The leading role of the CPSU is determined by the leading role of the working class as the builder of a new social system, the nature and essence of socialism, the character of the party itself as the vanguard of the advanced class, and the laws of communist construction. The goals of the CPSU, reflecting the needs of the development of society along the path to communism, are formulated in the Party Program and in the decisions of the CPSU congresses. The conditions for admission to the CPSU and internal party relations are regulated by the Charter, which is the basic law of party life.

The CPSU entered the political arena at the beginning of the 20th century. as a militant party of the working class, interested in winning power and in the socialist reconstruction of society. It was created by Lenin as a Marxist party of a new type, guided in its activities by the most advanced ideological, political and organizational principles. The CPSU (Bolshevik Party), combining scientific socialism with the mass workers' movement, gave the proletariat a scientific program for a democratic and socialist revolution, organized it politically and raised it to fight against autocracy and the capitalist system. The victory of the Great October Socialist Revolution, achieved under the ideological and political leadership of the Bolshevik Party, marked the country's entry onto the socialist path.

Since October 1917, the Communist Party in our country has acted as the ruling party; it has led the creative work of the Soviet people, their selfless struggle for the victory of the new system. Under her leadership, the exploiting classes were eliminated, the socio-political and ideological unity of the people was formed and strengthened, and a developed socialist society was built. Now the CPSU is organizing the Soviet people to decide historical tasks building communism.

The Communist Party bases its activities on the ideology of Marxism-Leninism, developed and enriched in accordance with revolutionary practice and the experience of communist construction. The organic combination of politics and science is the most important principle of party leadership. The Constitution of the USSR proclaims that “the CPSU exists for the people and serves the people.” As the vanguard of the people, the CPSU occupies a central place in the political system of society and is its core (see Political system of socialism). The CPSU leads the Soviets, trade unions, cooperation, Komsomol, unites and directs the efforts of all government bodies and public organizations, all workers towards a common goal. The leadership activities of the CPSU are carried out within the framework of the USSR Constitution. Basic Law USSR its functions include determining the general prospects for the development of society, the line of internal and foreign policy of the Soviet state, leadership of the great creative activity of the Soviet people, ensuring the planned, scientifically based nature of their struggle for communism.

The forms and methods of party leadership, among which the first place is the development of domestic and foreign policy, political and ideological influence, develop and improve along with the change in the role and tasks of the party. The most important forms of leadership activity of the Communist Party include: selection and promotion of personnel capable of ensuring the implementation of the developed policy; versatile ideological and mass political work to educate working people in the spirit of the communist worldview and morality; persuasion and organization of the masses to solve specific problems of building communism; carrying out, with the participation of the masses, verification and control of how the course of social reforms is being practically carried out, to what extent it corresponds to the intended goals.

The CPSU does not command state and public organizations, does not replace them and does not take over their functions. She sees her role as outlining the main tasks of these bodies, based on her general line, and using party methods inherent in the party through party groups in them, through communists, party organizations to ensure the implementation of the intended line at all levels and in all links of the state and public system . Party committees act by making politically and scientifically sound recommendations and proposals to relevant state and public organizations, by convincing their authorized representatives and other workers to be communists working in these organizations, as well as by selecting appropriate leadership cadres and monitoring their work. Relying on their political authority and the trust of the people, party bodies strive to increase the independence and responsibility of bodies of people's power and administration, as well as public organizations.

Improving all forms of state and public organization of workers with the leading role of the party ensures the comprehensive development of socialist democracy, the involvement of workers in the management of society and the state, and genuine socialist democracy.

Relations between the leading bodies of the party, its organizations and individual communists in the CPSU are built on principles consistent with its nature and goals. The guiding principle of the organizational structure of the CPSU is democratic centralism.

The party is built on a territorial production basis: primary organizations are created at the place of work of communists and are united into district, city, regional, and republican organizations by territory. On January 1, 1983, in accordance with the existing administrative-territorial division of the country, the CPSU united 14 communist parties of the union republics, 6 regional party organizations, 151 regional, 10 district, 873 city, 631 district organizations in cities, 2886 rural district organizations, 425,897 primary party organizations. The party organization located in a given territory is superior to all party organizations operating in its parts. All party organizations are autonomous in resolving local issues if these decisions do not contradict the policy of the party, its Program and Charter.

The supreme body of the CPSU is the Party Congress. Regular congresses are convened by the Central Committee at least once every five years. The CPSU Charter also provides for the convening of party conferences in necessary cases. In the intervals between congresses, the activities of the party and local party bodies are directed by the Central Committee of the CPSU.

Issues of party activity are discussed and resolved in the CPSU on a broad democratic basis, while at the same time communists observe party discipline. The combination of democracy and centralism in the life and structure of the party, on the one hand, increases the social and political activity of communists, and on the other hand, makes it possible to implement a unified policy and adopted decisions everywhere.

An important condition for the success of the party leadership lies in the Leninist style of work - a creative style, alien to subjectivism, imbued with a scientific approach to social processes. Lenin's style presupposes high demands on oneself and others, excludes complacency, and resists any manifestations of bureaucracy and formalism. The Party strives to ensure that favorable conditions are created everywhere for the development of criticism and self-criticism, that healthy criticism finds the necessary support everywhere, that reasonable and well-founded proposals and comments of communists and non-party people are put into practice. The party sees its important task as developing the activity of communists, increasing efficiency in work, raising the responsibility of all party organizations, their leadership and each communist individually for the implementation of decisions made.

By implementing and developing the Leninist norms of party life: accountability and election of leading party bodies, freedom of discussion and criticism, openness of party life, collectivity of leadership, ideological and organizational unity of party ranks, equality of communists, the CPSU acts as a socio-political organization with the most democratic relations.

The CPSU consists of over 18 million communists. Every ninth working person and every eleventh citizen of the USSR aged 18 years and older is a communist. The social composition of the party reflects the class structure of Soviet society and the vanguard position of the working class. On January 1, 1983, workers in the party made up 44.1%, peasants (collective farmers) - 12.4, office workers and others - 43.5%. At the same time, the party is focused on ensuring that workers occupy a leading place in its composition. The CPSU is characterized by a constant increase in political training, general and special education of its members. The party is not chasing the numerical growth of its membership, but is pursuing a course for its qualitative improvement, for selecting into its ranks the most advanced and politically active representatives of the working people. In accordance with the decisions of the latest congresses of the CPSU, the requirements for joining the party have been increased.

The growth in the numerical and qualitative composition of the CPSU, the increase in the activity and responsibility of communists reflect the increasing role of the party as the leading force of socialist society. This process is associated with profound changes in social development: with the growing scale and complexity of the tasks of communist construction, increasing social activity and consciousness of the masses, the further development of socialist democracy, the growing importance of the theory of scientific communism, its creative development and propaganda, the need to strengthen the communist education of the masses. “The dynamism of the development of Soviet society, the growing scale of communist construction, our activities in the international arena,” noted the XXV Congress of the CPSU, “urgently require a continuous increase in the level of party leadership in the development of the economy and culture, education of people, improvement of organizational and political work among the masses." The 26th Party Congress confirmed the correctness and validity of this orientation.

The CPSU is an integral part of the international communist movement, one of its fighting units. The foreign policy activities of the party are imbued with the principles of proletarian internationalism, concern for strengthening the world socialist community, the unity and cohesion of communists of all countries, and the desire to strengthen peace and security of peoples. The CPSU discusses emerging problems with fraternal communist parties in the spirit of true comradeship, within the framework of immutable norms of equality and respect for the independence of each party. With all this, the Leninist Party invariably defends principled internationalist positions and uncompromisingly opposes any views and actions that contradict communist ideology.

political organization of the working class and the entire Soviet people, their ideological and political vanguard, the leading and guiding force of socialist society, its core political system , all government and public organizations. The position of the CPSU and its role in Soviet society are enshrined in the Constitution of the USSR (Article 6). The CPSU unites on a voluntary basis the advanced, most conscious part of the working class, collective farm peasantry and intelligentsia of the country. The leading role of the CPSU is determined by the leading role of the working class as the builder of a new social system, the nature and essence of socialism, the character of the party itself as the vanguard of the advanced class, and the laws of communist construction. The goals of the CPSU, reflecting the needs of the development of society along the path to communism, are formulated in the Party Program and in the decisions of the CPSU congresses. The conditions for admission to the CPSU and internal party relations are regulated by the Charter, which is the basic law of party life. The CPSU entered the political arena at the beginning of the 20th century. as a militant party of the working class, interested in winning power and in the socialist reconstruction of society. It was created by Lenin as a Marxist party of a new type, guided in its activities by the most advanced ideological, political and organizational principles. The CPSU (Bolshevik Party), combining scientific socialism with the mass workers' movement, gave the proletariat a scientific program for a democratic and socialist revolution, organized it politically and raised it to fight against autocracy and the capitalist system. The victory of the Great October Socialist Revolution, achieved under the ideological and political leadership of the Bolshevik Party, marked the country's entry onto the socialist path. Since October 1917, the Communist Party in our country has acted as the ruling party; it has led the creative work of the Soviet people, their selfless struggle for the victory of the new system. Under her leadership, the exploiting classes were eliminated, the socio-political and ideological unity of the people was formed and strengthened, and a developed socialist society was built. Now the CPSU is organizing the Soviet people to solve the historical tasks of building communism. The Communist Party bases its activities on the ideology of Marxism-Leninism, developed and enriched in accordance with revolutionary practice and the experience of communist construction. The organic combination of politics and science is the most important principle of party leadership. The Constitution of the USSR proclaims that “the CPSU exists for the people and serves the people.” As the vanguard of the people, the CPSU occupies a central place in the political system of society and is its core (see. Political system of socialism). The CPSU leads the Soviets, trade unions, cooperation, Komsomol, unites and directs the efforts of all government bodies and public organizations, all workers towards a common goal. The leadership activities of the CPSU are carried out within the framework of the USSR Constitution. The Basic Law of the USSR includes among its functions the determination of the general prospects for the development of society, the lines of domestic and foreign policy of the Soviet state, the leadership of the great creative activity of the Soviet people, and ensuring the planned, scientifically based nature of their struggle for communism. The forms and methods of party leadership, among which the first place is the development of domestic and foreign policy, political and ideological influence, develop and improve along with the change in the role and tasks of the party. The most important forms of leadership activity of the Communist Party include: selection and promotion of personnel capable of ensuring the implementation of the developed policy; versatile ideological and mass political work to educate working people in the spirit of the communist worldview and morality; persuasion and organization of the masses to solve specific problems of building communism; carrying out, with the participation of the masses, verification and control of how the course of social reforms is being practically carried out, to what extent it corresponds to the intended goals. The CPSU does not command state and public organizations, does not replace them and does not take over their functions. She sees her role as outlining the main tasks of these bodies, based on her general line, and using party methods inherent in the party through party groups in them, through communists, party organizations to ensure the implementation of the intended line at all levels and in all links of the state and public system . Party committees act by making politically and scientifically sound recommendations and proposals to relevant state and public organizations, by convincing their authorized representatives and other workers to be communists working in these organizations, as well as by selecting appropriate leadership cadres and monitoring their work. Relying on their political authority and the trust of the people, party bodies strive to increase the independence and responsibility of bodies of people's power and administration, as well as public organizations. Improving all forms of state and public organization of workers with the leading role of the party ensures the comprehensive development of socialist democracy, the involvement of workers in the management of society and the state, and genuine socialist democracy. Relations between the leading bodies of the party, its organizations and individual communists in the CPSU are built on principles consistent with its nature and goals. The guiding principle of the organizational structure of the CPSU is democratic centralism. The party is built on a territorial production basis: primary organizations are created at the place of work of communists and are united into district, city, regional, and republican organizations by territory. On January 1, 1983, in accordance with the existing administrative-territorial division of the country, the CPSU united 14 communist parties of the union republics, 6 regional party organizations, 151 regional, 10 district, 873 city, 631 district organizations in cities, 2886 rural district organizations, 425,897 primary party organizations. The party organization located in a given territory is superior to all party organizations operating in its parts. All party organizations are autonomous in resolving local issues if these decisions do not contradict the policy of the party, its Program and Charter. The supreme body of the CPSU is the Party Congress. Regular congresses are convened by the Central Committee at least once every five years. The CPSU Charter also provides for the convening of party conferences in necessary cases. In the intervals between congresses, the activities of the party and local party bodies are directed by the Central Committee of the CPSU. Issues of party activity are discussed and resolved in the CPSU on a broad democratic basis, while at the same time communists observe party discipline. The combination of democracy and centralism in the life and structure of the party, on the one hand, increases the social and political activity of communists, and on the other hand, makes it possible to implement a unified policy and adopted decisions everywhere. An important condition for the success of the party leadership lies in the Leninist style of work - a creative style, alien to subjectivism, imbued with a scientific approach to social processes. Lenin's style presupposes high demands on oneself and others, excludes complacency, and resists any manifestations of bureaucracy and formalism. The Party strives to ensure that favorable conditions are created everywhere for the development of criticism and self-criticism, that healthy criticism finds the necessary support everywhere, that reasonable and well-founded proposals and comments of communists and non-party people are put into practice. The party sees its important task as developing the activity of communists, increasing efficiency in work, raising the responsibility of all party organizations, their leadership and each communist individually for the implementation of decisions made. Implementing and developing the Leninist norms of party life: accountability and election of leading party bodies, freedom of discussion and criticism, openness of party life, collectivity of leadership, ideological and organizational unity of party ranks, equality of communists, the CPSU acts as a socio-political organization with the most democratic relations. The CPSU consists of over 18 million communists. Every ninth working person and every eleventh citizen of the USSR aged 18 years and older is a communist. The social composition of the party reflects the class structure of Soviet society and the vanguard position of the working class. On January 1, 1983, workers in the party made up 44.1%, peasants (collective farmers) - 12.4, office workers and others - 43.5%. At the same time, the party is focused on ensuring that workers occupy a leading place in its composition. The CPSU is characterized by a constant increase in political training, general and special education of its members. The party is not chasing the numerical growth of its membership, but is pursuing a course for its qualitative improvement, for selecting into its ranks the most advanced and politically active representatives of the working people. In accordance with the decisions of the latest congresses of the CPSU, the requirements for joining the party have been increased. The growth in the numerical and qualitative composition of the CPSU, the increase in the activity and responsibility of communists reflect the increasing role of the party as the leading force of socialist society. This process is associated with profound changes in social development: with the growing scale and complexity of the tasks of communist construction, increasing social activity and consciousness of the masses, the further development of socialist democracy, the growing importance of the theory of scientific communism, its creative development and propaganda, the need to strengthen the communist education of the masses. “The dynamism of the development of Soviet society, the growing scale of communist construction, our activities in the international arena,” noted the XXV Congress of the CPSU, “urgently require a continuous increase in the level of party leadership in the development of the economy and culture, the education of people, and the improvement of organizational and political work among the masses.” The 26th Party Congress confirmed the correctness and validity of this orientation. The CPSU is an integral part of the international communist movement, one of its fighting units. The foreign policy activities of the party are imbued with the principles of proletarian internationalism, concern for strengthening the world socialist community, the unity and cohesion of communists of all countries, and the desire to strengthen peace and security of peoples. The CPSU discusses emerging problems with fraternal communist parties in the spirit of true comradeship, within the framework of immutable norms of equality and respect for the independence of each party. With all this, the Leninist Party invariably defends principled internationalist positions and uncompromisingly opposes any views and actions that contradict communist ideology.

Great definition

Incomplete definition ↓

CPSU) - a combat-tested vanguard of the Soviets. people, uniting the front line on a voluntary basis, are the most conscious. part of the working class, collective farm peasantry and intelligentsia of the USSR; the highest form of social-political organizations, the leading and directing force of the Soviets. society and Sov. state According to Lenin's definition, the CPSU embodies the mind, honor and conscience of our era. The CPSU arose in 1903, under the conditions of Tsarist Russia, in an atmosphere of severe terror, as an illegal party. Social base the emergence of the CPSU - the class struggle of the rising proletariat of Russia against tsarism and capitalism. Ideological and theoretical The basis of the CPSU was Marxism-Leninism. CPSU - span. a new type of party. If Western-European socialist party con. 19 – beginning 20th centuries limited to ch. arr. Parliamentary activities did not prepare the proletariat for decisions. battles for the overthrow of the power of the capitalists, for the revolution. capitalist restructuring society into a communist one, then, unlike them, the CPSU from the very beginning of its existence steadily carried out the task of overthrowing the power of landowners and capitalists, implementing socialism. revolution, the establishment of the dictatorship of the proletariat, the construction of socialism and communism. The organizer and leader of the CPSU is V.I. Lenin. He created a coherent and harmonious doctrine of the party, developed its program, strategy and tactics, and party norms. life and principles of parties. manuals. In flight. Lenin saw the vanguard of the working class, capable of uniting the broadest people. the masses, direct their energy to the revolution. transformation of society into a socialist one. and communist beginnings. “The experience of the USSR fully confirmed the Marxist-Leninist teaching about the decisive role of the COMMUNIST PARTY in the creation and development of a socialist society. Only a party that steadily pursues a class, proletarian policy , armed with advanced revolutionary theory and united together, closely connected with the masses, is able to organize and lead the entire people to the victory of socialism" (CPSU Program, 1961, p. 18). Basic organizational The principle of the CPSU is democratic centralism, combining intra-Party. democracy with firm discipline, activity and initiative of the parties. organizations with the subordination of lower organizations to higher ones. Ch. principle of the party. leadership is collectivity. The immutable law of life and activity of the party is ideological and organizational. the unity of its ranks, the unrelenting struggle against any deviations from the general line of the party. Any manifestation of factionalism and groupism, any weakening of the parties. disciplines are incompatible with Marxist-Leninist partisanship. “Whoever weakens the iron discipline of the party in any way... actually helps the bourgeoisie...” (Lenin V.I., Soch., vol. 31, p. 27). Ch. the sources of the party’s strength are, firstly, its connection with the masses, their support for the party’s policies; alien to any sectarianism, the CPSU has always carried out work among the masses, in mass organizations of working people; she took into account and takes into account the collective experience of the masses, picks up and guides the people. initiative. The CPSU exists for the people, serves the people, fights for their fundamental interests, the people believe in Ch. historical force process. The source of the strength of the CPSU is, secondly, the fact that its policy was and is built on deep science. foundations of Marxism-Leninism. The worldview of the CPSU is dialectical materialism. Being organic part of Marxism-Leninism, dialectical. materialism is a philosophy. the basis of all party activities, its political. lines. The policy, strategy and tactics of the CPSU are built in strict accordance with the provisions and requirements of Marxist philosophy. Strict adherence to the principles of dialectic. and historical materialism, their creative application to the analysis of societies. phenomena enables the party to correctly determine its tasks and successfully solve them. Considering the revolutionary theory as a guide to action, the CPSU relies on a deep knowledge of the laws of societies. development and in determining political lines, tasks and forms of struggle always take into account the peculiarities of history. situation. The CPSU opposed and opposes dogmatic. understanding of theory, against mechanics. transfer of provisions corresponding to certain historical. conditions, to other, already changed conditions. “Marxism,” wrote Lenin, “requires from us the most accurate, objectively verifiable account of the relationship between classes and the specific features of each historical moment. We Bolsheviks have always tried to be faithful to this requirement, which is absolutely mandatory from the point of view of any scientific justification of politics” (Op. , vol. 24, p. 24). The activities of the CPSU are characterized by revolutionary unity. theory and practice. Guided by the teachings of Marxism-Leninism and struggling to implement it, the CPSU at the same time creatively develops and enriches the revolutionaries. theory based on generalization of experience and creation. activities of the masses, new data in the development of society. The history of the CPSU, all its transformative activity is Marxism-Leninism in action and in development. Lenin, even during the creation of the party, noted that Marx’s theory cannot be considered as something complete, that it needs to be developed further in all directions. Lenin always opposed both revisionism and dogmaticism. approach to Marxist theory, characteristic of Menshevism and other petty-bourgeois. parties, in the fight against which the CPSU grew and developed. Lenin ridiculed the Mensheviks: “...they learned it, but did not understand it. They memorized it, but did not think it through. They learned the letter, but not the meaning” (Pol. sobr. soch., 5th ed., vol. 10, p. 368). In the conditions of the new historical. era that came at the end of the 19th - beginning. 20th centuries, when pre-monopoly capitalism turned into imperialism, Lenin developed Marxism, enriched it with new conclusions and provisions. Leninism is modern Marxism. era. The highest achievement of Marxist-Leninist thought in modern times. conditions is the Program of the CPSU, adopted by the XXII Party Congress, which is a philosophical, political. and economical justification for building communism in the USSR. New Program of the CPSU - Communist Manifesto of our time. Throughout its history, the CPSU has irreconcilably fought and is fighting against any deviations from the Marxist-Leninist theory, from the consistent. revolutionary line, waged and is fighting on two fronts: against right-wing revisionism, on the one hand, and “left-wing” opportunism, dogmatism and sectarianism, on the other. The emergence of the CPSU was of decisive importance not only for the fate of the peoples of Russia, it was a turning point in the entire world revolution. movement: the CPSU has become a model for all communists. and workers' parties. “...Bolshevism,” Lenin noted, “is a model of tactics for everyone” (Works, vol. 28, p. 270). The CPSU is an integral part of the international. communist movements. In all its activities it is guided by the principles of span. internationalism, strictly follows the instructions of documents adopted by the international. meetings of communist representatives. parties, fights for the unity of the world communist. movements. Its activities are highly appreciated by Marxist-Leninist parties. The Statement of the Meeting of Representatives of the Communist and Workers' Parties (1960) states: “The communist and workers' parties unanimously declare that the generally recognized vanguard of the world communist movement has been and continues to be the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, as the most experienced and seasoned detachment of the international communist movement. The experience of the CPSU accumulated in the struggle for the victory of the working class, in the construction of socialism and in the implementation of the extensive construction of communism, is of fundamental importance for the entire international communist movement" ("Program documents of the struggle for peace, democracy and socialism", 1961, p. 83). With all its activities, the CPSU justifies this high assessment. The working class and its Communist. The party goes through three world-historical history in its struggle. stage: overthrow of the rule of the exploiters and establishment of the dictatorship of the proletariat; building socialism; creation of communist society. Now the CPSU has entered the third stage of its development - it has begun the extensive construction of communism. In the conditions of the extensive construction of communism, the CPSU, while remaining a party of the working class, turned into a party of the whole people, which is an objective law. The conditions for such a transformation were: the complete and final victory of socialism in the USSR, the elimination of all exploiting classes, the strengthening of the alliance between the working class and the peasantry, friendship between the peoples of the Soviet Union, the ideological and political unity of the entire Soviet people. The formation of the CPSU is like a passage. a new type of party was a natural and historically necessary process. The CPSU arose at a time when capitalism entered its last stage - imperialism, when all its contradictions and overthrow became extremely intensified. The revolution confronted the working class directly. practical task. The contradictions turned out to be particularly acute in Russia; rus. the working class has moved to the most advanced positions in the international. labor movement. The need for a span arose here with particular urgency. a party of a new type - consistently revolutionary, capable of organizing and leading the working class to storm capitalism, to commit socialism. revolution. The CPSU was such a party. Not by chance, but by historical force. conditions of development, Russia became the birthplace of Leninism, the birthplace of consistently revolutionaries. workers' party. Revolutionary span. The party in Russia arose on the basis of Marxism, which became widespread in the 80s and especially in the 90s. 19th century, and based on a generalization of the experience of the Russian and world labor movement; the party contributed scientific ideas. socialism into a spontaneous labor movement, giving it organization and revolution. focus. The CPSU is the legitimate successor of all the best that has come to pass. revolutionary movement in the West during the lifetime of Marx and Engels and revolutionary-democratic. movement in Russia. Revolutionary approval Marxism in the labor movement took place in a fierce way. struggle against pre-Marxist, utopian. forms of socialism, especially populism. At the same time, Russian Marxists, criticizing the populist. doctrine as a whole, noted the merits of the revolutionaries. populists as revolutionaries. democrats. Revolutionary Marxism in Russia also established itself in the struggle against the distortion of Marxist theory into the bourgeoisie. spirit (see "legal Marxism"). The victory of Marxism in the Russian labor movement, preparations for the creation of the span. the party took decades. “Marxism, as the only correct revolutionary theory,” Lenin pointed out, “Russia has truly suffered through a half-century history of unheard-of torment, sacrifices, unprecedented revolutionary heroism, incredible energy and selflessness of quest, learning, testing in practice, disappointments, testing, comparison of the experience of Europe” (Op. . , vol. 31, p. 9). How ideological trend Social democracy arose in Russia with the founding of the Emancipation of Labor group (1883). But she was not associated with the labor movement. The first embryo of a party based on the mass workers' movement was the St. Petersburg "Union of Struggle for the Emancipation of the Working Class" founded by Lenin (1895). Lenin's "Union of Struggle" combined the ideas of scientific. socialism with the labor movement; advanced workers I.V. Babushkin, V.A. Shelgunov, M.I. Kalinin, G.I. Petrovsky and others took part in its creation and activities under the leadership of Lenin. Russian Social Democratic. the workers' party was founded in 1898; The First Congress of the RSDLP issued a "Manifesto", with the main. Lenin supported these provisions. But in fact, the party as a single cohesive organization did not yet exist; Social-Democrats the committees were disunited and were experiencing a period of confusion and ideological vacillation. It took several years of struggle by Lenin and his comrades to prepare a truly revolutionary. Marxist party. The newspaper Iskra, founded by Lenin, played a decisive role in its creation, becoming the center of party unification. forces, uniting revolutionaries into a single organization. On the pages of Iskra, in the book What to Do? and in other works, Lenin comprehensively developed a plan for the creation of the party, its main. objectives and principles of construction; In accordance with this plan, the CPSU was formed. The CPSU as a party of a new type, the Leninist party, arose at the Second Congress of the RSDLP (1903). “Bolshevism has existed as a current of political thought and as a political party since 1903” (ibid., p. 8). The Second Congress of the RSDLP adopted the first party program, in which, in contrast to the programs of Western Europe. socialist parties, contained the idea of ​​​​the struggle to establish the dictatorship of the proletariat. Guided by this program, the party launched a struggle for the victory of the bourgeois democrats. and socialist revolution in Russia. Historical the significance of the Second Congress of the RSDLP is that it consolidated the victory of the “Iskra”, Leninist trend in the Russian movement; marked the beginning of the flight. parties of a new type. Over the period of its more than sixty-year existence, the party, in accordance with specific historical situation and tasks that needed to be solved, changed strategy and tactics, organization. forms; The patterns of its development also changed. In capitalist conditions. society, when the working class was influenced by the bourgeoisie. ideology, and within the working class itself there were various layers, one of the main. The laws of development and strengthening of the CPSU was an irreconcilable struggle against opportunism within the Russian and international. labor movement and against opportunism. trends and groups within the party itself, reflecting in one form or another the bourgeoisie. and small-town ideology. The CPSU had to wage a fierce struggle with the Mensheviks, liquidators, Trotskyists, right and “left” opportunists, and national deviationists. Lenin noted that Bolshevism grew, became stronger and became stronger primarily in the struggle against right-wing opportunism, as Ch. enemy, as well as against small towns. revolutionism, which resembles anarchism or borrows something from it. During this struggle, the CPSU showed itself to be completely devoted to the great ideas of Marxism-Leninism and the principles of prolet. internationalism, the fundamental interests of the working class, of all working people. Without such a struggle, the party would not have been able to successfully resolve its historical issues. tasks; The experience of the struggle of the CPSU against all manifestations of opportunism is of great importance for the entire world communist. movements. Before the first Russian revolution (1905–07) and during its course, the leader of the CPSU Lenin developed a scientific basis. strategy and tactics of the victorious struggle against tsarism. Having revealed the features of the bourgeois-democratic. revolution in Russia, he showed that although the revolution in Russia is bourgeois in its content, its leader and hegemon is the proletariat, and not the bourgeoisie, as the Mensheviks claimed. This the most important conclusion Lenin did as a result of applying the dialectical method. materialism, based on a specific analysis of the characteristics of Russian. bourgeois revolution that took place under imperialism. The approach of the Mensheviks, who judged the driving forces of Russian. revolution by simple analogy with the bourgeois. revolutions of the 18th and 19th centuries, Lenin regarded as a mockery of the dialectic. materialism. Characterizing the driving forces of the revolution, Lenin substantiated the position that the ally of the proletariat in the struggle against tsarism is the peasantry; The most important means of overthrowing tsarism was an armed uprising. Following the implementation of democratic tasks of the revolution, Lenin noted, the struggle of the proletariat and other exploited masses for socialism must begin. revolution. Lenin's development of the theory of outgrowing bourgeois-democraticism. revolution into socialism is the most important contribution to the teachings of Marxism. Of great importance was Lenin’s assessment of the Soviets of Workers’ Deputies that emerged during the revolution as the beginnings of a new, revolutionary. authorities. After the defeat of the revolution, during the period of reaction in Russia (1907–10), when all other oppositionists. the parties were defeated and demoralized, only the Bolsheviks held the revolutionaries high. banner; they were convinced of the inevitability of the growth of a new revolution and, skillfully combining illegal and legal work, gathered forces. The CPSU will decide. repulse anti-party currents - otzovists, Trotskyists, as well as revisionists in the field of philosophy. In his work “Materialism and Empirio-Criticism,” Lenin criticized the Machist revision of the philosophy of Marxism and gave a comprehensive critique of the reactionary movement. idealistic philosophy, generalized from the position of dialectic. materialism as a world-historical working class practices and latest achievements natural sciences. Lenin's development of philosophy. issues during the reaction period in connection with political tasks. The struggle is one of the striking examples of the unity of party policy and Marxist philosophy. The work “Materialism and Empirio-Criticism” played an outstanding role in the ideological armament of the party, in substantiating its general theoretical principles. principles in the fight against the bourgeoisie. ideology and various varieties of opportunism. During the struggle against revisionists in the field of philosophy, Lenin expressed a very important point that in various historical. periods, one or the other side of Marxism naturally comes to the fore. During the years of the new revolution. rise (1910–14), the party paid great attention to the development of national. question. In Lenin's works "Critical Notes on the National Question", "The Right of Nations to Self-Determination" and others, a scientific basis was developed. national party program issue, the principle of span has been developed. internationalism, the great power and bourgeois were criticized. nationalism. Development of the CPSU national. the issue had a huge international significance for uniting workers of all nations under the banner of the span. internationalism. During the years of the 1st World War and the second revolution in Russia (1914 - February 1917), in an atmosphere of rampant chauvinism and persecution, treason and betrayal of the leaders of the 2nd International, the CPSU courageously acted under the banner of the flyover. internationalism against imperialism. war, outlined a comprehensive program on issues of war, peace and revolution. Under the leadership of Lenin, the CPSU launched a huge work among the masses, among the soldiers, explaining to them that a way out of the war in the current conditions is possible only along the paths of revolution, turning the imperialist war into a civil war. To the international socialist conferences (Zimmerwald, Kienthal) the Bolsheviks rallied left-wing, internationalist elements, laid the foundations for the future, the 3rd, Communist. International. During the war, Lenin did an enormous amount of theoretical work. work. He gave a deep Marxist analysis of imperialism as the highest and final stage of capitalism, as “dying capitalism,” the eve of socialism. revolution. Lenin showed that, unlike the pre-monopoly period. capitalism, when, as Marx and Engels rightly believed, the victorious socialist. revolution was possible only as a simultaneous revolution in all or most developed capitalist countries. countries, during the period of imperialism the victory of socialism in all countries at the same time is impossible; socialism will win initially in one, separately, capitalist. country or several countries. Lenin's theory of socialism. The revolution showed the right path of struggle to the workers of all countries. Deep analysis of imperialism, development of socialist theory. Lenin combined the revolution with the development of issues of Marxist philosophy, especially materialism. dialectics. During the First World War, Lenin did a tremendous amount of work on philosophy (see "Philosophical Notebooks"). It is the application of materialistic dialectics allowed Lenin to reveal the insoluble contradictions of imperialism, the laws of its development, inevitably leading to its death. Lenin's development of the question of types of wars in the era of imperialism, just and unjust wars, their causes, and the position of the proletariat in relation to different types of wars is of enormous importance. In connection with the consideration of the totality of these problems, Lenin formulated the need for historical. approach to any society. phenomenon: “The whole spirit of Marxism, its whole system, requires that each position be considered only (?) historically; (?) only in connection with others; (?) only in connection with the concrete experience of history” (Works, vol. 35 , p. 200). After Feb. Revolution of 1917, during which the tsarist autocracy was overthrown, Lenin, in the April Theses, determined the party's course towards the struggle to outgrow the bourgeois-democratic. revolution into a socialist revolution. Lenin pointed out in his theses that the uniqueness of the current moment lies in the transition from the first stage of the revolution, which gave power to the bourgeoisie, to its second stage, when power in the state should pass to the proletariat and the poor peasantry. At the same time, Lenin also defined the political form of organization of power, putting forward the Republic of Soviets as a political form of dictatorship of the proletariat. Of utmost importance was Lenin’s justification of the possibility in those conditions of the transfer of power to the Soviets through peaceful means. He determined the line of the party's attitude towards the war, outlined economic measures. region, on the agrarian issue, on party issues. life. In the period from February to October, the CPSU, under the leadership of Lenin, carried out enormous organizational and clarification efforts. work among the masses, winning them over to your side, creating a political army of the revolution. Leading the revolutionary initiative of the masses, the party pursued flexible tactics that took into account the rapid changes in history. situation. A brilliant example of this is the change in party slogans in connection with the July events. After the July days, the situation in the country changed dramatically: dual power ended, and autocracy of the bourgeoisie came. Lenin gave deep Scan new situation, showed that the proletariat can now take power only by force, by weaponry. uprisings This new tactic, outlined by Lenin, was adopted by the VI Congress of the RSDLP (b) (Aug. 1917), which aimed the party at preparing and conducting weapons. uprisings While in hiding, Lenin developed the most important issues of Marxist theory. In his work “The Impending Catastrophe and How to Deal with It,” he substantiated the program of transitional measures to socialism, showed a way out of the national threat to the country. catastrophes into which landowners and capitalists pushed her into the abyss. Lenin saw this solution in socialism. revolution, in politics and economical renewal of Russia, in order to catch up with advanced capitalist. countries in economic respect. In his work “State and Revolution,” Lenin restored the genuine views of Marx and Engels, falsified by the opportunists from the 2nd International, on issues of the state, the dictatorship of the proletariat, and developed the Marxist doctrine of the state. Having given a deep Marxist analysis of the origin of the state, its class essence, Lenin emphasized with particular force that the main thing in Marxism is the recognition of historical. the inevitability of the dictatorship of the proletariat as the main socialist tools revolution and building socialism. At the same time, Lenin put forward a position on the diversity of politics. span shapes. state: “The transition from capitalism to communism, of course, cannot fail to produce an enormous abundance and diversity political forms, but the essence will inevitably be one: the dictatorship of the proletariat" (Works, vol. 25, p. 385). Characterizing the dictatorship of the proletariat as a state of genuine, people's democracy, Lenin showed a false one, the reduced nature of bourgeois democracy, which is a form of dictatorship of the bourgeoisie and the oppression of the working people. Lenin’s theoretical development of the question of the two phases of communism, the conditions for the withering away of the state, written immediately before the October Revolution, is of invaluable importance. In these works, Lenin again deeply substantiated the inevitability and necessity of the socialist revolution, gave a comprehensive description of the Soviets as a state form of dictatorship of the proletariat. All Lenin’s works are imbued with an unshakable faith in the strength of the party, in the strength of the working class, the people, in their ability to overthrow the power of the landowners and capitalists. begin the socialist transformation of the country. Overcoming the strikebreaking and betrayal of Kamenev and Zinoviev, who opposed the uprising and betrayed the Central Committee’s decision on the uprising to the enemy, as well as Trotsky’s resistance, the party under the leadership of Lenin successfully carried out the armed forces. insurrection; The workers and poor peasantry overthrew the power of the landowners and capitalists and established the dictatorship of the proletariat. Great Oct. socialist The revolution of 1917 was victorious because the CPSU was able to unite the revolutionaries into one. stream of various revolutionaries. movements: the workers’ struggle to establish the dictatorship of the proletariat, general democracy. movement for peace, the struggle of the peasantry for the land, the struggle of peoples for the national. liberation. During the preparation and conduct of the Great October Revolution. socialist revolution, the party acted as a true leader of the working people and as a great patriotic. and internationalist. force. She saved the country from an impending national catastrophe and opened the way for the people to build a new life, to build socialism and communism. A new era in human history has begun. With the victory of the Great Oct. socialist Revolution of 1917, the CPSU became the ruling party, the leading and guiding force in the system of dictatorship of the working class. From the task of destroying the old, exploitative system, she moved on to solving a much more complex and difficult task - the creation of a new society. building, building socialism and communism. The leader of the party, Lenin, comprehensively substantiated the possibility of solving this great historical crisis. tasks. He pointed out that in Sov. the country has everything it needs to build a socialist society - "... both in natural resources and in reserves human strength , and in the wonderful scope that the great revolution gave to folk creativity..." (Works, vol. 27, pp. 134–35). The party saw one of the most important prerequisites for creating a new social system in the exit from the imperialist war, in the struggle for peace. The basis of the foreign policy of the Soviet state from the first days of its birth was the Leninist principle of peaceful coexistence of states with different social systems. Immediately after the victory of the October Revolution, the CPSU had to fight in defense of its peaceful policy against the Mensheviks. Socialist Revolutionaries, as well as the “left” deviation in its own ranks. The so-called “left communists” and Trotskyists opposed the conclusion of peace. While the country was experiencing severe devastation and did not have a combat-ready army, they pushed it to war against the armed forces. to the teeth of the German aggressor. They made a monstrous statement that in the name of the world revolution it was even advisable to lose Sov. they did not want to understand that the revolution is not made to order, that it can only arise in conditions of a general national. crisis in the presence of revolution. situations. Being dogmatists in theory and in politics, the “leftists” rejected any compromises, without which no serious politician could do. the consignment. In the fight against the “left communists” the party won; Lenin's peace policy triumphed, which was of enormous importance not only for the Sov. country, but also for the fate of the world revolution. Construction of socialism in one country, in conditions of hostile capitalism. environment was associated with the greatest difficulties. It took place in an atmosphere of intense class struggle. Overthrown exploiting classes with the help of petty bourgeoisie. parties - Mensheviks, Socialist Revolutionaries, anarchists - sought to restore capitalism, using sabotage, sabotage, terror, and weapons. fight against the flight. state Organized international imperialism and internal foreign counter-revolution intervention and citizenship the war could not break the world's first span. state, but caused enormous damage to it, which further aggravated the difficulties of the socialist. construction. At the head of the defense is a socialist. the fatherland stood the CPSU; she led the heroic the struggle of workers at the front and in the rear; under her leadership the owls. the people defeated numerous people. enemies. “...Only because,” said Lenin, “that the party was on guard, that the party was strictly disciplined, and because the authority of the party united all departments and institutions, and according to the slogan that was given by the Central Committee, as one person they marched tens, hundreds, thousands, and ultimately millions, and only because unheard-of sacrifices were made - only because of this the miracle that happened could happen" (Op. , vol. 30, p. 416). Summarizing the first experience of historical creativity of the working masses to create socialist. society, developing the theory of scientific. communism, Lenin developed a specific socialist plan. construction, basic the links of which were: socialist. industrialization, electrification of the entire country; collectivization of agriculture; cultural revolution. Lenin's plan became a guide for the revolutionary activities of the party and people. transforming society into a socialist one. beginnings. The most important condition for building socialism in the USSR was the strengthening of the economy. and political union of the working class and peasantry while maintaining the leading role of the working class. The new economic system corresponded to this task. a policy introduced on the initiative of Lenin by the decision of the X Congress of the RCP (b) (1921). New economical The policy increased the interest of the peasantry in the development of agriculture, and this in turn created conditions for the rise of all producers. forces of the country, to strengthen the economic. union of city and countryside. New economical politics was the only correct policy in the transition period from capitalism to socialism. It was designed to strengthen the union of the proletariat and the peasantry, to oust the capitalist. socialist elements, for the destruction of the exploiting classes, for the victory of socialism in the USSR. A necessary condition for the victory of socialism was the ideological defeat of anti-Leninist factions and movements in the ranks of the party. During the transition period from capitalism to socialism, when the overthrown exploiting classes stubbornly resisted the measures of the flyover. state, but for the working class strong influence provided petty bourgeois disaster, the class struggle in the country was reflected in an acute ideological struggle within the party. Ch. The question around which the struggle against the Trotskyists, right-wing deviationists, and national deviationists was going on was the question of the possibility of building socialism. The party defeated all capitulatory factions and groups hostile to Leninism, which denied the possibility of building socialism in one country, preserved and strengthened the ideological and organizational structure. unity of its ranks, thereby ensuring the implementation of the general line of the party, designed to build socialism. At the same time, the party revealed not only social, but also philosophical. the foundations of anti-Leninist groups: subjectivism and voluntarism, eclecticism, mechanism, and ultimately, capitulation to the bourgeoisie. philosophy, oblivion of materialism. dialectics. The party carried out enormous political, organizational and ideological education. work among the masses, mobilized all the material and spiritual forces of the people to build the world's first socialist. society. Basic a link from which the creation of a new society began. building, was socialist. industrialization of the country, which created a solid basis for the development of all sectors of the people. economy, providing economic independence and defense power of the country. In it the party saw the key to resolving the contradiction between the most advanced politicians. system and backward economy. Based on Lenin's instructions, the party found sources of socialist. savings for capital investments, one of which was the strictest austerity regime, ensured a steady increase in labor productivity. As a result of the greatest efforts of the party and the people, the industrialization of the country was carried out in the shortest historical period. terms not only without outside help, but also with the hostility of the capitalist. state, which forced the allocation of large funds directly for defense needs. The industrialization of the country was a great feat of the working class, all of them. people. Under the leadership of the party, the most difficult task of socialism was solved. reorganization of agriculture based on the cooperative plan of V. I. Lenin. Relying on the alliance of the working class with the peasantry with the leading role of the working class, on the poor and middle peasant masses of the countryside, the party implemented a policy of complete collectivization and, on this basis, the elimination of the kulaks as a class. Small, crushed cross. farms were transferred to large-scale collective production. Summarizing the experience of the collective farm movement, the party determined the most appropriate form of organizing collective farming and supplied the collective farms with the latest agricultural technologies. -X. equipment, strengthened them with management personnel. Transition of owls villages to large socialist. economy meant a great revolution in economics. relations, in the entire way of life of the peasantry. A cultural revolution was carried out in the USSR, which brought the working people out of spiritual slavery and darkness, introducing them to the riches of culture and science. For the first time in the history of mankind, science, literature and art began to serve the entire people. The problem of training personnel for all sectors of the state and household was successfully solved. and cultural construction. In the struggle for socialism. culture, for overcoming the influence of the bourgeoisie. ideology, especially for the further development of Marxist philosophy, Lenin’s work “On the Significance of Militant Materialism” (1922) was of great importance, in which he defined the main. directions and tasks facing Marxist philosophers, outlined a program for the development of Marxist philosophy. thoughts. With particular force, Lenin emphasized the need to fight for dialectic. materialism, against the bourgeois. ideology, idealistic reaction movements, religion, all kinds of priesthood and mysticism. The greatest achievement of socialism was the resolution of the national question in the USSR. Carrying out Lenin's national policy, the party consistently pursued the line of eliminating the factual. inequality of the peoples of the USSR, inherited from the past. Many previously backward peoples came to socialism, bypassing capitalism. stage of development. The result of this was a powerful rise in their economy, a flourishing of culture - socialist in content and national in form. Uniting the peoples of the USSR into a single fraternal family, strengthening their unbreakable friendship and fraternal cooperation is the most important source of strength for the Owls. socialist state During the socialist construction received further socialist development. democracy is the first truly popular democracy in history. democracy, providing all citizens with broad political freedoms and social rights, active participation in government management, economics. and cultural construction. As a result of the liquidation of the exploiting classes, on the basis of the common interests of the workers, peasants, and intelligentsia, an indestructible ideological and political system was formed. unity of owls society. The victory of socialism in the USSR was a great feat of the party and the people, a triumph of the immortal ideas of Marxism-Leninism. “As a result of the selfless labor of the Soviet people, the theoretical and practical activities of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, humanity received a really existing socialist society and an experimentally proven science of building socialism” (CPSU Program, p. 19). The victory of socialism in the USSR was the greatest historical victory. verification and confirmation of the truth of dialectical. and historical materialism, Marxism-Leninism in general. The position of the historical materialism about the great role of the people as the creator of history, about the role of the working class and its parties as leaders of the working masses. The victory of socialism in the USSR confirmed the most important position of the dialectic. materialism is about what happens with changing societies. existence and in the course of this process societies change. consciousness: old bourgeois. consciousness was defeated by the new socialist. consciousness reflecting the socialist. society relations, socialist existence of people. The practice of the revolution and the construction of socialism also confirmed the truth of history. materialism about the great organizing and transformative role of advanced ideas, the ideas of Marxism-Leninism. When these ideas captured the consciousness of millions, they turned into a powerful material driving force of development. The practice of building socialism and the development of a new society have confirmed the truth of the laws of materialism. dialectics. Revolutionary dialogue

COMMUNIST PARTY OF THE SOVIET UNION (CPSU). It arose during the process of disengagement in the Russian Social Democratic Labor Party (RSDLP), which finally ended on 4/29/12/1917 in connection with the adoption by the Bolshevik faction of the name Russian Social Democratic Labor Party (Bolsheviks) [RSDLP(b)]. Changed names: Russian Communist Party (Bolsheviks) [RCP(b); from 8.3.1918], All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks) [VKP(b); 12/31/1925 - 10/14/1952], then the CPSU (until 11/6/1991). The governing bodies were initially located in Petrograd (until March 10, 1918), then in Moscow. The CPSU included the communist parties of the union republics. The party anthem is "Internationale". The ideological basis of the CPSU was classical Marxism, the teachings of V. I. Lenin (in party terminology: Leninism, then Marxism-Leninism), J. V. Stalin’s interpretation of Marxism-Leninism, and the decisions of party congresses. The Communist Party occupied a monopoly position in Soviet society and played a leading role in economic and socio-political life (this position was enshrined in the Constitutions of the USSR 1936 and 1977, abolished by the 3rd Congress of People's Deputies of the USSR in 1990). All threads of government were concentrated in the hands of central, republican and local party committees. State, Soviet, trade union and Komsomol posts, as a rule, were occupied by members of the CPSU. Without the decision of the Politburo of the CPSU Central Committee, not a single important government resolution and not a single decree of the USSR Supreme Council could be adopted; At Politburo meetings, almost all decisions of the central bodies of the Komsomol, trade unions and other mass public organizations were confirmed.

The organizational structure was determined by the Charter. The main organizational principle of the party according to the Charter - democratic centralism - meant the unconditional binding of decisions of higher bodies for lower ones, the subordination of the minority to the majority, as well as the election (often of a formal nature) of all governing bodies from top to bottom. The CPSU was built on a territorial production basis: primary party organizations were created at the place of work of communists and united into district, city, etc. organizations. The governing bodies of party organizations are the general meeting (for primary organizations), conference (for district, city, district, regional, regional organizations), congress (for communist parties of the union republics). They elected a bureau or committee that governed the entire current work party organization. The highest body of the party was the party congress (in 1917-27 it was convened annually, in 1927-52 - at different intervals, in 1953-90 - once every 4-5 years, except for the extraordinary 21st congress). He elected the Party Central Committee, the Control Commission (1920-21; Central Control Commission in 1921-34 and 1990-91; Party Control Commission in 1934-52; Party Control Committee in 1952-90). The Central Committee led the activities of the party between congresses, elected from among its members the Politburo (Bureau in November/December 1917 - March 1919, Presidium of the Central Committee in 1952-66), Secretariat (1919-91), Organizing Bureau (1919-1952) and General (1922-34 and 1966-1991), or 1st (1953-66), secretary; from 10.2.1934 to 7.9.1953 all secretaries of the Central Committee were nominally equal. Party membership was recorded by issuing a party card. Party members paid party dues in accordance with a progressive income scale, recorded in the party card.

When joining the party, preference was given to industrial and agricultural workers, Red Army soldiers from the workers and poor peasantry, as well as engineering and technical workers employed directly in production. In 1939, at the 18th Congress of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks, uniform conditions were established for all those joining the party, but social quotas continued to be observed. Number of members of the party: 12 - about 24 thousand people (March 1917), 240 thousand (August 1917), 19,488 thousand (January 1989), 14,696 thousand people (August 24, 1991). Social composition of the party (on average for all years): workers - 43.2%, peasants - 11.8%, office workers - 45.0%.

The RSDLP Program developed by V.I. Lenin and his supporters (adopted in 1903) set the party’s immediate goal to overthrow the autocracy and replace it with a democratic republic, and as its ultimate goal the destruction of capitalism and the establishment of the dictatorship of the proletariat to build a socialist society. Soon after the February Revolution of 1917 and the return of V.I. Lenin to Petrograd from Switzerland on April 3(16), 1917, V.I. April Theses), the Bolshevik faction of the RSDLP was formed into an independent party. Lenin saw the uniqueness of the political situation in Russia in the transition from the 1st stage of the revolution (meaning the February Revolution of 1917), “which gave power to the bourgeoisie due to the insufficient consciousness and organization of the proletariat,” to its 2nd stage, which should transfer power “to hands of the proletariat and the poor peasantry." The April All-Russian Bolshevik Conference by a majority vote approved Lenin's theses as party strategy and tactics. The party’s declared intentions to transfer landowners’ land to the peasants, and power to the Soviets (which enjoyed great support among the population) and the slogans of ending World War I, granting nations the right to self-determination, and introducing workers’ control over the production and distribution of products met the needs of the current moment. Their skillful and intensive propaganda (including in the army), the will to win and political art of Lenin, energetic actions to prepare an armed uprising ensured its coming to power during the October Revolution of 1917. During the Civil War of 1917-22, the party managed to maintain power in its own hands thanks to the support of workers and peasants, partly - the “Red Terror” and the repressions of the All-Russian Extraordinary Commission, the dispersal of the Constituent Assembly, the suppression of the left Socialist Revolutionaries of the 1918 uprising, as a result of which the Bolsheviks finally became the only ruling party (in November - December 1917 - July 1918 in The Council of People's Commissars included the Left Socialist-Revolutionaries).

The new program adopted at the 8th Congress (1919) contained an ideological understanding of the October Revolution as a socialist revolution that occurred as a result of natural socio-economic processes, and the coming to power of the RSDLP (b) as a victory of the proletariat and the establishment of its dictatorship with the support of the poor peasantry and the semi-proletariat. This program outlined specific tasks for building the 1st phase of communist society in Russia - socialism: the “actual” provision of rights and freedoms “first of all and most of all to those classes of the population that were oppressed by capitalism”, the steady suppression of the resistance of the “exploiting classes”, the destruction of private property, the elimination of social inequality and classes, the destruction of all national privileges, the replacement of commodity-money relations with direct product exchange, the organization of planned development of the national economy, ensuring a “painless” transition from small and handicraft industry to large machine industry, “all-out” development of the productive forces and Sciences. Confidence in the possibility of carrying out a grandiose social experiment in Russia was based on the assessment of revolutions in Russia itself, Germany, Austria-Hungary and the revolutionary movement in other countries, enshrined in the party program, as the beginning of an era of world proletarian revolution. The leaders and ideologists of the party counted on the fact that the proletariat of industrially developed countries would support the Russian proletariat.

During the period the party pursued the policy of “war communism,” some of the goals set in its program were achieved. However, complete disorganization of the national economy remained in the country, and famine occurred in 1921-22. All this, as well as the surplus appropriation system and unemployment, caused a growing discontent of the proletariat and peasantry that was dangerous for the party (the Kronstadt uprising of 1921, the Tambov uprising of 1920-21 and other anti-Bolshevik uprisings) and contradictions in the party itself, which emerged during the discussion about trade unions. These reasons forced the party to tactically abandon a number of fundamental principles (no changes were made to the program documents) and move in 1921 to the New Economic Policy (NEP). The partial restoration of private property and market relations changed the most significant social accents for the party - the peasant became the owner of the crop he grew and, in the conditions of the resumption of commodity-money relations, the dependence of the city, proletariat and army on the supply of grain, he had the opportunity to seriously influence political life. At the same time, the party took measures to strengthen the unity of its ranks. The resolution of the 10th Congress of the RCP(b) “On the unity of the party” prohibited factionalism and dissolved all groups formed during the discussion about trade unions. Measures were also taken aimed at stopping the political activities of other parties [in December 1921 the activities of the Menshevik Party were banned, in June - August 1922 a trial was organized in the case of the Central Committee of the Socialist Revolutionary Party, the 12th All-Russian Conference of the RCP (b) adopted a resolution “ On anti-Soviet parties and movements”, which set the task of finally eliminating the Socialist Revolutionary and Menshevik parties as political factors]. Discrimination against people from non-proletarian strata (former nobles, industrialists, merchants, clergy, etc.) was widely practiced in elections to government bodies, when holding positions in the state apparatus, entering universities, etc.

By the mid-1920s, the futility of counting on a world proletarian revolution became obvious to the party leaders, and the 14th conference of the RCP (b) (1925) decided that building socialism is possible in one country while ensuring protection from the restoration of capitalism within the country. This implied the concentration of power and resources in one hand. In the 2nd half of the 1920s, the party moved to gradually winding down the NEP. J.V. Stalin, having politically discredited and removed from power in the party all of Lenin’s closest associates and his opponents, established a regime of personal power. Under his leadership, the party, at the cost of a colossal effort of the entire society, entailed enormous human casualties, using terror and mass repression, carried out socialist industrialization and collectivization of agriculture, fully implementing all the principles of the party program and radically changing the social structure of society, in which the urban population took a significant place. The 17th Congress of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks (1934), called the “Congress of the Winners,” stated that the socialist system had become dominant. This conclusion was enshrined in the new Constitution of the USSR (1936), which for the first time granted political rights to the entire population of the country. However, the Constitution failed to effectively enforce them. During the period of the “Great Terror” [carried out on the basis of decisions of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks in 1937-38], following the majority of the “old” Leninist guard, hundreds of thousands of Soviet citizens from all social strata were subjected to physical destruction, about 2 million people were in Gulag camps . The new administrative and managerial party nomenclature occupied a special privileged place in the party and in society.

An important tool for maintaining and strengthening the party’s power was the system of propaganda and strict ideological control over the media, literature, art, scientific and educational institutions. The features of the party ideology were intransigence to any dissent, external simplicity and schematism of the presentation of the doctrine, accessibility for mass perception, which contributed to its transformation into an object of faith. In conditions of information isolation from outside world and thanks to widespread propaganda of real successes, exaggeration of achievements and concealment of failures in the party’s policies, a belief in the unconditional superiority of the socialist system over the capitalist system was formed in the mass consciousness. The mass repressions carried out in the country were presented as a struggle against “enemies of the people” and reinforced the Stalinist thesis about the intensification of the class struggle as socialism strengthened. Another tool for maintaining party power until the early 1950s remained the system of repressive political control represented by the United State Political Administration (OGPU), the NKVD, the MGB, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, which also exercised control over the party itself in the interests of its leaders. At the same time, a system of privileges was formed that covered not only the party nomenklatura, but also famous scientists, cultural figures, and leaders in production in industry and agriculture. The social status of the working person increased. The social stability that came in the late 1930s contributed to the growth of the authority of the CPSU (b) among broad sections of the population.

During the Great Patriotic War, the party played an important mobilizing and organizing role at the front and in the rear. 60% of all party members fought on the fronts, of which 3 million people died; among army and navy commanders, 80% were communists or Komsomol members; Among the soldiers awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union, 65% were communists. Under the threat of war and for the duration of the war, the party abandoned a number of doctrinal guidelines (the emphasis was not on proletarian internationalism, but on Soviet patriotism), softened its policy towards the Russian Orthodox Church, and inspired public interest in national history that goes beyond history liberation movement and class struggle. New Soviet orders were established in honor of A.V. Suvorov, M.I. Kutuzov, Alexander Nevsky (Prince Alexander Yaroslavich), Bogdan Khmelnitsky, F.F. Ushakov, P.S. Nakhimov. The anthem of the USSR (approved in December 1943) contained words about “Great Rus'”, which united forever the “Indestructible Union of Free Republics”.

After the death of I.V. Stalin (1953), the CPSU dismantled the repressive mechanism, the “doctors’ case”, the “Leningrad case” and other political “cases” fabricated in the post-war period were reviewed and terminated, some “cases” of 1937-38 were abolished repressive extrajudicial bodies, including the Special Meeting under the USSR Ministry of Internal Affairs; a Committee allocated from the USSR Ministry of Internal Affairs was placed under the control of the USSR Council of Ministers and party bodies state security USSR, many political prisoners were released and rehabilitated. At a closed meeting during the 20th Congress of the CPSU (1956), N. S. Khrushchev made a report “On the cult of personality and its consequences,” which admitted that Stalin’s cult of personality had turned “at a certain stage into the source of a number of major and very severe distortions of party principles, party democracy, revolutionary legality.” The recognition of “mistakes,” which were interpreted as “deviations from Leninist norms and principles of party life,” contributed to the democratization of the party. At the same time, it marked the beginning of the devaluation of the communist ideal (especially in Eastern European socialist countries) and disunity within the communist movement.

The new party program was adopted in 1961 at the 22nd Congress of the CPSU. It said that after the 2nd World War, global changes took place in the world, expressed in the “formation of the world socialist system”, in the “deepening crisis of the world capitalist system.” This, in accordance with party doctrine, created a guarantee against the restoration of capitalism from the outside and opened the way to the direct construction of a classless communist society. It was assumed that by 1980 “the current generation of Soviet people will live under communism.” The building of communism was associated with the solution of such tasks as the creation of its material and technical base, the achievement of higher per capita production of goods compared to the United States, the development of communist social relations and “raising a new man” based on the principles of the “moral code of the builder of communism” that does not contradict universal human values. At the end of the 1960s, due to the obvious utopianism of the communist project, the party ideologists introduced the concept of “developed socialism,” which meant a new long stage in the development of the socialist phase and provided an indefinitely long delay for entering the communist phase. The construction of developed socialism in the USSR was proclaimed by General Secretary L. I. Brezhnev at the 24th Congress of the CPSU (1971), this conclusion was enshrined in the Constitution of 1977 (it also contained a description of this stage as a natural one on the path to communism).

In the 1970s - early 1980s, the CPSU clearly revealed: an increasing discrepancy between the declared goals and the results achieved; dogmatization of communist ideology; low efficiency of party leadership of the state, bureaucratization of the process of development and decision-making, inability of the party’s leadership to adequately and quickly respond to global changes in the world economy; growth of corruption in the party and state apparatus. The human rights movement was persecuted (see Dissidents).

During perestroika, the last General Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee, M. S. Gorbachev, made an attempt to update the ideological basis of the party, reform the CPSU and turn it into a mechanism for implementing urgent reforms. The last, 28th Congress of the CPSU (1990) adopted the policy statement “Towards a humane, democratic socialism” as the basis for developing a new party program; the very name of the statement meant a rapprochement with the ideological guidelines of the social democratic parties. The CPSU declared its rejection of a simplified class approach, intransigence to other views, total nationalization of public life and ignoring commodity-money relations. The statement linked the deep origins of the crisis state of Soviet society with the deformations of the ideas of socialism in the past. The course of reforms aroused huge expectations in society, but they were not justified due to the lack of unity in the party, and its leadership - a clear idea of ​​the mechanism and methods of transformation, as well as increasing criticism of the entire experience of socialist construction in the USSR from the liberal-minded part of the intelligentsia. The socio-economic and ideological-political crisis continued to deepen. The authority of the party in society fell sharply; this, along with the own interests of the national party elites, led to the collapse of Soviet statehood. After the August crisis of 1991, M. S. Gorbachev announced (August 24) his resignation from the post of General Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee. On November 6, 1991, President of the RSFSR B.N. Yeltsin signed a Decree on the termination of the activities of the CPSU and the Communist Party of the RSFSR (established in 1990) on the territory of the republic and the dissolution of their organizational structures (the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation in November 1992 declared it illegal). The legal successor of the CPSU on the territory of the Russian Federation is the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, formed in March 1993 by decision of the 2nd Extraordinary Congress of Communists of Russia (13-14.2.1993).

The CPSU provided financial and organizational assistance to more than 300 parties and various organizations in other countries through the Communist International, the Red International of Trade Unions, International organization assistance to the fighters of the revolution, the Communist Youth International, etc. The central printed organs of the CPSU are the newspaper "Pravda" (since 1912), the magazine "Bolshevik" (since 1924, since 1952 - "Communist"), the CPSU published 6,766 newspapers in 25 languages ​​of the peoples of the USSR in 136 publishing houses owned by her. It also had a Central Party Archive (since 1999 the Russian State Archive of Socio-Political History).

Party leaders: V.I. Lenin (Ulyanov) - member of the Central Committee (1917-24), member of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the RSDLP (b) - RCP (b) (October 1917; 25.3.1919 - 21.1.1924), during this period the post of the highest the party leader was not identified; I. V. Stalin (Dzhugashvili) - General Secretary of the Central Committee of the RCP (b) - CPSU (b) (3.4.1922 - 10.2.1934), Secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU (b) (10.2.1934-5.3.1953); N. S. Khrushchev - Secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU (b) - CPSU (12/16/1949 - 9/7/1953), 1st Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee (9/7/1953 - 10/14/1964); L. I. Brezhnev - 1st Secretary (from 10/14/1964), General Secretary (4/8/1966 - 11/10/1982) of the CPSU Central Committee; Yu. V. Andropov - General Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee (11/12/1982 - 2/9/1984); K. U. Chernenko - General Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee (13.2.1984 - 10.3.1985); M. S. Gorbachev - General Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee (11.3.1985 - 24.8.1991).

Source: CPSU in resolutions and decisions of congresses, conferences and plenums of the Central Committee. 9th ed. M., 1983-1989. T. 1-15; Presidium of the CPSU Central Committee. 1954-1964. Rough minutes of meetings. Transcripts. Resolutions. M., 2004-2006. T. 1-3; In the Politburo of the CPSU Central Committee... 2nd ed. M., 2008.

Lit.: History of the CPSU (b) / Edited by Em. Yaroslavsky. M.; L., 1926-1930. T. 1-4; History of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks). Short course. [M.], 1938; History of the CPSU. M., 1965-1980. T. 1-5.

T. A. Lukovtseva, A. I. Stepanov, A. I. Utkin.

Workers of all countries, unite!

History of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union

(Second edition,
supplemented)

MOSCOW
State Publishing House
political literature
1 9 6 3

B. N. PONOMAREV, academician (supervisor); I. M. VOLKOV, professor; M. S. VOLIN,
Candidate of Historical Sciences; V. S. ZAITSEV, candidate of historical sciences; A. P. KUCHKIN,
Doctor of Historical Sciences; I. I. MINC, academician; L. A. SLEPOV, candidate of economics
sciences; A. I. SOBOLEV, Candidate of Philosophical Sciences; B. S. TELPUKHOVSKY, doctor
historical sciences; A. A. TIMOFEEVSKIYA, professor; V. M. KHVOSTOV, corresponding member
Academy of Sciences of the USSR.

History of the CPSU - Preface - Chapter I page-1

PREFACE

The Communist Party of the Soviet Union, founded and nurtured by the great Lenin,
has traveled a historical path unmatched by any other political party in
world. This is more than half a century of heroic struggle, difficult trials and worldwide
historical victories of the working class, victories of socialism and communism.

At the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries, the party entered the historical arena and boldly led the workers
class and peasantry to fight against the tsarist autocracy and Russian capitalism. Struggle
against tsarism and capitalism in Russia was also a struggle against world imperialism.
Russia became the center of the world revolutionary movement. Armed with the ideas of Marxism -
Leninism, the working class and the bulk of the working peasantry of Russia, the party provided
victory of the people over the tsarist monarchy and the bourgeoisie.

Starting with small Marxist circles that operated in the Russian labor movement since the 80s
years of the 19th century, the party turned into a great force leading the mighty socialist
by the state. To its XXII Congress - the Congress of the Builders of Communism - Communist
the party of the Soviet Union grew into a mighty army of ten million, united on the ideas
Marxism-Leninism, closely connected with the people. From the vanguard of the working class she
turned into the vanguard of the Soviet people, became the party of all the people.

The Communist Party led the peoples of Russia through three revolutions: bourgeois-
democratic revolution of 1905-1907, February bourgeois-democratic
the revolution of 1917 and the Great October Socialist Revolution - and led the Soviet people to the world-historical victory of socialism.
The Communist Party withstood the tests of two imperialist wars (Russian-
Japanese War of 1904-1905 and World War I of 1914-1918).
The Communist Party led the heroic struggle of the Soviet people in two
Patriotic wars (in the civil war of 1918-1920 and the Great Patriotic War
1941-1945). Under the leadership of the party, the Soviet people and their Armed Forces defended
freedom and independence of the socialist Motherland from the encroachments of a whole host of enemies,

On every historical stage struggle to overthrow the rule of the exploiters and establish
dictatorship of the proletariat, building socialism and communism, the party solved problems, scientifically
formulated in its programs. The struggle of the party and the people for the implementation of the first Program,
adopted in 1903 at the II Congress, led to the victory of the Great October Socialist
revolution. The struggle of the party and the people for the implementation of the second Program adopted at the VIII Congress
party in 1919, led to the complete and final victory of socialism in the USSR. This is the main one
the result of the activities of the party and the people, their historical feat. At the XXII Congress the party adopted
a new, third Program - a program for building a communist society in the USSR,
The party solemnly proclaimed: “The current generation of Soviet people will live under
communism!

At all stages of its development, the party developed and carried out a doctrine-based
Marxism-Leninism, a political line that meets the interests of the working class,
the working peasantry, all nations of the country, the interests of the Motherland, the interests of the victory of communism
in the Soviet Union, the affairs of international socialism.

The Communist Party has accumulated great and varied experience in the struggle for the victory of dictatorship
proletariat. In the pre-October period, in difficult conditions of underground activity
The Bolsheviks theoretically developed complex ideological, political and
organizational issues, practically solved the problems associated with them and on this basis
achieved victory in the bourgeois-democratic and socialist revolutions. To these
issues and tasks include the development of the doctrine of the revolutionary Marxist party -
parties of a new type and the creation of such a party; development of a new socialist theory
revolution in relation to the era of imperialism; development of strategy and tactics in the bourgeois-
democratic and socialist revolutions; the struggle to win the hegemony of the proletariat
for victory over tsarism and capitalism, for the unity of the labor movement, for the establishment
union of the working class and peasantry, led by the working class, for the inclusion of the oppressed
nations on the side of the proletariat; the fight against the enemies of Marxism in the ranks of the revolutionary and workers
movements in Russia and in the international arena and others. The party gave samples of the compound
illegal and legal, parliamentary and extra-parliamentary forms of struggle and work, as well as
the ability to quickly change various forms of mass movement in accordance with the new historical
the situation.

Even richer and more varied is the experience of the Communist Party under the dictatorship of the proletariat,
building socialism and communism. The construction of socialism was carried out for the first time in
history of mankind in a huge country, relatively underdeveloped economically
relation, with a predominance of the peasantry and which included many different
nations and national groups. The difficulties of socialist construction in the USSR increased tenfold
the fact that the country for more than 30 years was the only socialist state in the world and
was subjected to fierce attacks from a hostile capitalist environment. The party must
was theoretically developed and developed the most difficult questions socialist
construction. Historical experience The CPSU covers a huge amount of issues of transition from
capitalism to socialism and the development of socialist society to communism.

The main ones are:

implementation of the dictatorship of the proletariat, socialist democracy at various stages
development of Soviet society; implementation of the union of the working class and peasantry under
leadership of the working class throughout the entire period of building socialism and
communism; resolution of the national question and the creation of a community of socialist
nations in the Soviet state; development of the main problems of the transition from socialism to
communism;

creation of socialist forms of economy; industrialization of the country and the creation of material
technical basis of socialism; collectivization of agriculture and the creation of a large
machine socialist agriculture; liquidation of the exploiting classes and destruction
exploitation of man by man; the transition of previously backward peoples to socialism bypassing
capitalist stage of development;

development of new principles in relations between states that meet the interests
the Soviet people and workers of the whole world; consistent implementation of peace-loving
foreign policy - the policy of peaceful coexistence of countries with different social systems;
strengthening and increasing the defense capability of the socialist state; strengthening and
expanding cooperation between countries of the world dietary system;
the establishment of socialist ideology and the victory of scientific, Marxist-Leninist
worldview; carrying out a cultural revolution; the flourishing of socialist science and
training of numerous cadres of new, popular intelligentsia; raising a new person
in a communist spirit;

transformation of the Communist Party from a force for overthrowing the exploitative system into a force
building a new, communist society; exercising the leading role of the party in
system of dictatorship of the proletariat; strengthening party unity based on Marxism-Leninism;
development of internal party democracy, the principle of collective leadership and others
Leninist norms of party life; education and ideological strengthening of personnel and all party members;
strengthening ties with fraternal communist and workers' parties based on principles
Marxism-Leninism, proletarian internationalism.

All this, comprehensively theoretically developed and tested in practice, can now be
used in the struggle for socialism by the peoples of various countries located on different
steps social development, taking into account, of course, national characteristics each
countries. The experience of the USSR and people's democracies fully confirmed the Marxist-Leninist
the doctrine of the decisive role of the communist party in the creation and development of the socialist
society and the further increase in the importance of its leadership during the period of expanded
building communism.

Thus, as a result of theoretical activity and practical struggle
The Communist Party of the Soviet Union, which led the working class and the masses and
based on objective laws of social development, humanity has received
the first socialist society in history, and at the same time the empirically proven science of
building socialism. The Soviet people, under the leadership of the Communist Party, laid
to the whole world a high road to socialism. Many peoples walk along it and sooner or later
all the peoples of the world will go.

Now the Soviet people, under the leadership of the Communist Party, are carrying out a comprehensive
building a communist society paves the way for humanity to communism. IN
new conditions, the party gave wonderful examples of truly Marxist-Leninist
relationship to revolutionary theory, enriched Marxism-Leninism with new important
theoretical conclusions and provisions. This was most fully embodied in the new
The program of the CPSU, which represents philosophical, economic and political
justification for building communism in the USSR. It is generally accepted by fraternal Marxist-
Leninist parties The CPSU Program is the Communist Manifesto of the modern
eras; the richest treasury of Marxism-Leninism, a major stage of its development in
modern conditions.

The documents of the XX, XXI, XXII congresses and the CPSU Program give a creative solution to all
basic issues of building communism and current problems of international
revolutionary movement. Among them are questions about the outgrowing of the state as a dictatorship of the workers
class into a people's state and its fate under communism; about patterns
the development of socialism into communism; on ways to create a material and technical base
communism; on the formation of communist social relations and the education of a new
person; about the increasing leading role of the party during the transition to communism; about character
modern era; about the variety of forms of transition from capitalism to socialism; about the possibility
in our time of preventing world war and others. Theoretical development of problems
the creation of the first communist society in history serves as a guide to action for
party and the Soviet people.

Communist Party of the Soviet Union, faithful to the principle of the proletarian
internationalism, consistently fulfilled its responsibilities towards the workers
class and the liberation movement of the peoples of other countries, did everything possible for
triumph of the ideas of socialism. During the Second World War, the Soviet Union played a decisive role
role in the victory of the anti-Hitler coalition and in liberating peoples from the fascist yoke.
The Soviet people, under the leadership of the Party, helped the peoples of Southeast and Central
Europe, as well as China, Korea, Vietnam in their struggle against German and Japanese occupation, and
subsequently assisted in the creation and strengthening of the people's democratic system in their
countries. The party views communist construction in the USSR as a great
international task of the Soviet people, meeting the interests of the entire world
socialist system and the international revolutionary movement.

As a result of the victory of the working class over the exploiting classes on the basis of united
efforts and fraternal cooperation of states that have taken the path of socialism, a
a world socialist system covering a third of humanity. World
the socialist system is confidently moving towards a decisive victory in economic competition with
capitalism. The influence of the world socialist system on the course of
social development. The Communist Party, exercising leadership of the Soviet
The Union, which is the core of the socialist system, spares no effort to solve the great
the historical task of further strengthening and flourishing of the world system
socialism. The CPSU stands as the standard-bearer for peace and friendship of the peoples of all countries.

The Communist Party of the Soviet Union was and is guided by
revolutionary theory of Marxism-Leninism. The party defended Marxist theory from
open and hidden enemies, from opportunists of all stripes and developed this theory
further. The founder of the Communist Party, Vladimir Ilyich Lenin, comprehensively
enriched and raised to a new, higher level the teachings of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels,
Leninism is a continuation and creative development Marxism, Marxism of the era
imperialism and proletarian revolutions, the era of socialist and communist
construction in the USSR, the emergence and development of the world socialist system, the era
the transition of human society from capitalism to communism.

The Great October Revolution was victorious under the banner of Marxism-Leninism, built
socialist society, the world system of socialism is founded. Under the banner of Marxism-
Leninism is being fought by millions of workers and working people in all countries of the world.

Faithful students and followers of Marx, Engels, Lenin defended and defend them
great teaching, developed and are developing it further, in relation to new, modern
conditions of the struggle for the construction of socialism and communism, for the interests of international
proletariat and national liberation of peoples.

During the preparation and implementation of the revolution in Russia, the Communist Party carried out
persistent and irreconcilable struggle with hostile political parties and groups,
active in the country - "economists", Mensheviks, this main variety
opportunism in the ranks of the Russian labor movement, Socialist Revolutionaries, anarchists, as well as monarchists,
Cadets, bourgeois-nationalist parties. The working class, the masses, having checked
all political parties, from their own experience, were finally convinced that the genuine
The spokesman for their interests, their leader, is the Communist Party.

There was a long and fierce struggle within the party with various
anti-Leninist groups - the Trotskyists, the “workers’ opposition”, the group
“democratic centralism”, the Trotskyist-Zinoviev bloc, right-wing opportunists,
with nationalist and other groups.

Political victory over all hostile parties and anti-Leninist groups and their
ideological defeat was a necessary condition for the victory of the socialist revolution of building
socialism in the USSR,

The history of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union is divided into two main periods.
The first period covers the party’s struggle to overthrow the tsarist autocracy and
capitalist system, for the establishment of the dictatorship of the proletariat. Second period game
authorities, the party in the struggle to build socialism and communism in the Soviet Union. IN
in accordance with these periods, the tasks of the party, its strategy and tactics changed,
organizational forms of its activities.

Studying the history of the CPSU, the victorious path traversed by the party, the theory of Marxism-
Leninism equips the working people with knowledge of the laws of social development, the laws of class
struggle and driving forces of the revolution, knowledge of the laws of building a socialist society,
communism.

Studying the history of the party gives rise to a sense of pride among communists and all Soviet people
for its great party, for its world-historical victories and awakens a readiness to be in everything
worthy of their party, their homeland, helps to use the rich experience of the party for
solving new problems gives rise to creative energy for building communism.

The history of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, which achieved world-historical
victories of socialism over capitalism, which undermined the roots of the world imperialist system
and ensuring the triumph of Marxism-Leninism, gives rise to a sense of pride among communists
foreign countries for their fraternal victorious party, strengthens the faith of the working people of all
peace into the victory of socialism. Studying the history of the party helps to master Marxism -
Leninism and the experience of the struggle to overthrow the oppression of the exploiters and build communism.

Humanity will forever turn its gaze to the Communist Party of the Soviet Union,
under whose leadership the working people, having overthrown the exploiting classes, were the first to begin
new era world history- the era of building the happiest society -
communism. It will always refer to the heroic history of the Communist Party
Soviet Union, admire the great achievements of the Soviet people in construction
the first in the history of communist society.

* * *

This book contains a concise summary of the history of the Communist Party of the Soviet
Union. The first edition of the textbook “History of the CPSU” was discussed at numerous meetings
teachers, propagandists, researchers on the history of the party. In preparation
This publication uses materials from the XXII Party Congress, new materials from the party
archive, the wishes and comments made during the discussion of the textbook were taken into account. More
the issue of the emergence and development of Stalin’s personality cult is covered in detail,
the enormous harm he caused to the party and the country, about the party’s determined struggle to overcome
its consequences. In this regard, the necessary additions have been made to the textbook, new ones are given
data.

CHAPTER I

THE BEGINNING OF THE LABOR MOVEMENT AND THE SPREAD OF MARXISM IN RUSSIA (1883-1894)

1. The development of capitalism and the situation of the masses in Russia in the second half of the 19th century

In the second half of the 19th century, dramatic changes occurred in Russia that brought it
the working class at the beginning of the 20th century to the forefront of the struggle of the world proletariat and all
international revolutionary movement. Back in the middle of the last century, Russia was one
from very backward countries in Europe. Capitalism began to develop there relatively late. IN
Russia at that time had serfdom under which peasants could be
sell and buy, like cattle, like things. Forced serf labor was
unproductive, and agriculture based on such labor is very backward. Not
Industry, which needed free labor and
domestic market. The development of commodity-capitalist relations pushed towards destruction
serfdom, but the feudal landowners stubbornly resisted this.

The rottenness of the serf system and its harm to the country became more and more noticeable. This
showed especially clearly Crimean War(1853-1856). In 1861 economic
the need and threat of growing peasant unrest forced the tsarist government
abolish serfdom.

After the fall of serfdom in Russia, capitalism began to develop quite quickly,
primarily in industry. The number of factories and factories increased from 1866 to 1890
more than doubled, from 2.5-3 thousand to 6 thousand. The machine gradually replaced manual labor. By the 80s
years ago the industrial revolution took place. Huge factories for that time appeared and
factories with machinery and thousands of workers. Large enterprises with more than
100 workers accounted for less than seven percent of all enterprises by 1890, but they provided
more than half of all industrial production. Railway network
increased more than seven times, from 4 thousand to 29 thousand kilometers. Large ones grew quickly
cities are centers of economic, political and cultural life. New ones have emerged
industrial areas: Donetsk coal basin, Baku oil region. All these
changes took place in a quarter of a century, before the eyes of one generation. Development of capitalism
caused fundamental changes in the class composition of the population. In serf Russia there were two
The main classes are landowners and peasants. With the development of capitalism into the public arena
The bourgeoisie and the proletariat emerged from life. The bourgeoisie, which arose under the serf system,
grew rapidly, became rich, acquired greater economic power,

With the emergence and development of large-scale industrial capitalist production
the modern industrial proletariat emerged and grew. Number of workers only
large factories and factories, in the mining industry and on railways amounted to
In 1890, 1,432 thousand people - twice as many as in 1865. Almost half
industrial workers (48.3 percent) were concentrated in the largest enterprises,
having 500 or more workers. Factory workers formed the main backbone
a huge army of hired labor. In total, according to V.I. Lenin’s calculations, to end of the 19th century century in Russia
there were about 10 million hired workers in industry, railways, agriculture
farming, construction, forestry, earthworks, etc.

The emergence of large-scale machine industry and the industrial proletariat was
a progressive phenomenon. But the transformation of Russia into a capitalist country, as elsewhere,
occurred through increased exploitation of workers. Behind the growth figures of factories and factories,
the construction of railways, the increase in the number of workers hid the grief of the people, their
tears and blood. The situation of the masses was all the more unbearable because the capitalist
exploitation was combined with the remnants of serfdom.

The abolition of serfdom was carried out in the interests of preserving the feudal landowners
their privileges and their power. During the “liberation” the peasants were robbed in the most unscrupulous way
way. Over a fifth of the land that peasants previously cultivated for themselves, landowners
cut off in their favor, and captured the best areas. Selected land from peasants
called "segments". The tsarist authorities forced the peasants to buy out the rest of the land.
at exorbitant prices. It is not surprising that the peasants responded to the “liberation” with massive
speeches that were savagely suppressed by the tsarist authorities. Almost half a century after
“liberation”, the peasants paid the landowners for their sweat and blood-watered lands.
Only under pressure from the revolution did the tsarist government abolish the ransom payments in 1907.
payments.

The landowners retained enormous land wealth and power. The first and largest
the landowner was the tsar, the royal family alone had 7
million dessiatines, more than half a million peasant families. By the end of the 70s, out of 91.5
million dessiatines of privately owned land, noble landowners owned over 73
million dessiatines. Large landownership was the basis of semi-serfdom
operation. Peasants were forced to rent land from landowners on bonded
conditions: to cultivate the landowners' lands with their tools and horses, to give them to the landowner
half the harvest. “Services,” part-time work, and ransom payments meant that in the village
strong remnants of serfdom remained.

Capitalism developed not only in the city, but also in the countryside. Peasant farm from
natural things became increasingly commoditized and increasingly subordinated to the market. Developed
competition, rental and purchase of land, agricultural,
production was increasingly concentrated in the hands of wealthier owners. Influenced
capitalism, the peasantry was decomposing; the kulaks (rural bourgeoisie) and the poor stood out
(village proletarians and semi-proletarians, as V.I. Lenin called them). By the end of the 19th century, out of 10
million peasant households there were approximately 6.5 million poor, 2 million
middle peasants, 1.5 million kulak.

Landowners and kulaks enslaved the peasants, dooming them to poverty and extinction. Crop failure and famine
often visited the village. In 1891, a terrible famine affected up to 40 million peasants. Need
drove peasants from their native villages in search of income. By the end of the 90s, 5-6 million
people left the village every year. A significant part of them completely settled in cities, on
factories and factories, became permanent workers.

The peasant's lot was bitter. The workers lived in incredibly difficult conditions, entirely
were in the power of the capitalist and the tsarist administration. The working day lasted 12—
13 hours, and in textile factories it reached 15-16 hours. There was no security of any kind
labor. The conditions of employment were the most difficult. The poverty wages were barely enough to
meager food. But even this paltry income was cut in every possible way. worker
They cheated and paid wages irregularly, at the discretion of the owner. Worker
was forced to take food on credit from a factory store and pay exorbitant prices for everything
rubbish Workers were especially bothered by fines. They often reached a third, or even 40 percent
earnings and were imposed for any reason. The labor of women and children was widely used. Worked
they are the same as men, but received significantly less.

Most workers lived in factory barracks, in shared "dormitories" with two or three
tiers of bunks 3-4 families huddled in small closets in the corners. Miners usually lived in
shacks or dugouts. Hard labor and miserable life caused mass diseases,
led to rapid depletion and extinction of workers, and high mortality among children.

The remnants of serfdom especially made themselves felt in social and political life
countries. Russia in its political system was an unlimited monarchy, i.e. power in
it belonged entirely and inseparably to the king, who at his own discretion made laws and
appointed ministers and officials, collected and spent people's money without control.
The tsarist monarchy was essentially a dictatorship of feudal landowners who had everything
political rights, enjoyed all privileges, occupied all major positions in
state, received huge benefits from the people's money. Tsarist government
supported large manufacturers and breeders, financial aces. The people in Russia did not have
no political rights. It was impossible to gather freely, express opinions and
make demands, freely unite in unions and organizations, freely publish
newspapers, magazines, books. A whole army of gendarmes, detectives, jailers, policemen, guards,
police officers, police officers, zemstvo chiefs protected the tsar, landowners and capitalists from
people.

The church zealously served the exploitative system. By the beginning of the 20th century in Russia there were
almost 69 thousand Orthodox churches, 130 thousand priests and 58 thousand monks. Besides,
there were tens of thousands of ministers of the Catholic, Protestant, Muslim, Jewish,
Buddhist and other religions. This entire huge army of churchmen diligently planted
religious dope, inspired the working people to submit to the tsarist authorities.

The autocracy was afraid that the light of knowledge would make the people rebellious. Therefore it kept the masses
in darkness and ignorance. The Ministry of Public Education was in fact an organ of obfuscation
national consciousness. Pennies were allotted for school: only 80 kopecks per year were spent on
person. “Cook’s children,” as young workers and peasants were contemptuously called, were not
were allowed into middle and high schools. Almost four-fifths of Russia's population was illiterate.
Tsarism condemned the people to poverty not only materially, but also spiritually.

Tsarist Russia was a prison of nations. The perpetrators of national oppression in Russia were
exploiting classes and tsarism with its entire state apparatus. Not Russians
the peoples who made up the majority of the population - 57 percent, were completely
had no rights, were subjected to predatory exploitation, suffered countless humiliations and
insults. Tsarist officials carried out trials and reprisals against them. National culture
non-Russian peoples were subjected to fierce persecution. Many nations were prohibited from publishing
newspapers and books, teach children native language. The population in the east was entirely illiterate.
The government deliberately incited national hatred, officially called non-Russians
peoples as “foreigners”, tried to instill in the Russians contempt for them as an inferior race. Royal
authorities set one nation against another, organized Jewish pogroms, massacres between
Armenians and Azerbaijanis.

The remnants of serfdom hampered the development of the country. In agriculture by the end of the 19th century
about five-sixths of the population were employed. In the country, low-productivity small businesses predominated
peasant farm. Despite the growth of capitalism, Russia remained economically
backward agricultural country.

Data from the 1897 census give a rough idea of ​​the classes in the then
Russia. In total there were 125.6 million people in Russia. The bulk of the population were
peasants, two thirds of them are poor. Almost one fifth of the population were workers from
with their families. There were approximately the same number of wealthy strata - kulaks,
owners of small enterprises, bourgeois intelligentsia, bureaucrats, etc. About two
percent was big bourgeoisie, landowners and senior officials.

The toiling and exploited masses - workers, rural poor, middle peasants,
artisans made up almost four-fifths of the population. And this is the vast majority of the people
was oppressed and enslaved by a handful of landowners and capitalists, whose faithful guardian was
tsarist government. Millions of poor and enslaved working people of the city and countryside
represented a huge revolutionary force. But this force had to be organized and
politically enlighten her, give her a clear understanding of her interests and ways of fighting for liberation
from oppression, to rally around the working class.

The abolition of serfdom did not eliminate the contradictions between peasants and landowners. Together
At the same time, contradictions developed between workers and capitalists, discord between
peasant poor and kulaks. The development of capitalism in Russia has exacerbated all class
contradictions in the country. The working masses suffered from both capitalist exploitation and
remnants of serfdom. The interests of the people and all social development previously required
the entire destruction of the remnants of serfdom, the overthrow of the tsarist monarchy. Russia towards the end
The 19th century was no longer the same as before 1861,

V.I. Lenin characterized the processes taking place in it at that time as follows:

“Serf Russia was replaced by capitalist Russia. To replace the sedentary, downtrodden,
a serf who grew close to his village, trusted the priests, and feared the “authorities”
the peasant grew up a new generation of peasants who had been in latrine trades, in cities,
who have learned something from the bitter experience of a wandering life and hired work. In big cities,
the number of workers in factories and factories was increasing. Gradually they began to take shape
uniting workers for a joint struggle against the capitalists and the government. Leading this
struggle, the Russian working class helped millions of the peasantry to rise up, straighten up,
throw off the habits of serf slaves" (Oc., vol. 17, p. 66. Hereinafter quoted from 4-
mu edition). These processes led to the strengthening of the revolutionary movement in Russia.

2. Revolutionary democratic movement. First workers' organizations

The revolutionary movement in Russia has a rich heroic history. Serf oppression,
doomed the people to hard labor and poverty, shackled all living things in the country, gave rise to
moods of discontent and protest among the masses. These sentiments erupted in riots and
unrest. Revolutionary thought in Russia was rooted in the struggle of the peasant masses
against serfdom. On the rich soil of class struggle even during the period of serfdom, in
In the 40s and 50s of the 19th century, the great revolutionary democrats V.G. Belinsky, A.I.
Herzen, N. A. Dobrolyubov, N. G. Chernyshevsky. Their activities were permeated with deep
hatred of all manifestations of serfdom in the public life of Russia and is dedicated
passionate defense of the progressive development of the country. They fought selflessly for interests
workers and played an outstanding role in the liberation movement of the peoples of Russia. Under them
influence formed such fiery revolutionaries as T. Shevchenko, Z. Sierakovsky,
K. Kalinovsky, A. Mackevicius, M. Nalbandyan. Particularly strong influence on advanced people
the second half of the 19th century was influenced by N. G. Chernyshevsky, the head of the Russian revolutionary
democrats, the most outstanding revolutionary thinker of the pre-Marxist period.

Revolutionary democrats persistently and inquisitively searched for the correct theory as a tool
liberation of the people from autocracy, from exploitation. They rightly considered the people
the main driving force of social development. But they did not see, and they could not yet see,
the historical role of the working class, the only class capable of transforming society.

The revolutionary democrats were the ideologists of the peasant revolution. In their views there is a fighting spirit
democracy and utopian socialism merged into one inseparable whole. Everywhere in Europe
protest against social oppression initially gave rise to utopian socialist teachings.
Utopian socialists condemned capitalism and dreamed of a better social system, but did not
could indicate the real way out, because they did not see the social force that is capable of becoming
the creator of a new society, free from the exploitation of man by man. Socialists-
Utopians in Russia, unlike Western European utopians, defended the transformation
country through a peasant revolution, they dreamed of a transition to socialism through
peasant community. The rural community that existed in Russia before the revolution was based
on common land ownership. Individual peasant householders received land for a temporary
use; Leveling redistributions of land were periodically carried out. Here, this rural
Utopian socialists mistakenly considered the community to be the embryo of socialism.

After the fall of serfdom, the revolutionary movement in Russia intensified. Main role in
Populism played there. The name “populists” is due to the fact that the then revolutionaries
declared their task to protect the people and their interests. Populism was widespread
social movement with various currents and shades. In the 70s the main
The directions of revolutionary populism were represented by M. A. Bakunin, P. L. Lavrov, P. N.
Tkachev. But all the populists held the same views on the development of Russia. They were
ideologists of peasant democracy, believed in a special system of Russian life, believed that
the community will be the starting point socialist development countries, idealized
peasant, This is where their faith in the possibility of peasant socialist
revolution in Russia. And this inspired them, raised them to a heroic and selfless struggle against
tsarist autocracy, with landlord oppression. Among the populists there were such outstanding
revolutionaries like A.I. Zhelyabov, I.N. Myshkin, S.L. Perovskaya. The royal executioners are merciless
dealt with the revolutionary populists: they hanged them, rotted in prison dungeons, tortured
in hard labor. The revolutionary populists did not understand the historical role of the proletariat, but
some of them were the first in the history of the Russian liberation movement to start propaganda
among factory workers. V.I. Lenin, who showed a complex, contradictory character
populism, highly valued its revolutionary peasant democracy, its call for
revolution.

The populism of the 70s played an important role in the development of the revolutionary movement in Russia,
but the path of struggle chosen by the populists, and especially their theory, were deeply erroneous. Although
the populists were influenced by N. G. Chernyshevsky, but their views on many issues
appeared as a step back. They were far from materialistic views. Many populists
were guided by the erroneous theory of active “heroes” and a passive “crowd”. By this
theory, history is made by individual outstanding individuals, followed obediently by the masses,
people, "crowd". Erroneous views on the peasant community as a source
socialist development of the country became especially harmful in new historical
conditions when capitalism began to develop in Russia and an industrial proletariat appeared.
However, the populists did not understand the new historical conditions. They argued that capitalism is
Russia is a “random phenomenon”, and in connection with this they denied an advanced, revolutionary role
working class in the development of society.

In 1874, the populists made a heroic attempt to put their ideas into practice.
Advanced, revolutionary-minded intellectuals, especially student youth, “went
to the people”, to the village, hoping to rouse the peasants to revolution against the tsarist autocracy and
make an immediate transition to socialism. But life showed complete failure
populists’ ideas about the “communist instincts” of the peasant. Peasants
They were distrustful of the populists’ preaching, which they did not understand. Tsarist government
Hundreds of revolutionaries were arrested. However, the failure of “going to the people” did not immediately undermine
populist illusions. At the end of 1876, the populist organization “Land and Freedom” arose,
who created permanent settlements of her supporters in the village, hoping to gain the trust of
the peasantry and rouse them to revolution. But this did not bring success to the populists. Disputes about
Further paths of the struggle intensified.

In 1879, “Land and Freedom” split. A minority of populists remained in their old positions
denial of the struggle for political freedom, believing that such a struggle is beneficial only to the bourgeoisie.
It preached the redistribution of all land, including that of the landowners, between peasants and created
organization "Black Redistribution". Most of the populists united in an organization
"People's Will". "Narodnaya Volya" took a step forward, moving on to the political struggle against
tsarist autocracy. But the Narodnaya Volya understood the political struggle not as a struggle of the masses, but
as a conspiracy to overthrow the tsarist autocracy and seize power from a small
organization of revolutionaries. They chose individual terror as a means of struggle, i.e.
murder of individual representatives royal power and the king himself, counting by intimidation
and government disorganization to seize power.
Marx, Engels and Lenin saw the main merit of “Narodnaya Volya” in the selfless struggle against
serfdom and autocracy. However, as the mass struggle developed, tactics
individual terror caused more and more tangible harm to the revolutionary movement, because
it constrained the activity of the masses.

Populism doomed the revolutionary movement to defeat. The wrong theory directed
populists on the wrong path. They did not see the historical force that was to come
lead the struggle of the masses against the landowners and bourgeoisie and bring it to the end. This
the strength was the working class.

Predatory exploitation and complete political lack of rights gave rise to workers' protest. Already in
In the 60s there were unrest and strikes. There were even more of them in the 70s. For ten years (1870—
1879), but with incomplete data, 326 strikes and worker unrest were counted. These were so far
only spontaneous protests by people driven to despair who were trying to get out of
intolerable situation, not yet knowing why they are poor and what they should strive for.

But the spontaneous struggle of the workers was already an embryonic form of manifestation
consciousness: during the struggle, the workers ceased to believe in the inviolability of their oppressor
order, they did not want to endure everything any longer with slavish obedience, they began to feel
the need for collective resistance to their oppressors. In the process of struggle from the working masses
More advanced and class-conscious workers began to emerge. They became revolutionaries.

In the revolutionary movement at that time, the populists and revolutionaries reigned supreme.
the workers fell under their influence and joined them. But the advanced workers studied inquisitively.
They passionately sought the causes of the plight of the proletariat and the ways of its liberation.
They already had some idea of ​​the First International and the activities of European
workers' parties. The first works of Marx and Engels, translated, began to reach them
into Russian. They were contemporaries Paris Commune. Revolutionary worker a lot
reflected on the experience of mass protests of Russian proletarians. He couldn't anymore
satisfy the populist doctrine, which assigned workers an auxiliary role in
revolution. The advanced workers are trying to find their own paths of struggle, to create an independent
organization.

Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU)

The CPSU was founded by V.I. Lenin as a revolutionary Marxist party of the Russian proletariat; While remaining a party of the working class, the CPSU, as a result of the victory of socialism in the USSR and the strengthening of the social, ideological and political unity of Soviet society, became the party of the entire Soviet people. “The Communist Party of the Soviet Union is the combat-tested vanguard of the Soviet people, uniting on a voluntary basis the advanced, most conscious part of the working class, the collective farm peasantry and the intelligentsia of the USSR...” The party exists for the people and serves the people. It is the highest form of socio-political organization, the guiding and directing force of Soviet society... The Communist Party of the Soviet Union is an integral, integral part of the international communist and labor movement” (CPSU Charter, 1976, pp. 3, 4, 6). From 1898 (1st Congress) it was called the Russian Social Democratic Labor Party - RSDLP, from 1917 - the Russian Social Democratic Labor Party (Bolsheviks) - RSDLP (b). In March 1918, at the 7th Congress, it was renamed the Russian Communist Party (Bolsheviks) - RCP(b); motivating the renaming of the party to Communist, V. I. Lenin u. in his report at the congress he indicated: “... When starting socialist transformations, we must clearly set ourselves the goal towards which these transformations are ultimately directed, namely the goal of creating a communist society...” (Poln. sobr. op. , 5th ed., vol. 36, p. 44). In connection with the formation of the USSR, the 14th Party Congress (1925) renamed the RCP(b) into the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks) - VKP(b). The 19th Party Congress (1952) renamed the CPSU (b) into the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU), the CPSU absorbed the revolutionary traditions of the entire previous liberation democratic movement in Russia and throughout the world, and managed to combine the defense of class and interests of the proletariat with the aspirations of all working people and the exploited, to unite the struggle of workers and peasants against the social oppression of capitalists and landowners with the struggle of enslaved peoples and nationalities against the national yoke, to transform the Russian working class into the vanguard of the international labor movement. Led by the Bolshevik Party, the working class, in alliance with the poor peasantry, carried out the Great October Socialist Revolution of 1917, establishing the dictatorship of the proletariat. The CPSU is the first Marxist party in the world to lead the proletariat to political dominance and implement the idea of ​​​​creating a socialist state.

The CPSU is a heroic party for the defense of the Socialist Fatherland, which organized the victory of the Soviet people over their worst enemies - the interventionists and internal counter-revolution in the Civil War of 1918-20, over Hitler's fascism, Japanese militarism and their allies in the Great Fatherland. war 1941-45. and The result of the selfless struggle of the Soviet people under the leadership of the CPSU is the transformation of the Soviet Union into a powerful industrial-collective farm power, a country of advanced science and culture, and the construction of a developed socialist society. (Lenin's policies and practices of the CPSU ensured the monolithic unity of the Soviet people around the party. During the years of socialist construction in the USSR, a new historical community of people arose - the Soviet people, strong in unity of purpose and unity of action in the struggle for the triumph of communism.

For more information about the history of the CPSU, see Art. Communist Party of the Soviet Union, in sections on communist parties in articles on union republics.

The CPSU is the party of scientific communism. Theoretical basis The CPSU is Marxism-Leninism - scientific foundation for the revolutionary transformation of society. Guided by the Marxist-Leninist teaching, creatively developing and enriching it, the CPSU at each historical stage in its programs determined the next and long-term tasks, but the ultimate goal of the party remained constant and unchanged: building communism.

The 2nd Congress of the RSDLP (1903) created the Marxist Bolshevik Party. “Bolshevism,” wrote Lenin, “has existed as a current of political thought and as a political party since 1903” (Poln. sobr. soch., 5th ed., vol. 41, p. 6). The congress adopted the first Party Program - a program for the conquest of political power by the working class and the establishment of the dictatorship of the proletariat. This program was carried out with the victory of the Great October Socialist Revolution and the formation of the Republic of Soviets; the 8th Congress of the RCP(b) in 1919 adopted the second Party Program - the program for building socialism. Its implementation culminated in the complete and final victory of socialism in the USSR. The 22nd Congress of the CPSU (1961) adopted the third Program - the program for building a communist society in the USSR. This program formulated a triune task - the creation of the material and technical base of communism, the formation of communist social relations and the education of a new person. The creation of the material and technical base of communism means: complete electrification of the country and the improvement on this basis of equipment, technology and the organization of social production in all sectors of the national economy; comprehensive mechanization of production. processes, their increasingly complete automation; widespread use of chemistry in the national economy; comprehensive development of new, cost-effective industries, new types of energy and materials; comprehensive and rational use of natural, material and labor resources; organic connection of science with production and the rapid pace of scientific and technological progress; high cultural and technical level of workers; significant superiority over the most developed capitalist countries in terms of labor productivity, which is the most important condition for the victory of the communist system. “As a result,” the CPSU Program indicates, “the USSR will have productive forces of unprecedented power, will exceed the technical level of the most developed countries and will take first place in the world in per capita production. This will serve as the basis for the gradual transformation of socialist social relations into communist ones, such a development of production that will make it possible to satisfy in abundance the needs of society and all its citizens” (CPSU Program, 1976, pp. 66-67). “The CPSU sets a task of world-historical significance - to ensure in the Soviet Union the highest standard of living compared to any capitalist country" (ibid., pp. 90-91). The CPSU program proceeds from the fact that during the period of transition to communism, the possibilities of educating a new person, harmoniously combining communist ideology, spiritual wealth, moral purity and physical perfection, increase.

V.I. Lenin developed the main directions of the political, ideological and organizational activities of the party, its strategy and tactics at various stages of the class struggle and revolutionary battles. Lenin saw the party as a decisive condition for building socialism and communism. Based on the ideas of K. Marx and F. Engels about the proletarian party, critically summarizing the experience of the Russian and international revolutionary movement, Lenin created a coherent doctrine of the party as the highest form of revolutionary organization of the working class. In 1904, Lenin wrote: “The proletariat has no other weapon in the struggle for power than organization... The proletariat can and will inevitably become an invincible force only due to the fact that its ideological unification by the principles of Marxism is secured by the material unity of the organization, rallying millions of working people into the army of the worker class. Neither the decrepit power of the Russian autocracy, nor the decrepit power of international capital can withstand this army” (Poln. sobr. soch., 5th ed., vol. 8, pp. 403-04). Lenin created a new type of proletarian party, which for the first time combined scientific socialism with the mass workers' movement. In contrast to the social democratic parties of the West - the parties of social reforms and parliamentary methods, which denied the need for a socialist revolution and the establishment of the dictatorship of the proletariat, the parties of the 2nd International with their organizational impotence, Lenin created a militant centralized political party of revolutionary action, irreconcilable with the bourgeoisie, closely associated with by the masses, capable of preparing the proletariat for the conquest of power, a party armed with revolutionary theory. “... The role of an advanced fighter,” Lenin pointed out, “can only be fulfilled by a party guided by advanced theory” (ibid., vol. 6, p. 25).

Lenin led the party through difficult trials and cruel persecution. “We are walking in a tight group along a steep and difficult path, holding hands tightly,” Lenin wrote. “We are surrounded on all sides by enemies, and we almost always have to go under their fire. We united, by a freely made decision, precisely in order to fight our enemies...” (ibid., p. 9). In this struggle, the party grew stronger and became the leader of the Russian proletariat.

After the victory of the Great October Socialist Revolution, the Communist Party becomes the only political party in the country that enjoys the absolute trust and support of the working masses. The petty-bourgeois parties (Mensheviks, Socialist-Revolutionaries, etc.) exposed themselves as anti-proletarian, anti-people. The policy of conciliation led them to betray the interests of the working class and all working people; ultimately they slipped into the camp of counter-revolution. The CPSU became the ruling party. Lenin pointed out in 1918: “We, the Bolshevik Party, convinced Russia. We conquered Russia - from the rich for the poor, from the exploiters for the working people. We must now govern Russia” (ibid., vol. 36, p. 172). Lenin taught: “To govern, you must have an army of seasoned communist revolutionaries, it exists, it is called a party” (ibid., vol. 42, p. 254).

The Communist Party of the Soviet Union is the leading and guiding force of Soviet society, the core of its political system, all state and public organizations: Soviets, trade unions, the All-Union Leninist Communist Youth Union, creative unions, cultural, scientific and technical public, sports and defense organizations, etc. .d.

Armed with Marxist-Leninist teachings, the Communist Party of the Soviet Union determines the general prospects for the development of society, the line of domestic and foreign policy of the USSR, guides the great creative activity of the Soviet people, and imparts a planned, scientifically based character to their struggle for the victory of communism. “Not a single important political or organizational question,” Lenin pointed out, “can be solved by any government agency in our republic without the guidelines of the Party Central Committee” (ibid., vol. 41, pp. 30-31).

The CPSU, guided by the decisions of party congresses, determines the course of the country's socio-economic development, the direction of current and long-term national economic plans approved by the Supreme Soviet of the USSR. The party provides the solution main task its internal policy - increasing the standard of living of the people, that means. an increase in the material well-being of workers. The party strives to increase the efficiency of socialist production, to organically combine the achievements of the scientific and technological revolution with the advantages of the socialist economic system. The party is doing a lot of work to strengthen state bodies and public organizations with politically trained personnel. The leadership of the Soviets, economic bodies, trade unions, Komsomol and other public organizations is carried out by the party through the communists working in these organizations, without allowing the functions of party and other bodies to be mixed. The Party not only gives directives and guidelines, but also checks their implementation.

The CPSU is a fighting union of like-minded communists. Creatively developing the Marxist-Leninist teaching, enriching it with new conclusions from the experience of socialist and communist construction in the USSR and foreign socialist countries, the world communist and labor movement, the party is irreconcilable to any manifestations of revisionism and dogmatism, deeply alien to revolutionary theory.

With the establishment of Soviet power in 1917, having become the ruling party in the Soviet state, the CPSU had to fight various kinds of anti-Leninist trends and deviations within the party - Trotskyists, right-wing opportunists, national deviationists, who with their shyness from preaching a “revolutionary war with the world bourgeoisie” to capitulatory statements about the impossibility of building socialism in one country in a situation of capitalist encirclement distracted the party from solving pressing political and economic problems. Without the defeat of these trends it was impossible to carry out socialist construction in the USSR.

The CPSU holds high the Marxist-Leninist banner in the fight against right-wing revisionism and petty-bourgeois revolutionism in the world communist movement. Consistently defending the policy of peaceful coexistence of states with different social systems, the CPSU is irreconcilable in the fight against bourgeois ideology. She resolutely opposes anti-communism - the main ideological and political weapon of imperialism.

The Communist Party is the ideological educator of the people. It educates the masses of workers in the spirit of communist consciousness, conducts daily propaganda and agitation activities, and manages the media (print, television, radio, etc.). The Party strives to ensure that every communist observes and instills in the working people the communist moral principles set out in the Program and Charter of the CPSU.

In its ideology, type of structure, and nature of its activities, the CPSU is a consistently internationalist party. The Communist Party was created as a single party of the proletariat of all multinational Russia. The party unites in its ranks representatives of all nations and nationalities of the USSR. Proletarian internationalism forms the basis of the Leninist national program of the party, which was embodied in the rapid rise of the economy and the flowering of the culture of all Soviet republics, in the creation and growth of a single multinational socialist state - the USSR, which became a stronghold of friendship and brotherhood of Soviet peoples. Internationalism is one of the fundamental principles of the Leninist foreign policy of the CPSU and the Soviet state - the policy of actively defending peace and strengthening international security, ensuring favorable external conditions for the construction of communism in the USSR, for the defense of socialism, the freedom of peoples. The CPSU consistently pursues a policy of unity and development of the world socialist system, strengthening friendship with the fraternal countries of socialism, unity and international solidarity with the labor movement in capital countries, support for peoples fighting for national and social liberation, for genuine political and economic independence, against imperialism and neo-colonialism .

The organizational foundations of the CPSU are embodied in the Charter of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. He determines the norms of the desks. life, methods and forms of desks. construction, leadership of the party in all spheres of state, economic, ideological, social activity. According to the Charter, the guiding principle of the party's organizational structure is democratic centralism, which means: the election of all governing bodies of the party from bottom to top; periodic reporting of party bodies to their party organizations and to higher authorities; strict party discipline and subordination of the minority to the majority; unconditional bindingness of decisions of higher bodies for lower ones. On the basis of internal party democracy, criticism and self-criticism are developed, and party discipline is strengthened. Any manifestation of factionalism is incompatible with Marxist-Leninist partisanship. The highest principle of party leadership is its collectivity - an indispensable condition for the normal functioning of party organizations, proper upbringing personnel, development of activity and initiative of communists.

A member of the CPSU can be any citizen of the Soviet Union who recognizes the Party Program and Charter, actively participates in the construction of communism, works in one of the party organizations, carries out party decisions and pays membership fees. A member of the CPSU is obliged to serve as an example of a communist attitude towards work and the fulfillment of public duty, firmly and steadily implement the decisions of the party, explain its policies to the masses, actively participate in the political life of the country, in the management of state affairs, in economic and cultural construction, and master the Marxist-Leninist theory, to wage a decisive struggle against any manifestations of bourgeois ideology, against the remnants of private property psychology, religious prejudices and other remnants of the past, to observe the principles of communist morality, to show sensitivity and attention to people, to be an active conductor of the ideas of socialist internationalism and Soviet patriotism among the masses of workers, to strengthen in every possible way unity of the Party, be truthful and honest to the Party and the people, develop criticism and self-criticism, respect the Party. and state discipline, equally obligatory for all party members, to be vigilant and to contribute in every possible way to strengthening the defense power of the USSR.

A party member has the right to elect and be elected to party bodies, freely discuss issues of policy and practical activities of the party at party meetings, conferences, congresses, at meetings of party committees and in the party press, make proposals, openly express and defend their opinions before the organization makes a decision ; criticize any communist at party meetings, conferences, congresses, committee plenums, regardless of the position he holds.

Admission to membership of the CPSU is carried out exclusively in individually. Conscious, active and devoted to the cause of communism, workers, peasants and representatives of the intelligentsia are accepted as party members. Those joining the party undergo candidate experience (for a period of 1 year). Persons over 18 years of age are accepted into the party. Young people up to and including 23 years of age join the party only through the Komsomol.

For failure to fulfill statutory duties and other misconduct, a member or candidate member of the party is held accountable and penalties may be imposed on him. The highest measure of party punishment is expulsion from the party.

The CPSU is built on the territorial production principle: primary party organizations are created at the place of work of communists and are united into district, city, etc. organizations by territory. The highest governing bodies of party organizations are the general meeting (for primary organizations), conference (for district, city, district, regional, regional organizations), congress (for communist parties of the union republics, for the CPSU). The general meeting, conference or congress elects a bureau or committee, which are the executive bodies and manage all the current work of the party organizations. Elections of party bodies are held by closed (secret) voting.

The supreme body of the CPSU is the Party Congress. The Congress elects the Central Committee (Central Committee) and the Central Audit Commission. Regular congresses are convened at least once every 5 years. In the intervals between congresses, all party activities are led by the CPSU Central Committee. The Central Committee of the CPSU elects: to lead the work of the party between the Plenums of the Central Committee - the Politburo; to manage the current work, mainly in the selection of personnel and the organization of performance verification, - the Secretariat. The Central Committee elects Secretary General Central Committee of the CPSU. The Central Committee of the CPSU organizes a Party Control Committee under the Central Committee.

Local party organizations are components of a single CPSU and cover the entire territory of the USSR. Within their territorial borders, they implement the policy of the party, organize and carry out the implementation of the directives of its highest bodies.

The basis of the party is the primary organizations. They are created at the place of work of party members - in plants, factories, state farms and other enterprises, on collective farms, units Soviet army, institutions, educational institutions, etc. if there are at least 3 party members. Territorial primary party organizations are also created at the place of residence of communists: in rural areas and at house administrations. The primary party organization accepts new members into the CPSU, educates communists in the spirit of devotion to the party's cause, ideological conviction, and communist morality, organizes the study of Marxist-Leninist theory by communists, and carries out mass agitation and propaganda work. The primary party organization takes care of increasing the vanguard role of communists in labor, socio-political and economic life, acts as an organizer of workers in solving the immediate tasks of communist construction, leads socialist competition, strives to strengthen labor discipline, steadily increase labor productivity, improve product quality, on the basis of a broad deploying criticism and self-criticism, it fights against manifestations of bureaucracy, localism, violations of state discipline and other shortcomings.

The exchange of party documents carried out in the early 70s contributed to the activation of the communists and parties. organizations in the struggle to fulfill the tasks of communist construction and strengthen party discipline.

Primary party organizations of industrial enterprises, transport, communications, construction, logistics, trade, public catering, public services, collective farms, state farms and other agricultural enterprises, design organizations, design bureaus, research institutes, educational institutions, cultural - educational and medical institutions enjoy the right to control the activities of the administration. Party organizations of ministries, state committees and other central and local Soviet, economic institutions and departments exercise control over the work of the apparatus in implementing the directives of the party and government, and compliance with Soviet laws. They are called upon to actively influence the improvement of the work of the apparatus, educate employees in the spirit of high responsibility for the assigned work, take measures to strengthen state discipline, improve services to the population, wage a decisive fight against bureaucracy and red tape, promptly report to the relevant party bodies about shortcomings in the work of institutions, as well as individual employees, regardless of their positions. The leadership of party work in the Armed Forces is carried out by the Central Committee of the CPSU through the Main Political Directorate of the Soviet Army and Navy, operating as a department of the CPSU Central Committee.

They operate under the leadership of the CPSU All-Union Leninist Communist Youth Union (VLKSM) - an active assistant and reserve of the party.

As of January 1, 1977, there were 15,994,476 communists in the CPSU (15,365,600 members of the CPSU and 628,876 candidate members of the CPSU). They united in 14 communist parties of the union republics, 6 regional, 148 regional, 10 district, 822 city, 576 district in cities, 2851 rural district, 394 thousand primary party organizations.

In the party education system in the 1976/77 academic year. about 20 million people studied, leading party and Soviet personnel studied at the Academy social sciences under the Central Committee of the CPSU, the Higher Party School under the Central Committee of the CPSU, the correspondence Higher Party School under the Central Committee of the CPSU. There were also 13 republican and interregional higher party schools and 20 Soviet party schools.

The research center is the Institute of Marxism-Leninism under the CPSU Central Committee, which has its branches in the union republics.

The funds of the party and its organizations are made up of membership fees, income from party enterprises and other income.

The CPSU conducts extensive publishing activities. The organ of the CPSU Central Committee is the newspaper Pravda (since 1912). Newspapers of the CPSU Central Committee: “Soviet Russia” (since 1956), “Socialist Industry” (since 1969), “Rural Life” (since 1929), “Soviet Culture” (since 1953), Weekly of the CPSU Central Committee - “Economic Newspaper” (since 1918). The theoretical and political journal of the CPSU Central Committee is “Communist” (since 1924). Journals of the CPSU Central Committee: “Agitator” (since 1923), “Party Life” (since 1919), “Political Self-Education” (since 1957). The Central Committee of the CPSU is in charge of: the publishing house "Pravda", "Publishing House of Political Literature" (Politizdat), and the publishing house "Plakat". The Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Union Republics also has its own publishing houses.

Congresses and conferences of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union

(For more information on the 1st to 24th Party Congresses, see the relevant TSB articles.)

1st Congress of the RSDLP. March 1-3 (13-15), 1898. Minsk. There were 9 delegates from 6 organizations: 1 delegate each from the “Unions of Struggle for the Liberation of the Working Class”: St. Petersburg, Moscow, Ekaterinoslav, Kyiv; 2 delegates from the Kyiv Rabochaya Gazeta group and 3 delegates from the Bund. The congress proclaimed the creation of the Russian Social Democratic Labor Party (RSDLP), elected the Central Committee of the party (3 people), and instructed the Central Committee to issue a “Manifesto” on behalf of the party. Due to the arrest of members of the Central Committee shortly after the congress, the Central Committee could not begin its work and actually ceased to exist.

2nd Congress of the RSDLP. July 17(30) - August 10(23) 190W. Brussels - London. There were 43 delegates present with 51 casting votes and 14 advisory votes. 26 organizations were represented [including organizations: “Iskra”, “Foreign League of Russian Revolutionary Social Democracy”, the “Emancipation of Labor” group, “Foreign Union of Russian Social Democrats”, the Central and Foreign Committees of the Bund, the “Southern” group worker", 14 local committees, 4 social democratic unions and the St. Petersburg workers' organization (economist)]. Order of the day: 1) Constitution of the congress. Bureau elections. Establishment of the rules of the congress and the order of the day. Report of the Organizing Committee (OC) and selection of a commission to determine the composition of the congress. 2) The place of the Bund in the RSDLP. 3) Party program. 4) The central body of the party. 5) Delegate reports. 6) Organization of the party. 7) District and national organizations. 8) Separate party groups. 9) National question. 10) Economic struggle and professional movement. 11) Celebrating May 1st. 12) International Socialist Congress in Amsterdam 1904. 13) Demonstrations and uprisings. 14) Terror. 15) Internal issues of party work: a) production of propaganda; b) campaigning; c) setting up desks. literature; d) organizing work among the peasantry; e) organizing work in the army; f) organizing work among students; g) organizing work among sectarians. 16) The attitude of the RSDLP to the Socialist Revolutionaries. 17) The attitude of the RSDLP to Russian liberal movements. 18) Elections of the Central Committee and the editorial board of the Central Body (CO) of the party. 19) Elections of the Party Council. 20) The procedure for announcing the decisions and protocols of the congress, as well as the procedure for elected officials and institutions taking on their duties. Under item 6 of the order of the day - Organization of the Party - the issue of the Party Charter was discussed.

3rd Congress of the RSDLP. April 12-27 (April 25 - May 10) 1905. London. There were 24 delegates with a casting vote and 14 with an advisory vote. Order of the day: 1) Report of the Organizing Committee. 2) Tactical questions: armed uprising, attitude to government policy on the eve of and at the time of the coup; attitude towards the peasant movement. 3) Organizational issues: relations between workers and intellectuals in party organizations; Party charter. 4) Attitude to other parties and movements: attitude to the breakaway part of the RSDLP; attitude towards national social democratic organizations; attitude towards liberals; practical agreements with socialist revolutionaries. 5) Internal issues of party life; propaganda and agitation. 6) Reports of delegates; Central Committee report; reports of delegates of local committees. 7) Elections; the procedure for the announcement of resolutions and minutes of the congress and the assumption of office by officials.

Conference of Social Democratic Organizations in Russia. 7-9 (20-22) September 1905. Riga. The Central Committee of the RSDLP was convened to develop tactics in relation to the State Duma. Representatives from the Central Committee, the Menshevik Organizational Commission (OC), the Bund, the Latvian Social Democracy, the Polish Social Democracy and the Revolutionary Ukrainian Party (RUP) were present.

1st Conference of the RSDLP. 12-17 (25-30) December 1905. Tammerfors. 41 delegates were present. Order of the day: 1) Reports from the field. 2) Report on the current situation. 3) Organizational report of the Central Committee. 4) On the unification of both parts of the RSDLP. 5) On the reorganization of the party. 6) Agrarian question. 7) About the State Duma.

4th (Unification) Congress of the RSDLP. April 10-25 (April 23-May 8), 1906. Stockholm. There were 112 delegates present with a casting vote from 57 local organizations of the RSDLP and 22 with an advisory vote; in addition, with an advisory vote, 3 delegates each from the Social Democrats of Poland and Lithuania, Bund and Letts, the Social Democratic Labor Party, 1 delegate each from the Ukrainian Social Democratic Labor Party and the Finnish Labor Party, a representative of the Bulgarian Social Democratic Labor Party, as well as G.V. Plekhanov, P. Axelrod and others. Order of the day: 1) Revision of the agrarian program. 2) Current moment. 3) The question of tactics in relation to the results of the elections to the State Duma and to the Duma itself. 4) Armed uprising. 5) Guerrilla actions. 6) Provisional revolutionary government and revolutionary self-government. 7) Attitude to the Soviets of Workers' Deputies. 8) Trade unions. 9) Attitude towards the peasant movement. 10) Attitude towards various non-social democratic parties and organizations. 11) Attitude to the requirement of a special Establishment. meetings for Poland in connection with the national question in the party. Program. 12) Party organization. 13) Association with national social democratic organizations (social democracy of Poland and Lithuania, Latvian social democracy, Bund). 14) Reports. 15) Elections.

2nd Conference of the RSDLP (“First All-Russian”). 3-7 (16-20) November 1906. Tammerfors. 32 delegates were present. Members of the Central Committee and the editorial board of the Central Body (CO) were present with the right to an advisory vote. Order of the day: 1) Election campaign. 2) Party congress. 3) Labor congress. 4) The fight against the Black Hundreds and pogroms. 5) Guerrilla performances.

5th (London) Congress of the RSDLP. April 30 - May 19 (May 13 - June 1) 1907. London. There were 303 delegates with a casting vote and 39 with an advisory vote. Among the delegates with a casting vote there were 177 people. from the RSDLP (of which 89 were Bolsheviks), 45 from the SDKPiL, 26 from the SDLC and 55 from the Bund. Order of the day: 1) Report of the Central Committee. 2) Report of the Duma faction and its organization. 3) Attitude towards bourgeois parties. 4) State Duma. 5) Labor Congress and non-party labor organizations. 6) Trade unions and the party. 7) Guerrilla performances. 8) Unemployment, economic crisis and lockouts. 9) Organizational issues. 10) International Congress in Stuttgart. 11) Work in the army. 12) Miscellaneous.

3rd Conference of the RSDLP (“Second All-Russian”). July 21-23 (August 3-5) 1907. Kotka (Finland). There were 26 delegates present, including 9 Bolsheviks, 5 Mensheviks, 5 Polish Social Democrats, 5 Bundists and 2 Latvian Social Democrats. Convened to discuss tactical issues in connection with the dispersal of the 2nd State Duma (the so-called third-June coup) and the convening of the 3rd Duma.

4th Conference of the RSDLP (“Third All-Russian”). November 5-12 (18-25), 1907. Helsingfors. There were 27 delegates present, including 10 Bolsheviks, 4 Mensheviks, 5 Polish Social Democrats, 5 Bundists, 3 Latvians, Social Democrats. On the order of the day were questions about the tactics of the Social Democratic faction in the State Duma, about factional centers and strengthening the connection between the Central Committee and local organizations and about participation in the bourgeois press.

5th Conference of the RSDLP (All-Russian 1908). December 21-27, 1908 (January 3-9, 1909). Paris. There were 16 voting delegates present; 5 Bolsheviks, 3 Mensheviks, 5 Polish Social Democrats, 3 Bundists. Order of the day: 1) Reports of the Central Committee of the RSDLP, the Central Committee of the Polish Social Democracy, the Central Committee of the Bund, the St. Petersburg organization, the Moscow and Central Industrial Regional, Ural, Caucasian. 2) The current political situation and tasks of the party. 3) About the Duma Social Democratic faction. 4) Organizational issues in connection with changed political conditions. 5) Local integration with national organizations. 6) Foreign affairs.

6th (Prague) All-Russian Conference of the RSDLP. January 5-17 (18-30), 1912. Prague. Over 20 party organizations were represented - almost all active organizations in Russia, so it had the significance of a party congress. Representatives of the editorial board of the Central Organ, the editorial office of Rabochaya Gazeta, the Committee of Foreign Organizations, etc. were present in an advisory capacity. Order of the day: 1) Reports (report of the Russian Organizational Commission, reports from the field, report of the Central Organ, etc.). 2) Constitution of the conference. 3) The current moment and tasks of the party. 4) Elections to the 4th State Duma. 5) Duma faction. 6) State insurance of workers. 7) The strike movement and trade unions (this item on the order of the day was subsequently combined with the item “Organizational Issues” and a general resolution was passed on them - “On the nature and organizational forms of party work”). 8) “Petition campaign.” 9) About liquidationism. 10) The tasks of the Social Democrats in the fight against hunger. 11) Party literature. 12) Organizational issues. 13) Party work abroad. 14) Elections. 15) Miscellaneous.

Conference of foreign sections of the RSDLP. February 14-19 (February 27 - March 4) 1915. Bern. Present were representatives from the Central Committee and the Central Organ, from the women's social democratic organization, from sections: Paris, Zurich, Berne, Lausanne, Geneva, London, from the God group, etc. Order of the day: 1) Reports from the field. 2) War and the tasks of the party (relationship to other political groups). 3) Tasks of foreign organizations (relation to general actions and enterprises of various groups). 4) Central Election Commission and new newspaper. 5) Attitude to “colonial” affairs (issues of emigrant “colonies”). 6) Elections of the Committee of Foreign Organizations. 7) Miscellaneous.

7th (April) All-Russian Conference of the RSDLP(b). April 24-29 (May 7-12), 1917. Petrograd. There were 133 delegates with a casting vote and 18 with an advisory vote, representing 80 thousand party members. Order of the day: 1) Current moment (war and Provisional Government, etc.). 2) Peace conference. 3) Attitude to the Soviets of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies. 4) Revision of the party program. 5) The situation in the International and our tasks. 6) Association of social democratic internationalist organizations. 7) Agrarian question. 8) National question. 9) constituent Assembly. 10) Organizational issue. 11) Reports by region. 12) Elections of the Central Committee.

6th Congress of the RSDLP(b). July 26 - August 3 (August 8-16) 1917. Petrograd. There were 157 delegates with a casting vote and 110 with an advisory vote, representing about 240 thousand party members. Order of the day: 1) Report of the Organizational Bureau. 2) Report of the Central Committee of the RSDLP(b). 3) Reports from the field. 4) Current moment: a) war and international situation; b) political and economic situation. 5) Revision of the program. 6) Organizational issues. 7) Elections to the Constituent Assembly. 8) International. 9) Party unification. 10) Professional movement. 11) Elections. 12) Miscellaneous. A resolution “On youth unions” was also adopted. In addition, a report on V.I. Lenin’s failure to appear at the trial of the bourgeois Provisional Government was discussed.

7th Congress of the RCP(b). March 6-8, 1918. Petrograd. Convened as an emergency to resolve the issue of Soviet Russia's withdrawal from the imperialist war. There were 47 delegates with a casting vote and 59 with an advisory vote. Order of the day: 1) Report of the Central Committee. 2) The question of war and peace. 3) Revision of the Program and name of the party. 4) Organizational issues. 5) Elections of the Central Committee.

8th Congress of the RCP(b). March 18-23, 1919. Moscow. There were 301 delegates with a casting vote, representing 313,766 party members, and 102 with an advisory vote. Order of the day: 1) Report of the Central Committee. 2) RCP(b) program. 3) Creation of the Communist International. 4) Martial law and military policy. 5) Work in the village. 6) Organizational issues. 7) Elections of the Central Committee.

8th All-Russian Conference of the RCP(b) December 2-4, 1919. Moscow. There were 45 delegates with a casting vote and 73 with an advisory vote. Order of the day: 1) Political and organizational report of the Central Committee. 2) International situation. 3) Questions of the order of the day of the 7th All-Russian Congress of Soviets. 4) About Soviet power in Ukraine. 5) Party charter. 6) About work among new party members who have entered the party week. 7) About the fuel crisis.

9th Congress of the RCP(b). March 29 - April 5, 1920. Moscow. There were 554 delegates with a casting vote, representing 611,978 party members and 162 with an advisory vote. Order of the day: 1) Report of the Central Committee. 2) Immediate tasks of economic construction. 3) Professional movement. 4) Tasks of the Communist International. 5) Organizational issues. 6) Attitude towards cooperation. 7) Transition to a police system. 8) Elections of the Central Committee.

9th All-Russian Conference of the RCP(b). September 22-25, 1920. Moscow. There were 116 delegates with a casting vote and 125 with an advisory vote. Order of the day: 1) Report by the representative of the Polish communists. 2) Political report of the Central Committee. 3) Organizational report of the Central Committee. 4) On the immediate tasks of party building. 5) Report on the 2nd Congress of the Comintern.

10th Congress of the RCP(b). March 8-16, 1921. Moscow. There were 694 delegates with a casting vote, representing 732,521 party members, and 296 with an advisory vote. Order of the day: 1) Political and organizational report of the Central Committee and report of the Central Control Commission (CCC). 2) About Glavpolitprosvet and the propaganda work of the party. 3) The national question. 4) Trade unions and their role in the economic life of the country. 5) Issues of party building. 6) On replacing appropriation with a food tax. 7) Soviet Russia in a capitalist environment. 8) Report of representatives of the RCP (b) in the Comintern. 9) Questions about party unity and anarcho-syndicalist deviation. 10) Elections of governing bodies.

10th All-Russian Conference of the RCP(b). May 26-28, 1921. Moscow. 239 delegates were present. Order of the day: 1) Economic policy: a) food tax; b) cooperation; c) about financial reform; d) small industry. 2) The role of the Socialist Revolutionaries and Mensheviks at the current moment. 3) 3rd Congress of the Communist International. In addition, the conference heard informational reports on the work of the communist faction of the 4th Congress of Trade Unions and on the immediate tasks of the party’s organizational work.

11th All-Russian Conference of the RCP(b). December 19-22, 1921. Moscow. There were 125 delegates with a casting vote and 116 with an advisory vote. Order of the day: 1) The party’s immediate tasks in connection with the restoration of the economy. 2) industry. 3) agriculture. 4) Cooperation. 5) Preliminary results of cleaning the batch. 6) Questions of the Communist International.

11th Congress of the RCP(b). March 27 - April 2, 1922. Moscow. There were 522 delegates with a casting vote, representing 532 thousand party members, and 165 with an advisory vote. Order of the day: 1) Political report of the Central Committee. 2) Organizational report of the Central Committee. 3) Report of the Audit Commission. 4) Report of the Central Control Commission. 5) Report of the RCP(b) delegation to the Comintern. 6) Trade unions. 7) About the Red Army. 8) Financial policy. 9) The results of the purge of the party and the strengthening of its ranks; co-reports: on work among young people, on the press and propaganda. 10) Elections of the Central Committee and Central Control Commission.

12th All-Russian Conference of the RCP(b). August 4-7, 1922. Moscow. There were 129 delegates with a casting vote and 92 with an advisory vote. Order of the day: 1) On the international situation. 2) About trade unions. 3) Party work in cooperation. 4) About anti-Soviet parties and movements. 5) About the work of the statutory section. 6) On improving the financial situation of party members. 7) About the 4th Congress of the Communist International.

12th Congress of the RCP(b). April 17-25 192W. Moscow. There were 408 delegates with a casting vote, representing 386 thousand party members, and 417 with an advisory vote. Order of the day: 1) Report of the Central Committee: a) political report of the Central Committee and b) organizational report of the Central Committee. 2) Report of the Audit Commission. 3) Report of the Central Control Commission. 4) Report of the Russian representation in the Executive Committee of the Comintern. 5) About industry. 6) National moments in party and state building. 7) Tax policy in the village. 8) About zoning. 9) Elections of central institutions.

13th Conference of the RCP(b). January 16-18, 1924. Moscow. There were 128 delegates with a casting vote and 222 with an advisory vote. Order of the day: 1) Immediate tasks of economic policy. 2) Issues of party building. 3) International situation. In addition, the conference adopted resolutions: 1) On the results of the discussion and on the petty-bourgeois deviation in the party and 2) Greetings to the Central Organ - “Pravda”.

13th Congress of the RCP(b). May 23-31, 1924. Moscow. There were 748 voting delegates present, representing 735,881 members and candidate members of the party, and 416 with an advisory vote. Order of the day: 1) On granting candidates for membership of the RCP the right to a decisive vote in the elections to the 13th Congress of the RCP. 2) Political report of the Central Committee. 3) Organizational report of the Central Committee. 4) Report of the Central Audit Commission. 5) Report of the Central Control Commission. 6) Report of the RCP representation in the Executive Committee of the Comintern. 7) On internal trade and cooperation: a) on trade turnover and planned work, b) On cooperation. 8) About work in the village. 9) About party and organizational issues. 10) About work among young people. 11) Report on the manuscripts of K. Marx and F. Engels. 12) Report on the work of the Lenin Institute. 13) Elections of the central institutions of the party.

14th Conference of the RCP(b). April 27-29, 1925. Moscow. There were 178 delegates with a casting vote and 392 with an advisory vote. Order of the day: 1) Party and organizational issues. 2) About cooperation. 3) About agricultural tax. 4) About the metal industry. 5) About the extended plenum of the ECCI. 6) About revolutionary legality.

14th Congress of the CPSU(b). December 18-31, 1925. Moscow. There were 665 delegates with a casting vote and 641 with an advisory vote, representing 643 thousand party members and 445 thousand candidates. Order of the day: 1) Political report of the Central Committee. 2) Organizational report of the Central Committee. 3) Report of the Central Audit Commission. 4) Report of the Central Control Commission. 5) Report of the representation of the RCP(b) in the Executive Committee of the Comintern. 6) The next issues of economic construction. 7) About the work of trade unions. 8) About the work of the Komsomol. 9) On changing the party Charter. 10) Elections to the central institutions of the party.

15th Conference of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks). October 26 - November 3, 1926. Moscow. There were 194 delegates with a casting vote and 640 with an advisory vote. Order of the day: 1) On the international situation. 2) About the economic situation of the country and the tasks of the party. 3) Results of the work and the immediate tasks of the trade unions. 4) About the opposition and the internal party situation.

15th Congress of the CPSU(b). December 2-19, 1927. Moscow. There were 898 voting and 771 advisory delegates present, representing 887,233 party members and 348,957 candidates. Order of the day: 1) Report of the Central Committee. 2) Report of the Central Audit Commission. 3) Report of the Central Control Commission - RCT. 4) Report of the delegation of the CPSU (b) to the Comintern. 5) Directives for drawing up a 5-year plan for the development of the national economy. 6) About work in the village. 7) Elections of central institutions.

16th Conference of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks). April 23-29, 1929. Moscow. There were 254 delegates with a casting vote and 679 with an advisory vote. Order of the day: 1) Five-year plan for the development of the national economy. 2) Ways to boost agriculture and tax relief for the middle peasants. 3) Results and immediate tasks of the fight against bureaucracy. 4) On the purge and verification of members and candidates of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks). In addition, an information report on the April joint plenum of the Central Committee and the Central Control Commission of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks was heard.

16th Congress of the CPSU(b). June 26 - July 13, 1930. Moscow. There were 1,268 voting delegates and 891 advisory delegates, representing 1,260,874 party members and 711,609 candidates. Order of the day: 1) Political report of the Central Committee. 2) Organizational report of the Central Committee. 3) Report of the Central Audit Commission. 4) Report of the Central Control Commission. 5) Report of the delegation of the CPSU(b) to the ECCI. 6) Implementation of the five-year industrial plan. 7) The collective farm movement and the rise of agriculture. 8) Tasks of trade unions during the reconstruction period. 9) Elections of the central institutions of the party.

17th Conference of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks). January 30 - February 4, 1932. Moscow. There were 386 delegates with a casting vote and 525 with an advisory vote. Order of the day: 1) Results of industrial development for 1931 and tasks for 1932. 2) Directives for the preparation of the 2nd five-year plan for the national economy of the USSR for 1933-37.

17th Congress of the CPSU(b). January 26 - February 10, 1934. Moscow. There were 1,225 voting and 736 advisory delegates present, representing 1,872,488 party members and 935,298 candidates. Order of the day: 1) Reports of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks, the Central Audit Commission of the Central Control Commission - RKI, the delegation of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks and the ECCI. 2) 2nd Five-Year Plan. 3) Organizational issues (party and Soviet construction). 4) Elections of the central bodies of the party.

18th Congress of the CPSU(b). March 10-21, 1939. Moscow. There were 1,569 voting and 466 advisory delegates present, representing 1,588,852 party members and 888,814 candidates. Order of the day: 1) Reports: Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks, Central Audit Commission, delegation of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks to the ECCI. 2) The third five-year plan for the development of the national economy of the USSR for 1938-42. 3) Changes in the Charter of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks). 4) Election of the Commission to amend the Program of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks). 5) Elections of the central bodies of the party.

18th Conference of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks). February 15-20, 1941. Moscow. There were 456 delegates with a casting vote and 138 with an advisory vote. Order of the day: 1) About the tasks of the desks. organizations in the field of industry and transport. 2) Economic results of 1940 and the development plan of the national economy of the USSR for 1941. 3) Organizational issues.

19th Congress of the CPSU. October 5-14, 1952. Moscow. There were 1,192 voting and 167 advisory delegates present, representing 6,013,259 party members and 868,886 candidates. Order of the day: 1) Report of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks. 2) Report of the Central Audit Commission of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks. 3) Directives of the 19th Party Congress on the 5th five-year plan for the development of the national economy of the USSR for 1951-55. 4) Changes in the Charter of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks). 5) Elections of the central bodies of the party.

20th Congress of the CPSU. February 14-25, 1956. Moscow. There were 1,349 voting and 81 advisory delegates present, representing 7,215,505 party members and candidates. Order of the day: 1) Report of the CPSU Central Committee. 2) Report of the Central Audit Commission of the CPSU. 3) Directives of the 20th Congress of the CPSU on the 6th five-year plan for the development of the national economy of the USSR for 1956-1960. 4) Elections of the central bodies of the party. In addition, at a closed meeting, the congress heard a report “On the cult of personality and its consequences” and adopted a resolution on this report.

21st Extraordinary Congress of the CPSU. January 27 - February 5, 1959. Moscow. There were 1,261 voting and 106 advisory delegates present, representing 8,239,131 party members and candidates. Order of the day: Control figures for the development of the national economy of the USSR for 1959-65.

22nd Congress of the CPSU. October 17-31, 1961. Moscow. There were 4,394 voting and 405 advisory delegates present, representing 9,716,005 party members and candidates. Order of the day: 1) Report of the CPSU Central Committee. 2) Report of the Central Audit Commission of the CPSU. 3) Draft Program of the CPSU. 4) On changes to the CPSU Charter. 5) Elections of the central bodies of the party. In addition, the congress adopted a resolution “On the Mausoleum of Vladimir Ilyich Lenin.”

23rd Congress of the CPSU. March 29 - April 8, 1966. Moscow. There were 4,619 voting and 323 advisory delegates present, representing 12,471,079 party members and candidates. Order of the day: 1) Report of the CPSU Central Committee. 2) Report of the Central Audit Commission. 3) Directives of the 23rd Congress of the CPSU on the five-year plan for the development of the national economy of the USSR for 1966-70. 4) Elections of the central bodies of the party. In addition, the congress adopted a Statement on US aggression in Vietnam.

24th Congress of the CPSU. March 30 - April 9, 1971. Moscow. 4,740 delegates with a casting vote and 223 with an advisory vote were elected, representing 13,810,089 party members and 645,232 candidates. Order of the day: 1) Report of the CPSU Central Committee. 2) Report of the Central Audit Commission. 3) Directives of the 24th Congress of the CPSU on the five-year plan for the development of the national economy of the USSR for 1971-75. 4) Elections of the central bodies of the party.

25th Congress of the CPSU. February 24 - March 5, 1976. Moscow. At the congress, 4,998 delegates were elected, representing 15,058,017 party members. Order of the day: 1) Report of the CPSU Central Committee and the party’s immediate tasks in the field of domestic and foreign policy (speaker L.I. Brezhnev). 2) Report of the Central Audit Commission of the CPSU (speaker G.F. Sizov). 3) The main directions of development of the national economy of the USSR for 1976-80 (speaker A. N. Kosygin). 4) Elections of the central bodies of the party.

Composition of the congress delegates: by occupation - 1310 workers in industry, construction and transport; 887 agricultural workers (including over 70% - ordinary collective farmers and state farm workers, chain-level workers, farm managers, foremen); 346 heads of production associations, factories, enterprises and construction sites, 86 state farm directors, 142 collective farm chairmen; 1,114 party workers (including 329 secretaries of regional committees, regional committees, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Union Republics, 635 secretaries of district committees, city committees and district party committees); 693 Soviet, trade union and Komsomol workers; 272 literary and artistic figures, workers in scientific institutions, public education and health care; 314 military personnel of the USSR Armed Forces; by age - under 35 years 12.5%, from 35 to 50 years 58%, from 51 to 60 years 19.7%, over 60 years 9.8%; by education - almost 90% of delegates with higher, incomplete higher, or secondary education; according to party experience - 7 delegates joined the party before the October Revolution, 381 - from November 1917 to 1941, 713 - in 1941-45, 3897 - in the post-war period, including 1132 delegates for 1966-76. Among the delegates to the congress there were 1,255 women (25.1%); 1608 deputies of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, Supreme Councils of the union and autonomous republics; 103 academicians and corresponding members of the USSR Academy of Sciences, branch Academy of Sciences and Academy of Sciences of the Union republics, 442 doctors and candidates of science. About 98% of the delegates were awarded orders and medals, 67 delegates were Heroes of the Soviet Union, 797 were Heroes of Socialist Labor. 244 delegates are laureates of the Lenin Prize and the State Prize of the USSR, of which 31 are workers and collective farmers. Among the delegates are representatives of 60 nations and nationalities of the USSR.

	Members of the CPSU	Candidates for membership of the CPSU	Total communists

*October.

Total communists
Including:
peasants (collective farmers)
employees and others

Thus, the majority of communists are workers and collective farmers. Among the party's employees, almost 3/4 are intellectuals - intellectual workers, specialists in various fields of knowledge.

There are 7,924,000 specialists with higher and secondary specialized education, i.e. 49.5% of total number, including 22,598 doctors and 177,329 candidates of science. There were 3,947,616 women in the CPSU.

For information on the governing bodies of the CPSU, see section Composition of the highest governing bodies of the CPSU and the USSR .

Note. Many regional and regional committees have departments for the most developed industries in the region (coal, oil, chemical, forestry and woodworking, etc.). In some regional and regional committees, instead of an industrial and transport department, there is an industry department and a transport and communications department, and instead of a department of administrative and trade and financial bodies, there is a department of administrative bodies and a department of trade and financial bodies. A number of regional committees have a department for light, food industry and trade.

Note. Many urban, as well as some agricultural district committees have an industrial and transport department.

Note. A number of the Central Committees of the Communist Party of the Union Republics have departments for the most developed sectors of industry and agriculture in the republic (heavy industry, chemical industry, mechanical engineering, water management, etc.). In some Central Committees, instead of a department of trade, financial and planning bodies, there is a department of trade and consumer services.

Great Soviet Encyclopedia M.: "Soviet Encyclopedia", 1969-1978