Partmaximum

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Partmaximum (Партмаксимум) was a limit on the salary of a member of the Communist Party in the Soviet Union. Partmaximum was introduced in 1920 by a decree of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee (ВЦИК) for all communists that held executive positions in Party, industry, government and Soviet trade unions. Their salary was not supposed to exceed that of a highly qualified industrial worker. If a communist had other incomes, e.g., honorariums or royalties, he had to transfer a specified percentage from the amount above the partmaximum into the Party funds.

Partmaximum was cancelled by a secret resolution of Politburo of February 8, 1932, however it was de facto ignored earlier. This cancellation is thought to mark the onset of the formation of the privileged nomenklatura class of Soviet apparatchiks, whose well-being no longer depended on the well-being of subordinated workers.