The Secretariat of the CPSU Central Committee was a key body within the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) and was responsible for the central administration of the party as opposed to drafting government policy which was usually handled by the Politburo. Its members were elected by the Communist Party's Central Committee, although in all but the first years of its existence the elections were a formality since decisions were made by the senior leadership before the voting. The General Secretary of the CPSU, who was also a Politburo member, was the leader of the Secretariat and the Party. Dual membership in the Secretariat and the Politburo was reserved for two or three very senior members of the Soviet leadership and in the post-Joseph Stalin era was a stepping stone to the ultimate power. The last four Soviet leaders (Leonid Brezhnev, Yuri Andropov, Konstantin Chernenko and Mikhail Gorbachev) were all senior Secretaries before becoming General Secretaries.
The Secretariat was established by the Central Committee on 6 August 1917 and was initially composed of Felix Dzerzhinsky, Matvei Muranov and Yakov Sverdlov as full members and Adolph Joffe and Elena Stasova as candidate members (or alternates). Following the October Revolution of 1917, Sverdlov and Stasova became the de facto Secretariat as other members of the body assumed other duties. At the time, the Secretariat was[1] responsible for technical issues such as coordination of the activities of regional party organizations and handling routine administrative affairs of the Party. Its staff increased from just 30 in 1919 to 600 in 1921 and 767 by 1925.
By 1922, the body had been transformed from a technical committee to one of the most important components of the party and from that point on it was responsible for day to day operations of the Communist Party. Also in 1922, the position of General Secretary was created, the General Secretary became the head of the Secretariat and, in the years following Lenin's death, became the most important figure in the party and the country.
See also Organization of the Communist Party of the USSR
| Date | Comments |
|---|---|
| 6 August 1917 | Felix Dzerzhinsky, Matvei Muranov and Yakov Sverdlov (full members); Adolph Joffe and Elena Stasova (candidate members) |
| 16 March 1919 | Sverdlov dies |
| 25 March 1919 | Stasova elected Chief Secretary by the Central Committee |
| November 1919 | Nikolai Krestinsky added; becomes Chief Secretary |
| 5 April 1920 | Krestinsky, Yevgeny Preobrazhensky, Leonid Serebryakov |
| 16 March 1921 | Vasily Mikhaylov, Vyacheslav Molotov, Yemelyan Yaroslavsky |
| 3 April 1922 | Valerian Kuibyshev and Molotov with Joseph Stalin as General Secretary |
| 26 April 1923 | Molotov, Yan Rudzutak, Stalin |
| February 1924 | Rudzutak replaced by Andrei Andreyev |
| 2 June 1924 | Andreyev, Isaac Zelensky, Lazar Kaganovich, Molotov, Stalin |
| August 1924 | Zelensky replaced by Nikolai Uglanov |
| 30 April 1925 | Kaganovich replaced by Andrei Bubnov |
| 1 January 1926 | Grigory Yevdokimov, Stanislav Kosior, Molotov, Stalin, Uglanov with Artukhina and Bubnov as candidate members |
| 9 April 1926 | Yevdokimov replaced by Shvernik |
| 16 April 1927 | Shvernik replaced by Kubyak |
| 19 December 1927 | Kosior, Kubyak, Molotov, Stalin, Uglanov with Aleksandra Artyukhina, Bubnov and Moskvin as candidate members |
| 11 April 1928 | Kubyak replaced by Smirnov; Bauman elected candidate member |
| 12 July 1928 | Kosior replaced by Kaganovich |
| 30 April 1929 | Uglanov replaced by Bauman |
| 13 July 1930 | Bauman, Kaganovich, Molotov, Postyshev, Stalin with Moskvin and Shvernik as candidate members. |
| 21 December 1930 | Molotov removed |
| 2 October 1932 | Bauman and Moskvin removed |
| 10 February 1934 | Andrei Zhdanov, Kaganovich, Sergei Kirov, Stalin The term General Secretary is no longer used; Stalin remains the de facto leader of the Secretariat |
| 1 December 1934 | Kirov assassinated |
| February 1935 | Nikolai Yezhov and Andreyev join |
| 22 March 1939 | Andreyev, Zhdanov, Georgy Malenkov, Stalin |
| 4 May 1941 | Alexander Shcherbakov joins |
| 10 May 1945 | Shcherbakov dies |
| 18 March 1946 | Zhdanov, Kuznetsov, Malenkov, Popov, Stalin |
| 6 May 1946 | Malenkov replaced by Patolichev |
| 24 May 1947 | Patolichev replaced by Mikhail Suslov |
| 1 July 1948 | Georgy Malenkov and Panteleimon Ponomarenko join |
| 31 August 1948 | Zhdanov dies |
| 28 January 1949 | Alexey Kuznetsov removed |
| 16 December 1949 | Popov replaced by Nikita Khrushchev |
| 16 October 1952 | Aristov, Leonid Brezhnev, Ignatov, Malenkov, N. Mikhaylov, Pegov, Ponomarenko, Stalin, Suslov, Khrushchev; The titleGeneral Secretary is formally abolished |
| 5 March 1953 | Stalin dies |
| 5 March 1953 | Brezhnev, Ignatov, Pegov and Panteleimon Ponomarenko replaced by Ignatyev, Pospelov and Shatalin. Note: Malenkov becomes the de facto senior secretary by virtue of the fact that he is also Prime Minister |
| 14 March 1953 | Georgy Malenkov removed |
| 14 March 1953 | Ignatyev, Pospelov, Suslov, Khrushchev, Shatalin |
| 5 April 1953 | Ignatyev removed |
| 7 September 1953 | Khrushchev elected First Secretary by the Central Committee |
| 8 March 1955 | Shatalin removed |
| 12 July 1955 | Aristov, Belyaev, Dmitri Shepilov join |
| 27 February 1956 | Aristov, Belyaev, Brezhnev, Pospelov, Suslov, Yekaterina Furtseva, Khrushchev, Shepilov |
| 24 December 1956 | Shepilov removed |
| 14 February 1957 | Shepilov rejoins |
| 18 June 1957 | Presidium of the Central Committee votes to dismiss Khrushchev as First Secretary (7 in favor, 4 against), but the decision is revoked on the same day and the issue is postponed until the June 1957 Central Committee Plenum which reaffirms Khrushchev |
| 29 June 1957 | Shepilov replaced by Otto Kuusinen |
| 17 December 1957 | Ignatov, Kirichenko, Mukhitdinov join |
| 12 November 1958 | Belyaev removed |
| 4 May 1960 | Aristov, Ignatov, Kirichenko, Pospelov and Yekaterina Furtseva removed; Kozlov joins |
| 16 July 1960 | Brezhnev removed |
| 31 October 1961 | Pyotr Demichev, Ilyichev, Kozlov, Kuusinen, Boris Ponomarev, Spiridonov, Suslov, Khrushchev, Shelepin |
| 23 April 1962 | Spiridonov removed |
| 23 November 1962 | Andropov, Polyakov, Rudakov and Titov added |
| 21 June 1963 | Brezhnev and Podgorny added |
| 17 May 1964 | Kuusinen dies |
| 14 October 1964 | Khrushchev removed, Brezhnev elected First secretary at the Central Committee plenum |
| 16 November 1964 | Frol Kozlov and Polyakov removed |
| 26 March 1965 | Ilyichev replaced by Ustinov |
| 29 September 1965 | Titov replaced by Fyodor Kulakov |
| 6 December 1965 | Podgorny replaced by Kapitonov |
| 8 April 1966 | Yuri Andropov, Leonid Brezhnev, Demichev, Kapitonov, Andrei Kirilenko, Kulakov, Boris Ponomarev, Rudakov, Mikhail Suslov, Dmitriy Ustinov, Shelepin; Brezhnev's title changes from First Secretary to General Secretary |
| 10 July 1966 | Rudakov dies |
| 13 December 1966 | Solomentsev joins |
| 21 June 1967 | Yuri Andropov removed |
| 26 September 1967 | Alezander Shelepin removed |
| 10 April 1968 | Katushev joins |
| 9 April 1971 | Leonid Brezhnev, Pyotr Demichev, Kapitonov, Katushev, Andrei Kirilenko, Kulakov, Ponomarev, Solomentsev, Suslov, Ustinov |
| 23 November 1971 | Solomentsev removed |
| 18 December 1972 | Dolgikh joins |
| 16 December 1974 | Demichev relieved of duties at the Central Committee plenum |
| 5 March 1976 | Brezhnev, Dolgikh, Mikhail Zimyanin, Kapitonov, Katushev, Kirilenko, Fyodor Kulakov, Ponomarev, Suslov, Ustinov, Konstantin Chernenko elected secretaries at the Central Committee plenum |
| October 1976 | Ustinov replaced by Ryabov |
| 24 May 1977 | Katushev replaced by Rusakov |
| 17 July 1978 | Kulakov dies |
| 27 November 1978 | Mikhail Gorbachev joins |
| 17 April 1979 | Ryabov removed |
| 3 March 1981 | Brezhnev, Gorbachev, Dolgikh, Zimyanin, Kapitonov, Kirilenko, Ponomarev, Rusakov, Suslov, Chernenko |
| 25 January 1982 | Suslov dies |
| 24 May 1982 | Andropov joins |
| 10 November 1982 | Brezhnev dies |
| 12 November 1982 | Andropov elected General secretary at a Central Committee extraordinary plenum |
| 22 November 1982 | Kirilenko replaced by Ryzhkov |
| 29 May 1983 | Arvīds Pelše dies |
| 15 June 1983 | Romanov joins |
| 26 December 1983 | Ligachev joins |
| 9 February 1984 | Andropov dies |
| 13 February 1984 | Konstantin Chernenko elected General secretary at a Central Committee extraordinary plenum |
| 10 March 1985 | Chernenko dies |
| 11 March 1985 | Gorbachev, elected General secretary at a Central Committee extraordinary plenum |
| 23 April 1985 | Nikonov joins |
| 1 July 1985 | Romanov replaced by Boris Yeltsin and Zaikov |
| 15 October 1985 | Ryzhkov removed |
| 18 February 1986 | Yeltsin and Rusakov removed |
| 6 March 1986 | Biryukova, Gorbachev, Anatoly Dobrynin, Dolgikh, Zaikov, Zimyanin, Yegor Ligachev, Medvedev, Nikonov, Razumovsky, Alexander Yakovlev |
| 28 January 1987 | Zimyanin replaced by Lukyanov and Slyunkov |
| 18 February 1988 | Baklanov joins |
| 30 September 1988 | Biryukova, Dobrynin, Dolgikh and Lukyanov removed; Viktor Chebrikov joins |
| 20 September 1989 | Nikonov and Chebrikov removed; Girenko, Manayenkov, Stroyev and Usmanov join |
| 9 December 1989 | Frolov joins |
| 10 July 1990 | Gorbachev, re-elected General Secretary, Ivashko Deputy general secretary at the 28th party Congress by secret ballot |
| 14 July 1990 | Baklanov, Gidaspov, Girenko, Dzasokhov, Kuptsov, Manayenkov, Semyonova, Stroyev, Falin, Shenin, Gennady Yanayev, Aniskin, Gayvoronsky, Melnikov, Teplenichev and Turgunova join |
| 31 January 1991 | Yanayev replaced by Luchinsky |
| 25 April 1991 | Gorbachev, tendered his resignation to the joint plenum of the Central Committee and the Central Control Commission, but it was declined; Baklanov removed |
| 26 July 1991 | Kalashnikov Melnikov and Maltsev join |
| 24 August 1991 | After failure of the August coup Gorbachev resigns as General Secretary and is succeeded by Ivashko, CPSU in the Russian SFSR banned by Yeltsin |
| 29 August 1991 | CPSU activity suspended by the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union, effectively ceases to exist |