Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union

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The Congress of the CPSU was the gathering of the delegates of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union and its predecessors. During the history, the name was changed according to the then current name of the party. The frequency of party congresses also varied with the meetings being annual events in the 1920s while no Congress was held at all between 1939 to 1952. After the death of Joseph Stalin the Congresses were held every five years.

The First Congress of RSDLP, was held in 1898, Minsk, Belarus of Imperial Russia.

The Second Congress, 1903, Belgium, resulted into the party's split into Bolshevik and Menshevik factions which eventually became parties in their own right.

Theoretically, the Congress was the supreme ruling body of the entire Party. Between the congresses the party was ruled by the Central Committee, abbreviated as ЦК, "Tseka".

In the course of time it had eventually become an organ of rubberstamping, propaganda, and dissemination of the decisions of the Politburo, known from 1952 to 1966 as the Presidium.

See also: Organization of the Communist Party of the USSR

[edit] List of Party Congresses

Number	Dates	Place	Comments
1	1-3 [14-16] Mar 1898	Minsk, Russian Empire	RDSLP founding conference
2	17 [30] Jul - 10 [23] Aug 1903	Brussels, Belgium and London, UK	RDSLP splits into Bolshevik and Menshevik factions. First Program of Bolshevik Party (1st Party Program).
3	12-27 April [25 Apr - 10 May] 1905	London, UK	Bolsheviks only
4 ("Unification")	10-25 April [23 Apr - 8 May] 1906	Stockholm, Sweden	Bolsheviks and Mensheviks re-unite in the same party, but keep their factions
5 ("London")	30 April - 19 May [13 May - 1 June] 1907	London, UK	Bolsheviks and Mensheviks together
6	26 July - 3 August [8-16 August] 1917	Petrograd, Russian Republic	Held semi-legally in between revolutions, Bolsheviks merge with the Mezhraiontsy, final break with the Mensheviks
7 (Extraordinary)	6-8 March 1918	Moscow, Russian SFSR	Party becomes Russian Communist Party (Bolsheviks)
8	18-23 March 1919	Moscow, Russian SFSR	New (2nd) Party Program adopted by Congress.
9	29 March - 5 April 1920	Moscow, Russian SFSR
10	8-16 March 1921	Moscow, Russian SFSR	Internal party factions banned in a secret resolution
11	27 March - 2 April 1922	Moscow, Russian SFSR
12	17-25 April 1923	Moscow, USSR
13	23-31 May 1924	Moscow, USSR	First Congress since Lenin's death
14	18-31 December 1925	Moscow, USSR	Party becomes All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks)
15	2-19 December 1927	Moscow, USSR	Stalin's power consolidated, Trotskyists expelled
16	26 June - 13 July 1930	Moscow, USSR
17	26 January - 10 February 1934	Moscow, USSR	Vote for Politburo shows Kirov most popular member, Stalin least popular. Hailed as the "Congress of Victors."
18	10-21 March 1939	Moscow, USSR	First congress after Great Purge.
19	5-14 October 1952	Moscow, USSR	Party becomes Communist Party of the Soviet Union - Stalin's last Congress
20	14-25 February 1956	Moscow, USSR	Khrushchev's Secret Speech denouncing Stalin
21 (Extraordinary)	27 January - 5 February 1959	Moscow, USSR	"Extraordinary" Congress timed so that Khrushchev could try to consolidate his power over rivals.
22	17-31 October 1961	Moscow, USSR	New (3rd) Party Program adopted.
23	29 March - 8 April 1966	Moscow, USSR	Brezhnev's first Congress as General Secretary.
24	30 March - 9 April 1971	Moscow, USSR
25	24 February - 5 March 1976	Moscow, USSR
26	23 February - 3 March 1981	Moscow, USSR	Brezhnev's last congress.
27	25 February - 6 March 1986	Moscow, USSR	Gorbachev presides. Revised (4th) Party Program. Glasnost and perestroika not yet announced.
28	2-13 July 1990	Moscow, USSR	Party Statute formalizes the end to monopoly on power