Politburo of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union

From Free net encyclopedia

(Redirected from CPSU Politburo)

The Politburo (in Russian: Политбюро), known as the Presidium from 1952 to 1966, functioned as the central policymaking and governing body of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. 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 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 insured that Politburo policy was implemented by all government organizations. One example of the Central Committee of the CPSU overruling the Presidium (as the Politburo was known) was the defeat of the so-called Anti-Party Group in 1957.

Lenin set up the Politburo in 1917 to direct the Revolution, and following the Eighth Party Congress in 1919 it became and remained the true centre of political power in the Soviet Union. Originally, the Politburo consisted of 5 members: Lenin, Leon Trotsky, Joseph Stalin, Lev Kamenev and Nikolai Krestinsky.

Although, in theory, the Politburo was elected from below, in practice, the leading members of the Politburo and, of course, Lenin were highly influential in determining the body's composition which, 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 also often head of the Central Committee, always played the leading role. 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 Parliament, and the Politburo ceased to exist in August 1991.

See also Organization of the Communist Party of the USSR

Politburo/Presidium membership

Date Comments
10 [23] Oct 1917 Andrei Bubnov, Grigory Zinoviev, Lev Kamenev, Vladimir Lenin, Grigory Sokolnikov, Joseph Stalin and Leon Trotsky elected members of the Political Bureau at the Central Committee meeting
Oct 1917 Political bureau ceased to function after the success of the Bolshevik Revolution in Petrograd (25 October (Old Style, [November 7] New Style), 1917)
25 March 1919 Kamenev, Nikolai Krestinsky, Lenin, Stalin and Trotsky elected full members at the Central Committee plenum; Nikolai Bukharin, Zinoviev and Mikhail Kalinin elected candidate members
Jul - Sep 1919 According to an agreement between the Politburo and the Orgburo, chief secretary of the Central Committee Elena Stasova temporarily joined the Politburo from July to September 1919
5 April 1920 Kamenev, Krestinsky, Lenin, Stalin and Trotsky elected full members at the Central Committee plenum; Bukharin, Zinoviev and Kalinin elected candidate members
16 March 1921 Zinoviev, Kamenev, Lenin, Stalin and Trotsky elected full members at the Central Committee plenum; Bukharin, Kalinin and Vyacheslav Molotov elected candidate members
3 April 1922 Zinoviev, Kamenev, Lenin, Alexei Rykov, Stalin, Mikhail Tomsky and Trotsky elected full members at the Central Committee plenum; Bukharin, Kalinin and Molotov elected candidate members
26 April 1923 Zinoviev, Kamenev, Lenin, Rykov, Stalin, Tomsky and Trotsky elected full members at the Central Committee plenum; Bukharin, Kalinin, Molotov and Yan Rudzutak elected candidate members
21 January 1924 Lenin dies
2 June 1924 Bukharin, Zinoviev, Kamenev, Rykov, Stalin, Tomsky and Trotsky elected full members at the Central Committee plenum; Felix Dzerzhinsky, Kalinin, Molotov, Rudzutak, Sokolnikov and Mikhail Frunze elected candidate members
31 October 1925 Frunze dies
1 January 1926 Bukharin, Kliment Voroshilov, Zinoviev, Kalinin, Molotov, Rykov, Stalin, Tomsky and Trotsky elected full members at the Central Committee plenum; Dzerzhinsky, Kamenev, Grigory Petrovsky, Rudzutak and Nikolai Uglanov elected candidate members
20 July 1926 Dzerzhinsky dies
23 July 1926 Zinoviev relieved of duties at the Central Committee plenum; Rudzutak elected full member; candidate members re-elected as follows:Andrei Andreyev, Lazar Kaganovich, Kamenev, Sergei Kirov, Anastas Mikoyan, Sergo Ordzhonikidze, Petrovsky, Uglanov
23 October 1926 Trotsky and Kamenev relieved of duties at the joint plenum of the Central Committee and the Central Control Commission
3 November 1926 Ordzhonikidze relieved of duties at the joint plenum of the Central Committee and the Central Control Commission; Vlas Chubar elected candidate member
19 December 1927 Bukharin, Voroshilov, Kalinin, Kuibyshev, Molotov, Rykov, Rudzutak, Stalin and Tomsky elected full members at the Central Committee plenum; Andreyev, Kaganovich, Kirov, Stanislav Kosior, Mikoyan, Petrovsky, Uglanov and Chubar elected candidate members
29 April 1929 Uglanov relieved of duties at the Central Committee plenum; Karl Bauman elected candidate member
21 June 1929 Sergei Syrtsov elected candidate member at the Central Committee plenum
17 November 1929 Bukharin relieved of duties at the Central Committee plenum
13 July 1930 Voroshilov, Kaganovich, Kalinin, Kirov, Kosior, Kuibyshev, Molotov, Rudzutak, Rykov and Stalin elected full members at the Central Committee plenum; Andreyev, Mikoyan, Petrovsky, Syrtsov and Chubar elected candidate members
1 December 1930 Syrtsov relieved of duties at the Central Committee plenum
21 December 1930 Rykov and Andreyev relieved of duties at the joint plenum of the Central Committee and the Central Control Commission; Ordzhonikidze elected full member
4 February 1932 Rudzutak relieved of duties at the Central Committee plenum; Andreyev elected full member
10 February 1934 Andreyev, Voroshilov, Kaganovich, Kalinin, Kirov, Kosior, Kuibyshev, Molotov, Ordzhonikidze and Stalin elected full members at the Central Committee plenum; Mikoyan, Petrovsky, PAvel Postyshev, Rudzutak and Chubar elected candidate members
1 December 1934 Kirov assassinated
25 January 1935 Kuibyshev dies
1 February 1935 Mikoyan and Chubar elected full members at the Central Committee plenum, Andrei Zhdanov and Robert Eikhe elected candidate members
18 February 1937 Ordzhonikidze commits suicide
26 May 1937 Rudzutak expelled from the Central Committee and party after being arrested 25 May 1937
12 October 1937 Nikolai Yezhov elected candidate member at the Central Committee plenum
14 January 1938 Postyshev relieved of duties at the Central Committee plenum; Nikita Khrushchev elected candidate member
29 April 1938 Eikhe arrested
3 May 1938 Kosior arrested
16 June 1938 Chubar relieved of duties by the Politburo decision
22 March 1939 Andreyev, Voroshilov, Zhdanov, Kaganovich, Kalinin, Mikoyan, Molotov, Stalin and Khrushchev elected full members at the Central Committee plenum; Lavrenty Beria and Nikolay Shvernik elected candidate members
21 February 1941 Voznesensky, Georgy Malenkov and Aleksandr Shcherbakov elected candidate members at the Central Committee plenum
10 May 1945 Shcherbakov dies
18 March 1946 Beria and Malenkov elected full members, Nikolai Bulganin and Alexei Kosygin candidate members at the Central Committee plenum
3 June 1946 Kalinin dies
26 February 1947 Voznesensky elected full member at the Central Committee plenum
18 February 1948 Bulganin approved full member by questionnaire
31 August 1948 Zhdanov dies
4 September 1948 Kosygin approved full member by questionnaire
7 March 1949 Voznesensky relieved of duties
16 October 1952 Andrianov, Aristov, Beria, Bulganin, Voroshilov, Ignatyev, Kaganovich, Korotchenko, Kuznetsov, Otto Kuusinen, Malenkov, Malyshev, Melnikov, Mikoyan, Mikhaylov, Molotov, Pervukhin, Ponomarenko, Saburov, Stalin, Mikhail Suslov, Khrushchev, Chesnokov, Shvernik, Shkiryatov; candidate members: Leonid Brezhnev, Andrei Vyshinsky, Arseni Zverev, Ignatov, Kabanov, Kosygin, Patolichev, Pegov, Puzanov, Tevosyan, Yudin
Unofficial Bureau of the Presidium formed as follows: Beria, Bulganin, Voroshilov, Kaganovich, Malenkov, Pervukhin, Saburov, Stalin, Khrushchev
5 March 1953 Stalin dies
5 March 1953 Presidium re-elected at the joint session of the Central Committee, the Council of Ministers and the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet as follows: Beria, Bulganin, Voroshilov, Kaganovich, Malenkov, Mikoyan, Molotov, Pervukhin, Saburov, Khrushchev; candidate members: Bagirov, Melnikov, Ponomarenko, Shvernik
6 June 1953 Melnikov relieved of duties at the Central Committee plenum; Kirichenko elected candidate member
7 July 1953 Beria relieved of duties at the Central Committee plenum (arrested 26 June 1953)
17 July 1953 Bagirov relieved of duties at the Central Committee plenum
12 July 1955 Kirichenko and Suslov elected full members at the Central Committee plenum
27 February 1956 Bulganin, Voroshilov, Kaganovich, Kirichenko, Malenkov, Mikoyan, Molotov, Pervukhin, Saburov, Suslov, Khrushchev; candidate members: Brezhnev, Georgy Zhukov, Mukhitdinov, Furtseva, Shvernik, Dmitri Shepilov
14 February 1957 Kozlov elected candidate member at the Central Committee plenum
29 June 1957 Kaganovich, Malenkov, Molotov and Shepilov relieved of duties at the Central Committee plenum; Presidium re-elected as follows: Aristov, Belyaev, Brezhnev, Bulganin, Voroshilov, Zhukov, Ignatov, Kirichenko, Kozlov, Kuusinen, Mikoyan, Suslov, Furtseva, Khrushchev, Shvernik; candidate members: Kalnberzin, Kirilenko, Korotchenko, Kosygin, Mazurov, Vasil Mzhavanadze, Mukhitdinov, Pervukhin, Pospelov.
29 October 1957 Zhukov relieved of duties at the Central Committee plenum
17 December 1957 Mukhitdinov elected full member at the Central Committee plenum
18 June 1958 Podgorny and Polyansky elected candidate members at the Central Committee plenum
5 September 1958 Bulganin relieved of duties at the Central Committee plenum
4 May 1960 Belyaev and Kirichenko relieved of duties at the Central Committee plenum; Kosygin, Podgorny and Polyansky elected full members
16 July 1960 Voroshilov relieved of duties at the Central Committee plenum
18 January 1961 Voronov and Viktor Grishin elected candidate members at the Central Committee plenum
31 October 1961 Brezhnev, Voronov, Kozlov, Kosygin, Kuusinen, Mikoyan, Podgorny, Polyansky, Suslov, Khrushchev, Shvernik; candidate members: Grishin, Mazurov, Mzhavanadze, Sharaf Rashidov, Vladimir Shcherbitsky.
23 April 1962 Kirilenko elected full member at the Central Committee plenum
23 November 1962 Yefremov elected candidate member at the Central Committee plenum
13 December 1963 Shcherbitsky relieved of duties at the Central Committee plenum; Shelest elected candidate member
17 May 1964 Kuusinen dies
14 October 1964 Khrushchev relieved of duties at the Central Committee plenum
16 November 1964 Kozlov relieved of duties at the Central Committee plenum; Shelepin and Shelest elected full members, Demichev elected candidate member
26 March 1965 Mazurov elected full member at the Central Committee plenum, Ustinov elected candidate member
6 December 1965 Shcherbitsky again elected candidate member at the Central Committee plenum
8 April 1966 Brezhnev, Voronov, Kirilenko, Kosygin, Mazurov, Pelše, Podgorny, Polyansky, Suslov, Shelepin and Shelest elected full members at the Central Committee plenum; Grishin, Demichev, Kunayev, Masherov, Mzhavanadze, Rashidov, Ustinov and Shcherbitsky elected candidate members
21 June 1967 Andropov elected candidate member at the Central Committee plenum
9 April 1971 Brezhnev, Voronov, Grishin, Kirilenko, Kosygin, Kulakov, Kunayev, Mazurov, Pelshe, Podgorny, Polyansky, Suslov, Shelepin, Shelest and Shcherbitsky elected full members at the Central Committee plenum; Andropov, Demichev, Masherov, Mzhavanadze, Rashidov and Ustinov elected candidate members
23 November 1971 Solomentsev elected candidate member at the Central Committee plenum
19 May 1972 Ponomarev elected candidate member at the Central Committee plenum
18 December 1972 Mzhavanadze relieved of duties at the Central Committee plenum
27 April 1973 Voronov and Shelest relieved of duties at the Central Committee plenum; Andropov, Grechko and Gromyko elected full members, Romanov candidate member
16 April 1975 Shelepin relieved of duties at the Central Committee plenum
5 March 1976 Andropov, Brezhnev, Grechko, Grishin, Gromyko, Kirilenko, Kosygin, Kulakov, Kunayev, Mazurov, Pelshe, Podgorny, Romanov, Suslov, Ustinov and Shcherbitsky elected full members at the Central Committee plenum; Aliyev, Demichev, Masherov, Ponomarev, Rashidov and Solomentsev elected candidate members
26 April 1976 Grechko dies
24 May 1977 Podgorny relieved of duties at the Central Committee plenum
3 October 1977 Kuznetsov and Chernenko elected candidate members at the Central Committee plenum
17 July 1978 Kulakov dies
27 November 1978 Mazurov relieved of duties at the Central Committee plenum; Chernenko elected full member; Tikhonov and Shevardnadze candidate members
27 November 1979 Tikhonov elected full member at the Central Committee plenum; Gorbachev elected candidate member
4 October 1980 Masherov killed in car crash
21 October 1980 Kosygin relieved of duties at the Central Committee plenum; Gorbachev elected full member, Kiselyov candidate member
3 March 1981 Andropov, Brezhnev, Gorbachev, Grishin, Gromyko, Kirilenko, Kunayev, Pelshe, Romanov, Suslov, Tikhonov, Ustinov, Chernenko and Shcherbitsky elected full members at the Central Committee plenum; Aliyev, Demichev, Kiselyov, Kuznetsov, Ponomarev, Rashidov, Solomentsev and Shevardnadze elected candidate members
25 January 1982 Suslov dies
24 May 1982 Dolgikh elected candidate member at the Central Committee plenum
10 November 1982 Brezhnev dies
22 November 1982 Kirilenko relieved of duties at the Central Committee plenum; Aliyev elected full member
11 January 1983 Kiselyov dies
29 May 1983 Pelshe dies
15 June 1983 Vorotnikov elected candidate member at the Central Committee plenum
31 October 1983 Rashidov commits suicide
26 December 1983 Vorotnikov and Solomentsev elected full members at the Central Committee plenum; Chebrikov elected candidate member
9 February 1984 Andropov dies
20 December 1984 Ustinov dies
10 March 1985 Chernenko dies
23 April 1985 Ligachev, Ryzhkov and Chebrikov elected full members at the Central Committee plenum; S.Sokolov elected candidate member
1 July 1985 Romanov relieved of duties at the Central Committee plenum; Shevardnadze elected full member
15 October 1985 Tikhonov relieved of duties at the Central Committee plenum; Talyzin elected candidate member
18 February 1986 Grishin relieved of duties at the Central Committee plenum; Yeltsin elected candidate member
6 March 1986 Aliyev, Vorotnikov, Gorbachev, Gromyko, Zaykov, Kunayev, Ligachev, Ryzhkov, Solomentsev, Chebrikov, Shevardnadze, Shcherbitsky elected full members at the Central Committee plenum; Demichev, Dolgikh, Yeltsin, Slyunkov, S.Sokolov, Solovyov and Talyzin elected candidate members
28 January 1987 Kunayev relieved of duties at the Central Committee plenum; Yakovlev elected candidate member
26 June 1987 S.Sokolov relieved of duties at the Central Committee plenum; Slyunkov, Yakovlev and Nikonov elected full members, Yazov elected candidate member
21 October 1987 Aliyev relieved of duties at the Central Committee plenum
14 February 1988 Yeltsin relieved of duties at the Central Committee plenum; Maslyukov and Razumovsky elected candidate members
30 September 1988 Gromyko, Solomentsev, Demichev and Dolgikh relieved of duties at the Central Committee plenum; Medvedev elected full member, Biryukova, Vlasov and Lukyanov elected candidate members
20 September 1989 Nikonov, Chebrikov, Shcherbitsky, Solovyov and Talyzin relieved of duties at the Central Committee plenum; Kryuchkov and Maslyukov elected full members, Primakov and Pugo candidate members
9 December 1989 Ivashko elected full member at the Central Committee plenum
14 July 1990 Burokevicius, Gumbaridze, Gorbachev, Gurenko, Dzasokhov, Ivashko, Karimov, Luchinsky, Masaliyev, Makhkamov, Movsisyan, Mutalibov, Nazarbayev, Niyazov, Polozkov, Prokofyev, Rubiks, Semyonova, Sillari, Ye. Sokolov, Stroyev, Frolov, Shenin and Yanayev elected members of the Politburo at the Central Committee plenum
11 December 1990 Ye. Sokolov and Movsisyan relieved of duties at the Central Committee plenum; Malofeyev and Pogosyan elected members
31 January 1991 Gumbaridze and Yanayev relieved of duties at the joint plenum of the Central Committee and Central Control Commission; Annus elected member
25 April 1991 Masaliyev relieved of duties at the joint plenum of the Central Committee and the Central Control Commission; Amanbayev, Yeremey and Surkov elected members
26 July 1991 Pogosyan relieved of duties at the Central Committee plenum
24 August 1991 Following the failed August Coup Yeltsin banned the CPSU

External links

ru:Политбюро ЦК КПСС fi:Neuvostoliiton kommunistisen puolueen keskuskomitean politbyroo