The organization of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union was based on the principles of democratic centralism. The governing body of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) was the Party Congress, which initially met annually but whose meetings became less frequent, particularly under

Joseph Stalin Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Dzhugashvili; 5 March 1953) was a Soviet politician and revolutionary who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until Death and state funeral of Joseph Stalin, his death in 1953. He held power as General Secret ...

(dominant from the late 1920s to 1953). Party Congresses would elect a Central Committee which, in turn, would elect a Politburo and a Secretariat. Under Stalin, the most powerful position in the party became the General Secretary, who was elected by the Politburo and Secretariat. In 1952 the ''Politburo'' became the ''Presidium''. In theory, supreme power in the party was invested in the Party Congress. However, in practice the power structure became reversed and, particularly after the death of Lenin in January 1924, supreme power became the domain of the General Secretary.

Higher levels

In the late

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

the CPSU incorporated the communist parties of the 15 constituent republics (the communist branch of the Russian SFSR was established in 1990). Before 1990 the communist party organization in Russian

oblast An oblast ( or ) is a type of administrative division in Bulgaria and several post-Soviet states, including Belarus, Russia and Ukraine. Historically, it was used in the Russian Empire and the Soviet Union. The term ''oblast'' is often translated i ...

s, autonomous republics and some other major administrative units were subordinated directly to the CPSU Central Committee.

Lower levels

At lower levels, the organizational hierarchy was managed by Party Committees, or partkoms (партком). A partkom was headed by the elected "partkom bureau secretary" ("partkom secretary", секретарь парткома). At enterprises, institutions, kolkhozes, etc., they were called as such, i.e., "partkoms". At higher levels the Committees were abbreviated accordingly: obkoms (обком) at

(zone) levels (known earlier as gubkoms (губком) for guberniyas), raikoms (райком) at raion (district) levels (known earlier as ukoms (уком) for uyezds), gorkom (горком) at city levels, etc. The same terminology ("raikom", etc.) was used in the organizational structure of Komsomol. The bottom level of the Party was the primary party organization (первичная партийная организация) or party cell (партийная ячейка). It was created within any organizational entity of any kind where there were at least three communists. The management of a cell was called party bureau/partbureau (партийное бюро, партбюро). A partbureau was headed by the elected bureau secretary (секретарь партбюро). At smaller party cells, secretaries were regular employees of the corresponding plant/hospital/school/etc. Sufficiently large party organizations were usually headed by an exempt secretary, who drew his salary from the Party money.

Main offices

General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union The General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. was the Party leader, leader of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU). From 1924 until the dissolution of the Soviet Union, country's dissoluti ...

– became synonymous with leader of the Party under

(General Secretary from 1922 to 1952) * Secretariat of the CPSU Central Committee – leading body within the Central Committee. Headed by the General Secretary or by the First Secretary. * Politburo of the CPSU Central Committee – The political bureau of the Central Committee; in practice, the ruling body of both the Communist Party and the Soviet Union * Central Committee of the Communist Party – the governing body of the Party between each Congress. Conducted the day-to-day business of the Party and the government. * Congress of the CPSU – the gathering of Party delegates every five years. It was the oversight body of the entire Party. * Organizational Bureau of the Party Central Committee, or Orgburo – fulfilled Party human-resources management * CPSU Party Control Commission * CPSU Central Auditing Commission (often translated as the

calque In linguistics, a calque () or loan translation is a word or phrase borrowed from another language by literal word-for-word or root-for-root translation. When used as a verb, "to calque" means to borrow a word or phrase from another language ...

''Central Revision Commission'', from "Центральная ревизионная комиссия") * Party Conference – the oversight body of the Party in between Party Congresses. Usually gathered once a year.

Republican branches

* Communist Party of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (1990–1991), in the

Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic The Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (Russian SFSR or RSFSR), previously known as the Russian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic and the Russian Soviet Republic, and unofficially as Soviet Russia,Declaration of Rights of the labo ...

References

External links