:General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union

Before the October Revolution, the job of the party secretary was largely that of a bureaucrat. Following the Bolshevik seizure of power, the Office of the Responsible Secretary was established in 1919 to perform administrative work.{{sfn|Fainsod|Hough|1979|p=126}} After the Bolshevik victory in the Russian Civil War, the Office of General Secretary was created by Vladimir Lenin in 1922 with the intention that it serve a purely administrative and disciplinary purpose. Its primary task would be to determine the composition of party membership and to assign positions within the party. The General Secretary also oversaw the recording of party events, and was entrusted with keeping party leaders and members informed about party activities.

When assembling his cabinet, Lenin appointed Joseph Stalin to be General Secretary. Over the next few years, Stalin was able to use the principles of democratic centralism to transform his office into that of party leader, and eventually leader of the Soviet Union.{{sfn|Fainsod|Hough|1979|pp=142–146}} Trotsky attributed his appointment to the initial recommendation of Grigory Zinoviev.{{cite book |last1=Trotsky |first1=Leon |title=Writings of Leon Trotsky: 1936–37 |date=1970 |publisher=Pathfinder Press |page=9 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6zofAQAAMAAJ&q=If+not+for+Zinoviev%E2%80%99s+initiative%2C+Stalin+would+have+hardly+become+the+General+Secretary+of+the+Party |language=en |access-date=30 October 2023 |archive-date=30 October 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231030085932/https://books.google.com/books?id=6zofAQAAMAAJ&q=If+not+for+Zinoviev%E2%80%99s+initiative,+Stalin+would+have+hardly+become+the+General+Secretary+of+the+Party |url-status=live }} This view has been supported by several historians.{{cite book |last1=Brackman |first1=Roman |title=The Secret File of Joseph Stalin: A Hidden Life |date=23 November 2004 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-135-75840-0 |page=136 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PY2RAgAAQBAJ&dq=zinoviev+appointment+stalin+general+secretary&pg=PA136 |language=en |access-date=30 October 2023 |archive-date=14 October 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231014150332/https://books.google.com/books?id=PY2RAgAAQBAJ&dq=zinoviev+appointment+stalin+general+secretary&pg=PA136 |url-status=live }}{{cite book |last1=Marples |first1=David R. |last2=Hurska |first2=Alla |title=Joseph Stalin: A Reference Guide to His Life and Works |date=23 August 2022 |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield |isbn=978-1-5381-3361-3 |page=270 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yq97EAAAQBAJ&dq=zinoviev+stalin+general+secretary&pg=PA270 |language=en |access-date=30 October 2023 |archive-date=14 October 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231014150330/https://books.google.com/books?id=yq97EAAAQBAJ&dq=zinoviev+stalin+general+secretary&pg=PA270 |url-status=live }} According to Russian historian, Vadim Rogovin, Stalin's election to the position occurred after the Eleventh Party Congress (March–April 1922), in which Lenin, due to his poor health, participated only sporadically, and only attended four of the twelve sessions of the Congress.{{cite book |last1=Rogovin |first1=Vadim |title=Was There an Alternative? Trotskyism: a Look Back Through the Years |date=2021 |publisher=Mehring Books |isbn=978-1-893638-97-6 |page=61|language=en}}

Some historians have regarded the premature death of prominent Bolshevik Yakov Sverdlov to have been a key factor in facilitating the elevation of Joseph Stalin to the position of leadership in the Soviet Union. In part, because Sverdlov served as the original chairman of the party secretariat and was considered a natural candidate for the position of General Secretary.{{cite book |last1=Mccauley |first1=Martin |title=Stalin and Stalinism: Revised 3rd Edition |date=13 September 2013 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-317-86369-4 |page=35 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oQ7dAAAAQBAJ&dq=Stalin+general+secretary+Lenin+Yakov+Sverdlov&pg=PA35 |language=en |access-date=9 July 2023 |archive-date=13 July 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230713031818/https://books.google.com/books?id=oQ7dAAAAQBAJ&dq=Stalin+general+secretary+Lenin+Yakov+Sverdlov&pg=PA35 |url-status=live }}{{cite book |last1=Ragsdale |first1=Hugh |title=The Russian Tragedy: The Burden of History |date=1996 |publisher=M.E. Sharpe |isbn=978-1-56324-755-2 |page=198 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4R8cG837RegC&dq=yakov+sverdlov+general+secretary+stalin&pg=PA198 |language=en |access-date=9 July 2023 |archive-date=18 August 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230818200623/https://books.google.com/books?id=4R8cG837RegC&dq=yakov+sverdlov+general+secretary+stalin&pg=PA198 |url-status=live }}

Prior to Lenin's death in 1924, Stalin's tenure as General Secretary was already being criticized.{{Cite web|title=What Lenin's Critics Got Right|url=https://www.dissentmagazine.org/article/lenin-menshevik-critics-right-bolshevism-stalinism|access-date=2022-02-22|website=Dissent Magazine|archive-date=30 April 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230430115702/https://www.dissentmagazine.org/article/lenin-menshevik-critics-right-bolshevism-stalinism|url-status=live}} In Lenin's final months, he authored a pamphlet that called for Stalin's removal on the grounds that Stalin was becoming authoritarian and abusing his power. The pamphlet triggered a political crisis which endangered Stalin's position as General Secretary, and a vote was held to remove him from office. With the help of Grigory Zinoviev and Lev Kamenev, Stalin was able to survive the scandal and remained in his post. After Lenin's death, Stalin began to consolidate his power by using the office of General Secretary. By 1928, he had unquestionably become the de facto leader of the USSR, while the position of General Secretary became the highest office in the nation. In 1934, the 17th Party Congress refrained from formally re-electing Stalin as General Secretary. However, Stalin was re-elected to all the other positions he held, and remained leader of the party without diminution.{{cite web|url=http://vivovoco.rsl.ru/VV/PAPERS/HISTORY/KPSS/HISTORY.HTM#1924 |title=Secretariat, Orgburo, Politburo and Presidium of the CC of the CPSU in 1919–1990 – Izvestia of the CC of the CPSU. |date=7 November 1990 |access-date=21 October 2011 |language=ru |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111107022847/http://vivovoco.rsl.ru/VV/PAPERS/HISTORY/KPSS/HISTORY.HTM |archive-date=7 November 2011 }}

In the 1950s, Stalin increasingly withdrew from Secretariat business, leaving the supervision of the body to Georgy Malenkov, possibly to test his abilities as a potential successor.{{sfn|Z. Medvedev|R. Medvedev|2006|p=40}} In October 1952, at the 19th Party Congress, Stalin restructured the party's leadership. His request, voiced through Malenkov, to be relieved of his duties in the party secretariat due to his age, was rejected by the party congress, as delegates were unsure about Stalin's intentions.{{sfn|Z. Medvedev|R. Medvedev|2006|p=40-41}} In the end, the congress formally abolished Stalin's office of General Secretary, although Stalin remained the highest-ranked party secretary and maintained ultimate control of the party.Geoffrey Roberts, [https://books.google.com/books?id=5GCFUqBRZ-QC&dq=General+Secretary+abolished+Stalin&pg=PA345 Stalin's Wars: From World War to Cold War, 1939 – 1953] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230416034216/https://books.google.com/books?id=5GCFUqBRZ-QC&dq=General%20Secretary%20abolished%20Stalin&pg=PA345 |date=16 April 2023 }}, p. 345.{{sfn|Brown|2009|pp=231–232}} When Stalin died on 5 March 1953, Malenkov was considered to be the most important member of the Secretariat, which also included Nikita Khrushchev, among others. Under a short-lived troika consisting of Malenkov, Beria, and Molotov, Malenkov became Chairman of the Council of Ministers, but was forced to resign from the Secretariat nine days later on 14 March. This effectively left Khrushchev in control of the government,{{sfn|Ra'anan|2006|pp=29–31}} and he was elected to the new office of First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union at the Central Committee plenum on 14 September that same year. Khrushchev subsequently outmanoeuvred his rivals, who sought to challenge his political reforms. He was able to comprehensively remove Malenkov, Molotov and Lazar Kaganovich (one of Stalin's oldest and closest associates) from power in 1957, an achievement which also helped to reinforce the supremacy of the position of First Secretary.{{sfn|Ra'anan|2006|p=58}}

In 1964, opposition within the Politburo and the Central Committee, which had been increasing since the aftermath of the Cuban Missile Crisis, led to Khrushchev's removal from office. Leonid Brezhnev succeeded Khrushchev as First Secretary, but was initially obliged to govern as part of a collective leadership, forming another troika with Premier Alexei Kosygin and Chairman Nikolai Podgorny.{{sfn|Brown|2009|p=403}} The office was renamed to General Secretary in 1966.{{sfn|Service|2009|p=378}} The collective leadership was able to limit the powers of the General Secretary during the Brezhnev Era.{{sfn|McCauley|1997|p=48}} Brezhnev's influence grew throughout the 1970s as he was able to retain support by avoiding any radical reforms.{{sfn|Baylis|1989|pp=98–99 & 104}} After Brezhnev's death, Yuri Andropov and Konstantin Chernenko were able to rule the country in the same way as Brezhnev had.{{sfn|Baylis|1989|p=98}} Mikhail Gorbachev ruled the Soviet Union as General Secretary until 1990, when the Communist Party lost its monopoly of power over the political system. The office of President of the Soviet Union was established so that Gorbachev could still retain his role as leader of the Soviet Union.{{sfn|Kort|2010|p=394}} Following the failed August coup of 1991, Gorbachev resigned as General Secretary.{{sfn|Radetsky|2007|p=219}} He was succeeded by his deputy, Vladimir Ivashko, who only served for five days as Acting General Secretary before Boris Yeltsin, the newly elected President of Russia, suspended all activity in the Communist Party.{{sfn|McCauley|1997|p=105}} Following the party's ban, the Union of Communist Parties – Communist Party of the Soviet Union (UCP–CPSU) was established by Oleg Shenin in 1993, and is dedicated to reviving and restoring the CPSU. The organisation has members in all the former Soviet republics.{{sfn|Backes|Moreau|2008|p=415}}

{{#tag:timeline|

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from: 25/03/1919 till: 29/11/1919 color:red text:"Stasova" fontsize:10

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from: 29/11/1919 till: 16/03/1921 color:red text:"Krestinsky" fontsize:10

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from: 16/03/1921 till: 03/04/1922 color:red text:"Molotov" fontsize:10

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from: 03/04/1922 till: 16/10/1952 color:red text:"Stalin" fontsize:10

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from: 07/09/1953 till: 14/10/1964 color:red text:"Khrushchev" fontsize:10

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from: 14/10/1964 till: 10/11/1982 color:red text:"Brezhnev" fontsize:10

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from: 12/11/1982 till: 09/02/1984 color:red text:"Andropov" fontsize:10

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from: 13/02/1984 till: 10/03/1985 color:red text:"Chernenko" fontsize:10

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from: 11/03/1985 till: 24/08/1991 color:red text:"Gorbachev" fontsize:10

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from: 24/08/1991 till: 29/08/1991 color:red text:"Ivashko (acting)" fontsize:10

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The Second Secretary was the deputy to the General Secretary, They sat along side the General Secretary on the Secretariat and often in practice Chaired the meetings of the Secretariat because the General Secretary was busy fulfilling other duties. They were often very powerful and sat on the Politburo as well. The Second Secretary was seen as a stepping stone to General Secretary and were often in charge of Party Personnel. Prominent Second Secretaries include Mikhail Suslov, Frol Kozlov, and Nikolai Podgorny as well as all Post Stalin General Secretaries.

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{{notelist}}

{{Reflist|30em}}

{{See also|Bibliography of the Russian Revolution and Civil War|Bibliography of Stalinism and the Soviet Union|Bibliography of the Post Stalinist Soviet Union}}

{{refbegin}}

• {{cite book | last = Armstrong | first = John Alexander | title = Ideology, Politics, and Government in the Soviet Union: An Introduction | publisher = University Press of America| year = 1986 | asin = B002DGQ6K2 }}
• {{cite book|ref=CITEREFBackesMoreau2008|author1=Backes, Uwe |author2=Moreau, Patrick |title=Communist and Post-Communist Parties in Europe|publisher=Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht|isbn= 978-3-525-36912-8|year=2008}}
• {{cite book | author = Baylis, Thomas A. | title = Governing by Committee: Collegial Leadership in Advanced Societies | publisher = State University of New York Press | year = 1989 | isbn = 978-0-88706-944-4 | ref = CITEREFBaylis1989 }}
• {{cite book | author = Brown, Archie | title = The Rise & Fall of Communism | ref = CITEREFBrown2009 | publisher = Bodley Head | year = 2009 | isbn = 978-0061138799 | url = https://archive.org/details/risefallofcommun00brow | author-link = Archie Brown (historian) }}
• {{cite book | author = Chubarov, Alexander | year = 2003 | title = Russia's Bitter Path to Modernity: A History of the Soviet and post-Soviet Eras | publisher = Continuum International Publishing Group | isbn = 978-0826413505 | ref = CITEREFChubarov2003 | url = https://archive.org/details/russiasbitterpat0000chub }}
• {{cite book | author = Clements, Barbara Evans | ref = CITEREFClements1997 | title = Bolshevik Women | publisher = Cambridge University Press | year = 1997 | isbn = 978-0521599207}}
• {{cite book | title = How the Soviet Union is Governed | publisher = Harvard University Press | year = 1979 | isbn = 978-0674410305 |last1 = Fainsod|first1 = Merle|last2 = Hough| first2 = Jerry F. | author-link1 = Merle Fainsod | author-link2 = Jerry F. Hough }}
• {{cite book | author = Fairfax, Kaithy | ref = CITEREFFairfax1999 | title = Comrades in Arms: Bolshevik Women in the Russian Revolution | publisher = Resistance Books | year = 1999 | isbn = 090919694X}}
• {{cite book | author = Grill, Graeme | ref = CITEREFGrill2002 | title = The Origins of the Stalinist Political System | publisher = Cambridge University Press | year = 2002 | isbn = 978-0521529365 }}
• {{cite book|ref=CITEREFMarch2002|title= The Communist Party In Post-Soviet Russia|author=March, Luke|publisher=Manchester University Press|isbn= 978-0-7190-6044-1|year=2002}}
• {{Cite book | author = Kort, Michael | title = The Soviet Colossus: History and Aftermath | publisher = M.E. Sharpe | year = 2010 | isbn = 978-0-7656-2387-4 | ref = CITEREFKort2010 | author-link = Michael Kort }}
• {{cite book | author1 = Löwenhardt, John | author2 = Ozinga, James R. | author3 = van Ree, Erik | ref = CITEREFLöwenhardt2024 | title = The Rise and Fall of the Soviet Politburo | publisher = taylor & Francis | year = 2024 | isbn = 978-1040007365 }}
• {{Cite book | author = McCauley, Martin | title = Gorbachev | publisher = Pearson Education | year = 1998 | isbn = 978-0582437586 | ref = CITEREFMcCauley1998 | url = https://archive.org/details/gorbachev00mcca }}
• {{Cite book | author = McCauley, Martin | title = Who's who in Russia since 1900 | publisher = Routledge | year = 1997 | isbn = 0-415-13898-1 | ref = CITEREFMcCauley1997 }}
• {{cite book | ref = CITEREFZ._MedvedevR._Medvedev2006| title = The Unknown Stalin | publisher = I.B. Tauris | year = 2006 | isbn = 978-1585675029 |last1 = Medvedev |first1 = Zhores|last2 = Medvedev| first2 = Roy | author-link1 = Zhores Medvedev | author-link2 = Roy Medvedev }}
• {{cite book | author = Phillips, Steve | title = The Cold War: conflict in Europe and Asia | ref = CITEREFPhillips2001 | publisher = Heinemann | year = 2001 | isbn = 978-0435327361}}
• {{cite book | author = Ra'anan, Uri | title = Flawed Succession: Russia's Power Transfer Crises | ref = CITEREFRa'anan2006| publisher = Lexington Books | year = 2006 | isbn = 978-0739114025 }}
• {{Cite book | author = Radetsky, Peter | title = The Soviet Image: A Hundred Years of Photographs from Inside the TASS Archives | publisher = Chronicle Books | year = 2007 | isbn = 978-0811857987 | ref = CITEREFRadetsky2007 }}
• {{cite book | author = Rappaport, Helen | title = Joseph Stalin: A Biographical Companion | publisher = ABC-CLIO | year = 1999 | ref = CITEREFRappaport1999 | isbn = 978-1576070840 | author-link = Helen Rappaport }}
• {{cite book | author = Rogovin, Vadim | title = Stalin's Terror of 1937–1938: Political Genocide in the USSR | ref = CITEREFRogovin2001 | publisher = Mehring Books | year = 2001 | isbn = 978-1893638082| author-link = Vadim Rogovin }}
• {{Cite book | author = Service, Robert | title = History of Modern Russia: From Tsarism to the Twenty-first Century | publisher = Penguin Books Ltd | year = 2009 | isbn = 978-0674034938 | ref = CITEREFService2009 | author-link = Robert Service (historian) }}
• {{cite book | author = Taubman, William | year = 2003 | title = Khrushchev: The Man and His Era | publisher = W.W. Norton & Company | isbn = 978-0393051445 | ref = CITEREFTaubman2003 | url = https://archive.org/details/khrushchevmanhis00taub | author-link = William Taubman }}
• {{cite book | author = Ulam, Adam | title = Stalin: The Man and His Era | publisher = Tauris Parke Paperbacks | year = 2007 | isbn = 978-1-84511-422-0 |ref=CITEREFUlam2007| author-link = Adam Ulam }}
• {{Cite book | author = Vasilʹeva, Larisa Nikolaevna | title = Kremlin Wives | publisher = Arcade Publishing | year = 1994 | isbn = 978-1559702607 | ref = CITEREFVasil'eva1994 | url-access = registration | url = https://archive.org/details/kremlinwives0000vasi }}
• {{Cite book | author = White, Stephen | title = Russia's New Politics: The Management of a Postcommunist Society | ref = CITEREFWhite2000 | publisher = Cambridge University Press | year = 2000 | asin = B003QI0DQE| author-link = Stephen K. White }}
• {{Cite book | author = Williamson, D.G. | title = The Age of the Dictators: A Study of the European Dictatorships, 1918–53 | edition = 1st | publisher = Pearson Education | year = 2007 | isbn = 978-0582505803 | ref = CITEREFWilliamson2007 }}
• {{cite book | author = Zemtsov, Ilya| ref = CITEREFZemtsov2001 | title = Encyclopedia of Soviet Life | publisher = Transaction Publishers | year = 2001 | isbn = 978-0887383502 }}

{{refend}}

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