This abbreviation, now almost never used, was once known to every child and was pronounced almost with reverence. Central Committee of the CPSU! What do these letters mean?
About the name
The abbreviation we are interested in means the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, or simply the Central Committee. Considering the importance of the Communist Party in society, its governing body could well be called the kitchen in which the fateful decisions for the country were “cooked”. Members of the Central Committee of the CPSU, the main elite of the country, are the "cooks" in this kitchen, and the "chef" is the General Secretary.
From the history of the CPSU
The history of this public entity began long before the revolution and the proclamation of the USSR. Until 1952, its names changed several times: RSDLP, RSDLP(b), RCP(b), VKP(b). These abbreviations reflected both the ideology, which was specified every time (from the Social Democracy of the Workers to the Communist Party of the Bolsheviks), and the scale (from Russian to All-Union). But the names are not the point. From the 20s to the 90s of the last century, a one-party system functioned in the country, and the Communist Party had an absolute monopoly. By the Constitution of 1936, it was recognized as the governing core, and in the main law of the country of 1977, it was even proclaimedleading and guiding force in society. Any directives issued by the Central Committee of the CPSU instantly acquired the force of law.
All this, of course, did not contribute to the democratic development of the country. In the USSR, inequality along party lines was actively propagated. Even small leadership positions could only be claimed by members of the CPSU, from whom one could also ask for blunders along the party line. One of the most terrible punishments was the deprivation of the membership card. The CPSU positioned itself as a party of workers and collective farmers, so there were rather strict quotas for its replenishment with new members. It was hard to be in the party ranks for a representative of the creative profession or a mental worker; The CPSU followed its national composition no less strictly. Thanks to such a selection, the really best did not always get into the party.
From the party charter
In accordance with the Charter, all activities of the Communist Party were collegiate. In the primary organizations, decisions were made at general meetings, but in general, the congress held every few years was the governing body. Approximately once every six months, a party plenum was held. The Central Committee of the CPSU in the intervals between plenums and congresses was the leading unit responsible for all party activities. In turn, the highest body that led the Central Committee itself was the Politburo, headed by the General (First) Secretary.
The functional duties of the Central Committee included personnel policy and local control,spending the party budget and managing the activities of public structures. But not only. Together with the Politburo, the Central Committee of the CPSU determined all ideological activity in the country, resolved the most responsible political and economic issues.
About Soviet specifics
It's hard for people who didn't live in the Soviet Union to understand. In a democratic country where a number of parties operate, their activities are of little concern to a simple man in the street - he remembers them only before the elections. But in the USSR, the leading role of the Communist Party was even emphasized constitutionally! At factories and collective farms, in military units and in creative teams, the party organizer was the second (and often the first in importance) head of this structure. Formally, the Communist Party could not manage economic or political processes: for this there was a Council of Ministers. But in fact, the Communist Party decided everything. Nobody was surprised by the fact that both the most important political problems and the five-year plans for the development of the economy were discussed and determined by party congresses. The Central Committee of the CPSU directed all these processes.
About the main person in the party
Theoretically, the Communist Party was a democratic entity: from the time of Lenin until the last moment, there was no unity of command in it, there were no formal leaders. It was assumed that the secretary of the Central Committee was just a technical position, and the members of the governing body were equal. The first secretaries of the Central Committee of the CPSU, or rather the RCP (b), were indeed not very noticeable figures. E. Stasova, Ya. Sverdlov, N. Krestinsky, V. Molotov - although their names were well known, their relationship tothese people had no practical guidance. But with the advent of I. Stalin, the process went differently: the “father of peoples” managed to subdue all power for himself. There was also a corresponding position - Secretary General. It must be said that the names of the party leaders changed periodically: the Generals were replaced by the First Secretaries of the CPSU Central Committee, then vice versa. With the light hand of Stalin, regardless of the name of his position, the party leader at the same time became the main face of the state.
After the death of the leader in 1953, N. Khrushchev and L. Brezhnev were in this post, then Yu. Andropov and K. Chernenko held the post for a short period. The last party leader was M. Gorbachev - concurrently the only President of the USSR. The era of each of them was significant in its own way. If many consider Stalin a tyrant, then Khrushchev is usually called a voluntarist, and Brezhnev is the father of stagnation. Gorbachev went down in history as a man who first destroyed and then buried a huge state - the Soviet Union.
Conclusion
The history of the CPSU was an academic discipline, mandatory for all universities in the country, and every student in the Soviet Union knew the main milestones in the development and activities of the party. Revolution, then civil war, industrialization and collectivization, victory over fascism and post-war restoration of the country. And then virgin lands and flights into space, large-scale all-Union construction projects - the history of the party was closely intertwined with the history of the state. In each case, the role of the CPSU was considered dominant, and the word "communist" wassynonymous with a true patriot and just a worthy person.
But if you read the history of the party differently, between the lines, you get a terrible thriller. Millions of repressed peoples, exiled peoples, camps and political murders, reprisals against objectionable people, persecution of dissidents… It can be said that the author of every black page of Soviet history is the Central Committee of the CPSU.
In the USSR they liked to quote Lenin's words: "The Party is the mind, honor and conscience of our era." Alas! In fact, the Communist Party was neither one, nor the other, nor the third. After the putsch of 1991, the activities of the CPSU in Russia were banned. Is the Russian Communist Party the successor of the All-Union Party? Even experts find it difficult to explain this.
