RIAN archive 770913 The final speech of the General Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee M

The 27th Congress of the

Communist Party of the Soviet Union " Hymn of the Bolshevik Party" , headquarters = 4 Staraya Square, Moscow , general_secretary = Vladimir Lenin (first) Mikhail Gorbachev (last) , founded = , banned = , founder = Vladimir Lenin , newspape ...

was held from 25 February to 6 March 1986 in

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...

. This was the first congress presided over by

Mikhail Gorbachev Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev (2 March 1931 – 30 August 2022) was a Soviet politician who served as the 8th and final leader of the Soviet Union from 1985 to the country's dissolution in 1991. He served as General Secretary of the Com ...

General Secretary Secretary is a title often used in organizations to indicate a person having a certain amount of authority, power, or importance in the organization. Secretaries announce important events and communicate to the organization. The term is derived ...

of the

Central Committee of the CPSU The Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, – TsK KPSS was the executive leadership of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, acting between sessions of Congress. According to party statutes, the committee directe ...

. In accordance with the pattern set 20 years earlier by

Leonid Brezhnev Leonid Ilyich Brezhnev; uk, links= no, Леонід Ілліч Брежнєв, . (19 December 1906– 10 November 1982) was a Soviet politician who served as General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union between 1964 and 1 ...

, the congress occurred five years after the previous

CPSU Congress The Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (russian: съезд КПСС) was the supreme decision-making body of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. Its meetings served as convention of all party delegates and their predecesso ...

. Much had changed in those five years. Key figures of Soviet politics, Mikhail Suslov, Leonid Brezhnev,

Yuri Andropov Yuri Vladimirovich Andropov (– 9 February 1984) was the sixth paramount leader of the Soviet Union and the fourth General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. After Leonid Brezhnev's 18-year rule, Andropov served in the ...

Dmitriy Ustinov Dmitriy Fyodorovich Ustinov (russian: Дмитрий Фёдорович Устинов; 30 October 1908 – 20 December 1984) was a Marshal of the Soviet Union and Soviet politician during the Cold War. He served as a Central Committee se ...

, and

Konstantin Chernenko Konstantin Ustinovich Chernenko uk, Костянтин Устинович Черненко, translit=Kostiantyn Ustynovych Chernenko (24 September 1911 – 10 March 1985) was a Soviet politician and the seventh General Secretary of the Commu ...

had died, and Mikhail Gorbachev had become General Secretary of the Party. For this reason the congress was widely anticipated, both at home and abroad, as an indicator of Gorbachev's new policies and directions. The congress was attended by 4993 delegates. It elected the 27th Central Committee. The agenda of the congress: * CC CPSU Report and the Party objectives (Given by Mikhail Gorbachev) * New Party Statute release * Political report of CC CPSU * CPSU Central Revisional Commission report * Report ''About the economic and social development of the USSR on 1986-1990 and in 2000 perspective'' * Elections of the central Party organs This Congress became the penultimate in the

history of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union The history of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union was generally perceived as covering that of the Bolshevik faction of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party from which it evolved. The date 1912 is often identified as the time of the for ...

External links

''Political Report of the CPSU Central Committee to the 27th Party Congress''
by Mikhail Gorbachev
''Guidelines for the Economic and Social Development of the USSR for 1986-1990 and for the Period Ending in 2000''
by

Nikolai Ryzhkov Nikolai Ivanovich Ryzhkov ( uk, Микола Іванович Рижков; russian: Николай Иванович Рыжков; born 28 September 1929) is a Soviet, and later Russian, politician. He served as the last Chairman of the Counc ...

''The Programme of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. A New Edition. Adopted by the 27th Congress of the CPSU on March 1, 1986''

''Rules of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union''
approved by the 27th Congress

Congress A congress is a formal meeting of the representatives of different countries, constituent states, organizations, trade unions, political parties, or other groups. The term originated in Late Middle English to denote an encounter (meeting of ...

Communist Party of the Soviet Union 27 Mikhail Gorbachev Perestroika 1986 conferences February 1986 events in Europe March 1986 events in Europe {{USSR-stub