scholarly journals The CPSU and Its Members: Between Communism and Postcommunism

1996 ◽  
Vol 26 (1) ◽  
pp. 105-122 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephen White ◽  
Ian Mcallister
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
Communist Party ◽  
Economic Reform ◽  
Consumer Goods ◽  
The Political ◽  
Soviet Rule ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
Presidential Decree ◽  
Party Members ◽  
High Degree

Once dominant and unchallenged throughout the USSR, the Communist Party of the Soviet Union rapidly lost authority in the last two years of Soviet rule. Banned by Russian presidential decree after the failure of the attempted coup of August 1991, it was re-established in February 1993 and soon became the largest of the postcommunist parties. A 1992 survey of current and former party members as well as other Russians found that members were characterized by a relatively high degree of activism. They were disproportionately male, more affluent than non-members, and better provided with consumer goods. Younger respondents and religious believers were more likely to have left the party than their older colleagues. Those who still regarded themselves as party members were the most likely to oppose economic reform and support the collectivist principles of the communist era, particularly if they were activists; but the differences between members and non-members were not substantial, and both were found to hold generally pessimistic views on the postcommunist system. These findings suggest that, although former members will continue to be influential, CPSU membership is by itself likely to play a limited part in shaping the political direction of postcommunist Russia.

Government Rulemaking as a Brake on Perestroika

1990 ◽  
Vol 15 (03) ◽  
pp. 419-432 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eugene Huskey
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
Communist Party ◽  
Economic Reform ◽  
Legal System ◽  
Political System ◽  
Executive Branch ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
The Government

The Soviet political system is made up of three major institutions: the Communist Party, the parliament, and the government. Whereas the first two have changed dramatically under perestroika, the government has continued to function in more traditional ways. Most worrying to reformists, the government–the Soviet Union's “executive branch”–has used its broad rulemaking authority to impede the transformation of Soviet politics and society. This essay examines the role of governmental rules in the Soviet political and legal system. It concludes, following the lead of Soviet reformists, that without a fundamental restructuring of government making authority, legal, political, and economic reform in the Soviet Union cannot be institutionalized.

scholarly journals Russia’s Exogenous Factor in the Donbass Conflict

2020 ◽  
pp. 97-110
Author(s):  
Yevgeny Ryabinin
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Policy ◽  
Soviet Union ◽  
Communist Party ◽  
The Political ◽  
Direct Impact ◽  
Clash Of Civilizations ◽  
Exogenous Factor ◽  
Bilateral Relations ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
The Military

The hypothesis of this research is that Russia has been imposing its influence on Ukraine since the collapse of the Soviet Union. Before the political and military crisis in 2013, it was an indirect influence, whereas since 2014 it has been a direct impact in many spheres. It is necessary to underline that Ukraine has always been split into two parts in terms of foreign policy priorities, language, religion, and culture. This fact was mentioned by Samuel Huntington, who predicted an intense crisis in bilateral relations between Russia and Ukraine in his work Clash of Civilizations. There were two parties in Ukraine that were widely supported in South-Eastern Ukraine, namely the Party of Regions and the Communist Party. The former never spoke about the integration of Ukraine as part of Russian integrational projects because its politicians were afraid of aggressive Russian capital. So they only used pro-Russian rhetoric to win elections. The Communist Party openly backed integration with Russia, but didn’t get enough support as for this idea. It is also demonstrated that there were no parties that were backed financially by Russia, because the parties that offered a kind of a union with Russia never got any seats in the parliament. Since 2014, Russia has been imposing its influence on Ukraine in various spheres, such as economics, politics, diplomacy, the military sphere, etc. Having signed two cease-fire agreements, Russia and Ukraine have failed to apply them and the crisis continues to this day.

scholarly journals Adrift in Turbulent Seas: The Political and Ideological Struggles of Ivan Kuz'mich Polozkov

1993 ◽  
pp. 40
Author(s):  
Jonathan Harris
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
Communist Party ◽  
Unintended Consequences ◽  
Economic Conditions ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Organizations ◽  
Social Democratic ◽  
Party Leaders ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
Soviet Russia

In the winter of 1989-90 the unintended consequences of Mikhail S. Gorbachev's program of political and economic refonn had become obvious to all but his most optimistic spokesmen. The General Secretary's attempt to create a new ideology of perestroika by grafting "bourgeois" and "social democratic" concepts onto the conventional ideology of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) had divided the party, created immense ideological confusion, and led to the formation of non-Communist and anti-Communist political organizations. The attempt to shift authority from party officials to elected soviets on the union and republican levels had led to the emergence of separatist and nationalist movements in many of the USSR's republics, including the RSFSR. The decentralization of the state's administration of the economy and the encouragement of both private and cooperative economic activity had failed to reverse the deterioration of economic conditions. As anxiety swept through the CPSU, orthodox party leaders called for the establishment of an autonomous Communist Party for the RSFSR to counter Gorbachev's policies and to "save Soviet Russia" from destruction.

“Turncoats, Traitors, and Provocateurs”: Communist Collaborators, the German Occupation, and Stalin’s NKVD, 1941–1943

2017 ◽  
Vol 32 (3) ◽  
pp. 606-638 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeffrey Burds
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
Communist Party ◽  
Dramatic Reduction ◽  
German Occupation ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
Party Members

Historians have long assumed that Germany closely followed a take-no-prisoners policy in dealing with captured communists in the East. That was the direct conclusion to be drawn from Hitler’s notorious Commissar Order issued on the eve of the Barbarossa invasion, which prescribed summary execution of all communists and communist officials. Data published in the Soviet Union largely confirmed this impression, reflecting a dramatic reduction in Communist Party members during the first six months of the war in the East. New data suggest, however, that far from annihilating communist cadres as part of the so-called “Jewish-Communist” threat, the German occupation authorities instead recruited many former communists for service in occupation governmental work, as spies, or in other roles vital to German authorities in eastern zones. Post-Soviet archives offer profound insights into the development of Stalin’s special policy towards these suspected communist turncoats.

The Pattern of Mass Disease in the U.S.S.R.: A Product of Socialist or Capitalist Development?

1982 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 459-480 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard Cooper ◽  
Arthur Schatzkin
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
Classical Model ◽  
The Political ◽  
Class Relations ◽  
Capitalist Development ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
The Social ◽  
Marxist Approach ◽  
High Degree ◽  
Degree Of Similarity

The mortality structure of a society is determined primarily by the nature of the social organization. Although this general principle, which forms the basis of the Marxist approach to public health, has been well demonstrated in the classical model of capitalist society, there has been little attempt to apply this theory to countries that have experienced socialist revolutions. This paper examines the mortality structure of the U.S.S.R. Given the high degree of similarity between mass disease in the U.S.S.R. and Western capitalist countries, fundamental questions must be raised about the political and economic system currently operating in the U.S.S.R. It is suggested that the health experience in the Soviet Union over the last two decades has been determined primarily by the nature of the antagonistic class relations that have resulted from the restoration of capitalism.

Latin America and the Soviet-Chinese Conflict (the 1960s – mid-1970s)

2021 ◽  
pp. 149
Author(s):  
Andrey Schelchkov
Keyword(s):  
Latin America ◽  
Soviet Union ◽  
20Th Century ◽  
Communist Party ◽  
Chinese Communist Party ◽  
New Left ◽  
The Political ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
Communist Movement ◽  
The Chinese Communist Party

The disagreements and rupture between the Chinese Communist Party and the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) were the most important event in the history of the International Communist Movement in the 60s and 70s of the 20th century, which had a huge impact on the fate of communist parties around the world. Latin America has become a place of fierce rivalry between Moscow and Beijing for influence on the political left flank. Moscow's tough opposition to any attempts by the Chinese Communist Party to increase its influence in the continent's communist parties without resorting to splitting them caused a backlash and a change in the policy of criticism within the parties to a policy of secession of independent “anti-revisionist” communist parties. Maoist communist parties emerged in all countries of the continent, opposing their policies to the pro-Moscow left parties. Maoism was able to penetrate not only the old communist movement but also the ranks of socialists, leftist nationalists and even Christian democrats. It often became the ideological and political basis for a break with the “traditional” left parties, a kind of transit bridge towards the “new left”. The ideas of Maoism were partly accepted by the trend of the “new left”, which gained special weight among the intelligentsia and students of the continent. This article is devoted to the emergence and development of the Maoist Communist Parties, the reaction of Moscow and Havana in the political circumstances of Latin America in the 60s of the 20th century.

IX

2018 ◽  
pp. 355-368
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
Political Parties ◽  
Communist Party ◽  
Political Party ◽  
Party System ◽  
The Political ◽  
Final Decision ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
The World ◽  
Political Party System

This chapter is an addendum to Sahajanand’s main narrative which ended with imprisonment in April 1940. He actually wrote this part during 1946 to make his narrative up to date. He differed with the Congress decision to launch the Quit India Movement in August 1942 as he felt the situation had radically changed with Hitler’s attack on the Soviet Union. The world in general and India in particular was faced with the prospect of the fascist menace. It was during this phase that most of the political parties emerged from the Kisan Sabha and the Communist Party of India tried to take over the All India Kisan Sabha. Sahajanand became very critical of the political party system and reiterated his final decision never to join any political party. His narrative ends with a reference to the Dumraon struggle against the Dumraon Raja.

The Continuation of Nationalism in Romanian Historiography1

1978 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 179-184 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephen Fischer-Galati
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
Communist Party ◽  
Scientific Basis ◽  
The Political ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
Communist Movement ◽  
Political Realities

Romanian historiography since 1944 has accurately reflected the political realities that have faced the Romanian Communist Party both its relations with the Soviet Union and its plans for the “socialist transformation” of Romania. Since the Romanian communists have based their claims to legitimacy on historical rather than on ideological considerations from as early as the “liberation of Romania from fascism,” which occurred on August 23, 1944, the essential task of Romanian historiography has been to provide a “scientific basis” for validating the varying claims advanced by leaders of the Romanian communist movement in search of legitimacy.

T. T.

2021 ◽  
pp. 93-98
Author(s):  
William Klinger ◽  
Denis Kuljiš
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
Baltic Sea ◽  
Communist Party ◽  
Second World War ◽  
The Political ◽  
World War ◽  
The Baltic Sea ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
The Baltic ◽  
Second World

This chapter reviews the successful coup in Mitrovica prison, where “differentiation” was carried out and the “Petkovites” had been temporarily subdued. It discusses the outbreak of the Second World War, which finds Marshal Tito on the Baltic Sea and on his way to the Soviet Union. It also analyzes Tito's new assignment on establishing a strictly subversive organization intended to prepare the Communist Party of Yugoslavia (CPY) for armed engagements behind enemy lines. The chapter talks about the elimination of differences between the political and intelligence network and the subversive military network as the they had been integrated on the same operational axis. It recounts the signing of the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact after Tito left Moscow.

Global Security, Glasnost and the Retreat Dividend

1991 ◽  
Vol 26 (1) ◽  
pp. 75-85
Author(s):  
Andrus Park
Keyword(s):  
Cold War ◽  
Soviet Union ◽  
Economic System ◽  
Communist Party ◽  
Consumer Goods ◽  
Global Security ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
Complete Failure ◽  
The Cold War

THE QUESTION ‘WHO WON THE COLD WAR?’ IS STILL BEING debated. In a way it is certainly right to say that communism is collapsing and that Western capitalism has won the cold war. The Soviet Union (I shall not analyse here the situation in other socialist countries) has in fact recognised the complete failure of its economic system. The Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) has lost ground during the relatively free elections in various Soviet republics, etc.Yet we have to take into account that the cold war was largely a war of words, a war of ideas, and in some respects the Soviet Union has done well in the global ideological contest. For a country with a scarcity of food and most elementary consumer goods and with an extensive past record of repression and direct terror it has been extremely successful in establishing its image as a stable and peace-loving partner in the international arena, as a society which is capable of producing more humane, caring, intellectual and trustworthy leaders than most other countries. It is a remarkable achievement and it is even more remarkable that this ideological success has emerged from the ruins of the dull and rigid Brezhnevist ideological machinery.

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