Formation of a one-party political system in the USSR. Formation of a one-party system in Soviet Russia and the USSR

1. Formation of a one-party political system…………………3

2.Political struggle in the leadership of the Bolshevik Party in the 1920s. The formation of the regime of personal power of I.V. Stalin………………8

3.The political system of the USSR at the end of the 1920s………………………18

Formation of a one-party political system.

In 1922, a trial was held of a group of Socialist Revolutionaries accused of conspiracy against Soviet power, counter-revolutionary propaganda, and aiding the White Guards and foreign interventionists. The court found them guilty of all charges. The Socialist Revolutionary movement was finally over. In 1923, an irreconcilable struggle began with the Mensheviks, who still had some influence in society. The task was set to “finally smash the Menshevik Party, completely discredit it before the working class.” This task was completed in short time. The Mensheviks were also socialists, and the world socialist movement had a negative attitude towards the persecution of Menshevism. Therefore, the Bolsheviks did not risk holding a show trial against them. They launched a powerful campaign to “expose” their recent party comrades. As a result, the Mensheviks began to be perceived in society as bearers of an extremely hostile, anti-people ideology. The Menshevik party quickly lost supporters and eventually disintegrated, ceasing to exist. By 1924, a one-party political system was finally established in the country, in which the RCP (b) received undivided power.

In the years Civil War The Bolshevik Party actually performed the functions of state bodies. A “dictatorship of the party” has emerged, as was recognized at XII Congress RKP(b). This was dictated by the military situation in the country. During the war, a new party body was also formed in 1919 - Politburo of the Central Committee of the RCP (b), a close circle of Bolshevik leaders who made the main decisions. The situation did not change after the Civil War: the Politburo became the main political center of the country, determining the path of development of the Soviet state.

The secretariat of the Central Committee helped Lenin manage party work. Under Lenin, it was a technical body created for purely apparatus work. But in 1922 Lenin became seriously ill. A position was needed for the head of the secretariat, who could conduct business in the absence of the leader. And to raise authority new position, came up with a spectacular name for her - general secretary. Stalin was appointed to this minor position. But Stalin managed to organize the work in such a way that the secretariat became the main governing body in the party, and the position of general secretary became the main post.

This is how not only the main structures of the party appeared, but also its role in the state took shape. Throughout Soviet history, the Communist Party will exercise the actual leadership of the country, and the post of party leader will always be the highest position in the USSR.

In January 1923, Lenin dictated a “Letter to the Congress,” in which he proposed removing Stalin from the post of General Secretary. The leader warned that Stalin’s character traits such as intolerance and rudeness were incompatible with the post of Secretary General. The letter was read out at the XIII Congress of the RCP(b) in May 1924, after Lenin's death. But the delegates decided to leave Stalin as Secretary General, motivating their decision difficult situation within the party and the threat of its split from Trotsky. Thus, the Congress of the Russian Communist Party (Bolsheviks) determined the path along which the country would go. Under the leadership of Stalin, the political system of the Soviet state would be formed, which would remain virtually unchanged throughout the existence of the USSR.

Stalin, relying on individual statements of Lenin, put forward a new ideological position that socialism could be built “in one particular country.” Trotsky, a staunch supporter of the world revolution, sharply opposed this attitude. An irreconcilable struggle broke out in the party.

There was another reason for the conflict. In 1923, Trotsky criticized the order that had developed in the RCP (b). He stated that the party was divided into two parts - into functionaries elected from above, and into the party masses, on which nothing in the party depends. This was an attack against Stalin, who led the party apparatus. Trotsky categorically objected to Stalin's growing influence in the RCP(b).

Stalin, in turn, sharply condemned Trotsky for not believing in the possibility of building socialism in the USSR.

In 1926, the XV Conference of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks) adopted Stalin’s thesis. Trotsky was defeated.

Another cause of the conflict was the party's policy in the village. Kamenev and Zinoviev spoke out against the “village NEP”. They teamed up with Trotsky and decided to act as a single bloc. In 1927, the opposition bloc tried to organize a protest demonstration. The attempt failed, and Trotsky, Kamenev and Zinoviev were expelled from the party. In 1928, Trotsky was exiled to Alma-Ata, and in 1929 he was expelled from the country.

A new political conflict broke out in 1927 due to the food crisis.

According to Stalin, small peasant farming is unable to satisfy the growing needs of the country, and large kulak producers are sabotaging grain procurements. He advocated the massive industrialization of the country and fundamental reforms in the countryside, which should result in the emergence of large collective farms (collective farms).

Bukharin became Stalin's opponent. The cause of the grain procurement crisis, in his opinion, was the mistakes of the country's leadership. He advocated the preservation of NEP in the countryside and spoke out against the creation of large collective farms, believing that individual peasant farms would remain the basis of the agricultural sector for a long time.

Stalin accused Bukharin and all NEP supporters of “right deviation.” Society supported Stalin. Meetings and rallies were held throughout the country exposing the views of Bukharin, Rykov and their supporters. Massive and merciless criticism of the “right-wingers” was organized in the press. In 1929, Bukharin was removed from the Politburo, Rykov was removed from the post of chairman of the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR. About 150 thousand people were expelled from the party for “right-wing deviations.”

The implementation of the political lessons of Kronstadt, as well as the economic ones, began at the Tenth Congress of the RCP (b). Among the decisions of the congress was not only the resolution on replacing the surplus appropriation system with a tax in kind, but also the strictly secret, although no less significant for the future fate of the country, the resolution “On Party Unity.” It prohibited the creation in the RCP (b) of factions or groups that had a point of view different from the party leadership and defended it at all levels and using various methods (all-party discussions were very popular at that time).

Having introduced unanimity in its ranks, the Bolshevik leadership took on its political opponents outside the ranks of the RCP (b).

In December 1921, at the proposal of the Chairman of the Cheka F. E. Dzerzhinsky, the Central Committee of the RCP (b) decided to hold an open trial over the Social Revolutionaries. The trial of the Social Revolutionaries took place in June-August 1922. The All-Russian Central Executive Committee tribunal accused those arrested of different time bodies of the Cheka of prominent figures of the Socialist Revolutionary Party in organizing conspiracies to overthrow Soviet power, in aiding the White Guards and foreign interventionists, as well as in counter-revolutionary propaganda and agitation. And this despite the fact that the Bolsheviks themselves began to practically implement the economic and business demands put forward by the Socialist Revolutionaries and Mensheviks back in 1919-1920, dressing them in the clothes of the “new economic policy.” Twelve defendants were sentenced to death penalty. But after protests from the world community, the execution was postponed and made dependent on the behavior of the party members who remained free. Naturally, after the trial, the Socialist Revolutionary Party was doomed. In June 1923, the Central Committee of the RCP (b) developed a secret instruction “On measures to combat the Mensheviks,” which set the task of “uprooting Menshevik ties in the working class, completely disorganizing and smash the Menshevik Party, completely discredit it before the working class.” The Bolsheviks did not dare to hold the same “show” trial against the Mensheviks as against the Socialist Revolutionaries, given the negative reaction of the world socialist movement. However, the Bolsheviks launched a powerful campaign to defame their recent party comrades. The word "Menshevik" long years became one of the most negative ideological concepts. In 1923, the collapse of the Menshevik Party began.

Political opposition outside the Bolshevik Party ceased to exist. A one-party political system was finally established in the country.

The course towards establishing a one-party political system (a system in which a single and, therefore, ruling party is preserved) was fully consistent with the theoretical ideas about the state of the dictatorship of the proletariat. The government, relying on direct violence and systematically using it against “hostile classes,” did not even allow the thought of the possibility of political rivalry and opposition from other parties. Equally intolerant for this system was the existence of dissent and alternative groups within the ruling party. In the 20s The formation of the one-party system was completed. The NEP, which in the economic sphere allowed elements of the market, private initiative, and entrepreneurship, in the political sphere retained and even toughened military-communist intolerance towards “enemies and hesitators.”

The Bolshevik Party became the main link in the state structure. The most important government decisions were first discussed within the circle of party leaders - the Political Bureau (Politburo) of the Central Committee of the RCP (b), which in 1921 included V.I. Lenin, G.E., Zinoviev, L.B. Kamenev, I.V. Stalin, L.D. Trotsky, etc. Then they were approved by the Central Committee of the RCP (b), and only after that all issues were enshrined in state decisions, i.e. Soviet authorities. All leading government posts were occupied by party leaders: V.I. Lenin - Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars; M.I. Kalinin - Chairman of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee; I.V. Stalin - people's commissar for nationalities affairs, etc.

By 1923, the remnants of the multi-party system were eliminated. The trial of the Socialist Revolutionaries, accused of organizing conspiracies against the Soviet government and the leaders of the Communist Party, took place in 1922, putting an end to more than twenty years of the history of the party. In 1923, the hunted and intimidated Mensheviks announced their self-dissolution. The Bund ceased to exist. These were left-wing, socialist parties; monarchical and liberal parties were liquidated in the first years after October revolution 1917

Political opponents outside the ranks of the Communist Party were dealt with. All that remained was to achieve unity within the party. After the end of the Civil War, V.I. Lenin considered the question of party unity to be key, “a matter of life and death.” X Congress of the RCP(b) in 1921 At his insistence, he adopted the famous resolution “On Party Unity,” which prohibited any factional activity. In no less famous latest works 1922--1923 the seriously ill leader called on his heirs to preserve the unity of the party “like the apple of his eye”: he saw the split in its ranks as the main threat.

Meanwhile, the internal party struggle, which intensified during Lenin’s lifetime, flared up after his death (January 1924) new strength. Its driving forces were, on the one hand, disagreements about what direction and how to move forward (what to do with the NEP; what policy to pursue in the countryside; how to develop industry; where to get money to modernize the economy, etc.), and personal rivalry in an irreconcilable battle for absolute power - on the other.

The main stages of the internal party struggle in the 20s.

• 1923--1924 -- “triumvirate” (I.V. Stalin, G.E. Zinoviev and L.B. Kamenev) against L.D. Trotsky. Ideological content: Trotsky demands to stop retreating before the petty-bourgeois element, to “tighten the screws,” to tighten the command leadership of the economy, and accuses the party leaders of degeneration. Result: victory of the “triumvirate”, personal strengthening of Stalin.
• 1925 -- Stalin, N.I. Bukharin, A.I. Rykov, M.P. Tomsky and others against the “new opposition” of Zinoviev and Kamenev. Ideological content: Stalin puts forward the thesis about “the possibility of building socialism in a single country”; the opposition defends the old slogan of “world revolution” and criticizes the authoritarian methods of party leadership. Result: victory for Stalin, rapprochement of the “new opposition” with Trotsky.
• 1926--1927 - Stalin, Bukharin, Rykov, Tomsky and others. Against the “united opposition” of Zinoviev, Kamenev, Trotsky (“Trotskyist-Zinoviev bloc”). Ideological content: the struggle continues around Stalin’s thesis about building socialism in a single country. The opposition demands to speed up the development of industry by “pumping” money out of the countryside. Result: victory for Stalin, removal of opposition leaders from leading positions in the party and state, exile, and then expulsion of Trotsky from the country.
• 1928--1929 -- Stalin against the “right opposition” (Bukharin, Rykov, Tomsky). Ideological content: Stalin puts forward a course towards accelerated industrialization, carried out at the expense of the peasantry, talks about strengthening the class struggle; Bukharin and others develop a theory about “growing into” socialism, about civil peace and support for the peasantry. Result: victory for Stalin, defeat of the “right opposition”.

Thus, the internal party struggle in the 20s. ended with the personal victory of Stalin, who by 1929 seized absolute power in the party and state. Together with him, the policy of abandoning the NEP, forced industrialization, and collectivization won Agriculture, approval of the command economy.

Social and political life of the USSR in the 1930s. was the life of a country that had already become totalitarian. A totalitarian society is a society in which the multi-party system has been eliminated and a one-party political system exists; the ruling party has merged with the state apparatus and subordinated it to itself; a single, universally binding ideology was established; There is no society independent from the control of the party and the state; all are public organizations. And all social relations are directly controlled by the state; a cult of the leader developed; there is an extensive police apparatus that carries out repression against citizens; civil rights, formally recognized, are actually liquidated.

The economic basis of Soviet-type totalitarianism was a command-administrative system built on the nationalization of the means of production, directive planning and pricing, and the elimination of the foundations of the market. In the USSR it was formed in the process of industrialization and collectivization.

The one-party political system was established in the USSR already in the 20s. The merging of the party apparatus with the state apparatus, the subordination of the party to the state, became a fact at the same time. In the 30s The CPSU(b), having gone through a number of sharp battles between its leaders in the struggle for power, was a single, strictly centralized, strictly subordinate, well-functioning mechanism. Discussions, discussions, elements of party democracy are irrevocably a thing of the past. Communist Party was the only legal one political organization. The councils, which were formally the main bodies of the dictatorship of the proletariat, acted under its control, all state decisions were made by the Politburo and the Central Committee of the CPSU (b) and only then formalized by government resolutions. Leading party figures occupied leading positions in the state. All personnel work was carried out through party bodies: not a single appointment could take place without the approval of party cells.

As for the Komsomol, trade unions, others public organizations, then they were nothing more than “transmission belts” from the party to the masses. Original “schools of communism” (trade unions for workers, the Komsomol for youth, a pioneer organization for children and adolescents, creative unions for the intelligentsia), they, in essence, played the role of representatives of the party in various strata of society, helping it lead all spheres of the country’s life.

The spiritual basis of the totalitarian society in the USSR was the official ideology, the postulates of which - understandable, simple - were introduced into the consciousness of people in the form of slogans, songs, poems, quotes from leaders, lectures on the study of " Short course history of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks)”: the foundations of a socialist society were built in the USSR; As we move towards socialism, the class struggle tends to intensify; “whoever is not with us is against us”; The USSR is a stronghold of the progressive public all over the world; "Stalin is Lenin today." The slightest deviation from these simple truths was punishable: “purges,” expulsion from the party, repressions were intended to preserve the ideological purity of citizens.

The cult of Stalin as the leader of society was perhaps the most important element of totalitarianism of the 30s. In the image of a wise, merciless to enemies, simple and accessible leader of the party and people, abstract calls took on flesh and blood, becoming extremely concrete and close. Songs, films, books, poems, newspaper and magazine publications inspired love, awe and respect bordering on fear. The entire pyramid of totalitarian power revolved around him; he was its undisputed, absolute leader.

In the 30s The previously established and significantly expanded repressive apparatus (NKVD, bodies of extrajudicial execution - “troikas”, Main Directorate of Camps - Gulag, etc.) was working at full speed. Since the late 20s. waves of repression came one after another: the “Shakhtinsky Case” (1928), the trial of the “Industrial Party” (1930), the “Case of the Academicians” (1930), repressions in connection with the murder of Kirov (1934), political trials of 1936-1939 . against former party leaders (G.E. Zinoviev, N.I. Bukharin, A.I. Rykov, etc.), leaders of the Red Army (M.N. Tukhachevsky, V.K. Blyukher, I.E. Yakir, etc. .) . The “Great Terror” claimed the lives of almost 1 million people who were executed; millions of people passed through the Gulag camps. Repression was the very instrument by which a totalitarian society dealt not only with real, but also with perceived opposition, instilling fear and obedience, a willingness to sacrifice friends and loved ones. They reminded a frightened society that a person, “weighed on the scales” of history, is light and insignificant, that his life has no value if society needs it. Terror had economic importance: Millions of prisoners worked on construction sites of the first five-year plans, contributing to the economic power of the country.

A very complex spiritual atmosphere has developed in society. On the one hand, many wanted to believe that life was getting better and more fun, that difficulties would pass, and that what they had done would remain forever - in the bright future that they were building for the next generations. Hence the enthusiasm, faith, hope for justice, pride from participating in what millions of people believed was a great cause. On the other hand, fear reigned, a feeling of one’s own insignificance, insecurity, and a readiness to unquestioningly carry out the commands given by someone was asserted. It is believed that precisely this—an inflated, tragically split perception of reality—is characteristic of totalitarianism, which requires, in the words of the philosopher, “an enthusiastic affirmation of something, a fanatical determination for the sake of nothing.”

The USSR Constitution adopted in 1936 can be considered a symbol of the era. It guaranteed citizens the entire range of democratic rights and freedoms. Another thing is that citizens were deprived of most of them. The USSR was characterized as a socialist state of workers and peasants. The Constitution noted that socialism had basically been built, and public socialist ownership of the means of production had been established. The Soviets of Working People's Deputies were recognized as the political basis of the USSR, and the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks) was assigned the role of the leading core of society. There was no principle of separation of powers.

After the dispersal of the Constituent Assembly, V.I. Lenin, in the draft decree on its dissolution, stated that power belongs to the Soviets, in which the vast majority are the Bolshevik and Left Socialist-Revolutionary parties, which enjoy the trust of the workers and the majority of the peasantry. This was how the course towards a one-party monopoly in the state was outlined, so far only in its original form. Under these conditions, any Soviet party that wished to form a government together with the Bolsheviks would act as a reasoner, which was confirmed by the short stay of the Left Socialist Revolutionaries in the Bolshevik government.

The suppression of legal opposition led to further political violence. the struggle began to develop into a civil war. The Civil War necessitated emergency measures that were invented not by the Bolsheviks, but by the governments of the countries that fought in the First World War. They were in state monopolies on the most important food products and consumer goods, their standardized distribution, labor conscription, fixed prices, the establishment of an allocation method for the alienation of agricultural products from the rural population. It was the Bolsheviks who turned these measures into a weapon for establishing the dictatorship of the proletariat. To suppress widespread resistance, they created a rigid system of managing the army and society in the form of military commissariats and “war communism.”

War communism - This is a system of emergency measures caused by the civil war and military intervention, which together determined the uniqueness of the economic policy of the Soviet state in 1918-1920.

It was during this period that the process of transforming the Bolshevik Party of Russia into a state party began, when, along with the Soviets, called up after October 1917. exercise power, party committees began to be created in the center and locally - military commissariats. They took over the watering. economic and ideological functions, concentrating in one hand all the power in every district, volost, and province.

The end of the civil war and the fight against the interventionists had a huge impact on Soviet Russia and the Bolshevik party that led it. historical meaning. However, the situation in the country was very difficult: a crisis in the economy, requisitions, hunger, banditry, epidemics. The main polit. events of the beginning of 1920 in Soviet Russia began: peasant uprisings against the policy of “war communism”. one of the most important elements of which was food allocation; a terrible famine in the Volga region, which claimed a huge number of lives; Kronstadt uprising of sailors of the Baltic Fleet.

To get out of this crisis, maintain and strengthen their power, the Bolsheviks needed to dramatically change their policies, find new methods of interaction with the masses, and satisfy their main needs and demands. There is an urgent need to revise the state. policies in all areas, and above all in the economic sphere.

NEP - the new economic policy of the Soviet state in the 20s. The transition to the NEP began with the 10th Congress of the RCP (b), held in March 1921. The essence of this policy is the use of commodity-money relations in the field of agriculture, industry, trade, credit policy, etc.

During this period, crisis phenomena spread to the party. This was manifested in acute disagreements that split the RCP (b) on the issue of attitude towards trade unions and their role in the state of the dictatorship of the proletariat. For the first time in the history of the Bolshevik Party, elections of delegates to the 10th Congress of the RCP(b) were held on factional platforms, among which were:

ь “platform of ten”, presented by V. Lenin, G. Zinoviev and others;

ь platform of L. Trotsky “The role and tasks of trade unions”;

ь platform of the “workers’ opposition” (A. Shlyapnikov, A. Kolontai, S. Medvedev, etc.);

ь platform of the group of “decists” (“democratic centralists” - T. Sapronov, N. Osinsky, etc.);

ь “buffer platform” by N. Bukharin.

Each of them contained its own vision of the role and methods of work of trade unions in peaceful conditions, as well as the immediate tasks of the party.

L. Trotsky, based on the theory of permanent revolution, considered it necessary, in order to preserve Soviet power in Russia before the start of the world revolution, to militarize the state as much as possible, and to “nationalize” trade unions, merging them with state economic bodies in industries and giving them the functions of administrative and economic management.

The “labor opposition,” on the contrary, sought to “union” the state, proposed to transfer management of the national economy to a body elected at the “All-Russian Congress of Producers,” and to give trade unions the exclusive right to appoint workers to administrative and economic positions.

Similar demands were contained in the platform of the “decits”, who declared the “bureaucratic death of trade unions” and insisted that the Presidium of the All-Union Council National economy(VSNKh) was nominated by the leadership of the trade unions.

The discussion of the role and tasks of trade unions at the congress took on a sharp and principled character. The majority of the delegates followed V. Lenin, adopting a resolution drawn up on the basis of the “platform of ten”. Trade unions were considered as a “school of communism”, a school of management during the period of socialist construction, the need for party leadership of trade unions was announced and the principle of democratic centralism in leadership was established. The implementation of this resolution subsequently led to the loss of trade unions' independence and the suppression of dissent.

However, many supporters of other platforms, as subsequent events showed, did not abandon their views. This threatened the traditional unity of Bolshevism, in defense of which V. Lenin spoke at the congress. He developed and invited the delegates to adopt two resolutions - “On the syndicalist and anarchist deviation in our party” and “On the unity of the party.”

The first of them assessed the platform of the “workers’ opposition,” in the words of V. Lenin, as a “clear syndicalist-anarchist deviation” that contradicts the foundations of Marxism, and stated that the propaganda of such views is incompatible with belonging to the RCP (b).

The second resolution, “On Party Unity,” proclaimed that party unity is an inviolable law of party life, proposed the immediate dissolution of all groups created on independent platforms, and prohibited the creation of any factions in the future. Failure to comply with this decision, ensuring the mechanical cohesion of the RCP(b) under the threat of capital punishment, at the same time significantly curtailed internal party democracy and deprived party members of the opportunity to have and defend their own views.

However, the presence in the ranks of the RCP (b) of “undisarmed” factionalists, people from other parties who disagreed with undemocratic methods of strengthening party discipline, politically unstable (from the point of view) of the party leadership and passive communists forced the Central Committee of the RCP (b) to hold . general cleaning parties. The Central Committee’s appeal to all party organizations, “On Cleansing the Party,” published on July 27, 1921 in Pravda, spoke of the need for “our party, more than ever before, to be cast from one piece.” The Central Committee demanded that the title of member of the RCP (b) “be borne only by those who truly deserve it.”

In March 1922 The 11th Congress of the RCP(b) adopted clear rules for admission to the party, which varied depending on the social affiliation of the applicant: it was easiest for workers and peasants to join it. Despite these measures, the party did not become more proletarian in composition: in 1922. approximately 15 thousand workers, dissatisfied with the “bourgeois transition” to the NEP, left its ranks.

During the civil war, a “command style” of leadership was established in the party, with local authorities appointed from above. This practice continued in the subsequent period: grassroots organizations in need of leaders immediately turned to special departments of the Central Committee (Organizational Department and Uchraspred), which dealt with the placement of personnel. These methods also contributed to the transformation of the Bolshevik Party into a state structure. The role of ordinary communists was often reduced to approving directives coming from the governing bodies, while the party “tops,” including the Central Committee and provincial party committees, were increasingly separated from the party masses. Therefore, in the fall of 1923, while Lenin was still alive, a heated debate broke out in the party about internal party democracy, bureaucracy and the principles of party building.

On January 21, 1924, V. Lenin died. His death was a serious shock for the party and the people and was used by the leadership of the RCP (b) to create a posthumous cult of the leader.

Lenin did not leave behind an unconditional successor who could rightfully take his place in the party and country. The characteristics he gave to his closest associates in his “Letter to the Congress” were very ambiguous. Lenin proposed removing Stalin from the post of General Secretary, expressing doubt that he, having concentrated immense power in his hands, would always be able to use it carefully enough. In 1927-1928 Stalin led the fight against N. Bukharin and his supporters, accusing them of “legal deviation” and of aiding and defending the kulaks. In this way, Stalin tried to eliminate the most authoritative party leaders and strengthen his position not only in the party, but also in the state. Stalin and his entourage managed to suppress all attempts at organized resistance, and this was largely facilitated by profound changes within the party itself. First of all, by the end of the 1920s. as a result of the Lenin and October calls, it became a mass party, numbering by 1927. 1 million 200 thousand people The overwhelming majority of those accepted into the party at that time were illiterate people, who were required, first of all, to submit to party discipline. At the same time, the number of old, experienced Bolsheviks decreased; they were drawn into the struggle for power and split, and then physically destroyed.

As a result, in the 30s. 20th century A management system within the Bolshevik Party itself finally took shape, which provided for strict subordination to party discipline and the absence of dissent.

Next important step On the way to transforming the RCP(b) into a state party and establishing an administrative-command system of government in the country, the 17th Congress of the CPSU(b), held in Moscow from January 26 to February 10, 1934, took place. It had a solemn and triumphal character and received the name “Congress of Winners” in the official press.

The glorification of Stalin has reached the level of an obligatory rite. In general, the resolutions adopted at the congress allowed the party to directly engage in state and economic management, gave unlimited freedom to the highest party leadership, and legitimized the unconditional subordination of ordinary communists to the governing bodies of the party.

First of all, the congress introduced a new structure of party committees. grassroots units were no longer called “cells”, but “ primary organizations", and their borders are everywhere. coincide with the corresponding industrial or agricultural enterprises. The apparatus of the Central Committee was divided into the so-called “integral production and sectoral departments”: industrial, agricultural, financial planning, trade, national economy and government affairs.

Regional committees and Central Committees of the Republican Communist Parties were built on the same model. These were parallel departments of the party committees, along with the departments for industry, agriculture, culture, science and educational institutions, etc. that already existed under the executive committees of the Soviets. However, the functions of these equally named departments had significant differences. Polit. the role of party committees in fact became decisive and led to the replacement of the power of Soviet and economic bodies of the time distinctive feature the entire Soviet period.

The next significant decision of the 17th Congress was the abolition of the previous practice of party-Soviet control, proposed by Lenin. The congress established a new decentralized control system: the People's Commissariat of the Workers' and Peasants' Inspectorate was abolished, and the Central Control Commission, elected by the congress, was transformed into the Party Control Commission under the Central Communist Party (Bolsheviks). The head of the commission was appointed from among the secretaries of the Central Committee. Thus, the activities of the inspection bodies were brought under the strict control of the Party Central Committee and the General Secretary. In addition, the congress established unique “zones beyond criticism.” The new charter adopted at the congress also sanctioned the right of the Central Committee to establish, where necessary, political departments, which significantly diminished the prerogatives of party organizations and secretaries of local party committees.

Gradually, Stalin became practically the only full-fledged leader of the party and state. The establishment of autocracy in the party was accompanied by the rise and strengthening of the power structures of the state and its repressive bodies. Already in 1929 In each district, so-called “troikas” were created, which included the first secretary of the district party committee, the chairman of the district executive committee and a representative of the Main Political Directorate. control (GPU). They began to carry out extrajudicial trials of the accused, passing their own sentences. This practice of extrajudicial sentences was consolidated at the all-Union level.

The strengthening of repressive actions was largely facilitated by the events that took place at the same 17th Party Congress, which also had another (unofficial) name - “Congress of the Executed.” Of the 1,961 delegates to the congress, 1,108 were subjected to repression, and of the 139 members of the Central Committee elected at the congress, 98 were subjected to repression. The main reason for these repressions, which were organized by Stalin, was disappointment in him as a Secretary General Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks) of a certain part of party workers and communists. They condemned him for organizing forced collectivization, the famine it caused, and the incredible pace of industrialization that resulted in numerous casualties. This dissatisfaction found expression during the voting for the list of the Central Committee. 270 delegates expressed in their ballots a vote of no confidence in the “leader of all times and peoples.” Moreover, they offered the post of General Secretary to S. Kirov, who. however, he rejected this proposal.

December 1, 1934 S. Kirov was killed. This murder caused a new round of intensification of punitive actions. Changes were made to the current criminal procedural codes of the Union republics. The changes concerned the investigation of cases of terrorist organizations and similar acts against employees of the Soviet government. Extraordinary forms of consideration and hearing of cases were introduced: the investigation period was limited to 10 days, hearings of cases were allowed without the participation of the parties, cassation appeals were canceled, and the sentence to capital punishment was carried out immediately. In March 1935 a law was passed on punishing family members of traitors to the Motherland, and a month later a decree was passed on the involvement of children from the age of 12 in the penitentiary system. Essentially, this legitimized mass terror at the state level.

By the end of the 1930s. A regime of arbitrariness and repression was established in the country, all dissent was suppressed, and a command-administrative and totalitarian system was formed.

The essence of this system is the merging of the state and party apparatuses, establishing the priority of planning and distribution functions of management, unifying the legal system and law enforcement practice, and total control over the life of society.

Totalitarianism is a universal phenomenon, affecting all spheres of life.

In economics, it means the nationalization of economic life, the economic lack of freedom of the individual. The individual has no interests of his own in production. There is an alienation of a person from the results of his work and, as a result, deprivation of his initiative. The state establishes centralized, planned management of the economy.

In polit. sphere, all power belongs to a special group of people that the people cannot control. The Bolsheviks, who set themselves the goal of overthrowing existing system, from the very beginning were forced to act as a conspiracy party. This secrecy, intellectual, ideological and political closeness remained its essential characteristic even after the conquest of power. Society and the state under a command-administrative system find themselves absorbed by one dominant party, and the highest bodies of this party and the highest bodies of the state merge. authorities. In fact, the party is transforming into a decisive core element of the state structure. Required element Such a structure is a ban on opposition parties and movements.

A characteristic feature of such regimes is also that power is not based on laws and the constitution. The Stalinist constitution guaranteed almost all human rights, but in reality they were practically not fulfilled.

In the spiritual sphere, one ideology and worldview dominates. As a rule, these are utopian theories that realize the eternal dream of people about a more perfect and happier social order, based on the idea of ​​achieving harmony between people. Such an ideology, for example Marxism in the USSR, turns into a kind of state religion, giving rise to another phenomenon of totalitarianism - the cult of personality.

Such a regime decays from within over time. Originally from watered. The elite are people who become in opposition to the regime. With the emergence of dissent, first narrow groups of dissidents, then broad sections of the population, are alienated from the regime. The destruction of totalitarianism ends with a departure from strict control in the economic sphere.

One party system- a type of political system in which a single political party has legislative power. Opposition parties are either banned or systematically not allowed to come to power. The dominance of one party can also be established through a broad coalition of several parties (popular front), in which the ruling party is sharply dominant.

One-party system in the USSR (1922-1989) On November 12, 1917, elections to the Constituent Assembly were held: 58% of all voters voted for the Socialist Revolutionaries, for the Social Democrats - 27.6% ( with 25% for the Bolsheviks, 2.6% - for the Mensheviks), for the Cadets - 13%. It is also characteristic that the Bolsheviks had a predominance in the capitals, the Socialist Revolutionaries became the undisputed leaders in the provinces. However, the ultra-radical position of the Bolshevik leader Lenin and his supporters, the enormous political will and confidence in the possibility of implementing their ideological doctrine in the conditions of growing revolutionary anarchist elements ultimately determined a different character of the development of events: the Bolsheviks usurped power.

The formation of a mono-party system took place on certain ideological, political and socio-economic grounds, relying on repressive and punitive bodies. This gives reason to talk not only about the party-state, but also about the phenomenon of Soviet totalitarianism. The state belonged entirely to one party, whose leaders (Stalin, Khrushchev, Brezhnev, Gorbachev) concentrated legislative, executive and judicial power in their hands. “Cadres”—the party nomenklatura—were placed in all the most important areas of social life.

The subsequent years of activity of the Bolshevik Party became a time of gradual decline in its authority (not without the “energetic” actions of the increasingly aging leadership).

Undoubtedly, reformist intentions underlay the actions of the young General Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee M. Gorbachev. However, he was unable to overcome his partocratic nature, since he somehow connected the fate of perestroika with the role of the CPSU. Never tired of talking about democracy, Gorbachev tolerated not only “conservatives” in his circle, but also “agents of influence”, to whose side he ultimately went over; by dissolving the CPSU, he betrayed millions of innocent people.

The question of the fate of various political parties before the October Revolution was not raised even theoretically. Moreover, from the Marxist theory of classes the thesis about the preservation of a multi-party system in a society divided into classes, even after the victory of socialism, naturally followed. However, the practice of Soviet power came into striking contradiction with this theory.

Repressions against non-Bolshevik parties began immediately after the victory of the October Revolution and did not stop until their complete disappearance, which allowed us to draw the first conclusion: the conclusion about the decisive role of violence in establishing one-party rule. Another approach to this problem was based on the fact that most of the leaders of these parties emigrated, which made it possible to draw a different conclusion - about their separation from the country and the remaining membership mass in it.

However, the cessation of the activities of the CPSU in August 1991 gave us a new historical experience of the death of the party, where repression or emigration did not play any role. Thus, there is now sufficient empirical material to consider the cycle of evolution of a political party in Russia until its collapse and determine its causes. In our opinion, they are rooted in the contradictions inherent in the party as a historical phenomenon. Single-party politics facilitates this analysis by ensuring unity of subject matter.

One-party system simplified the problem of political leadership to the limit, reducing it to administration. At the same time, it predetermined the degradation of the party, which did not know its political rivals. At its service were the repressive apparatus of the state and the means of mass influence on the people. An all-powerful, all-penetrating vertical was created, working in a one-way mode - from the center to the masses, devoid of feedback. Therefore, the processes taking place within the party acquired self-sufficient significance. The source of its development was the contradictions inherent in the party; they are characteristic of a political party in general, but occurred in our country in a specific form, due to one-party rule.

The experience of the one-party system in our country has proven the dead end of the development of society under conditions of a monopoly on power. Only political methods in an environment of free competition of doctrines, strategic and tactical guidelines, rivalry between leaders in full view of voters could help the party gain and maintain strength, develop as a free community of people united by unity of beliefs and actions.

45. Curtailment of the NEP. Industrialization and collectivization of agriculture

At the first stage, the NEP led to rapid growth of the country's economy, but state policy continued to be based on the principle of command-administrative management methods, including in the economic sphere. As a result, there was an acute shortage of both food and industrial goods, in connection with which food cards were introduced, then the state actually returned to its previous policy of confiscating food from the peasants. 1929 The year is considered the final end of the NEP and the beginning of mass collectivization.

Collectivization (1928-1935). In fact, collectivization (i.e., the unification of all private peasant farms to collective and state farms) began in 1929 when, to solve the problem of acute food shortages (peasants refused to sell products, primarily grain, at prices dictated by the state), taxes on private owners were increased and the government proclaimed a policy of preferential taxation for newly created collective farms. Thus, collectivization meant the curtailment of the New Economic Policy.

Collectivization was based on the idea of ​​destroying the wealthy class of peasants, the kulaks, who, since 1929, found themselves in a virtually hopeless situation: they were not accepted into collective farms and they could not sell their property and go to the city. The very next year, a program was adopted according to which all the property of the kulaks was confiscated, and the kulaks themselves were subject to mass eviction. In parallel, there was a process of creating collective farms, which were supposed to completely replace individual farms in the very near future.

Famine breaks out 1932 - 1933 gg. only worsened the situation of the peasants, whose passports were taken away, and with a strict passport system, movement around the country was impossible.

Industrialization. After the Civil War, the country's industry was in a very poor situation, and to solve this problem, the state needed to find funds to build new enterprises and modernize old ones. Because external loans were no longer possible due to the refusal to pay the royal debts, the party announced a course towards industrialization . From now on, all the country's financial and human resources were to be devoted to restoring the country's industrial potential. In accordance with the developed industrialization program, a specific plan was established for each five-year plan, the implementation of which was strictly controlled. As a result, by the end of the 30s it was possible to approach the leading Western European countries in terms of industrial indicators. This was achieved to a large extent by attracting peasants to the construction of new enterprises and using the forces of prisoners. Enterprises such as Dnieper Hydroelectric Power Station, Magnitogorsk Iron and Steel Works, White Sea-Baltic Canal.

Related information.

Formation of a one-party system. The first Soviet Constitution. Education of the RSFSR

ʼʼLeft Social Revolutionary rebellionʼʼ . The conclusion of the Brest Peace Treaty changed the relations of the Bolsheviks with their partners in the government coalition - the Left Social Revolutionaries. Initially, they supported negotiations with Germany, but were not ready to conclude a separate peace, which, in their opinion, delayed the prospects for world revolution. At the IV (Extraordinary) All-Russian Congress of Soviets, the Left Socialist Revolutionary faction voted against the ratification of the peace and recalled its people's commissars from the government. At the same time, it was stated that the party promises the Council of People’s Commissars “its assistance and support.” The break, however, was incomplete: the Left Socialist-Revolutionaries remained in the All-Russian Central Executive Committee, were members of the boards of the People's Commissariats, and worked in other institutions. The Left Social Revolutionaries made up a third of the Cheka board and the same part of its detachments.

The contradictions between the left Socialist Revolutionaries and the Bolsheviks sharply escalated in May - June 1918, after the adoption of decrees on a food dictatorship and committees. The Left Socialist Revolutionaries were against dictatorship in the food sector and against the outbreak of a civil war in the countryside. The party leaders were embarrassed that in official documents not only “kulaks” and “village bourgeoisie” appeared, but also “grain holders”. They feared, not without reason, that the decrees would hit not only the fist, to which no one objected, but also the middle, small peasantry; the document obliged every “owner of grain” to hand over it, and declared “everyone who had a surplus of grain and did not take it to dump points” as “enemies of the people”. The Left Socialist-Revolutionaries also reacted negatively to the creation of the Poor Committees, calling them “committees of idlers.”

June 14, 1918 ᴦ. With the votes of the Bolshevik faction (the left Socialist Revolutionaries abstained), the Mensheviks and Socialist Revolutionaries were expelled from the All-Russian Central Executive Committee, which was an actual coup, since only the congress had the right to do this. Following them, the fate of the Left Socialist Revolutionary Party was decided, which by the summer of 1918 ᴦ. remained the most massive (it included at least 300 thousand people). The leadership of the Left Socialist Revolutionaries tried to achieve changes in Bolshevik policy at the V All-Russian Congress of Soviets (worked July 4-10, 1918 in Moscow). At the same time, the Left Socialist Revolutionaries, who had 30% of the votes of delegates at the congress, failed to do this. Then they resorted to a form of pressure popular in their party - political terror. This position was supported by the Party Central Committee.

On July 6, the left Socialist Revolutionary Ya. G. Blumkin shot and killed the German ambassador Mirbach. The speech was poorly prepared organizationally and did not have a clear plan. Only on the evening of July 6, in hindsight, did the Left Socialist Revolutionary Central Committee approve of Blumkin’s step. After the terrorist attack, he himself took refuge in the Cheka detachment, commanded by the left Socialist Revolutionary D.I. Popov. Dzerzhinsky, who came there with a demand to hand over the culprits, was detained, and after him about 30 more communists were isolated. Telegrams were sent by telegraph to various cities calling for an uprising against “German imperialism”.

The Bolsheviks used the speech of the Socialist Revolutionaries (in Soviet historiography it was called the “Left Socialist Revolutionary rebellion”) as a reason to crush the opposition. Some researchers, based on documents about the events of July 6-7, come to the conclusion that there was no rebellion as such: it was provoked by the Bolsheviks to defeat the party and eliminate its leaders. This is supported by the scale of the protest (in fact, only in Moscow, with less than 1,000 people participating on the Socialist Revolutionary side), as well as the efficiency of the Bolshevik leadership in taking tough retaliatory measures.

On the day of the mutiny, the Left Socialist Revolutionary faction at the V Congress was isolated, and its leader M.A. Spiridonova became a hostage. On the night of July 7, 4 thousand Latvian riflemen loyal to the Bolsheviks brought Popov’s detachment, which numbered 600 people, into obedience. 12 participants in the speech, led by Dzerzhinsky’s deputy V.A. Aleksandrovich, were shot. An echo of the Moscow events was the speech in Simbirsk by the commander of the Eastern Front of the left Socialist Revolutionary M.A. Muravyov, which was also suppressed.

After July 6, the Bolsheviks did not allow the Left Socialist Revolutionary faction to further participate in the work of the V Congress. A split began in the party, sweeping both governing bodies, and grassroots organizations. Some party members supported their Central Committee, others went over to the side of the Bolsheviks, and others declared their independence. In a matter of days, one of the most massive Russian parties ceased to exist as a single organization. The Bolsheviks declared that they would cooperate only with those Socialist Revolutionaries who did not support their Central Committee, after which a purge of local Soviets from disloyal left Socialist Revolutionaries began, which reduced their influence to almost zero. However, the existence of Soviet power on a two-party basis ended.

Constitution of 1918 ᴦ. At the Third Congress of Soviets, a decision was made to prepare a new Constitution that would legally consolidate the existing state structure. April 1, 1918 ᴦ. The All-Russian Central Executive Committee created a commission to write it. Its text was first submitted for discussion to the Central Committee of the party, and only then presented at the Congress of Soviets. Already in July 1918 ᴦ. The V Congress of Soviets adopted the Constitution of the RSFSR and finally consolidated the radical transformations carried out. Leading Bolshevik figures (V.I. Lenin, Ya.M. Sverdlov, Yu.M. Steklov, I.V. Stalin, M.N. Pokrovsky) and left Socialist Revolutionaries (D.A. Magerovsky, A. I. Shreider) and specialists in the field of economics and law (D. P. Bogolepov, M. A. Reisner, I. I. Skortsov). The adopted constitution summarized the main decrees of the Soviet government that had already been adopted.

Its first section consisted of the “Declaration of the Rights of the Working and Exploited People,” adopted by the III All-Russian Congress of Soviets. It proclaimed collective ownership of the means of production, the creation of a state of the dictatorship of the proletariat, etc. The Constitution defined the goal of the Soviet state - “the destruction of all exploitation of man by man, the complete elimination of the division of society into classes... the establishment of a socialist organization of society....”

The basic state law of Soviet Russia produced an ambivalent impression. A number of its provisions were truly democratic: the constitution enshrined the transfer of basic means of production into the ownership of the people, the equality of nations, and federation as a form of government; declared fundamental freedoms and rights - freedom of unions, meetings, conscience, press (however, the reality was far from the declared provisions), equality of citizens regardless of their nationality and race. The separation of church from state and school from church was proclaimed.

With all of the above, the constitution was openly class-based.
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The dictatorship of the proletariat and the poor peasantry was established in the form of Soviet power. The right to private property, personal inviolability, and housing was not secured. The Constitution did not contain the concept of “human and civil rights” at all. J.V. Stalin wrote that “the Soviet constitution appeared not as an agreement with the bourgeoisie, but as a consequence of the revolution.” For this reason, it did not contain guarantees and rights of citizens from the state. The protection of the working class, according to the Bolsheviks, had to be carried out not from the state, but with its help. “Exploiting elements” - private traders, clergy, former police officers, people using hired labor - were deprived of voting rights. The election procedure gave workers advantages over peasants: at congresses of councils, 1 worker deputy was elected from 25 thousand voters, and 1 peasant deputy - from 125 thousand. The elections were multi-level (only city and village councils were directly elected by the population).

The sections dealing with issues of power proclaimed the omnipotence of the councils, giving them the right of executive and legislative power. The unification of these two branches of government became one of the principles of management organization. This was emphasized by the fact that there was no certainty in the division of functions of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee and the Council of People's Commissars (the supreme executive and legislative powers). It was also proclaimed that the Soviet Republic would be established on the basis of a union of free nations as a federation of Soviet national republics. Disputes about the form of government accompanied the work of the commission, but in the end a federal structure was recognized as more preferable. The federation was seen as a “temporary form of state on the way to complete unity.”

The short development time and a lot of controversial issues led to the fact that the constitution had many gaps and shortcomings. For example, having proclaimed a federal structure, it did not contain the most important feature of a federation - an agreement between individual entities (national republics), and did not define their competence. Also, the constitution avoided such an important issue as the structure of the judicial system. The court was not singled out as a special state body, independent and subordinate only to the law. The basic law also addressed a host of other significant issues: for example, the place and role of workers’ organizations (parties, trade unions, cooperation) in the political system.

The adoption of the Soviet Constitution legally completed the first stage in the development of the socio-political foundations of Soviet power, a centralized unitary state “dictatorship of the proletariat”.

Education of the RSFSR. The creation of the Soviet state was actually formalized at the Second Congress of Soviets on October 25, 1917. Having declared itself the supreme body of power, the Congress formed the bodies of central power and administration - the All-Russian Central Executive Committee and the Council of People's Commissars. The Congress, however, did not have the right to declare Russia a “republic of Soviets,” since the question of the state structure could only be resolved by the Constituent Assembly, and after the October Revolution the Bolsheviks confirmed its early convening and all its prerogatives. For this reason, the name “Soviet Russia” itself was not developed immediately, but in the autumn-winter of 1917. gave rise to confusion in the name of the state. In the “Decree on Peace” the name “Russia” is retained, in the “Decree on Land” the name “Russia” is already present. Russian stateʼʼ, and in the bulk of documents from November-December 1917 ᴦ. – ʼʼRussian Republicʼʼ or ʼʼRussiaʼʼ. For the first time in an official document, Russia was called a “Soviet Republic” in the decree dissolving the Constituent Assembly.

The Second Congress of Soviets did not change the territory of Russia, but created legal opportunities for this, since the national issue was reflected in the decisions of the Congress: it assured that the people of Russia would be granted the right to self-determination. In the first months of its existence, the Soviet Republic was a unitary state. It was divided into administrative-territorial units, headed by local authorities. At the same time, from the very beginning of the existence of the Russian Soviet Republic, two interrelated trends appeared: a tendency to change borders in the direction of reducing the territory and a tendency to change the form of state unity of Soviet Russia in the direction of its complexity. The objective basis for the emergence of such trends was the multinationality of Russia and the right of nations to self-determination declared by the Bolsheviks. On the issue of the form of government, the Bolsheviks for a long time stood on the principles of a unitary state, which was enshrined in their political program. The main argument against federation before the October Revolution was the fear that such a form would interfere with economic construction. Moreover, in 1917 ᴦ. The Bolsheviks had to reconsider their views. One of the most important reasons It became extremely important to seize the slogan of cultural-national autonomy from the hands of national movements. Recognition of Ukraine's independence in December 1917. and the establishment of allied relations with her was the first practical step on the way to federation.

The fundamental change in the form of government of the Russian Soviet Republic was recorded by the acts of the Third Congress of Soviets, and first of all by the “Declaration of the Rights of the Working and Exploited People.” The Declaration determined the form of government and regulated the social system Russian Federation, determined the most general principles of state building. Moreover, the “Declaration” became a “small constitution”, since it reflected all the most significant constitutional issues. Constitution of 1918 ᴦ. finally consolidated the position of the RSFSR as a state form of dictatorship of the proletariat.

The first members of the Russian Federation in 1918. steel Turkestan Soviet Republic, Terek, Kuban-Black Sea, North Caucasus. It is characteristic that they were all autonomous republics, that is, they were not full members of the federation. During the Civil War, only one autonomy remained within the RSFSR - the Turkestan Soviet Socialist Republic. As the territory of Russia was liberated from the White Guard formations and intervention troops, new ones were formed. Along with the autonomous republics (ASSR - autonomous Soviet socialist republics), other associations also arose: autonomous regions (AO - for example, Chuvash Autonomous Okrug) and autonomous labor communes (Volga Germans).

Characteristic feature Russian Federation in 1917-1922. was the direct entry of autonomous units into its composition. All autonomous republics, autonomous regions and autonomous communes have established direct legal relations with the federation as a whole. None of them were part of any province, region or region. When organizing autonomies, they tried to be guided by the national-territorial principle (allocation of territories compactly populated by individual people). The principle was opposed to the idea of ​​national-cultural autonomy, which, of course, was not entirely consistent with national interests. In 1922 ᴦ. The RSFSR as a sovereign state along with three other socialist republics (Ukraine, Belarus and the Transcaucasian Republic) became part of the USSR.

Formation of a one-party system. The first Soviet Constitution. Education of the RSFSR - concept and types. Classification and features of the category "Formation of a one-party system. The first Soviet Constitution. Formation of the RSFSR" 2017, 2018.