History of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union

The development of the Soviet Union’s ruling communist party from its revolutionary origins to its dissolution in 1991, including its changing leadership, institutions, and role in government.

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Russian Social Democratic Labour Party: A Marxist political party founded in the Russian Empire in 1898, later divided into Bolshevik and Menshevik factions. The Communist Party grew from the Bolshevik faction of this party.
Democratic centralism: A principle combining internal party discussion with binding decisions and centralized discipline. It justified debate within limits and obedience after party decisions were made.
Joseph Stalin: A Soviet leader who governed from the late 1920s until his death in 1953 and built a highly centralized dictatorship. His rule transformed party leadership through purges, forced collectivization, and personal dictatorship.
Collectivization in the Soviet Union: The forced consolidation of Soviet farms into collective and state farms, chiefly during the late 1920s and 1930s. Party-directed collectivization transformed rural life and contributed to famine and mass repression.
Mensheviks: A faction of Russian Marxists that opposed the Bolsheviks’ centralized revolutionary party model. Their organizational disagreement became the earliest major alternative to Bolshevik leadership.
Bolsheviks: The faction of Russian Marxists led by Vladimir Lenin that seized power in October 1917. They became the party’s founding core after taking control of the Russian government.
Politburo: The leading executive body of a communist party, responsible for major political decisions. Its decisions directed state policy during much of Soviet history.
Nikita Khrushchev: A Soviet leader from 1953 to 1964 who denounced Stalin’s crimes and pursued domestic and foreign policy reforms. His 1956 denunciation of Stalin began a major reassessment of party history.
Great Purge: A campaign of mass arrest, execution, and imprisonment in the Soviet Union, especially from 1936 to 1938. The purge destroyed party cadres and made political terror an instrument of rule.
New Economic Policy: A Soviet policy introduced in 1921 that permitted limited private trade and small-scale enterprise. It contrasted with later policies of rapid forced collectivization and centralized planning.