THE COMMUNIST PARTY OF THE SOVIET UNION (CPSU) is the Marxist-Leninist vanguard of the Soviet people, an integral part of the international communist movement. Created as the vanguard of the working class, united party, which has its own Program and Charter, at the II Congress of the RSDLP (1903), which completed the process of uniting the revolutionary Marxist organizations of Russia on the ideological, political and organizational principles developed by V. I. Lenin. Initially it was called the Russian Social Democratic Labor Party (RSDLP), and since 1917 - RSDLP (Bolsheviks) - RSDLP (b) (see. ). VII Congress (1918) renamed the party into the Russian Communist Party (Bolsheviks) - RCP (b), XIV Congress (1925) - into the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks) - VKP (b), XIX Congress (1952) - into the Communist Party Soviet Union. The founder and leader of the party was V. I. Lenin. Therefore, the CPSU, along with its official name rightfully called the Leninist party.

At each historical stage, the party has consistently solved the tasks scientifically substantiated in its programs. In the first Program (1903), it proclaimed as its goal the struggle for the victory of the bourgeois-democratic, and then the socialist , the establishment of the dictatorship of the proletariat. With the victory of the Great October Socialist Revolution, this Program was fulfilled. In the second Program, adopted by the Eighth Congress (1919), the party put forward the task of building socialism. Under her leadership, the Soviet people, overcoming enormous difficulties, having gone through the tragic trials associated with the cult of personality, solved this problem. A socialist society was built in the USSR.

The Party more than once had to lead the armed defense of the revolutionary, socialist gains of the working people. This was the case during the civil war and foreign intervention. During the Great Patriotic War, the party acted as an inspirer and organizer of the nationwide struggle against the Nazi invaders. Its leadership was the most important factor in the victory over fascism and the elimination of the consequences of the war.

Having adopted the Third Program at the 22nd Congress (1961), the CPSU launched a great deal of work in all areas of communist construction. Under her leadership, the Soviet people achieved significant success in the development of productive forces, economic and social relations, socialist democracy, and in the formation of a new man. At the same time, due to objective and, above all, subjective reasons, in the 70s - early. 80s negative, stagnant phenomena began to appear in the socio-economic development of the country. A turning point has also developed in world development. The new historical situation required an innovative rethinking of reality, sharp turn in strategy, politics, in all the leading activities of the Party. All this was reflected in the new version of the Party Program adopted by the XXVII Congress of the CPSU (1986).

The Third Program of the CPSU in its current version is a program for the systematic and comprehensive improvement of socialism, the further advancement of Soviet society towards on the basis of accelerating the socio-economic development of the country, the program of struggle for peace and social progress. It proclaims that the ultimate goal of the party is to build communism. The CPSU constantly correlates its policy, economic and social strategy, and the tasks of organizational and ideological work with the communist perspective.

The modern strategic course of the party was developed by the April (1985) Plenum of the Central Committee and the XXVII Congress of the CPSU. This is a course towards accelerating the socio-economic development of the country. With its implementation, the Party links the growth of prosperity and the peaceful life of the Soviet people, the future of our Motherland, the fate of socialism.

The course towards acceleration required a deep restructuring in all spheres of economic management, management, socio-political and spiritual life. In the decisions of the 27th Congress, subsequent Plenums of the Central Committee, and the 19th All-Union Party Conference, the Party substantiated the objective necessity of perestroika, its stages, goals and tasks. She led this process, organized work that was revolutionary in nature, aimed at resolutely overcoming stagnation, implementing a radical economic reform, reconstructing political system Soviet society, the democratization of public life, the creation of a reliable and effective mechanism for socio-economic acceleration. The ultimate goal of perestroika is to renew all aspects of the life of society, to impart to socialism the most modern forms of social organization, and to develop to the fullest extent the creative potential of the socialist system. The implementation of the course of acceleration and perestroika, unanimously supported by the people, is today the main thing in the activity of the Communists, of all Soviet people.

Under the conditions of perestroika, the role of the party as the leading and organizing force of society appears in a new way. The 19th Party Conference determined the functions of the Party under the new conditions. Their essence is that the party, based on Marxist-Leninist teachings, is called upon to develop a theory and strategy of social development, domestic and foreign policy, form the ideology of socialist renewal, conduct political and organizational work among the masses, educate and place personnel. At the same time, it operates within the framework of the Constitution of the USSR and Soviet laws. For this, it is necessary to renounce the substitution of party committees for state and economic bodies, from command and order methods of work.

The vanguard role of the CPSU in perestroika is impossible without a profound democratization of the Party's internal life. The Leninist organizational principles, on the basis of which the Party and all its organs are called upon to operate, must be revived in full measure. These principles are enshrined in its Charter. The present Rules of the CPSU were adopted at the 27th Party Congress. It reflects the complex of modern requirements that are put forward in the field of party building. The guiding principle of the organizational structure, life and activity of the party, according to the Charter of the CPSU, is democratic centralism, which provides for freedom of discussion at the stage of discussion and unity of action when the decision is taken by the majority. In the democratization of inner-party life and methods of activity, the CPSU is one of important conditions enhancing the life of the Party, its self-purification and strengthening, the active work of Party organizations, a guarantee against repeating the mistakes of the past.

The CPSU unites 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 currently has approx. 19.5 million communists. Among them, 45.3% are workers, 11.6% are collective farmers, and 43.1% are employees. The CPSU is a coherent system of organizations with appropriate governing bodies. It unites 14 communist parties of the union republics, 6 regional, 153 regional, 10 district, 4439 city and district, St. 441 thousand primary party organizations. The work of the party and all its organizations between congresses is headed by the Central Committee of the CPSU, its Politburo and the Secretariat.

The CPSU is an integral part of the international communist movement. It firmly adheres to the principles of proletarian, socialist internationalism, actively promotes the strengthening of the cohesion of the fraternal socialist countries, the unity of the international communist and working-class movement, and shows solidarity with the peoples fighting for national and social liberation, against imperialism, and for the preservation of peace. The Party regards its activity in improving socialist society and building communism, its struggle against the danger of a nuclear catastrophe as a most important international duty, the fulfillment of which is in the interests of the world socialist system, the international working class, and all mankind.

General Secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU - M. S. Gorbachev. *

Project Revision Notes

* This is - as usual. An indispensable component of dictionaries and encyclopedias of the Soviet era was such boorish servility in front of those in power. If some insignificant little man was appointed the biggest boss, then all the political book publishing houses of the country began to simply compete with each other in the manifestation of servility. It would seem that if you compile a "Concise Political Dictionary" and compose articles about social and political institutions such as the CPSU, then fulfill this pragmatic task. Oh no! It is imperative to “prosemaphore” the top boss (or at least his entourage) that you “checked in” - mentioned in dictionary entry chief with the appropriate regalia.

Brief political dictionary. M., 1988, p. 175-177.

This abbreviation, almost never used now, was once known to every child and was pronounced almost with reverence. Central Committee of the CPSU! What do these letters mean?

About the name

The abbreviation we are interested in means or is simpler than the Central Committee. Considering the importance of the Communist Party in society, its governing body could well be called the kitchen in which the fateful decisions for the country were “cooked”. Members of the Central Committee of the CPSU, the main elite of the country, are the "cooks" in this kitchen, and the "chef" is the General Secretary.

From the history of the CPSU

The history of this public entity began long before the revolution and the proclamation of the USSR. Until 1952, its names changed several times: RCP(b), VKP(b). These abbreviations reflected both the ideology, which was specified every time (from the Social Democracy of the Workers to the Communist Party of the Bolsheviks), and the scale (from Russian to All-Union). But the names are not the point. From the 1920s to the 1990s, a one-party system functioned in the country, and the Communist Party had an absolute monopoly. By the Constitution of 1936, it was recognized as the governing core, and in the main law of the country of 1977, it was even proclaimed the leading and guiding force of society. Any directives issued by the Central Committee of the CPSU instantly acquired the force of law.

All this, of course, did not contribute to the democratic development of the country. In the USSR, inequality along party lines was actively propagated. Only members of the CPSU could apply for even small leadership positions, from whom one could also ask for mistakes along the party line. One of the most terrible punishments was the deprivation of the membership card. The CPSU positioned itself as a party of workers and collective farmers, so there were rather strict quotas for its replenishment with new members. It was hard to be in the party ranks for a representative of the creative profession or a mental worker; no less strictly the CPSU followed its national composition. Thanks to such a selection, the really best did not always get into the party.

From the party charter

In accordance with the Charter, all the activities of the Communist Party were collegiate. In the primary organizations, decisions were made at general meetings, but in general, the congress held every few years was the governing body. Approximately once every six months, a party plenum was held. The Central Committee of the CPSU in the intervals between plenums and congresses was the leading unit responsible for all party activities. In turn, the highest body that led the Central Committee itself was the Politburo, headed by the General (First) Secretary.

The functions of the Central Committee included personnel policy and local control, spending the party budget and managing the activities of public structures. But not only. Together with the Politburo, the Central Committee of the CPSU determined all ideological activity in the country and resolved the most responsible political and economic issues.

It's hard for people who haven't lived to understand. In a democratic country where a number of parties operate, their activities are of little concern common man- he remembers them only before the elections. But in the USSR the leading role of the Communist Party was even emphasized constitutionally! In factories and collective farms, military units and in creative teams, the party organizer was the second (and often the first in importance) head of this structure. Formally, the Communist Party could not manage economic or political processes: for this there was a Council of Ministers. But in fact, the Communist Party decided everything. Nobody was surprised by the fact that both the most important political problems and the five-year plans for the development of the economy were discussed and determined by party congresses. The Central Committee of the CPSU directed all these processes.

About the main person in the party

Theoretically, the Communist Party was democratic education: from the time of Lenin until the last moment, there was no unity of command in it, there were no formal leaders. It was assumed that the secretary of the Central Committee was just a technical position, and the members of the governing body were equal. The first secretaries of the Central Committee of the CPSU, or rather the RCP (b), were indeed not very noticeable figures. E. Stasova, Ya. Sverdlov, N. Krestinsky, V. Molotov - although their names were well known, these people had nothing to do with practical leadership. But with the advent of I. Stalin, the process went differently: the “father of peoples” managed to subdue all power for himself. There was also a corresponding post - Secretary General. It must be said that the names of the party leaders changed periodically: the Generals were replaced by the First Secretaries of the CPSU Central Committee, then vice versa. WITH light hand Stalin, regardless of the name of his position, the party leader at the same time became the main face of the state.

After the death of the leader in 1953, N. Khrushchev and L. Brezhnev were in this post, then Yu. Andropov and K. Chernenko held the post for a short period. The last party leader was M. Gorbachev - concurrently the only President of the USSR. The era of each of them was significant in its own way. If many consider Stalin a tyrant, then Khrushchev is usually called a voluntarist, and Brezhnev is the father of stagnation. Gorbachev went down in history as the man who first destroyed and then buried huge state- Soviet Union.

Conclusion

The history of the CPSU was an academic discipline mandatory for all universities in the country, and every schoolchild in the Soviet Union knew the main milestones in the development and activities of the party. Revolution, then civil war, industrialization and collectivization, victory over fascism and post-war reconstruction countries. And then virgin lands and flights into space, large-scale all-Union construction projects - the history of the party was closely intertwined with the history of the state. In each case, the role of the CPSU was considered dominant, and the word "communist" was synonymous with a true patriot and just a worthy person.

But if you read the history of the party differently, between the lines, you get a terrible thriller. Millions of repressed peoples, exiled peoples, camps and political murders, reprisals against unwanted people, persecution of dissidents... It can be said that the author of every black page Soviet history- Central Committee of the CPSU.

In the USSR, they liked to quote Lenin's words: "The Party is the mind, honor and conscience of our era." Alas! In fact, the Communist Party was neither one, nor the other, nor the third. After the putsch of 1991, the activities of the CPSU in Russia were banned. Is the Russian Communist Party the successor of the All-Union Party? Even experts find it difficult to explain this.

In 1898-1991, ruling party in 1917-1991; in the pre-revolutionary period, the Russian Social Democratic Labor Party (RSDPR), since 1917, the Russian Social Democratic Labor Party (Bolsheviks) - RSDLP (b). In March 1918, at the Seventh Congress, it was renamed the Russian Communist Party (Bolsheviks) - RCP (b). The Fourteenth Party Congress (1925) renamed the RCP (b) into the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks) - VKP (b). The Nineteenth Party Congress (1952) renamed the CPSU (b) into the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.

The founding First Congress of the RSDLP was held in 1898 in Minsk. However, systematic work on the creation of a grassroots party network began in 1900 after the publication of V.I. Lenin of the Iskra newspaper. The Second Congress of the RSDLP (1903) contributed to the unification of the disparate Marxist organizations of Russia into a mass political party and at the same time revealed two currents in Russian social democracy: the Bolshevik and the Menshevik. V.I. became the leader of the Bolsheviks. Lenin. As a result of the October Revolution of 1917, the Bolshevik Party came to power. Since the 1920s, the CPSU (b) was the only party in the country and became the basis of the state totalitarian regime headed by I.V. Stalin. If in 1917 there were 40,000 party members in Russia, by the mid-1980s this number had grown to 19 million.
At the Twentieth Congress of the CPSU (1956), part of the party leadership headed by N.S. Khrushchev exposed Stalin's personality cult, marking the so-called thaw period. By the mid-1960s, the thaw period was over, conservative forces interrupted the process of updating the party and state apparatus, the search for ways to effectively develop the economy. In 1977, the leading role of the CPSU in Soviet society was enshrined in a special article of the USSR Constitution. Since 1985 M.S. Gorbachev initiated attempts to restructure Soviet society and the party. The desire for reform was supported by the Soviet people, but the strategy and tactics of the leadership of the USSR led to a deep socio-economic crisis and, ultimately, to the collapse of the USSR. In 1991, by presidential decree Russian Federation B.N. Yeltsin, the activities of the CPSU in Russia were terminated and its organizational structures were dissolved.

Organizational principles

The CPSU became the first Marxist party in the world to establish political dominance in its country and to realize the idea of ​​creating a socialist state. Being the party of scientific communism, the CPSU was based on Marxism-Leninism - the scientific foundation for the revolutionary transformation of society. At each historical stage, the CPSU was guided in its activities by a special document - the Program. The first Party Program was adopted in 1903 at the Second Congress of the RSDLP. It set the task of winning by the working class political power, the establishment of the dictatorship of the proletariat. This program was carried out during the Great October Socialist Revolution and the establishment Soviet power. The Eighth Congress of the RCP (b) in 1919 adopted the second Party Program - the program for building socialism. The 22nd Congress of the CPSU in 1961 adopted the third Program - the program for building a communist society in the USSR. This program formulated, as a triune task, the creation of the material and technical base of communism, the formation of communist social relations and the education of the new man. The creation of the material and technical base of communism meant not only the improvement of technology, technology and organization social production in all sectors of the national economy, the development of economically efficient branches of production, the rapid pace of scientific and technological progress, the high cultural and technical level of the working people, but also superiority over the developed capitalist countries in terms of labor productivity, which was a necessary condition for the victory of the communist system.
The CPSU was created as a single party of the proletariat of multinational Russia, internationalism became the principle national program parties. After the formation of the USSR in all the union republics, except for the RSFSR, republican communist parties were created, which became integral part united CPSU. The organizational foundations of the CPSU were embodied in the Rules of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. It determined the norms of party life, methods and forms of party building, ways of leading the party in all spheres of state, economic, ideological, social activities in USSR. According to the Charter, the guiding principle of the organizational structure of the party was democratic centralism, which means: the election of all the leading bodies of the party from top to bottom; periodic reporting of party bodies to their party organizations and to higher bodies; party discipline and the subordination of the minority to the majority; binding decisions of higher bodies for lower ones. Collectivity was declared the highest principle of party leadership.

Program and charter

A member of the CPSU could be any citizen of the Soviet Union, who recognizes the Program and Charter of the party, participates in the construction of communism, works in one of the party organizations, fulfills the decisions of the party and pays membership dues. A party member had the right to elect and be elected to party bodies, to discuss at party meetings, conferences, congresses, at meetings of party committees and in the party press questions of politics and practical activities parties, make proposals, openly express and defend their opinion before the organization makes a decision; to criticize at party meetings, conferences, congresses, plenums of the committee of any communist, regardless of his post.
Admission to the CPSU was carried out exclusively in individually. Those joining the party went through a one-year probationary period. Persons who had reached the age of eighteen were accepted into the party; young people up to 23 years old inclusive joined the party only through the VLKSM. For non-fulfillment of statutory duties and misconduct, a member or candidate member of the party was held accountable and penalties could be imposed on him. The highest measure of party punishment was expulsion from the party.
The CPSU was built according to the territorial-production principle: the primary organizations of the party were created at the place of work of the communists and united into district, city, and district organizations according to the territory. The highest governing bodies of the party organizations were the general assembly for the primary organizations; conference for district, city, district, regional, regional organizations; congress for communist parties union republics and for the CPSU. The general meeting, conference, congress elected a bureau or committee, which was the executive body and directed the current work of the party organization. Elections of party bodies were held by closed (secret) voting.
The supreme body of the CPSU was the Party Congress, which elected the Central Committee and the Central Auditing Commission. Regular party congresses were convened at least once every five years. Between congresses, the activities of the party were directed by the Central Committee of the CPSU. The Central Committee of the CPSU elected the Politburo to direct the work of the party between the Plenums of the Central Committee; to manage the current work, mainly on the selection of personnel and the organization of verification of performance, - the Secretariat. The Central Committee elected the General Secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU. Under the Central Committee of the CPSU, there was a Party Control Committee.

Primary organizations

The basis of the party was its primary organizations, which were created at the place of work of party members - at factories, factories, state farms, collective farms, units Soviet army, institutions, educational institutions with at least three party members. Territorial primary party organizations were also organized at the place of residence of the communists: in rural areas and at house administrations. The primary party organization admitted new members to the CPSU, fought against manifestations of bureaucracy, parochialism, and violations of state discipline. Primary party organizations government agencies management, economic enterprises, scientific and educational institutions, cultural, educational and medical institutions enjoyed the right to control the activities of the administration. The leadership of party work in the armed forces was carried out by the CPSU Central Committee through the Main Political Directorate of the Soviet Army and Navy, which worked as a department of the CPSU Central Committee. Under the leadership of the CPSU, the All-Union Leninist Communist Youth Union (VLKSM) operated.
The CPSU has always paid attention to ensuring that there is a significant stratum of representatives of the proletariat in its ranks. In the 1970s, about 40% of party members were workers, 15% were collective farmers. It was much more difficult for intellectuals and employees to join the CPSU, but promotion through the ranks in the state apparatus was directly related to the presence of a party card. About a third of party members were women.
The CPSU had its own system of party education, in which both party members and non-party activists were trained. Leading party and Soviet cadres studied at the Academy of 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. In addition, a network of republican and interregional higher party schools and universities of Marxism-Leninism was created in the country. The research center of the CPSU was the Institute of Marxism-Leninism under the Central Committee of the CPSU with a network of branches in the Union republics.
The CPSU conducted publishing activities, the central organ of the Central Committee of the CPSU was the newspaper Pravda. The Central Committee of the CPSU also published the newspapers Sovetskaya Rossiya, Socialist Industry, Rural Life, Soviet Culture, the weekly Economic Newspaper, the theoretical and political magazine Kommunist, the magazines Agitator, Party Life, Political self-education. The Central Committee of the CPSU was in charge of the publishing house "Pravda", "Publishing House of Political Literature" (Political Publishing House). The Central Committee of the Communist Parties of the Union Republics had their own publishing houses.

After the end of World War II, communist ideology became one of the most widespread in the world, influencing the lives and destinies of millions of people. The Soviet Union, having won a bloody confrontation with imperialism, confirmed the viability of the socialist path of development of civil society. The formation in October 1949 of the People's Republic of China, where Chinese communists became the helm of a country of many millions, only confirmed the correctness of the Marxist-Leninist ideology in the context of managing a large civil society. New historical realities have created fertile ground for the ceremonial procession of communism around the planet, led by the CPSU.

What is the CPSU and its place in history

In no country in the world, in no part of the world, either before or after, there was, and still is not, a powerful party organization that can be compared in its influence on economic and social life with the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. The history of the CPSU is a vivid example of political management state system at all stages of the development of civil society. For 70 years, a huge country was led by the party, controlling all spheres of the life of a Soviet person and influencing the world political order. Resolutions of the Central Committee of the CPSU, the Presidium and the Politburo, decisions of plenums, party congresses and party conferences determined economic development countries, directions of the foreign policy of the Soviet state. The Party of Communists did not achieve such power all at once. The Communists (they are also Bolsheviks) were forced to go through a long and thorny path, often zigzag and bloody, in order to finally establish themselves as the only leading political force of the world's first socialist state.

If the history of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union has almost a century, then the abbreviation CPSU - the Communist Party of the Soviet Union arose relatively recently, in 1952. Until that moment, the leading party in the USSR was called the All-Union Communist Party. The history of the CPSU dates back to the Russian Social Democratic Labor Party, founded in Russian Empire in 1898. The first Russian political party of a socialist orientation became the basic platform for the revolutionary movement in Russia. Later, during historical events In 1917, a split occurred in the ranks of the RSDLP into the Bolsheviks - supporters of an armed uprising and the forcible seizure of power in the country - and the Mensheviks - a wing of the party that adhered to liberal views. The left wing that had formed in the party, more reactionary and militarized, tried to take the revolutionary situation in Russia under its control, taking an active part in the October armed uprising. It was the RSDLP of the Bolsheviks under the leadership of Ulyanov-Lenin that played the key to the victory of the socialist revolution, taking full power in the country. At the XII Congress of the RSDLP, a decision was made to form the Russian Communist Party of the Bolsheviks, which received the abbreviation RCP (b).

The inclusion of the adjective “communist” in the name of the party, according to V.I. Lenin, should indicate the ultimate goal of the party, for the sake of which all socialist transformations are started in the country.

Having come to power, the former Russian Social Democrats, headed by V.I. Lenin proclaimed their program to build the world's first socialist state of workers and peasants. The basic platform for the state structure was used by the party program, the main focus of which was the Marxist ideology. Having gone through a difficult period civil war, the Bolsheviks set about building statehood, making the party apparatus the main political and administrative structure in the country. The party leadership relied on a powerful ideology, seeking to gain a dominant role in the state structure. Along with the soviets, which formally performed representative functions, the Bolsheviks organize their leading party bodies, which eventually begin to fulfill the tasks of the executive branch. The Soviets and the CPSU, which later became known as the Bolshevik Party, maintained close ties in the leadership of the country, formally demonstrating the presence of representative power.

The USSR managed to skillfully disguise the leading role of the party in the electoral process. On the ground, there were village and city councils of people's deputies, who were elected as a result of a popular vote, but in fact, almost every people's choice is a member of the CPSU. The Soviets were completely absorbed by the party structures of the Communist Party, performing two functions on the ground at once, the representation of the party and the functions of the executive branch. The decisions of the top party leadership were first submitted to the Presidium of the Central Committee, after which it was required to be approved at the Plenum of the Central Committee. In practice, the resolutions of the CPSU Central Committee were often a prerequisite for subsequent legislative acts submitted to meetings of the Supreme Council and Resolutions adopted by the Council of Ministers of the USSR.

We can safely say that the Bolsheviks succeeded in realizing their efforts to achieve the hegemony of political power in Soviet Russia. The entire vertical of power, starting with the People's Commissariats and ending with the Soviet authorities, becomes completely under the control of the Bolsheviks. The Central Committee of the Party determines the external and internal politics countries during that period. The weight of the party leadership at all levels, which relies on a powerful repressive apparatus, is growing. The Red Army and the Cheka are becoming instruments of the party's forceful influence on social and public sentiments in civil society. The competence of the communist leadership includes the military industry, the country's economy, education, culture and foreign policy, which was under the jurisdiction of the Politburo of the CPSU Central Committee.

Communist ideas to create a workers' and peasants' state were realized in 1922, when the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics was formed in place of Soviet Russia. The next step in the transformation of the Communist Party was the XIV Party Congress, which decided to rename the organization into the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks. The name of the VKP(b) party lasted 27 years, after which the new name of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union was approved as the final version.

The main reason for changing the name of the Communist Party was the growing weight of the Soviet Union in the political arena. Victory in the Great Patriotic war, economic achievements made the USSR a leading world power. The main governing force of the country needed a more respectable and sonorous name. Moreover, the political necessity to divide the communist movement into Bolsheviks and Mensheviks disappeared. The entire party structure and political lines were tailored to the main idea, the construction of a communist society in the USSR.

The political structure of the CPSU

First in postwar period was the XIX Party Congress, convened after a long 13-year break. Stalin, General Secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU, delivered a speech at the forum. This was his last public appearance. It was at this congress that the main directions for the future political and economic structure of the country in the post-war period were adopted, and a course was outlined in the domestic and foreign policy of the Communist Party. The Communists, represented by all sections of Soviet society, gathered at the 19th Party Congress, unanimously supported the proposal of the party leadership to amend the party Charter. The idea of ​​changing the name of the party to the CPSU was met with the approval of the congress participants. The Party Charter again fixed the position of the first person of the party - the General Secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU.

Note: It should be noted that apart from the party card, indicating membership in the party, there were no other insignia among the communists. Unofficially, it was customary to wear a badge - the banner of the CPSU, on which, together with the abbreviation of the CPSU and the face of V.I. Lenin depicted the main symbols of the Soviet state, the red banner and the crossed hammer and sickle. Over time, the badge of a participant in the next party congress and a participant in the CPSU conference becomes the official symbolism of the communist movement in the USSR.

The role of the Communist Party in the early 1950s for the USSR can hardly be overestimated. In addition to the fact that the party elite carries out the development of internal and foreign policy of the Soviet state throughout its existence, the organs of party power are present in all spheres of the life of the Soviet people. The party structure is built in such a way that in every body and organization, in production and in the cultural and public sphere, not a single decision is made without the participation and control of the party. The main tool for carrying out the party line in civil society is a member of the CPSU - a person who has unquestioned authority, high moral and strong-willed qualities. From several members, on the basis of industrial or professional identity, a primary party cell, the lowest party organ, is formed. Everything above is already profile and regional organizations uniting ordinary citizens on the ground on an ideological basis.

The class composition was also reflected in the replenishment of the ranks of the party. Representing the interests of the ruling class, the Communist Party of the Soviet Union consisted of 55-60% representatives of the proletarian milieu and the Soviet peasantry. Moreover, the proportion of communists who left the working environment was always two or three times higher than the number of collective farmers. These quotas were tacitly approved back in the 20-30s. The remaining 40% accounted for representatives of the intelligentsia. Moreover, this quota has been preserved in modern times, when the urban population has rapidly increased in the country.

Party vertical

What is the CPSU in the new, post-war period? This is already a major Marxist party, whose political will and subsequent actions are aimed at creating the dominant position of the proletariat in the country. The General Secretaries of the Central Committee of the CPSU, as before, perform the functions of the top leadership of the country. The main governing body of the party, the Central Committee, was practically a government body in the USSR.

The congress was the highest party body of the party. Throughout history, 28 party congresses have taken place. The first 7 events were legal and semi-legal. From 1917 to 1925 party congresses were held annually. Further, the CPSU (b) gathered for congresses every two years. Since 1961, CPSU congresses have been held every 5 years. At a new stage, the Communist Party of the Soviet Union held 10 of its largest forums:

• XIX Congress of the CPSU in 1952;
• XX - 1956;
• XXI - 1959;
• XXII Congress - 1961;
• XXIII - 1966;
• XXIV -1971;
• XXV Congress - 1976;
• XXVI -1981;
• XXVII Congress - 1986;
• last XXVIII congress - 1990

Decisions and resolutions adopted at the congresses were fundamental for subsequent decisions of the Central Committee, the Soviet government and other legislative and executive authorities. The composition of the Central Committee of the Central Committee was determined at the congress. In the period between congresses, the main work in the line of party administration was carried out by the Plenum of the Central Committee of the CPSU. At the plenums, the General Secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU was elected from among the members of the Presidium of the Central Committee. The plenums were attended not only by members of the highest Party bodies, but also by candidates for membership in the Central Committee. The authority to make decisions in the intervals between plenums lay entirely with the Politburo of the Central Committee of the CPSU, which consisted of members of the Central Committee. The newly created collegial body was entrusted with the administrative functions of managing the party and the country, which were previously assigned to another governing body - the Presidium of the Central Committee of the CPSU.

A unique situation developed in the USSR, when the decisions of the party played the main role in the administration of the state. Neither the Council of Ministers, nor the relevant ministries, nor the Supreme Council adopted a single law without the approval of the party elite. All decisions, orders and resolutions of the Central Committee of the CPSU, decisions of the Plenum of the Central Committee tacitly had the force of legislative acts, on the basis of which the Council of Ministers had already acted. In modern times, this trend has not only been preserved, but also intensified. However, despite the total dominance of the Communist Party in the political and public life of the country, it was necessary to make some changes to the structure of the party organization caused by new political trends and motives. The Central Committee and the Politburo of the Central Committee of the CPSU in the period between plenums and congresses played the role of a shadow government.

After joining the Soviet state of the Baltic countries on the rights of the union republics, it was required to change the structure of the party along national and regional lines. Organizationally, the CPSU consisted of the communist parties of the union republics that were part of the Soviet Union, 14 instead of 15. The Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic did not have its own party organization. The secretaries of the republican parties were members of the Presidium of the Central Committee of the CPSU and the Politburo of the Central Committee of the CPSU, which was a collegiate and advisory body.

The highest party position in the Central Committee of the CPSU

The structure of the top party leadership has always maintained a collective and collegial management style, however, the General Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee remained the most significant and iconic figure in the party Olympus.

It was the only non-collegiate position in the structure of the Communist Party. In terms of powers and rights, the first person in the party was the nominal Head of the Soviet state. Neither the Chairman of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, nor the Chairman of the Council of Ministers had such powers as the general secretaries had in the Soviet Union. Total political history the Soviet state knew 6 General Secretaries. IN AND. Lenin, although he occupied the highest level in the party hierarchy, remained the nominal head of the Soviet government, holding the post of Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars.

The combination of the highest party position and the Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars was continued by I.V. Stalin, who became head of the Soviet government in 1941. Further, after the death of the leader, the tradition of combining the highest party post with the highest executive power was continued by N. S. Khrushchev, who was the Head of the Soviet government. After the removal of Khrushchev from all posts, it was decided to formally separate the posts of General Secretary and Head of the Soviet government. The General Secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU performs representative functions, while all executive power is vested in the Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the USSR.

The post of General Secretary after the death of Stalin was occupied by the following persons:

• N.S. Khrushchev - 1953-1964;
• L. I. Brezhnev - 1964-1982;
• Yu.V. Andropov - 1982-1984;
• K. U. Chernenko - 1984-1985;
• M.S. Gorbachev - 1985-1991

The last general secretary was M. S. Gorbachev, who, in parallel with the post of head of the party, held the post of Chairman of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, and then became the first President of the USSR. The resolutions of the Central Committee of the CPSU from that moment are advisory in nature. The main emphasis in the leadership of the country is on the representation of power. The powers of the party leadership in governing the country in the domestic and foreign arena become limited.

Collegiate governing bodies of the CPSU

The main feature of the activities of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union is the collegiality of the management structure. Starting with V.I. Lenin, in the party leadership, the quorum plays an important role in decision-making. However, despite the apparent collectivity and collegiality in the management of the party, with the advent of J.S. Stalin to the highest party posts, a transition to an authoritarian style of management is planned. Only with the advent of the post of General Secretary N. S. Khrushchev again there is a return to the collegial style of management. The Politburo of the Central Committee of the CPSU again becomes the highest party body, making decisions and responsible for the implementation of the program points adopted at the plenums and congresses.

The role of this body in the management of public affairs is gradually growing. Considering that all leading positions in the Soviet state were occupied only by members of the CPSU, it can be said that the entire party elite is represented in the Politburo of the CPSU Central Committee, possessing full power. In addition to the General Secretary, the Bureau included the secretaries of the republican Central Committee of the party, the first secretaries of the Moscow and Leningrad regional committees, the Chairman of the Presidium of the USSR Supreme Council and the Supreme Soviet of the RSFRS. As representatives of the executive power, the Politburo of the Central Committee of the CPSU necessarily included the Chairman of the Council of Ministers, the Minister of Defense of the USSR, the Minister of Foreign Affairs and the Head of the State Security Committee.

This trend in the management system continued until the very last days the existence of the Soviet Union. After the last 28th Party Congress, a split appeared in the Communist Party. With the introduction in 1990 of the post of President of the USSR, the role of the Politburo in the management of state affairs has declined sharply. Already in March 1990, Article 6 was excluded from the Constitution of the USSR, which fixed the leading role of the CPSU in managing state affairs. At the last congress, the hegemony of the Communist Party in the life of the country was put to an end. There was a split within the party at the highest level. Several factions appeared at once, each of which preached its own point of view regarding the subsequent fate of the party, its place in the country's leadership.

The resolutions of the Central Committee of the CPSU are already in the form of intra-party circulars, which indirectly reflect the main directions of the work of the Soviet government. Since 1990, the party has been losing control over the country's governance system. The activity of the President of the USSR, the functions of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR and the Cabinet of Ministers of the USSR become defining and decisive in the life of the state. The collapse of the USSR as a single state put an end to the existence of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union as a major organizational political force.

Today, only party banners, surviving party tickets and badges of party congresses remind us of the former greatness of the Communist Party, which remained at the helm of the state for 72 years. According to statistics, as of January 1, 1991, there were 16.5 million members and candidates in the ranks of the CPSU. This is the largest figure for political parties in the world, except for the numerical strength of the Communist Party of China.

If you have any questions - leave them in the comments below the article. We or our visitors will be happy to answer them.

The Union of Communist Parties - CPSU (SKP-CPSU) is a voluntary international public association of communist parties operating in the states formed on the territory of the USSR. Its main goals are the protection of the rights and social gains of the working people, the preservation and restoration of the lost foundations of socialism, the revival of all-round ties and friendship of the Soviet peoples, and the re-establishment of their state union on a voluntary basis.

After the anti-constitutional ban on the activities of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union in August 1991, the communists fought for its restoration throughout the entire territory of the Soviet Union. In June 1992, an initiative group of members of the Central Committee of the CPSU held a Plenum, at which M. Gorbachev was expelled from the party, the activities of the Politburo of the Central Committee were suspended, and a decision was made to convene an All-Union Party Conference. On October 10, 1992, the XX All-Union Conference of the CPSU was held in Moscow, which confirmed the decisions of the emergency Plenum of the Central Committee of the CPSU, considered the drafts of the new Program and the Charter of the CPSU, and decided to prepare the XXIX Congress of the CPSU.

Almost simultaneously with these events, the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation considered the petition of 37 people's deputies of the RSFSR to check the constitutionality of the decrees of President B. Yeltsin, who dissolved the CPSU and the Communist Party of the RSFSR. The court declared that the suspension of the activities of the Communist Party of the RSFSR, its primary organizations formed on the basis of territorial principle, but upheld the dissolution of the governing structures of the CPSU and the Communist Party of the RSFSR. The orders to transfer the property of the CPSU to the executive authorities were recognized as legal only in relation to that part of the property managed by the party, which was state property, and unconstitutional in relation to that part of it, which was either the property of the CPSU, or was under its jurisdiction.

On March 26-27, 1993, the 29th Congress of the CPSU was held in Moscow. 416 delegates from party organizations of Azerbaijan, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Russian Federation, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Ukraine, Estonia, Transnistria and South Ossetia took part in its work. Based on the real conditions of the activities of the communist parties in the republics former USSR, the congress temporarily, before recreating the renewed USSR, reorganized the CPSU into the Union of Communist Parties - the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (SKP-CPSU), adopted its Program and Charter, elected a Council headed by Oleg Semenovich Shenin (1937 -2009). The congress proclaimed the SKP - CPSU the legal successor of the CPSU, and the communist parties operating on the territory of the USSR - the legal successors of the republican organizations of the CPSU.

In 1993 - 1995 communist parties were restored in all the former republics of the USSR, except for Turkmenistan. In a number of republics, unfortunately, several communist parties and movements arose on the basis of the membership of the CPSU. Thus, by July 1995, 26 communist parties and organizations were operating in the post-Soviet space. 22 of them, uniting 1 million 300 thousand communists, became part of the Union of Communist Parties - the CPSU. Among them are the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, the Russian Communist Workers' Party, the Communist Party of the Republic of Tatarstan, the Communist Party of Ukraine, the Union of Communists of Ukraine, the Movement for Democracy, Social Progress and Justice in Belarus, the Party of Communists of the Republic of Moldova, the Communist Party of Workers of Transnistria, the Communist Party of South Ossetia, United Communist Party of Georgia, Communist Party of Abkhazia, Communist Party of Azerbaijan, Union of Workers of Armenia, Communist Party of Kazakhstan, Communist Party of Tajikistan, Communist Party of Uzbekistan, Communist Party of Kyrgyzstan, Communist Party of Estonia, Union of Communists of Latvia, Communist Party of Lithuania.

On July 1 - 2, 1995, the XXX Congress of the UCP-CPSU was held in Moscow. It was attended by 462 delegates from all communist parties and organizations that are part of the SKP - CPSU. The Congress heard the Political report of the Council and the Control and Auditing Commission of the UPC-CPSU, adopted new edition Programs, changes and additions to the Charter of the UPC-CPSU, approved the Regulations on the Control and Audit Commission, elected a new composition of the Council and the CRC of the UPC-CPSU.

The Supreme Forum of Soviet Communists confirmed the status of the SKP - CPSU as a voluntary international association of communist parties operating in states throughout the Soviet Union and adhering to uniform program and statutory principles. He set the task of launching a mass movement among broad sections of the people for the restoration of the Union Socialist State, providing the necessary assistance to the activities of the Committee of the Peoples of the USSR, and waging an offensive struggle against manifestations of aggressive nationalism and chauvinism.

In the period between the XXIX and XXXI congresses of the UCP-CPSU, the Communist Party of Tatarstan determined its status as a regional branch of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation. Instead of the "Movement for Democracy, Social Progress and Justice in Belarus", the Communist Party of Belarus joined the UPC-CPSU. The Communist Party of Armenia and another Communist Party working under special conditions were accepted into the ranks of the Union. On the eve of the XXXI Congress, the UPC-CPSU included 19 communist parties with a decisive vote, one party (the Russian Party of Communists) and two movements (the Union of Communists of Ukraine and the Union of Workers of Armenia) with an advisory vote.

The XXXI Congress of the UCP-CPSU was held in Moscow on October 31 - November 1, 1998. 482 delegates from 20 republican parties and 2 public associations operating in all states on the territory of the USSR were sent to it. The Union of Communist Parties for the first time held a congress as a public organization officially registered by the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Belarus. The congress considered the following agenda:

1) Political report of the UPC-CPSU Council. 2) Report of the Control and Auditing Commission of the UPC-CPSU. 3) Elections of the Council and the Control and Audit Commission of the UPC-CPSU.

On the issues discussed, the congress adopted a number of resolutions and resolutions. The delegates approved a new version of the Charter of the UPC-CPSU, adopted a Political Statement, resolutions in defense of the memory of Vladimir Ilyich Lenin, against the political persecution of communists and activists of the labor movement, against the aggressive plans of NATO.

The first joint Plenum of the Council and the CRC of the UPC-CPSU again elected O.S. Shenin, Vice-Chairmen - Secretaries of the Council of the UPC-CPSU A.M. Bagemsky, P.I. Georgadze, E.I. Kopysheva, E.K. Ligacheva, I.V. Lopatina, K.A. Nikolaev, A.G. Chekhoeva, A.A. Shabanova, Sh.D. Shabdolov.

However, by 2000 the coordinating role of the governing bodies of the UPC-CPSU was seriously weakened, the principle of collective leadership was constantly violated. Moreover, in July 2000, the Chairman of the Council and three of his deputies held the so-called “constituent congress of the Union Communist Party of Russia and Belarus” (CPS) without the decision of the Council of the UPC-CPSU. The Communist Parties of the Russian Federation and Belarus did not send their delegates to this event. In fact, the creation of another Communist Party on the territory of Russia was proclaimed. The sectarian separation from the masses, the passion for ultra-left phrases with insignificant results of practical activity, and many other political mistakes did not allow the group of former leaders of the UPC-CPSU to submit to the will of the majority. It became clear that their real goal was a direct attack on the Communist Party of the Russian Federation as a center of gravity recognized by all fraternal parties. communist forces on the territory of the destroyed Soviet Union.

On January 20, 2001, at the request of the majority of the Communist Parties, which unite in their ranks more than 90 percent of the Communists of the Union, meetings of the Executive Committee and the Plenum of the Council of the UPC-CPSU were held in full accordance with the Charter. The Plenum of the Council stated that the creation of the "Union Communist Party" outside the framework of the UCP-CPSU and without the participation of the Communist Parties of Russia and Belarus inevitably leads to a split in the single communist movement in the post-Soviet space. The former Chairman of the Council of the UPC-CPSU, in essence, placed himself outside the Union.

The plenum unanimously elected the leader of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation Gennady Andreevich Zyuganov as the Chairman of the Council of the UPC-CPSU, thus inscribing a bright page in the history of the Union and bringing all its activities to a qualitatively new level. The January (2001) Plenum of the UCP-CPSU Council averted the threat of destruction of the Union of Communist Parties by adopting the Resolution "On strengthening the Union of Communist Parties - CPSU and increasing the effectiveness of its leadership."

The next, XXXII Congress of the UCP-CPSU was held on October 27, 2001 in Moscow. 243 delegates from the Communist Party of Azerbaijan, the Communist Party of Armenia, the Communist Party of Belarus, the United Communist Party of Georgia, the Communist Party of Kazakhstan, the Party of Communists of Kyrgyzstan, the Party of Communists of the Republic of Moldova, the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, the Communist Party of Ukraine, the Communist Party of the Republic of South Ossetia and four communist parties working in special conditions.

The Congress heard the political report of the Council and the report of the Control and Revision Commission of the UPC-CPSU, information on changes in the Charter of the organization, adopted a Resolution on the political report, an Appeal to the fraternal peoples, resolutions “On present stage globalization” and “On the threat of a world war”. The governing bodies of the UPC-CPSU were elected. The organizational Plenum of the Council of the UPC-CPSU confirmed the authority of G.A. Zyuganov as Chairman of the Council of the UPC-CPSU and G.G. Ponomarenko (KPU) - as Chairman of the CRC.

The long overdue changes in the governing core of the UPC-CPSU Council had a positive impact on the style and methods of its work. Between the XXXII and XXXIII Congresses, meetings of the Secretariat, the Executive Committee and the Plenums of the Council became regular, a number of major international events were held - the I and II Congresses of the peoples of the Union State of Belarus and Russia, the congresses of the peoples of the Caucasus and the Central Asian region, the round table "Struggle of fraternal peoples for the restoration of the Union State - the path to the revival of the country, repelling external threats, improving the well-being of people.

Due attention was paid to the education of the Komsomol shift. After the catastrophe of 1991, the VLKSM was disbanded by quick-witted chameleon functionaries, who quickly repainted themselves in the colors of their new owners. But already from the beginning of 1992, the process of reunification of Komsomol organizations began to gain momentum, culminating in the XXIII (restoration) congress of the All-Union Leninist Komsomol. However, the organization, for a number of reasons, was unable to adapt to the new conditions, to rally the communist youth of the former Soviet republics. The formation of a new form of association took several years, which led to the holding in April 2001 of the XXV Congress of the Komsomol in Kyiv. The congress transformed the VLKSM into the International Union of Komsomol Organizations - the All-Union Leninist Communist Youth Union. The IUCN-VLKSM includes the Komsomol of the Russian Federation, the Komsomol of Ukraine, the Belarusian Republican Youth Union, the Komsomol of Moldova, the Komsomol of Georgia, the Communist Youth Organization of Armenia, the Komsomol of Azerbaijan, the Komsomol of Kyrgyzstan, the Union of Communist Youth of South Ossetia, the Komsomol of Transnistria.

The UCP-CPSU approached its XXXIII Congress as an authoritative international organization, which has preserved the spirit of creative Marxism-Leninism, proletarian internationalism and party camaraderie. 140 delegates from 16 fraternal communist parties were elected to the congress convened in Moscow on April 16, 2005. By unanimous decision, mandate No. 1 was issued in the name of the founder of the Communist Party, V.I. Lenin, mandate No. 2 - to his faithful comrade-in-arms, Supreme Commander of the Great Victory of the Soviet people over fascism I.V. Stalin.

The congress heard the political report of the Council, which was made by G.A. Zyuganov, and the report of the Deputy Chairman of the UPC-CPSU Committee of Committees G.M. Benova. As a result of the discussion of the reports, the Resolution of the Congress and the Statement to ruling regimes Kazakhstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Transnistria, Russia and Turkmenistan demanding the release of political prisoners and an end to the persecution of citizens for political reasons. The XXXIII Congress of the UCP-CPSU elected a new Council of 65 representatives of all fraternal Communist Parties, a Control and Audit Commission of 16 people. At the congress, a new principle of membership in the Union and the formation of its governing bodies was established: "One state - one communist party."

In 2005 - 2008 at the meetings of the Executive Committee of the Council of the UPC-CPSU and the Plenums of the Council, issues related to the aggravation of the socio-political situation in Georgia and Ukraine, the implementation of measures in support of the Belarusian people and solidarity with the activities of the President of Belarus A.G. Lukashenka, organizing a rebuff to anti-communist attacks in PACE, celebrating the 90th anniversary of the Great October Revolution, providing assistance to fraternal parties during election campaigns.

On March 27, 2008, the Union of Communist Parties - the CPSU celebrated its 15th anniversary. On round table in the editorial office of the Pravda newspaper, it was stated that the ideological commonality and unity of goals allow the communist parties in the CIS republics to interact effectively, despite the huge differences in their working conditions. The Moldavian comrades came to power in a peaceful, democratic way. In Belarus, the Communist Party supports the patriotic and socially oriented course of the President. At the same time, in the states of the Baltics and Central Asia, the communists are actually fighting underground against the ruling fascist and semi-feudal regimes. The leaders of the Lithuanian Communist Party M.M. Burokyavichyus (12 years old), Yu.Yu. Ermalavičius (8 years old), Yu.Yu. Kuolialis (6 years old). For almost a decade, the leader of the Communists of Turkmenistan, S.S., has been in prison. Rakhimov. But nowhere and no one will be able to kill the communist idea. At 9 out of 19 state formations on the territory of the destroyed USSR, the communist parties have their own factions in parliaments. The ranks of fighters against the capitalist genocide, for social justice and democracy is constantly growing.

On October 24, 2009, Moscow again hosted a multinational family of communist fraternal parties - the XXXIV Congress of the UCP-CPSU opened. It was attended by 142 delegates, 114 guests and invitees. Among them are veterans of the party, deputies of the parliaments of the CIS countries and far abroad, representatives of the presidential administration and the Public Chamber of the Russian Federation, youth activists, and the patriotic community. More than 20 federal and foreign mass media were accredited.

The Congress heard and discussed the reports of the Council and the CRC of the UPC-CPSU, as well as the report "On Clarifications and Additions to the Program of the UPC-CPSU". The work of the governing bodies was found to be satisfactory, changes in the Program of the Union were approved. In addition to the final Resolution, the XXXIV Congress of the UCP-CPSU adopted the Statement "Stop political terror, release political prisoners!". The Council and the Control and Audit Commission of the Union were elected. At the first organizational Plenum - new members of the Executive Committee and the Secretariat of the Council of the UPC-CPSU. Currently, the Chairman of the Council is G.A. Zyuganov, his First Deputy - K.K. Taysaev, the Secretariat of the UPC-CPSU Council includes comrades Yu.Yu. Ermalavichyus, E.K. Ligachev, A.E. Elbow, I.N. Makarov, I.I. Nikitchuk, D.G. Novikov. A.V. Svirid (Communist Party of Belarus).

In 2009 - 2012 the activities of the governing bodies of the UPC-CPSU were focused on the problems of countering the falsification of historical truth, organizing international events in honor of the 65th anniversary of the Victory of the Soviet people in the Great Patriotic War and the 140th anniversary of the birth of V.I. Lenin, preparing for the XVII World Festival of Youth and Students, promoting the recognition of the statehood of the republics of Abkhazia and South Ossetia.

The International Forum “Unity is the way to save the fraternal peoples!”, timed to coincide with the 20th anniversary of the August counter-revolutionary coup and the criminal collapse of the USSR, became a large-scale, bright and emotionally intense action. The organizers of the forum, which took place on August 19, 2011 in Donetsk, were the Council of the UPC-CPSU and the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Ukraine. One of the central squares of the mining capital of Ukraine, on which a monument to V.I. Lenin, became red both literally and figuratively. Not only residents of the city, Ukrainian communists and Komsomol members, but also representatives of almost all the republics of the USSR gathered here. Delegations from Rostov region, Krasnodar and Stavropol Territories, which, on far-fetched pretexts, the Ukrainian border service tried not to let through. “It is symbolic,” said the political secretary of the Central Committee of the United Communist Party of Georgia T.I. Pipia, - that today we have all gathered on the Slavic land. It was the Slavic land that took the first blow in 1941, and it was from here that the liberation of our Motherland from the fascist invaders began!

The result of the action was the adoption of the Appeal, which, in particular, stated: “We, the participants of the International Forum in Donetsk, call on all working people who cherish Soviet socialist values ​​to rally around the communists - the true spokesmen for the interests of our peoples - and launch a mass movement for the revival of the a new basis for a common Soviet, socialist Fatherland.

We bear in mind that under the prevailing conditions this historic task can be accomplished only with the restoration of the power of the working people and the revival of the socialist social order implementation of socialist transformations based on the observance of the Leninist principles of federalism.

February 29, 2012 in Moscow, under the chairmanship of the First Deputy Chairman of the Council of the UPC-CPSU, State Duma deputy K.K. Taysaev, a solemn meeting of the Executive Committee of the Council of the Union of communist parties - the CPSU. The work of the Executive Committee was attended by delegations of all 17 fraternal parties that are part of the UPC-CPSU, and the leaders of Komsomol organizations - members of the MSKOS-VLKSM. The Executive Committee of the UPC-CPSU Council considered the following items on the agenda:

1. On the results of work in 2011 and the tasks of the Council of the UPC-CPSU in connection with the campaign of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation for the election of the President of the Russian Federation.

2. On the program of the candidate for the post of President of the Russian Federation from the Communist Party of the Russian Federation Gennady Andreevich Zyuganov.

3. On the draft Declaration of the Communist Parties "For a new Union of fraternal peoples!".

First withSecretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Ukraine P.N. Simonenko stressed that only as part of the UPC-CPSU do we see the future of our party and of the communist movement as a whole in the post-Soviet space. The situation requires us communists to make serious decisions. For example, all the hopes that Ukrainians had for improving relations with Russia, relying on the political forces of big business, melted away. We are well aware that without our common victory in Russia, Ukraine, Belarus and other former Soviet republics, it is impossible to resolve the issue of the unity of our peoples, of their worthy future.

To the stormy applause of the hall, each of the representatives of the fraternal communist parties put his signature under the text of the historic Declaration "For a new Union of fraternal peoples!". In conclusion, the Executive Committee unanimously adopted two short statements: "Hands off Belarus!" and "NO - the power of usurpers!" - in support of the struggle of the Moldovan people under the leadership of the Party of Communists of the Republic of Moldova for the restoration of the constitutional order in the country. In the evening, delegations of fraternal communist parties and youth unions took part in a rally-concert "Our address is the Soviet Union", held at the Luzhniki sports complex.

Further integration of the divided Soviet peoples is not only the main slogan of the SKP-CPSU. This is an objective trend, an integral part of the development of modern mankind. Currently, most regions of the world are involved in one way or another in integration processes. Over the past 19 years, the Union of Communist Parties - the CPSU has become a real political force that plays a certain role in the system of interstate relations in the post-Soviet space.

On March 17, 1991, at the national referendum, more than three-quarters of the citizens of the USSR firmly and unequivocally said: we are for the preservation of the Soviet Union as a renewed Federation of equal, sovereign republics, in which the rights and freedoms of a person of any nationality will be fully guaranteed.

The cynical violation of the direct will of the Soviet people led to the collapse of a thousand-year-old world power and plunged its peoples into the most difficult trials. The basic sectors of the economy have been destroyed. Millions of compatriots found themselves in the humiliating position of refugees. Hundreds of thousands of dead and injured in bloody ethnic conflicts. Continues mass death people from rampant violence, social insecurity, man-made disasters.

Today, history once again confronts the peoples of our common Motherland with the same choice as in 1917 and 1941: either a powerful united country and socialism, or enslavement and death. The lessons of the historical past and current global trends indicate that the unification of our states and peoples is the most urgent need.

All the objective prerequisites for integration are present. The criminal Bialowieza conspiracy was already denounced in 1996 State Duma Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation on the initiative of the communist faction. For many years, the hand of unbreakable friendship has been extended to Russia by the Belarusian people and its leader A.G. Lukashenko. Integration needs ensured the creation of the Customs Union of Belarus, Kazakhstan and Russia, the Eurasian Economic Community and the Collective Security Treaty Organization.

Global imperialism and its puppets - national capitalist and semi-feudal cliques ruling in most of the republics of the destroyed USSR stand in the way of further rallying the fraternal peoples. A good example of this is the shameful "gas" wars unleashed by the Russian thieves' oligarchy against Belarus, regular information attacks on the Belarusian president.

Having played a certain positive role at the initial stage of the reunification of the fraternal Soviet peoples, the Commonwealth is gradually being destroyed Independent States. A number of leaders of the CIS member states do not hide the fact that it was created not for unification, but for a "civilized divorce." The fate of the Commonwealth, created on the ashes of the Soviet state, can be sealed by the founders, who will let it die "of its own death."

This prospect does not suit us. The work of building the Union State must be taken over by the working people, the fraternal communist parties, and all patriots of the Soviet Motherland. Following the precepts of Vladimir Ilyich Lenin, we reaffirm our loyalty to the principles laid down in the Declaration on the Formation of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, adopted on December 30, 1922 by the First All-Union Congress of Soviets.

We are already acting for the gradual revival of the renewed Union of Peoples. We are optimists and we are convinced that our peoples will show their age-old wisdom and give a rebuff to the pogromists and destroyers. Together we will enter the broad road of historical progress. They walk along it hand in hand.

We are united by a common historical destiny, the kinship of our characters and cultures. All this is immeasurably higher and stronger than any strife. We, the descendants of the great victors of fascism, are bound by the desire for a decent and peaceful life, faith in a happy future for children and grandchildren. We boldly and decisively move forward.

Our cause is right!

Victory will be ours!

From the Communist Party of Abkhazia

E.Yu. Shamba

From the Communist Party of Azerbaijan

A.M. Veyisov

From the Communist Party of Armenia

R.G. Tovmasyan

From the Communist Party of Belarus

G.P. Atamanov

From the United Communist Party of Georgia

T.I. Pipia

From the Communist Party of Kazakhstan

G.K. Aldamzharov

From the Party of Communists of Kyrgyzstan

Sh.E. Egenberdiev

From the Party of Communists of the Republic of Moldova

V.S. Vityuk

From the Transnistrian Communist Party

O.O. Khorzhan

From the Communist Party of the Russian Federation

G.A. Zyuganov

From the Communist Party of Uzbekistan

K.A. Mahmudov

From the Communist Party of Ukraine

P.N. Simonenko

From the Communist Party of the Republic of South Ossetia

I.K. Bekoev

The Declaration was also signed by representatives of the Communist Party of Latvia, the Communist Party of Lithuania, the Communist Party of Turkmenistan, the Communist Party of Estonia, acting under special conditions.

Chairman of the Council of the UPC-CPSU
Zyuganov Gennady Andreevich
Chairman of the Central Committee of the Communist Party, head of the Communist Party faction in the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation, Doctor of Philosophy

First Deputy Chairman of the Council of the UPC-CPSU
Taysaev Kazbek Kutsukovich
Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, First Deputy Chairman of the Committee of the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation for economic policy, innovative development and entrepreneurship

Secretariat of the UPC-CPSU Council
Ermalavičius Juozas Juozovich
Ligachev Egor Kuzmich
Lokot Anatoly Evgenievich
Makarov Igor Nikolaevich
Novikov Dmitry Georgievich
Nikitchuk Ivan Ignatievich

Chairman of the Control and Auditing Commission of the UPC-CPSU
Svirid Alexander Vladimirovich
Chairman of the Central Control Commission of the Communist Party of Belarus

Leaders of fraternal communist parties

Avaliani Nugzar Shalvovich
First Secretary of the Central Committee of the United Communist Party of Georgia

Aldamzharov Gaziz Kamashevich
First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Kazakhstan

Voronin Vladimir Nikolaevich
Chairman of the Party of Communists of the Republic of Moldova

Karpenko Alexander Vladimirovich
First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Belarus

Kochiev Stanislav Yakovlevich
First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Republic of South Ossetia

Kurbanov Rauf Muslimovich
Chairman of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Azerbaijan

Masaliev Iskhak Absamatovich
Chairman of the Central Committee of the Party of Communists of Kyrgyzstan

Simonenko Petr Nikolaevich
First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Ukraine

Tovmasyan Ruben Grigorievich
First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Armenia

Khorzhan Oleg Olegovich
Chairman of the Transnistrian Communist Party

Shamba Lev Nurbievich
First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Abkhazia