Politburo of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union

	Email		Print
	Bookmark		Link

Politburo of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union

The Politburo
Politburo

Politburo, short for Political Bureau, Russian language Politicheskoye Buro, is the executive organization for a number of political parties, most notably those of Communist Party....
(in Russian

Russian language

Russian is the most geographically widespread language of Eurasia, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages, and the largest native language in Europe....
: ?????????, full: Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, abbreviated ????????? ?? ????, Politbyuro TsK KPSS), known as the Presidium from 1952 to 1966, functioned as the central policymaking and governing body of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union

Communist Party of the Soviet Union

The Communist Party of the Soviet Union was the ruling political party in the Soviet Union and one of the largest Communist Party in the world....
. The body was made up of the top members of the Central Committee

Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union

Discussion

Ask a question about 'Politburo of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union'

Start a new discussion about 'Politburo of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union'

Answer questions from other users

Full Discussion Forum

Encyclopedia

Russian language

Communist Party of the Soviet Union

Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union

The Central Committee, abbreviated in Russian as ??, "Tse-ka", was the highest body of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union . Its full name was ??????????? ??????? ???????????????? ?????? ?????????? ????? = ?? ????; Tsentralnyy Komitet Kommunistitcheskoy Partii Sovetskogo Soyuza = TsK KPSS, or the Central Committee of the Commun...
. In theory, it acted as the political bureau (hence Politburo) of the Central Committee, elected by them to direct the Party between the sessions of the committee and with a mandate that only covered the Party. The Politburo was responsible to, and its membership was subject to, the approval of the Central Committee.

In reality, the Politburo oversaw the operations of the Committee and made all major policy decisions, which it then passed down through the Central Committee, the Supreme Soviet

Supreme Soviet

The Supreme Soviet of the USSR was the highest legislative body in the Soviet Union in the interim of the sessions of the Congress of Soviets, and the only one with the power to pass constitutional amendments....
and the Party Congress

Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union

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....
. Its control extended from the Party and into government because Party personnel held all key government posts and party discipline therefore ensured that Politburo policy was implemented by all government organizations. One example of the Central Committee overruling the Presidium (as the Politburo was known) was the defeat of the so-called Anti-Party Group

Anti-Party Group

The Anti-Party Group was a group within the leadership of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union that unsuccessfully attempted to depose Nikita Khrushchev as General Secretary of the CPSU in May 1957....
in 1957.

Lenin

Vladimir Lenin

Vladimir Ilyich Lenin , born Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov and also known by the pseudonyms V.I. Lenin and N. Lenin, was a Russians revolutionary, a Bolshevik Communism politician, the principal leader of the October Revolution and the first head of the USSR....
set up a political bureau in 1917 specifically to direct the Revolution

Russian Revolution of 1917

The Russian Revolution is the series of revolutions in Russia in 1917, which destroyed the Tsarist autocracy and led to the creation of the Soviet Union....
, but this precursor did not outlast the event; the Central Committee continued with the political functions. However, due to practical reasons, usually less than half of the members attended the regular Central Committee meetings during this time, even though they decided all key questions.

The Eighth Party Congress in 1919 formalized this reality and re-established what would later on become the true center of political power in the Soviet Union

Soviet Union

The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics was a Constitution of the Soviet Union socialist state that existed in Eurasia from 1922 to 1991.The name is a translation of the , romanization of Russian Soyuz Sovetskikh Sotsialisticheskikh Respublik, abbreviated ????, SSSR....
. This new Political Bureau, which decided on questions too urgent to await full Central Committee deliberation, originally consisted of 5 full members: Lenin, Leon Trotsky

Leon Trotsky

Leon Trotsky , born Lev Davidovich Bronstein , was a Bolshevik revolutionary and Marxism theorist. He was one of the leaders of the Russian October Revolution, second only to Lenin....
, Joseph Stalin

Joseph Stalin

Joseph Stalin was the General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union's Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1922 until his death in 1953....
, Lev Kamenev

Lev Kamenev

was a Bolshevik revolutionary and a prominent Soviet Union politician. He was briefly the nominal head of the Soviet state in 1917 and a founding member and later chairman of the ruling Politburo of the CPSU Central Committee....
and Nikolai Krestinsky

Nikolai Krestinsky

Nikolai Nikolaevich Krestinsky was a Russian Bolshevik revolutionary and Soviet politician....
.

Although, in theory, the Politburo was elected from below, in practice, the leading members of the Politburo and, of course, Lenin were highly influential in determining the body's composition which, in the end, reflected the weight and competing influence of various individuals within the party, their allies within the Politburo and supporters outside of it.

Under Stalin the processes under which the leadership of the party was determined became an entirely hierarchical matter with the General Secretary (i.e. Stalin) determining the composition of the Central Committee and even that of the Politburo rather than the reverse. After Stalin's death the authority of the General Secretary waxed and waned to various degrees and the composition of the Politburo again became a matter of shifting alliances among leading members and interest groups within the party, at least until a General Secretary was able to consolidate his position.

The Politburo had both full and candidate (non-voting) members. The actual size of the Politburo varied, but it usually consisted of fourteen full and eight candidate members. Although it had no formal head, the General Secretary

General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union

The General Secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU of the Communist Party of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics was the title synonymous with leader of the Soviet Union after Joseph Stalin's consolidation of power in the 1920s....
of the Party, who was also often head of the Central Committee, always played the leading role. In practice the most powerful Politburo members also had membership of the Secretariat

Secretariat of the CPSU Central Committee

The Secretariat of the CPSU Central Committee was a key body within the Communist Party of the Soviet Union and was responsible for the central administration of the party as opposed to drafting government policy which was usually handled by the Politburo of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union....
of the CPSU Central Committee, the General Secretary leading of this group. Those who had seats on only one of these two bodies had less influence. Only a few women ever became members of the Politburo.

In order to minimize personal clashes and avoid factionalism there was a convention of procedure which mandated that strong criticisms be circulated beforehand to avoid conflict during actual meetings.

In 1990, the 28th Party Congress agreed to transfer the powers of the Politburo to Parliament

Parliament

A parliament is a legislature, especially in those countries whose system of government is based on the Westminster system modeled after that of the United Kingdom....
, and the Politburo ceased to exist in August 1991.

See also Organization of the Communist Party of the USSR

Organization of the Communist Party of the USSR

The organization of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union was based on the principles of democratic centralism.The governing body of the CPSU was the Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union which initially met annually but whose meetings became less frequent, particularly under Stalin....

Politburo/Presidium membership

All names of Politburo members in boldface. All elections to and removals from the Politburo were by vote of the Plenum of the Central Committee of the Party, unless otherwise specified.

Date	Comments
23 October 1917	Andrei Bubnov Andrei Bubnov Andrei Sergeyevich Bubnov was a Bolshevik revolutionary leader in Russia, and member of the Left Opposition.Andrei Bubnov was born in Ivanovo-Voznesensk on 23 March 1883.... , Grigory Zinoviev Grigory Zinoviev Gregory Yevseevich Zinoviev... , Lev Kamenev Lev Kamenev was a Bolshevik revolutionary and a prominent Soviet Union politician. He was briefly the nominal head of the Soviet state in 1917 and a founding member and later chairman of the ruling Politburo of the CPSU Central Committee.... , Vladimir Lenin Vladimir Lenin Vladimir Ilyich Lenin , born Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov and also known by the pseudonyms V.I. Lenin and N. Lenin, was a Russians revolutionary, a Bolshevik Communism politician, the principal leader of the October Revolution and the first head of the USSR.... , Grigory Sokolnikov Grigory Sokolnikov Grigory Yakovlevich Sokolnikov , born Girsh Yankelevich Brilliant, was an Old Bolshevik and a Soviet politician and economist.He was born to a Jewish railway doctor in present-day Poltava Oblast but eventually moved to Moscow.... , Joseph Stalin Joseph Stalin Joseph Stalin was the General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union's Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1922 until his death in 1953.... , and Leon Trotsky Leon Trotsky Leon Trotsky , born Lev Davidovich Bronstein , was a Bolshevik revolutionary and Marxism theorist. He was one of the leaders of the Russian October Revolution, second only to Lenin.... elected members of the Political Bureau at the Central Committee meeting.
7 November 1917	The Bolshevik Revolution in Petrograd; the Political Bureau ceases to function. Central Committee members (August 1917 to 5 March 1918, between the 6th and 7th congresses): Artyom (Sergeyev), Berzin, Bubnov, Bukharin, Dzerzhinsky, Zinoviev, Kamenev, Kollontay, Krestinsky, Lenin, Milyutin, Muranov, Smilga, Sokolnikov, Stalin, Trotsky, Uritsky and Shaumyan. Candidate members: Dzhaparidze, Ioffe, Kiselyov, Lomov (Oppokov), Preobrazhensky, Skrypnik, Stasova, and Yakovleva. Central Committee members (8 March 1918 to 17 March 1919, between the 7th and 8th congresses): Artyom, Bukharin, Vladimirsky, Dzerzhinsky, Zinoviev, Krestinsky, Lashevich, Lenin, Sverdlov, Smilga, Sokolnikov, Stalin, Stasova, Trotsky, Shmidt. Candidate members: Berzin, Ioffe, Kiselyov, Lomov (Oppokov), Petrovsky, Stuchka, Uritsky, and Shlyapnikov.
25 March 1919	Kamenev, Nikolai Krestinsky Nikolai Krestinsky Nikolai Nikolaevich Krestinsky was a Russian Bolshevik revolutionary and Soviet politician.... , Lenin, Stalin, and Trotsky elected full members; Nikolai Bukharin Nikolai Bukharin Nikolai Ivanovich Bukharin , was a Bolshevik Russian Revolution of 1917 and intelligentsia and Soviet Union politician.... , Zinoviev, and Mikhail Kalinin Mikhail Kalinin Mikhail Ivanovich Kalinin was a Bolshevik revolutionary and the titular head of state of the Soviet Union from 1919 to 1946. Though only four years older than Joseph Stalin, Kalinin was celebrated as Dedushka by the Young Pioneers.... elected candidate members.
July–September 1919	Yelena Stasova, chief secretary of the Central Committee, temporarily joined the Politburo from July to September 1919, per an agreement between the Politburo and the Orgburo,
5 April 1920	Kamenev, Krestinsky, Lenin, Stalin, and Trotsky elected full members; Bukharin, Zinoviev, and Kalinin elected candidate members.
16 March 1921	Zinoviev, Kamenev, Lenin, Stalin, and Trotsky elected full members; Bukharin, Kalinin, and Vyacheslav Molotov Vyacheslav Molotov Vyacheslav Mikhailovich Molotov , Soviet Union politician and diplomacy, was a leading figure in the Government of the Soviet Union from the 1920s, when he rose to power as a prot?g? of Joseph Stalin, to 1957, when he was dismissed from Presidium of the Central Committee by Nikita Khrushchev.... elected candidate members.
3 April 1922	Zinoviev, Kamenev, Lenin, Alexei Rykov Alexei Rykov Alexei Ivanovich Rykov was a Russian Marxist revolutionary and Soviet Union politician, Soviet head of the government from between 1924 to 1930.... , Stalin, Mikhail Tomsky Mikhail Tomsky Mikhail Pavlovich Tomsky was a factory worker, trade unionist and Bolshevik leader. He was the soviet leader of the All Russian Central Council of Trade Unions.... , and Trotsky elected full members; Bukharin, Kalinin, and Molotov elected candidate members.
26 April 1923	Zinoviev, Kamenev, Lenin, Rykov, Stalin, Tomsky, and Trotsky elected full members; Bukharin, Kalinin, Molotov, and Yan Rudzutak Yan Rudzutak Janis Rudzutaks was a Latvian people Bolshevik revolutionary and Soviet politician.Rudzutaks was born in the Kuldiga district of the Courland Governorate , into the family of a farm worker.... elected candidate members.
21 January 1924	Lenin dies.
2 June 1924	Bukharin, Zinoviev, Kamenev, Rykov, Stalin, Tomsky Tomsky Tomsky , Tomskaya , or Tomskoye may refer to:Mikhail Tomsky , Russian Bolshevik leaderNikolai Tomsky , Russian sculptorTomsky District, a district of Tomsk Oblast, Russia... , and Trotsky elected full members; Felix Dzerzhinsky, Kalinin, Molotov, Rudzutak, Sokolnikov, and Mikhail Frunze Mikhail Frunze Mikhail Vasilyevich Frunze* was a Bolshevik leader during and just prior to the Russian Revolution of 1917.... elected candidate members.
31 October 1925	Frunze dies.
1 January 1926	Bukharin, Kliment Voroshilov Kliment Voroshilov , popularly known as Klim Voroshilov was a Soviet Union Military of the Soviet Union commander and Politics of the Soviet Union.Voroshilov was born in Dnipropetrovsk, near Yekaterinoslav , Ukraine, under the Russian Empire, to a railway worker's family of Russians ethnicity.... , Zinoviev, Kalinin, Molotov, Rykov, Stalin, Tomsky, and Trotsky elected full members; Dzerzhinsky, Kamenev, Grigory Petrovsky Grigory Petrovsky Grigory Ivanovich Petrovsky was a revolutionary of Ukrainians origin, who was the USSR Heads of State of the Soviet Union from December 30, 1922, to January 12, 1938.... , Rudzutak, and Nikolai Uglanov Nikolai Uglanov Nikolai Aleksandrovich Uglanov was a Russian people Bolshevik politician, who played an important role in the government of the Soviet Union.... elected candidate members.
20 July 1926	Dzerzhinsky dies.
23 July 1926	Zinoviev relieved of duties; Rudzutak elected full member; Andrei Andreyev Andrei Andreyev File:Andreev Andrey Andreevich.jpgAndrei Andreevich Andreyev was a Soviet politician.He was the son of a peasant who became a munitions worker.... , Lazar Kaganovich Lazar Kaganovich Lazar Moiseyevich Kaganovich was a Soviet Union politician and administrator and a close associate of Joseph Stalin.... , Kamenev, Sergei Kirov, Anastas Mikoyan Anastas Mikoyan Anastas Hovhannesi Mikoyan was an Armenian people Old Bolshevik and Soviet Union statesman during the Joseph Stalin and Nikita Khrushchev years.... , Sergo Ordzhonikidze, Petrovsky, and Uglanov elected candidate members.
23 October 1926	Trotsky and Kamenev relieved of duties at the joint plenum of the Central Committee and the Central Control Commission.
3 November 1926	Ordzhonikidze relieved of duties at the joint plenum of the Central Committee and the Central Control Commission; Vlas Chubar Vlas Chubar Vlas Yakovlevich Chubar was a Ukrainians Bolshevik revolutionary and a Soviet politician.... elected candidate member.
19 December 1927	Bukharin, Voroshilov, Kalinin, Kuibyshev, Molotov, Rykov, Rudzutak, Stalin, and Tomsky elected full members; Andreyev, Kaganovich, Kirov, Stanislav Kosior Stanislav Kosior Stanislav Kosior or Kossior was one of three Kosior brothers, Poland-born Soviet Union politicians. He was the General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Ukrainian SSR, and deputy prime minister of the USSR.... , Mikoyan, Petrovsky, Uglanov, and Chubar elected candidate members.
29 April 1929	Uglanov relieved of duties; Karl Bauman elected candidate member.
21 June 1929	Sergei Syrtsov elected candidate member.
17 November 1929	Bukharin relieved of duties.
13 July 1930	Voroshilov, Kaganovich, Kalinin, Kirov, Kosior, Kuibyshev, Molotov, Rudzutak, Rykov, and Stalin elected full members; Andreyev, Mikoyan, Petrovsky, Syrtsov, and Chubar elected candidate members.
1 December 1930	Syrtsov relieved of duties.
21 December 1930	Rykov and Andreyev relieved of duties at the joint plenum of the Central Committee and the Central Control Commission; Ordzhonikidze elected full member.
4 February 1932	Rudzutak relieved of duties; Andreyev elected full member.
10 February 1934	Andreyev, Voroshilov, Kaganovich, Kalinin, Kirov, Kosior, Kuibyshev, Molotov, Ordzhonikidze, and Stalin elected full members; Mikoyan, Petrovsky, Pavel Postyshev Pavel Postyshev Pavel Petrovich Postyshev was a Soviet Union politician, seen as a man, who presented Soviet children with New Year tree in the Soviet Union and Russia and as one of the people responsible for the Holodomor.... , Rudzutak, and Chubar elected candidate members.
1 December 1934	Kirov assassinated.
25 January 1935	Kuibyshev dies.
1 February 1935	Mikoyan and Chubar elected full members; Andrei Zhdanov Andrei Zhdanov Andrei Alexandrovich Zhdanov was a Soviet Union politician. He was of Russians ethnicity.... and Robert Eikhe elected candidate members.
18 February 1937	Ordzhonikidze commits suicide.
26 May 1937	Rudzutak expelled from the Central Committee and Party after being arrested on 25 May 1937.
12 October 1937	Nikolai Yezhov Nikolai Yezhov Nikolai Ivanovich Yezhov was a senior figure in the NKVD during the period of the Great Purge. His reign is sometimes known as the "Yezhovschina" .... elected candidate member.
14 January 1938	Postyshev relieved of duties; Nikita Khrushchev Nikita Khrushchev Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev served as General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1953 to 1964, following the death of Joseph Stalin, and Premier of the Soviet Union from 1958 to 1964.... elected candidate member.
29 April 1938	Eikhe arrested.
3 May 1938	Kosior arrested.
16 June 1938	Chubar relieved of duties by the Politburo.
22 March 1939	Andreyev, Voroshilov, Zhdanov, Kaganovich, Kalinin, Mikoyan, Molotov, Stalin, and Khrushchev elected full members; Lavrenty Beria and Nikolay Shvernik Nikolay Shvernik Nikolay Mikhailovich Shvernik was the President of the Soviet Union from March 19, 1946 until March 15, 1953. Though the titular head of state Shvernik, in fact, had little power as the real authority lay with Joseph Stalin as General Secretary of the CPSU of the CPSU.... elected candidate members.
21 February 1941	Voznesensky, Georgy Malenkov Georgy Malenkov Georgy Maximilianovich Malenkov was a Soviet Union politician, Communist Party of the Soviet Union leader and close collaborator of Joseph Stalin of Macedonians descent.... , and Aleksandr Shcherbakov Aleksandr Shcherbakov Born in 1901 Aleksandr Sergueyevich Shcherbakov, was a founding member of the Soviet Writers' Union, along with Maxim Gorky. Following the latter's death in 1936, Shcherbakov was transferred from his role as First Secretary to the lower role of Secretary of the Leningrad Regional Committee where he reported to Andrei Zhdanov.... elected candidate members.
10 May 1945	Shcherbakov dies
18 March 1946	Beria and Malenkov elected full members; Nikolai Bulganin Nikolai Bulganin Nikolai Alexandrovich Bulganin was a prominent Soviet Union politician, who served as Minister of Defense and Prime Minister .Bulganin was born in Nizhny Novgorod, the son of an office worker.... and Alexei Kosygin elected candidate members.
3 June 1946	Kalinin dies.
26 February 1947	Voznesensky elected full member.
18 February 1948	Bulganin approved full member by questionnaire.
31 August 1948	Zhdanov dies.
4 September 1948	Kosygin approved full member by questionnaire.
7 March 1949	Voznesensky relieved of duties.
16 October 1952	Andrianov, Aristov, Beria, Bulganin, Voroshilov, Semyon Ignatyev Semyon Ignatyev Semyon Denisovich Ignatiev, also spelled Ignatyev was a Soviet Union politician.Ignatiev, the son of a peasant,an engineer, joined the Communist Party in 1926.... , Kaganovich, Korotchenko, Kuznetsov, Otto Kuusinen, Malenkov, Malyshev, Melnikov, Mikoyan, Mikhaylov, Molotov, Pervukhin, Panteleimon Ponomarenko Panteleimon Ponomarenko Panteleimon Kondrat'evich Ponomarenko; 9 August 1902 18 January 1984) was a general in the Red Army before becoming a Soviet Union administrator in Belarus and then Kazakhstan.... , Saburov, Stalin , Mikhail Suslov Mikhail Suslov Mikhail Andreyevich Suslov was a Soviet Union statesman, communism theoretician and ideologist, and a member of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union and Secretariat of the CPSU Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.... , Khrushchev, Chesnokov, Shvernik, and Shkiryatov elected full members; Leonid Brezhnev Leonid Brezhnev Leonid Ilyich Brezhnev was General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1964 to 1982, serving in that position longer than anyone other than Joseph Stalin.... , Andrei Vyshinsky, Arseni Grigoryevich Zverev Arseni Grigoryevich Zverev Arseni Grigoryevich Zverev , Russian Soviet Administrator of the Government; People's Commissar of Finance 1938-1946, Soviet finance minister 1946-1948, 1948-1960.... , Ignatov, Kabanov, Kosygin, Patolichev, Pegov, Puzanov, Tevosyan, and Yudin elected candidate members. Unofficial Bureau of the Presidium members: Beria, Bulganin, Voroshilov, Kaganovich, Malenkov, Pervukhin, Saburov, Stalin, and Khrushchev.
5 March 1953	Stalin dies.
5 March 1953	Beria, Bulganin, Voroshilov, Kaganovich, Malenkov, Mikoyan, Molotov, Pervukhin, Saburov, and Khrushchev elected full members at the joint session of the Central Committee, the Council of Ministers and the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet; Bagirov, Melnikov, Ponomarenko, and Shvernik elected candidate members.
6 June 1953	Melnikov relieved of duties; Kirichenko elected candidate member.
26 June 1953	Beria arrested.
7 July 1953	Beria relieved of duties.
17 July 1953	Bagirov relieved of duties.
12 July 1955	Kirichenko and Suslov elected full members.
27 February 1956	Bulganin, Voroshilov, Kaganovich, Kirichenko, Malenkov, Mikoyan, Molotov, Pervukhin, Saburov, Suslov, and Khrushchev elected full members; Brezhnev, Georgy Zhukov Georgy Zhukov Marshal of the Soviet Union Georgy Konstantinovich Zhukov, Order of the Bath was a Soviet Union military commander who, in the course of World War II, played an important role in leading the Red Army to liberate the Soviet Union from the Axis Powers' occupation, to advance through much of Eastern Europe, and to conquer Nazi Germany's capita... , Mukhitdinov, Furtseva, Shvernik, Dmitri Shepilov Dmitri Shepilov Dmitri Trofimovich Shepilov was a Politics of the Soviet Union and Foreign Minister of Russia who joined the abortive plot to oust Nikita Khruschev from power in 1957.... elected candidate members.
14 February 1957	Frol Kozlov Frol Kozlov Frol Romanovich Kozlov was a Soviet statesman, Hero of Socialist Labor .He was elected a candidate member of the Presidium on 14 February 1957 and served as a full member from 29 June 1957 until he was relieved of his duties on 16 November 1964, following the ousting of his mentor, Nikita Khrushchev a month earlier.... elected candidate member.
29 June 1957	Kaganovich, Malenkov, Molotov, and Shepilov relieved of duties. Aristov, Belyaev, Brezhnev, Bulganin, Voroshilov, Zhukov, Ignatov, Kirichenko, Kozlov, Kuusinen, Mikoyan, Suslov, Furtseva, Khrushchev, and Shvernik elected full members; Kalnberzin, Andrei Kirilenko Andrei Kirilenko (politician) Andrei Pavlovich Kirilenko was a leading official of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union in the 1970s and early 1980s.... , Korotchenko, Kosygin, Mazurov, Vasil Mzhavanadze Vasil Mzhavanadze Vasil Pavlovich Mzhavanadze was the First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Georgian SSR from September 1953 to September 28, 1972 and a member of the CPSU's Politburo of the CPSU Central Committee from June 29, 1957 to December 18, 1972.... , Mukhitdinov, Pervukhin, and Pospelov elected candidate members.
29 October 1957	Zhukov relieved of duties.
17 December 1957	Mukhitdinov elected full member.
18 June 1958	Nikolai Podgorny Nikolai Podgorny Nikolai Viktorovich Podgorny was the Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR from 1965 to 1977.An engineer, trained at the Technological Institute of the Food Industry in Kiev, he became deputy commissar of the Ukraine food industry before becoming a member of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union in 1950.... and Polyansky elected candidate members.
5 September 1958	Bulganin relieved of duties.
4 May 1960	Belyaev and Kirichenko relieved of duties; Kosygin, Podgorny, and Polyansky elected full members.
16 July 1960	Voroshilov relieved of duties.
18 January 1961	Voronov and Viktor Grishin Viktor Grishin Viktor Vasilyevich Grishin was a Soviet Union politician. He was a Candidate and Full Member of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.... elected candidate members.
31 October 1961	Brezhnev, Voronov, Kozlov, Kosygin, Kuusinen, Mikoyan, Podgorny, Polyansky, Suslov, Khrushchev, and Shvernik elected full members; Grishin, Mazurov, Mzhavanadze, Sharof Rashidov, and Vladimir Shcherbitsky elected candidate members.
23 April 1962	Kirilenko elected full member.
23 November 1962	Yefremov elected candidate member.
13 December 1963	Shcherbitsky relieved of duties; Shelest elected candidate member.
17 May 1964	Kuusinen dies.
14 October 1964	Khrushchev relieved of duties.
16 November 1964	Kozlov relieved of duties; Shelepin and Shelest elected full members; Demichev elected candidate member.
26 March 1965	Mazurov elected full member; Ustinov elected candidate member.
6 December 1965	Shcherbitsky elected candidate member.
8 April 1966	Brezhnev, Voronov, Kirilenko, Kosygin, Mazurov, Arvids Pelše Arvids Pelše Arvids Pel?e ; , Mazais, Latvia ? May 29, 1983, Moscow) was a historian, Soviet Union politician and functionary.... , Podgorny, Polyansky, Suslov, Shelepin, and Shelest elected full members; Grishin, Demichev, Kunayev, Petr Masherov, Mzhavanadze, Rashidov, Dmitri Ustinov, and Shcherbitsky elected candidate members.
21 June 1967	Yuri Andropov Yuri Andropov Yuri Vladimirovich Andropov was a Soviet Union politician and General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 12 November 1982 until his death fifteen months later.... elected candidate member.
9 April 1971	Brezhnev, Voronov, Grishin, Kirilenko, Kosygin, Kulakov, Kunayev, Mazurov, Pelše, Podgorny, Polyansky, Suslov, Shelepin, Shelest, and Shcherbitsky elected full members; Andropov, Demichev, Masherov, Mzhavanadze, Rashidov, and Ustinov elected candidate members.
23 November 1971	Solomentsev elected candidate member.
19 May 1972	Boris Ponomarev Boris Ponomarev Boris Nikolayevich Ponomarev was a Soviet politician, ideologist and historian, and a member of the Secretariat of the CPSU Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.... elected candidate member.
18 December 1972	Mzhavanadze relieved of duties.
27 April 1973	Voronov and Shelest relieved of duties; Andropov, Grechko, and Andrei Gromyko Andrei Gromyko Andrei Andreyevich Gromyko was a Soviet Union politician and diplomat. He served as Foreign Minister of Russia and Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet .... elected full members; Grigory Romanov Grigory Romanov Grigory Vasilyevich Romanov , was a Soviet Union politician and member of the CPSU Politburo and Secretariat of the CPSU. In 1985, he was considered Mikhail Gorbachev's main rival in the succession struggle after the death of Konstantin Chernenko in March 1985.... elected candidate member.
16 April 1975	Shelepin relieved of duties.
5 March 1976	Andropov, Brezhnev, Grechko, Grishin, Gromyko, Kirilenko, Kosygin, Kulakov, Kunayev, Mazurov, Pelše, Podgorny, Romanov, Suslov, Ustinov, and Shcherbitsky elected full members; Aliyev, Demichev, Masherov, Ponomarev, Rashidov, and Solomentsev elected candidate members.
26 April 1976	Grechko dies.
24 May 1977	Podgorny relieved of duties.
3 October 1977	Kuznetsov and Konstantin Chernenko Konstantin Chernenko Konstantin Ustinovich Chernenko was a Soviet Union politician and General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.... elected candidate members.
17 July 1978	Kulakov dies.
27 November 1978	Mazurov relieved of duties; Chernenko elected full member; Nikolai Tikhonov Nikolai Tikhonov Nikolai Aleksandrovich Tikhonov was the Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the USSR from 1980 to 1985.Tikhonov was trained as an engineer at the Dnepropetrovsk Metallurgical Institute earning his degree in 1930.... and Eduard Shevardnadze Eduard Shevardnadze Eduard Amvrosiyevich Shevardnadze served as the President of Georgia from 1995 until he resigned on 23 November 2003 as a consequence of the bloodless Rose Revolution.... elected candidate members.
27 November 1979	Tikhonov elected full member; Mikhail Gorbachev Mikhail Gorbachev Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev is a Russian politician. He was the last General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, serving from 1985 until 1991, and also the last head of state of the USSR, serving from 1988 until its collapse in 1991.... elected candidate member.
4 October 1980	Masherov killed in automobile accident.
21 October 1980	Kosygin relieved of duties; Gorbachev elected full member; Kiselyov elected candidate member.
3 March 1981	Andropov, Brezhnev, Gorbachev, Grishin, Gromyko, Kirilenko, Kunayev, Pelše, Romanov, Suslov, Tikhonov, Ustinov, Chernenko, and Shcherbitsky elected full members; Heydar Aliyev Heydar Aliyev Heydar Alirza oglu Aliyev , also spelled as Heidar Aliev, Geidar Aliev, Haydar Aliyev, Geydar Aliyev was the president of Azerbaijan for the New Azerbaijan Party from June 1993 to October 2003, when his son Ilham Aliyev succeeded him.... , Demichev, Kiselyov, Vasily Kuznetsov Vasily Kuznetsov Vasily Vasilyevich Kuznetsov , Russian Soviet political figure; acting Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR from 1982 to 1983, for a second time in 1984, and for a third time in 1985.... , Boris Ponomarev Boris Ponomarev Boris Nikolayevich Ponomarev was a Soviet politician, ideologist and historian, and a member of the Secretariat of the CPSU Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.... , Rashidov, Solomentsev, and Shevardnadze elected candidate members.
25 January 1982	Suslov dies.
24 May 1982	Dolgikh elected candidate member.
10 November 1982	Brezhnev dies.
22 November 1982	Kirilenko relieved of duties; Aliyev elected full member.
11 January 1983	Kiselyov dies.
29 May 1983	Pelše dies.
15 June 1983	Vorotnikov elected candidate member.
31 October 1983	Rashidov commits suicide.
26 December 1983	Vorotnikov and Solomentse elected full members; Viktor Chebrikov Viktor Chebrikov Viktor Mikhailovich Chebrikov was a Soviet Union spy and head of the KGB from 1982 to 1988. Born in Dnepropetrovsk, in eastern Ukraine, he served in World War II after Germany invaded.... elected candidate member.
9 February 1984	Andropov dies.
20 December 1984	Ustinov dies.
10 March 1985	Chernenko dies.
23 April 1985	Yegor Ligachev Yegor Ligachev Yegor Kuzmich Ligachev is a Russian politician, who was a high-ranking official in the Communist Party of the Soviet Union of the Soviet Union .... , Ryzhkov, and Chebrikov elected full members; Sokolov elected candidate member.
1 July 1985	Romanov relieved of duties; Shevardnadze elected full member.
15 October 1985	Tikhonov relieved of duties; Talyzin elected candidate member.
18 February 1986	Grishin relieved of duties; Yeltsin elected candidate member.
6 March 1986	Aliyev, Vorotnikov, Gorbachev, Gromyko, Zaykov, Kunayev, Ligachev, Ryzhkov, Solomentsev, Chebrikov, Shevardnadze, and Shcherbitsky elected full members; Demichev, Dolgikh, Yeltsin, Slyunkov, Sokolov, Solovyov, and Talyzin elected candidate members.
28 January 1987	Kunayev relieved of duties; Alexander Nikolaevich Yakovlev Alexander Nikolaevich Yakovlev Alexander Nikolaevich Yakovlev, ????????? ?????????? ??????? was a Russian economist who was a Soviet Union governmental official in the 1980s and a member of the CPSU Politburo and Secretariat of the CPSU Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.... elected candidate member.
26 June 1987	Sokolov relieved of duties; Slyunkov, Yakovlev, and Nikonov elected full members; Yazov elected candidate member.
21 October 1987	Aliyev relieved of duties.
14 February 1988	Yeltsin relieved of duties; Maslyukov and Razumovsky elected candidate members.
30 September 1988	Gromyko, Solomentsev, Demichev, and Dolgikh relieved of duties; Medvedev elected full member; Biryukova, Vlasov, and Lukyanov elected candidate members.
20 September 1989	Nikonov, Chebrikov, Shcherbitsky, Solovyov, and Talyzin relieved of duties; Kryuchkov and Maslyukov elected full members; Yevgeny Primakov Yevgeny Primakov Yevgeny Maksimovich Primakov is a Russian politician, a former KGB general and a former Prime Minister of Russia. He was also the last Speaker of the Soviet of the Union of the Supreme Soviet, and the Russian Foreign Minister responsible for changing the foreign policy from largely unconditional support of the United States to a more nation... and Boris Pugo elected candidate members.
9 December 1989	Vladimir Ivashko Vladimir Ivashko Vladimir Antonovich Ivashko , was briefly the acting General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union during the period from August 24, 1991 to August 29, 1991.... elected full member.
14 July 1990	Mykolas Burokevicius Mykolas Burokevicius Mykolas Burokevicius is a communist political leader in Lithuania. After the Communist Party of Lithuania separated from the Communist Party of the Soviet Union , he established alternative pro-CPSU Communist Party of Lithuania in early 1990, and led it as the First Secretary of Central Committee until its ban in 1991.... , Gumbaridze, Gorbachev, Gurenko, Alexander Dzasokhov Alexander Dzasokhov Alexander Dzasokhov is the former head of the Republic of North Ossetia-Alania.He was born April 3, 1934 in Vladikavkaz, graduated in 1957 from the North Caucasus Mining Metallurgical Institute and holds a doctorate in politics.... , Ivashko, Islom Karimov Islom Karimov Islom Abdug?aniyevich Karimov has served as the President of Uzbekistan of Uzbekistan since 1991.Karimov was born in Samarkand, Uzbek SSR, Soviet Union.... , Petru Lucinschi Petru Lucinschi Petru Chiril Lucinschi was elected Moldova's second president in 1996. He served until 2001 when he called an early election, and the Parliament of the Republic of Moldova voted in favour of Vladimir Voronin.... , Masaliyev, Makhkamov, Movsisyan, Ayaz Mütallibov Ayaz Mütallibov Ayaz Niyazi oglu M?tallibov was the last leader of Soviet Azerbaijan, and the first President of Azerbaijan from October 1991 till May 1992.... , Nursultan Nazarbayev Nursultan Nazarbayev Nursultan Abishuly Nazarbayev has served as the President of Kazakhstan since the Fall of the Soviet Union and the nation's independence in 1991.... , Saparmurat Niyazov Saparmurat Niyazov Saparmyrat Ata?ewi? Ny?azow served as the head of state of Turkmenistan from 1985 until his death in 2006. He served as the First Secretary of the Turkmen Communist Party from 1985 until 1991 and the first President of Turkmenistan from 2 November 1990 until his death.... , Polozkov, Prokofyev, Rubiks, Semyonova, Sillari, Ye. Sokolov, Yegor Stroyev Yegor Stroyev Yegor Semyonovich Stroyev was the governor of Oryol Oblast from 1993 to 2009. He used to be the speaker of the Federation Council of Russia .... , Frolov, Oleg Shenin Oleg Shenin Oleg Semyonovich Shenin is the leader of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union , which should not be confused with the larger Union of Communist Parties ? Communist Party of the Soviet Union.... , and Gennadi Yanayev elected members of the Politburo.
11 December 1990	Ye. Sokolov and Movsisyan relieved of duties; Malofeyev and Pogosyan elected members.
31 January 1991	Gumbaridze and Yanayev relieved of duties at the joint plenum of the Central Committee and Central Control Commission; Annus elected member.
25 April 1991	Masaliyev relieved of duties at the joint plenum of the Central Committee and the Central Control Commission; Amanbayev, Yeremey, and Surkov elected members.
26 July 1991	Pogosyan relieved of duties.
24 August 1991	After the failed August Coup, Yeltsin banned the CPSU.

External links

Full list of members and candidate members of the Politburo includes dates on the body and year of death (or execution).

Politburo of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union

Politburo/Presidium membership

See also

Further reading

External links