Toward an Understanding of the U. S. S. R.: A Study in Government, Politics, and Economic Planning. By Michael T. Florinsky. (New York: Macmillan Company. 1939. Pp. viii, 245. $2.50.) and History of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (Bolsheviks): Short Course. Edited by a Commission of the Central Committee of the C. P. S. U. (B.) Authorized by the Central Committee of the C. P. S. U. (B.). (New York: International Publishers. 1939. Pp. xii, 364. Trade edition $2.00; popular edition $1.00.)

1940 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
Soviet Union ◽  
Communist Party ◽  
Central Committee ◽  
Economic Planning ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
Short Course ◽  
History Of

Purges and Forced Retirements of Soviet Party Elites as Power Tools of Social Mobility

2014 ◽  
Vol 48 (3) ◽  
pp. 329-345
Author(s):  
Katya Vladimirov
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
Social Status ◽  
Social Mobility ◽  
Communist Party ◽  
Central Committee ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
Party Elites ◽  
History Of ◽  
Power Tools ◽  
High Social Status

The article presents a tumulus seventy-year history of the top party élite, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CC CPSU), by profiling the anatomy of historical generations that embodied it. Five district generations in power and various political “teams” had been locked in ferocious battle for access to political capital, high social status, coveted positions, ranks, and privileges. Their survival and advancement demanded perseverance, bargaining skills, and ruthless elimination of competitors. Purges and forced retirement were essential power tools used in their generational struggle for power and status. The article discusses these methods of compulsory “exclusion” and offers innovative and revealing perspective on the nature of the Soviet political structure as well as on the techniques of its internal combat.

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