Communist Party of the Soviet Union - Simple English Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Communist Party of the Soviet Union
Коммунистическая Партия Советского Союза
AbbreviationCPSU/KPSS
General SecretaryYelena Stasova (first; Apr 1917–1918)
Mikhail Gorbachev (last; Mar 1985–Aug 1991)
FounderVladimir Lenin
FoundedMay 1917; 107 years ago (1917-05)
Dissolved29 August 1991 (1991-08-29) ; 31 year’s ago
Preceded byBolshevik faction of the RSDLP
Succeeded byCPRF
HeadquartersMoscow, Staraya Square, 4
NewspaperPravda
Youth wingYoung Communist League and Pioneers
Membership19 million (1986)
IdeologyCommunism
Marxism–Leninism
(since 1929)
Political positionExtreme left
ReligionAtheism
International affiliationSecond International (1912–14)[1]
Comintern (1919–43)
Cominform (1947–56)
Colours  Red
Slogan"Пролетарии всех стран, соединяйтесь!"
("Workers of the world, unite!")
Anthem
"Internatsional"
("The Internationale")
"Gimn partii bol'shevikov"
("Hymn of the Bolshevik Party")
(unofficial, 1939–52)

The Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) was the ruling political party in the Soviet Union, and the only legal one. The leaders of the party were Vladimir Ilyich Lenin, Joseph Stalin, Lavrentiy Beria, Georgy Malenkov, Nikita Khrushchev, Leonid Brezhnev, Yuri Andropov, Konstantin Chernenko, and finally Mikhail Gorbachev.

Before the creation of the Russian Communist Party in 1918, its members were part of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party. They made up a group within that party, which was called the Bolsheviks. The first leader of the CPSU was Vladimir Lenin. The first General Secretary of the party was Stalin from 1922–52. The party led the 1917 October Revolution that overthrew the Russian Provisional Government during World War I. From 1918–25, the name of the party was Russian Communist Party. From 1925–52, the name was All-Union Communist Party. The Party took the name Communist Party of the Soviet Union in 1952.

The Communist Party controlled all the government in the Soviet Union. The party supported communist movements in Eastern Europe, Asia and Africa. In 1990, during a big reform called "perestroika", or "restructuring", the party lost its position as the only party allowed. The CPSU was dissolved in 1991, and continued as the Communist Party of the Russian Federation. The new CPRF has sometimes been the largest in the Russian parliament, the State Duma.

References

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  1. "2nd International Congress of Brussels, 1891". www.marxists.org.

Other websites

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