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Soviet Union [USSR] CENTRAL PARTY INSTITUTIONS
In a political organization like the CPSU, which aims to be
monolithic and centralized, central party institutions assume
supreme importance. Central institutions in the CPSU included the
party congress, the Central Committee, the Central Auditing
Commission, the Party Control Committee, the Politburo (political
bureau), the Secretariat, and the commissions. These organs made
binding decisions for intermediate and local party bodies down to
the PPO
(see
fig. 12).
According to the Party Rules, the party congress was the
highest authority in the party. This body was too large and
unwieldy to exert any influence, however, and its members were
appointed either directly or indirectly by those whom it ostensibly
elected to the Central Committee and Politburo. Moreover, the party
congress met only once every five years. Another large party body
of note was the party conference, which met infrequently upon the
decision of the Central Committee. The Central Committee itself,
which met every six months, theoretically ruled the party between
congresses. Although more influential than the party congress and
the party conference, the Central Committee wielded less power than
the Politburo, Secretariat, and the party commissions.
The Politburo, the Secretariat, and the party commissions
paralleled a set of central governmental institutions that included
the Council of Ministers and the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet
(see Soviet Union USSR - Central Government
, ch. 8). The distinction between party and
government institutions lay in the difference between policy
formation and policy implementation. Stated briefly, the central
party institutions made policy, and the government carried it out.
The distinction between policy formation and policy implementation
was often a narrow one, however, and party leaders frequently
involved themselves in carrying out policies in the economic,
domestic political, and foreign policy spheres. This problem, known
in the Soviet Union as podmena (substitution), occurred
throughout all party and government hierarchies
(see Soviet Union USSR -
Intermediate-Level Party Organizations
, this ch.).
The distinction between policy formation and policy execution
also characterized the differences between the Politburo, on the
one hand, and the Secretariat and the commissions, on the other
hand. The Politburo made policy for the party (as well as for the
Soviet Union as a whole). The Secretariat and, apparently, the
party commissions produced policy alternatives for the Politburo
and, once the latter body made a decision, carried out the
Politburo's directives. In fulfilling these roles, of course, the
Secretariat often made policy decisions itself. The Secretariat and
the commissions administered a party bureaucracy that numbered in
the hundreds of thousands. Through this apparatus, the CPSU
Secretariat and the party commissions radiated their influence
throughout the middle and lower levels of the party and thereby
throughout the government, economy, and society.
The general secretary, as a member of the Politburo and the
leader of the Secretariat, was the most powerful official in the
CPSU. The general secretary was the chief policymaker, enjoyed the
greatest amount of authority in party appointments, and represented
the Soviet Union in its dealings with other states. The absence of
a set term of office and the general secretary's lack of statutory
duties meant that candidates for this position had to compete for
power and authority to attain it. Once having been elected to this
position, the general secretary had to maintain and increase his
power and authority in order to implement his program.
Data as of May 1989
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