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Soviet Union [USSR] Party Congress
According to the Party Rules, the party congress was
"the supreme organ" of the CPSU. The First Party Congress took
place in 1898 in Minsk, with 9 delegates out of a party membership
of about 1,000. In 1986 the Twenty-Seventh Party Congress had 5,000
delegates, or 1 for every 3,670 party members. Delegates were
formally elected by republic party congresses or, in the case of
the Russian Republic, by conferences of
kraia (see Glossary),
oblasts (see Glossary), and
autonomous republics (see Glossary). Attendance at a party
congress was largely honorific.
Approximately half the delegates were luminaries in the party. The
Twenty-Seventh Party Congress included 1,074 important party
functionaries, 1,240 executive government officials, 147
distinguished scholars and scientists, 332 high-ranking military
officers, and 279 writers and artists. The party reserved the
remainder of delegate positions for rank-and-file party members.
For the rank and file, attendance at a party congress was a reward
for long years of service and loyalty.
Relative to other central party institutions, the size of the
party congress was inversely proportional to its importance. Lack
of debate and deliberation have been characteristic of party
congresses since the Tenth Party Congress in 1921
(see Soviet Union USSR - Democratic Centralism
, this ch.). Party congresses convened every year until
1925. Thereafter, they began to lose their importance as an
authoritative party organ, and the intervals between congresses
increased to three or four years. From 1939 to 1952, the party
neglected to hold a congress. After Stalin's death in 1953, the
party elite decided to convene congresses more frequently. Since
the mid-1950s, the Party Rules have stipulated that
congresses be held every five years.
Since 1925, however, some notable congresses have taken place.
The Seventeenth Party Congress in 1934 praised collectivization and
the successes of the First Five-Year Plan (1928-32), and it
confirmed Stalin as head of the party and the country. In 1956, at
the Twentieth Party Congress, Khrushchev criticized Stalin's cult
of personality
(see Soviet Union USSR - The Khrushchev Era
, ch. 2). In 1986, at the
Twenty-Seventh Party Congress, General Secretary Mikhail S.
Gorbachev attempted to break with Stalin's legacy by enunciating
policies calling for more openness
(
glasnost'--see Glossary)
in Soviet life and for restructuring
(
perestroika--see Glossary).
The party congress normally met for about a week. The most
important event occurred when the general secretary delivered the
political report on the state of the party, reviewed Soviet
economic and foreign policy over the preceding five years, cited
achievements and problems of the world communist movement, and
delivered a prospectus for the next five years. In another
important speech, the chairman of the Council of Ministers
presented the targets for the next five-year plan. These two
speeches provided the setting for a number of shorter speeches that
followed. Republic party secretaries, oblast committee (oblast'
komitet--obkom) secretaries, and government officials offered
very formalized comment on the policies enunciated by the general
secretary. The central apparatus also selected a few rank-and-file
members to give speeches praising party policies. Finally, the
congress listened to brief reports given by secretaries of foreign
communist and workers' parties friendly to Moscow. Some party
congresses adopted a broad statement called the
party program (see Glossary).
While in session, the party congress voted on several kinds of
issues. All decisions were unanimous. The congress enacted a series
of resolutions that stemmed from the general secretary's political
report, and those resolutions became party policy until the next
congress. In addition, the party leadership could offer changes in
the Party Rules to the congress. Most important, the party
congress formally elected the members of the Central Committee,
which it charged to govern the party until the next congress.
Data as of May 1989
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