Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union

Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union

Съезд Коммунистической партии Советского Союза
Logo
Emblem of the CPSU
Type
Type
Term limits
Various, eventually five years
Leadership
Authority
Statute of the CPSU
Jurisdiction
Meeting place
Kremlin Palace of Congresses
Moscow, Soviet Union

The Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (Russian: Съезд Коммунистической партии Советского Союза, romanizedS"ezd Kommunisticheskoy partii Sovetskogo Soyuza) was the supreme decision-making body of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. Its meetings served as convention of all party delegates and their predecessors.

Between the congresses the party was ruled by the Central Committee. Over the course of the party's history, the name was changed in accordance with the current name of the party at the time. The frequency of party congresses varied with the meetings being annual events in the 1920s while no congress was held at all between 1939 and 1952. After the death of Joseph Stalin, the congresses were held every five years.

Keys[edit]

Abbreviations
CC Central Committee
CAC Central Auditing Commission
FM Full member (a member with voting rights).
CM Candidate member (a member without voting rights).
VD Voting delegate (a delegate who can vote).
CD Consultative delegate (a delegate without voting rights).
Report CC Report and CAC Report, a document which briefs delegates about the period since the last congress and future work.
Charter Charter of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, the fundamental governing document of the CPSU.
PMR Party members represented at the congress by delegates (the party membership at the time).

Convocations[edit]

Congress Duration
(start—end)
Delegates Elected CC Report
(presented by)
CAC Report
(presented by)
Charter
(amendments)
Program
(amendments)
PMR Place Location
CC CAC
1st Congress
3 days
1 March

3 March 1898
9 3 Minsk Russia Russian Empire
2nd Congress
25 days
1903 election
17 July

10 August 1903
51 VD

12 CD
3 FM

2 PM
Amendment 1st Program Brussels  Belgium
London  United Kingdom
3rd Congress
16 days
1905 election
12 April

27 April 1905
24 VD

14 CD
4 FM
4 AP
1 PM
Amendment
4th Congress
16 days
1906 election
10 April

25 April 1906
112 VD

22 CD
10 FM

1 PM
Amendment Stockholm  Sweden
5th Congress
20 days
1907 election
30 April

19 May 1907
343 VD

41 CD
11 FM
21 CM
6 PM
R. Abramovitch
A. Bogdanov
J. Martov
178,000 London  United Kingdom
6th Congress
9 days
1917 election
26 July

3 August 1917
157 VD

110 CD
21 FM

10 CM
None Amendment 2nd Program 177,000 Petrograd Russia Russian Republic
7th Congress
3 days
1917–1918 election
6 March

8 March 1918
47 VD

59 CD
19 FM

8 CM
V. Lenin &
Y. Sverdlov
233,000  Soviet Russia
8th Congress
6 days
1918–1919 election
18 March

23 March 1919
301 VD

102 CD
19 FM

8 CM
3 V. Lenin Amendment 313,766 Moscow
9th Congress
8 days
1919–1920 election
29 March

5 April 1920
301 VD

102 CD
19 FM

12 CM
None V. Lenin 611,978
10th Congress
9 days
1921–1922 election
8 March

16 March 1921
715 VD

553 CD
25 FM

15 CM
None V. Lenin 732,521
11th Congress
7 days
1921–1922 election
27 March

2 April 1922
694 VD

296 CD
27 FM

17 CM
None V. Lenin V. Nogin 532,000
12th Congress
9 days
1922–1923 election
17 April

25 April 1923
408 VD

417 CD
40 FM

17 CM
3 L. Kamenev V. Nogin Amendment 386,000  Soviet Union
13th Congress
9 days
1923–1924 election
23 May

31 May 1924
748 VD

416 CD
53 FM

34 CM
3 G. Zinoviev D. Kursky 735,881 FM

127,741 CM
14th Congress
14 days
1925 election
18 December

31 December 1925
665 VD

641 CD
63 FM

43 CM
7 J. Stalin D. Kursky Amendment 643,000 FM

445,000 CM
15th Congress
18 days
1927 election
2 December

19 December 1927
898 VD

771 CD
71 FM

50 CM
9 J. Stalin D. Kursky Amendment 887,233 FM

348,957 CM
16th Congress
18 days
1929–1930 election
26 June

13 July 1930
1268 VD

891 CD
71 FM

67 CM
13 J. Stalin M. Vladimirsky 1,260,874 FM

711,609 CM
17th Congress
16 days
1933–1934 election
26 January

10 February 1934
1225 VD

736 CD
71 FM

68 CM
22 J. Stalin M. Vladimirsky Amendment 1,872,488 FM

935,298 CM
18th Congress
12 days
1938–1939 election
10 March

21 March 1939
1569 VD

466 CD
71 FM

13 CM
13 J. Stalin M. Vladimirsky Amendment 1,588,852 FM

888,814 CM
19th Congress
10 days
1951–1952 election
5 October

14 October 1952
1192 VD

167 CD
125 FM

111 CM
37 G. Malenkov P. Moskatov Amendment 6,000,000 FM

900,000 CM
20th Congress
12 days
1955–1956 election
14 February

25 February 1956
1349 VD

81 CD
133 FM

122 CM
63 N. Khrushchev P. Moskatov Amendment 6,795,896 FM

419,609 CM
21st Congress
10 days
None
27 January

5 February 1959
1261 VD

106 CD
None None N. Khrushchev 7,622,356 FM

616,775 CM
22nd Congress
15 days
1960–1961 election
17 October

31 October 1961
4394 VD

405 CD
175 FM

155 CM
65 N. Khrushchev A. Gorkin Amendment 3rd Program 8,872,516 FM

843,489 CM
23rd Congress
11 days
1965–1966 election
29 March

8 April 1966
4619 VD

323 CD
195 FM

165 CM
79 L. Brezhnev N. Muravyova Amendment Amendment 11,673,676 FM

797,403 CM
24th Congress
11 days
1970–1971 election
30 March

9 April 1971
4740 VD

223 CD
245 FM

155 CM
81 L. Brezhnev G. Sizov [ru] 13,810,089 FM

645,232 CM
25th Congress
10 days
1975–1976 election
24 February

5 March 1976
4998 287 FM

139 CM
85 L. Brezhnev G. Sizov [ru] 15,365,600 FM

628,876 CM
26th Congress
9 days
1980–1981 election
23 February

3 March 1981
4994 319 FM

151 CM
75 L. Brezhnev G. Sizov [ru] 16,732,408 FM

698,005 CM
27th Congress
10 days
1985–1986 election
25 February

6 March 1986
4993 307 FM

170 CM
83 M. Gorbachev G. Sizov [ru] Amendment Amendment 18,975,725 FM

512,097 CM
28th Congress
12 days
1990–1991 election
2 July

13 July 1990
4683 412 M. Gorbachev Amendment Failed to
approve program
18,856,113 FM

372,104 CM

See also[edit]

References[edit]

General[edit]

Information on congresses, number of delegates, number of people elected to CCs, party membership, the individual who presented the Political Report and information on when the congress was convened can be found in these sources:

  • "Численный состав КПСС" [Members of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union] (in Russian). sovtime.ru. Retrieved 7 January 2017.

Bibliography[edit]

Articles and journals:

Specific[edit]