Comparative analysis of the draft amendments of the charter of the VKP(b), 1947 and 1952

The aim of the research is to compare the draft of the changes of the Charter of VKP (b) which were developed in 1947 and 1952, and then accepted at the 19 Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. This is particularly important because the projects contained different views on the Party and state construction in the USSR. Moreover the draft of changes of the Charter of VKP (b) (All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks) of 1947 practically not studied by scientists yet. The article is based on unpublished materials from Russian State Archive of Social and Political History, primary on the Foundation of G. M. Malenkov, where two versions of the project were disposed. It also based on the Minutes of the meetings of the Politburo of the CC (Central Committee) of VKP (b), the technical Secretariat the Organizational Buro of the CC VKP (b), the Foundation of Stalin, etc. From published sources were involved: the Constitution of the USSR, materials of Congresses of the Communist Party, newspaper articles and history of the Kremlin office of I. V. Stalin. The article contains a description of the changes that have occurred in the Party during the World War II, the historiography of the research of the problem, the history of the documents, detailed analysis of the provisions of the draft amendments of the Charter and conclusion. The commission which was engaged in the development of the Charter of VKP (b) at different times is analyzed in details. There is also shown the role of Stalin as the chief organizer of the work on the draft amendments of the Charter of VKP (b), whose instructions had to be strictly complied with. In the conclusion the characteristic of the analyzed documents is given. First of all, it reflected Stalin's opinion on the party-building after the World War II. The project of 1947 suggested strengthening the role of party organs in opposition to the state ones, but it was not adopted, probably because of the fact that Stalin had reconsidered his point of view on the issue of distribution of powers. Only in 1952, after the development of the new draft amendments a new Charter of VKP (b) was adopted. According to it party organs were placed in a more subordinate position than before.

Keywords

Authors

References