
The supreme body of the CPSU was the party congress, which elected the Central Committee and the Central Auditing Commission. Regular congresses of the party were convened at least once every five years. In the intervals between congresses, the activities of the party were directed by the Central Committee of the CPSU. The Central Committee of the CPSU elected the Politburo to guide the work of the party between the Plenums of the Central Committee; to manage the day-to-day work, mainly in recruiting and organizing performance checks, the Secretariat. The Central Committee elected the General Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee. Under the Central Committee of the CPSU, there was a Party Control Committee.
The basis of the party was its primary organizations, which were created at the place of work of party members - in factories, factories, state farms, collective farms, units of the Soviet army, institutions, educational institutions with at least three party members. Territorial primary party organizations were also organized at the place of residence of the communists: in the countryside and under house administrations. The primary party organization accepted new members to the CPSU, and fought against manifestations of bureaucracy, parochialism, and violations of state discipline. Primary party organizations government agencies management, economic enterprises, scientific and educational institutions, cultural, educational and medical institutions enjoyed the right to control the activities of the administration. The leadership of party work in the armed forces was carried out by the Central Committee of the CPSU through the Main Political Directorate of the Soviet Army and Navy, which worked as a department of the Central Committee of the CPSU. The All-Union Lenin Communist Youth Union (Komsomol) operated under the leadership of the CPSU.
The CPSU has always paid attention to the fact that in its ranks there was a significant stratum of representatives of the proletariat. In the 1970s, about 40% of party members were workers, 15% were collective farmers. It was much more difficult for the intelligentsia and civil servants to join the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, but promotion through the ranks in the state apparatus was directly related to the presence of a party card. About a third of the party members were women.
The CPSU had its own system of party education, in which both party members and non-party activists were trained. Leading party and Soviet cadres studied at the Academy of Social Sciences under the Central Committee of the CPSU, the Higher Party School under the Central Committee of the CPSU, the Correspondence Higher Party School under the Central Committee of the CPSU. In addition, a network of republican and interregional higher party schools, universities of Marxism-Leninism was created in the country. The research center of the CPSU was the Institute of Marxism-Leninism under the Central Committee of the CPSU with a network of branches in the union republics.
The Communist Party of the Soviet Union carried out publishing activities, central authority The CPSU Central Committee had a newspaper called Pravda. The Central Committee of the CPSU also published the newspapers "Soviet Russia", "Socialist Industry", "Rural Life", "Soviet Culture", the weekly "Economic Newspaper", the theoretical and political magazine "Kommunist", the magazines "Agitator", "Party Life", " Political self-education ”. Under the jurisdiction of the Central Committee of the CPSU were the publishing house "Pravda", "Publishing house of political literature" (Politizdat). The Central Committees of the Communist Parties of the Union republics had their own publishing houses.
political party in 1898-1991. She led history from the Russian Social Democratic Labor Party (RSDLP), founded at the 1st Congress (1898, Minsk). It finally took shape at the 2nd Congress (1903, Brussels, London), which adopted the party program (the minimum program provided for the overthrow of the autocracy, the establishment of a republic, the introduction of an 8-hour working day, the elimination of the remnants of serfdom, the equality of nations and their right to self-determination; the maximum determined main task- the implementation of a socialist revolution with the aim of overthrowing capitalism and establishing the dictatorship of the proletariat). At the Second Congress, two factions took shape - the Bolsheviks, headed by V.I. Lenin, and the Mensheviks, led by L. Martov and G.V. Plekhanov, who later became independent parties. In 1917, after the February Revolution, Bolshevik organizations adopted the name RSDLP (Bolsheviks). In October 1917 the leadership of the RSDLP (b) under the slogan "All power to the Soviets!" carried out a seizure of power in the country. At the 7th Congress (1918, Moscow) a new name for the party was adopted: the Russian Communist Party (Bolsheviks) - RCP (b). The program, adopted at the 8th Party Congress (1919), in the most general form declared the principles of the transition from capitalism to socialism. By the early 1920s. the Bolshevik leadership banned the activities of all other political parties in the country. The Bolshevik Party, which was called the All-Union - VKP (b) since 1925, became the only political party that concentrated all the levers of power both in the center and in the localities in its own hands. The one-party system was consolidated in the late 1920s and early 1930s. With the victory in the internal party struggle of the group of I. V. Stalin, who since 1922 held the post of general secretary of the Central Committee of the party, the 19th Party Congress (1952) renamed it the CPSU. At the 20th Congress (1956), part of the party leadership, headed by NS Khrushchev, condemned the so-called. the cult of Stalin's personality, mass repression and authoritarian methods of leadership. At the 22nd Congress of the CPSU (1961), the 3rd party program was adopted. Proceeding from the thesis that socialism in the USSR was victorious "completely and finally", the program proclaimed the country's entry into the period of "full-scale construction of communism." The subsequent development of the country showed that the main provisions of the program were utopian. Since the end of the 60s. the party and the political system headed by it entered the stage of stagnation ("stagnation"), conservative forces headed by Leonid I. Brezhnev prevailed in its leadership; the rate of economic development of the country dropped sharply. The Constitution of the USSR (1977) consolidated the position of the CPSU as the leading and guiding force of Soviet society, the nucleus of its political system, state and public organizations as one of the basic constitutional norms. In the mid-80s. the top party leadership, headed by Mikhail Gorbachev, proclaimed a course towards "restructuring" and democratization of Soviet society, the 27th Congress of the CPSU (1986) adopted " new edition"program, in which the provision on" building communism "was replaced by the thesis on" improving socialism ", the 28th Congress (1990), after a heated discussion, approved the party" platform ", which actually canceled the program of 1986 and declared the gradual transition of the CPSU to the position of" democratic socialism " Within the CPSU, several opposing trends took shape.The confrontation between the reformist and conservative forces led to an aggravation of crisis phenomena in the party and society.During the August 1991 crisis, in accordance with the decrees of the President of the RSFSR B.N. Yeltsin, the activities of the CPSU in the RSFSR were terminated, and its organizational structures were disbanded.In 1992 and subsequent years, a number of communist parties and organizations were created in Russia, the largest of which is the Communist Party of the Russian Federation.
] Edited by Em. Yaroslavsky.
(Moscow: Party publishing house (Partyizdat), 1933. - The Marx-Engels-Lenin Institute under the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party (b). Minutes of congresses and conferences of the All-Union Communist Party (b). Workers of all countries, unite!)
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From the editor: The Eighth Party Congress has an outstanding place in the history of our Party. At this congress, the party's current program was adopted. The resolution on strong alliance with the middle peasantry and other decisions of world-wide historical significance ...
After the end of the Second World War, the communist ideology became one of the most widespread in the world, influencing the lives and destinies of millions of people. The Soviet Union, having won a bloody confrontation with imperialism, confirmed the viability of the socialist path of civil society development. The formation of the People's Republic of China in October 1949, where the Chinese communists took the helm of a multimillion-strong country, only confirmed the correctness of the Marxist-Leninist ideology in the context of governing a large civil society. New historical realities have created fertile ground for the parade procession of communism across the planet, led by the CPSU.
Not in a single country of the world, in any part of the world, either before or since, has there been, and still is not, a powerful party organization that can compare in its influence on economic and social life with the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. The history of the CPSU is a vivid example of the political management of the state system at all stages of the development of civil society. For 70 years, a huge country was ruled by the party, controlling all spheres of life Soviet man and influencing the world political structure... Resolutions of the CPSU Central Committee, Presidium and Politburo, decisions of plenums, party congresses and party conferences determined economic development countries, directions of the foreign policy of the Soviet state. The Communist Party did not achieve such power overnight. The communists (aka Bolsheviks) had to go a long and thorny path, often zigzagging and bloody, in order to finally establish themselves as the only leading political force of the world's first socialist state.
If the history of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union goes back almost a century, then the abbreviation KPSS - the Communist Party of the Soviet Union - emerged relatively recently, in 1952. Until that moment, the leading party in the USSR was called the All-Union Communist Party. The history of the CPSU dates back to the Russian Social Democratic Labor Party, founded in the Russian Empire in 1898. The first Russian political party with a socialist orientation became the basic platform for the revolutionary movement in Russia. Later, already in the course of the historical events of 1917, a split occurred in the ranks of the RSDLP into the Bolsheviks - supporters of an armed uprising and the violent seizure of power in the country - and into the Mensheviks - the wing of the party, which adhered to liberal views. The left wing that had formed in the party, more reactionary and militarized, tried to take control of the revolutionary situation in Russia by taking an active part in the October armed uprising. It was the RSDLP of the Bolsheviks under the leadership of Ulyanov-Lenin that played a key role in the victory of the socialist revolution, taking upon itself all the power in the country. At the XII Congress of the RSDLP, it was decided to form the Russian Communist Party of the Bolsheviks, which received the abbreviation RCP (b).
The inclusion of the adjective "communist" in the name of the party, according to V.I. Lenin, should indicate the ultimate goal of the party, for the sake of which all socialist transformations are being undertaken in the country.
Having come to power, the former Russian Social Democrats headed by V.I. Lenin proclaimed their program of building the world's first socialist state of workers and peasants. The basic platform for the state structure was the party program, the main emphasis of which was the Marxist ideology. Having gone through a difficult period Civil war, the Bolsheviks set about state building, making the party apparatus the main political and administrative structure in the country. The party leadership relied on a powerful ideology, seeking to gain a leading role in the state structure. Along with the councils, which formally performed representative functions, the Bolsheviks organize their own leading party bodies, which over time begin to fulfill the tasks of the executive branch. The Soviets and the CPSU, which later became known as the Bolshevik Party, retained close ties in the leadership of the country, formally demonstrating the presence of representative power.
In the USSR, it was possible to skillfully disguise the leading role of the party in the electoral process. On the ground, there were village and city councils of people's deputies, which were elected as a result of a popular vote, but in fact, almost every people's choice is a member of the CPSU. The Soviets were completely absorbed by the party structures of the Communist Party, performing two functions at the local level at once, party representation and the functions of the executive branch. The decisions of the top party leadership were first submitted to the Presidium of the Central Committee, after which it was required to approve it at the Plenum of the Central Committee. In practice, decisions of the Central Committee of the CPSU were often a prerequisite for subsequent legislative acts submitted to meetings of the Supreme Soviet and Resolutions adopted by the Council of Ministers of the USSR.
It can be safely argued that the Bolsheviks managed to realize their efforts to achieve the hegemony of political power in Soviet Russia... The entire vertical of power, starting with the People's Commissariats and ending with Soviet bodies, becomes completely under the control of the Bolsheviks. The Central Committee of the Party determines the external and domestic policy countries during that period. The weight of the party leadership is growing at all levels, which is supported by a powerful repressive apparatus. The Red Army and the Cheka are becoming instruments of the party's forceful influence on social and public attitudes in civil society. The competence of the communist leadership includes the military industry, the country's economy, education, culture and foreign policy, which was under the jurisdiction of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the CPSU.
Communist ideas on the creation of a workers 'and peasants' state were realized in 1922, when the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics was formed in the place of Soviet Russia. The next step in the transformation of the Communist Party was the XIV Party Congress, which decided to rename the organization into the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks. The name of the party of the CPSU (b) lasted 27 years, after which the new name of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union was approved as the final version.
The main reason for the change in the name of the Communist Party was the growing weight of the Soviet Union in the political arena. Victory in the Great Patriotic War, economic achievements made the USSR a leading world power. The main governing force of the country needed a more respectable and sonorous name. In addition, the political need for dividing the communist movement into Bolsheviks and Mensheviks has disappeared. The entire party structure and political lines were sharpened under the main idea, the construction of a communist society in the USSR.
The first in the post-war period was the 19th Party Congress, convened after a long 13-year hiatus. Stalin, General Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee, made a speech at the forum. This was his last public appearance. It was at this congress that the main directions of the future political and economic structure of the country in the post-war period were adopted, the course in the domestic and foreign policy of the Communist Party was charted. The Communists, represented by all strata of Soviet society, who gathered at the 19th Party Congress, unanimously supported the proposal of the party leadership to amend the Party Charter. The idea of changing the name of the party to the Communist Party of the Soviet Union was greeted with the approval of the participants in the congress. In the Party Charter, the post of the first person of the party - the General Secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU - is again enshrined.
Note: It should be noted that apart from the party card, testifying to membership in the party, there were no other insignia among the communists. It was unofficially accepted to wear a badge - the banner of the CPSU, on which, together with the abbreviation of the CPSU and the face of V.I. Lenin depicted the main symbols of the Soviet state, the red banner and the crossed hammer and sickle. The official symbols of the communist movement in the USSR eventually become the badge of a participant in a regular party congress and a participant in a CPSU conference.
The role of the Communist Party in the early 1950s for the USSR can hardly be overestimated. In addition to the fact that the party elite carries out the development of internal and foreign policy of the Soviet state throughout its existence, the organs of party power are present in all spheres of the life of the Soviet people. The party structure is built in such a way that in every body and organization, in production and in the cultural and public sphere, no decision is made without the participation and control of the party. The main instrument for carrying out the party line in civil society is a member of the CPSU - a person who has indisputable authority, high moral and strong-willed qualities. From several members, on the basis of industrial or professional identity, a primary party cell, the lowest party body, is formed. All that is above is already specialized and regional organizations that unite ordinary citizens in the field according to an ideological principle.
The class composition was also reflected in the recruitment of the ranks of the party. Representing the interests ruling class The Communist Party of the Soviet Union consisted of 55-60% representatives of the proletarian environment and the Soviet peasantry. Moreover, the share of communists who left the working environment was always two, three times higher than the number of collective farmers. These quotas were secretly approved back in the 20-30s. The remaining 40% were representatives of the intelligentsia. Moreover, this quota has been preserved in modern times, when the urban population has rapidly increased in the country.
What is the CPSU in the new, post-war era? This is already a large Marxist party, whose political will and subsequent actions are aimed at creating a dominant position of the proletariat in the country. The General Secretaries of the CPSU Central Committee, as before, perform the functions of the country's top leadership. The main governing body of the party, the Central Committee, was practically a government body in the USSR.
The highest party organ of the party was the congress. Throughout history, 28 party congresses have taken place. The first 7 events were legal and semi-legal. From 1917 to 1925, party congresses were held annually. Further, the CPSU (b) gathered for congresses every two years. Since 1961, the CPSU congresses have been held every 5 years. At a new stage, the Communist Party of the Soviet Union held 10 of its largest forums:
Decisions and resolutions adopted at the congresses were fundamental for subsequent decisions of the Central Committee, the Soviet government and other legislative and executive bodies. The composition of the Central Committee of the Central Committee was determined at the congress. In the period between congresses, the main work on the line of party management was carried out by the Plenum of the Central Committee of the CPSU. At the plenary sessions, the General Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee was elected from among the members of the Presidium of the Central Committee. The plenary sessions were attended not only by members of the highest party bodies, but also by candidates for members of the Central Committee. The authority in making decisions in the intervals between plenary sessions lay entirely with the Politburo of the CPSU Central Committee, which consisted of members of the Central Committee. The newly created collegial body was entrusted with the administrative functions of governing the party and the country, which were previously entrusted to another governing body - the Presidium of the Central Committee of the CPSU.
A unique situation developed in the USSR when party decisions played the main role in governing the state. Neither the Council of Ministers, nor the relevant ministries, nor the Supreme Soviet have adopted a single law without the approval of the party leadership. All decisions, orders and decisions of the Central Committee of the CPSU, decisions of the Plenum of the Central Committee secretly had the force of legislative acts, on the basis of which the Council of Ministers was already acting. In modern times, this trend has not only continued, but also intensified. However, despite the total domination of the communist party in the political and public life of the country, it was necessary to introduce some changes in the structure of the party organization, caused by new political trends and motives. The Central Committee and the Politburo of the CPSU Central Committee in the period between plenums and congresses played the role of a shadow government.
After the Baltic countries became part of the Soviet state as union republics, it was necessary to change the structure of the party according to national and regional characteristics. Organizationally, the CPSU consisted of the communist parties of the union republics that are part of the Soviet Union, 14 instead of 15. The Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic did not have its own party organization. The secretaries of the republican parties were part of the Presidium of the Central Committee of the CPSU and the Politburo of the Central Committee of the CPSU, which was a collegial and advisory body.
In the structure of the top party leadership, a collective and collegial style of management has always been preserved, but the General Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee remained the most significant and iconic figure in the party Olympus.
This was the only non-collegial position in the structure of the Communist Party. In terms of powers and rights, the first person in the party was the nominal Head of the Soviet state. Neither the Chairman of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, nor the Chairman of the Council of Ministers had such powers as the general secretaries had in the Soviet Union. In total, 6 General Secretaries knew the political history of the Soviet state. IN AND. Although Lenin occupied the highest level in the party hierarchy, he remained the nominal head of the Soviet government, holding the post of Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars.
The combination of the highest party position and the Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars was continued by I.V. Stalin, who became the head of the Soviet government in 1941. Further, after the death of the leader, the tradition of combining the highest party post with the highest executive power was continued by NS Khrushchev, who was the Head of the Soviet government. After Khrushchev was dismissed from all posts, it was decided to formally divide the posts of the General Secretary and the Head of the Soviet Government. The General Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee performs representative functions, while all executive power is vested in the Chairman of the USSR Council of Ministers.
The post of general secretary after Stalin's death was held by the following persons:
The last general secretary was M.S.Gorbachev, who, in parallel with the post of head of the party, served as Chairman of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, and then became the first President of the USSR. From this moment on, the resolutions of the Central Committee of the CPSU are of a recommendatory nature. The main emphasis in the country's leadership is placed on the representation of power. The powers of the party leadership in the sphere of governing the country in the internal and external arena are becoming limited.
The main feature of the activities of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union is the collegial nature of the management structure. Starting with V.I. Lenin, in the party leadership a quorum plays an important role in decision-making. However, despite the apparent collectivity and collegiality in the management of the party, with the arrival of I.S.Stalin to the highest party posts, a transition to an authoritarian style of government is outlined. Only when NS Khrushchev came to the post of General Secretary is there a return to the collegial style of management. The Politburo of the CPSU Central Committee again becomes the supreme party body that makes decisions and is responsible for the implementation of program points adopted at plenums and congresses.
The role of this body in the management of public affairs is gradually increasing. Considering that all the leading posts in the Soviet state were held only by members of the CPSU, we can say that the entire party elite is represented in the Politburo of the CPSU Central Committee, which has full power. The bureau included, in addition to the secretary general, the secretaries of the republican Central Committee of the party, the first secretaries of the Moscow and Leningrad regional committees, the Chairman of the Presidium of the USSR Armed Forces and the Supreme Soviet of the RSFRS. As representatives of the executive power, the Politburo of the CPSU Central Committee necessarily included the Chairman of the Council of Ministers, the Minister of Defense of the USSR, the Minister of Foreign Affairs and the Head of the State Security Committee.
This tendency in the management system continued until the very last days of the Soviet Union. After the last XXVIII Party Congress, a split began to emerge in the Communist Party. With the introduction in 1990 of the post of President of the USSR, the role of the Politburo in the management of state affairs has sharply decreased. Already in March 1990, Article 6 was excluded from the Constitution of the USSR, in which the leading role of the CPSU in the management of state affairs was enshrined. The last congress put an end to the hegemony of the Communist Party in the life of the country. Within the party itself high level a split was outlined. Several factions appeared at once, each of which preached its own point of view regarding the subsequent fate of the party, its place in the country's leadership.
The resolutions of the Central Committee of the CPSU are already in the form of internal party circulars, which indirectly reflect the main directions of the work of the Soviet government. Since 1990, the party has been losing the threads of control over the country's governing system. The activities of the President of the USSR, the functions of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR and the Cabinet of Ministers of the USSR become decisive and decisive in the life of the state. The collapse of the USSR as a unified state put an end to the existence of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union as a major organizational political force.
Today, only party banners, surviving party cards and party congress badges remind us of the former greatness of the Communist Party, which has invariably remained at the helm of the state for 72 years. According to statistics, as of January 1, 1991, there were 16.5 million members and candidates in the ranks of the CPSU. This is the largest indicator for political parties in the world, except for the numerical strength of the CP of China.
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The leading role of the CPSU is due to the leading role of the working class as the builder of the new social system, the nature and essence of socialism, the character of the party itself as the vanguard of the advanced class, and the laws of communist construction. The goals of the CPSU, reflecting the needs of the development of society along the path to communism, are formulated in the Party Program, in the decisions of the CPSU congresses. The conditions for admission to the CPSU and internal party relations are regulated by the Charter, which is the basic law of party life.
The CPSU entered the political arena at the beginning of the 20th century. as a militant party of the working class, interested in the conquest of power, in the socialist reorganization of society. It was created by Lenin as a new type of Marxist party, guided in its activities by the most advanced ideological, political and organizational principles. The CPSU (Bolshevik Party), combining scientific socialism with the mass labor movement, gave the proletariat a scientific program for a democratic and socialist revolution, politically organized it and raised it to fight against the autocracy and the capitalist system. The victory of the Great October Socialist Revolution, achieved under the ideological and political leadership of the Bolshevik Party, marked the country's entry onto the socialist path.
Since October 1917, the Communist Party in our country has been acting as the ruling party, it has led the creative work of the Soviet people, their selfless struggle for the victory of the new system. Under her leadership, the exploiting classes were liquidated, the socio-political and ideological unity of the people was formed and strengthened, and a developed socialist society was built. Today the CPSU is organizing the Soviet people for the solution of the historical tasks of building communism.
The Communist Party relies in its activities on the ideology of Marxism-Leninism, developed and enriched in accordance with revolutionary practice, the experience of communist construction. Organic connection of politics with science - essential principle party leadership. The USSR Constitution proclaims that "the CPSU exists for the people and serves the people." As the vanguard of the people, the CPSU occupies a central place in the political system of society, is its core (see Political System of Socialism). The CPSU leads the Soviets, trade unions, cooperatives, the Komsomol, unites and directs the efforts of all state bodies and public organizations, all working people towards a common goal. The leading activity of the CPSU is carried out within the framework of the Constitution of the USSR. The main law of the USSR includes defining the general prospects for the development of society, the line of domestic and foreign policy of the Soviet state, guiding the great creative activity of the Soviet people, ensuring the planned, scientifically grounded nature of their struggle for communism.
The forms and methods of party leadership, among which in the first place is the development of the course of domestic and foreign policy, political and ideological influence, develop and improve along with the change in the role and tasks of the party. The most important forms of leading activity of the Communist Party include: selection and promotion of cadres capable of ensuring the implementation of the developed policy; versatile ideological and mass-political work to educate workers in the spirit of a communist worldview and morality; persuading and organizing the masses to solve specific problems of building communism; carrying out, with the participation of the masses, verification and control of how the course of social transformations is practically carried out, to what extent it corresponds to the intended goals.
The CPSU does not command state and public organizations, does not replace them and does not assume their functions. It sees its role in outlining the main tasks of these bodies, proceeding from its general line, and using the methods inherent in the party through party groups in them, through communists, party organizations to ensure the implementation of the outlined line at all levels and in all links of the state and social system. ... Party committees act through politically and scientifically grounded recommendations and proposals to the relevant state and public organizations, by convincing them plenipotentiaries and other working people by the communists working in these organizations, as well as through the selection of appropriate cadres of leaders and control over their work. Relying on their political authority and the confidence of the people, the party organs are striving to increase the independence and responsibility of the organs of people's power and administration, as well as public organizations.
Improvement of all forms of state and public organization working people under the leading role of the party ensures the all-round development of socialist democracy, the involvement of workers in the management of society and the state, genuine socialist democracy.
Relations between the governing bodies of the party, its organizations and individual communists in the CPSU are built on the basis corresponding to its nature and goals. The guiding principle of the organizational structure of the CPSU is democratic centralism.
The party is built on a territorial-production basis: primary organizations are created at the place of work of the communists and are united into district, city, regional, republican organizations across the territory. As of January 1, 1983, in accordance with the existing administrative-territorial division of the country, the CPSU united 14 communist parties of the union republics, 6 regional party organizations, 151 regional, 10 district, 873 city, 631 regional organizations in cities, 2886 rural regional organizations, 425 897 primary party organizations. The party organization located in a given territory is superior in relation to all party organizations operating in its parts. All party organizations are autonomous in resolving local issues, if these decisions do not contradict the party's policy, its Program and Charter.
The supreme body of the CPSU is the party congress. Regular congresses are convened by the Central Committee at least once every five years. The charter of the CPSU also provides for the convocation of party conferences in necessary cases. In the intervals between congresses, the activities of the party and local party bodies are directed by the Central Committee of the CPSU.
Questions of party activity are discussed and resolved in the CPSU on a broad democratic basis, while the communists observe party discipline. The combination in the life and structure of the party of democracy and centralism, on the one hand, increases the social and political activity of the communists, and on the other hand, it makes it possible to carry out a single policy and adopted decisions everywhere.
An important condition for the success of the party leadership lies in the Leninist style of work - a creative style, alien to subjectivity, imbued with a scientific approach to social processes. Lenin's style presupposes high demands on oneself and others, excludes complacency, resists any manifestations of bureaucracy and formalism. The Party is striving to ensure that everywhere and everywhere have been created favorable conditions for the development of criticism and self-criticism, so that healthy criticism finds the necessary support everywhere, reasonable and well-grounded proposals and remarks of communists and non-party people are implemented. The party sees its important task in developing the activity of communists, increasing efficiency in work, raising the responsibility of all party organizations, their leadership and each communist individually for the implementation of decisions.
Implementing and developing the Leninist norms of party life: accountability and election of leading party bodies, freedom of discussion and criticism, openness of party life, collective leadership, ideological and organizational unity of the party ranks, equality of communists, the CPSU acts as a socio-political organization with the most democratic relations.
The CPSU has over 18 million Communists. Every ninth employed person and every eleventh citizen of the USSR aged 18 and over is a communist. The social composition of the party reflects the class structure of Soviet society, the vanguard position of the working class. On January 1, 1983, workers in the party accounted for 44.1%, peasants (collective farmers) - 12.4%, office workers and the rest - 43.5%. At the same time, the party is guided by the fact that the workers occupy a leading place in its composition. The CPSU is characterized by a constant growth of political training, general and special education of its members. The Party does not pursue the numerical growth of its composition, but pursues a course towards its qualitative improvement, towards the selection of the most advanced and politically active representatives of the working people into its ranks. The requirements for joining the party have been increased in accordance with the decisions of the last congresses of the CPSU.
The growth in the numerical and qualitative composition of the CPSU, the increase in the activity and responsibility of the communists reflect the growing role of the party as the leading force in socialist society. This process is associated with profound changes in social development: with an increase in the scale and complexity of the tasks of communist construction, an increase in social activity and consciousness of the masses, the further development of socialist democracy, the growing importance of the theory of scientific communism, its creative development and propaganda, the need to strengthen the communist education of the masses. "The dynamism of the development of Soviet society, the growing scale of communist construction, our activities in the international arena," noted the 25th Congress of the CPSU, "urgently demand a continuous increase in the level of party leadership in the development of the economy and culture, the education of people, and the improvement of organizational and political work among the masses." The 26th Party Congress confirmed the correctness and validity of this orientation.
The CPSU is an integral part of the international communist movement, one of its military units. The party's foreign policy activity is imbued with the principles of proletarian internationalism, concern for strengthening the world socialist community, the unity and cohesion of communists of all countries, and striving to consolidate the peace and security of peoples. The CPSU discusses the emerging problems with the fraternal communist parties in a spirit of true comradeship, within the framework of the immutable norms of equality and respect for the independence of each party. With all this, the Leninist party invariably defends principled internationalist positions and irreconcilably opposes any views and actions that contradict communist ideology.
