IMPLEMENTATION OF THE CONCEPT OF DISTINGUISHING THE FUNCTIONS OF THE CPSU AND STATE AUTHORITIES (THE PERIOD OF GORBACHOVSKY'S REBUILDING)

Abstract

The article covers the process of introducing the concept of division of functions of party and state bodies in the USSR during the Gorbachev «perestroika» years. The monopoly ruling party, which in accordance with the Constitution of the USSR in 1978 had the status of a «leading and guiding force» of Soviet society, felt the need to define new relations with public authorities in the context of the proposed reforms of public administration. Based on the definition of the political system of Soviet society, the party leadership gradually democratized the concept of «party leadership.» Initially, at the 21st CPSU Congress (February – March 1986), a «soft concept» was introduced to prevent «the confusion of party and state functions», which relied on the abandonment of petty guardianship and the replacement of state structures by the authorities. Then, at the 19th CPSU Conference (June – July 1988), under political reform in the USSR, a «rigid concept» of «delineation of functions» was introduced, which anticipated the role of the party as a policy-maker and its members as government leaders. The introduction of the concept of «delineation of functions» in no way called into question the monopoly position of the CPSU in the system of public administration, the dominance of the so-called «Marxist-Leninist ideology». Under the changes that put on the agenda the emergence of such mandatory attributes of democratic transformations as political pluralism, free elections, multiparty system, the CPSU ideologists sought the basis for their own theories in the decisions of the VIII Congress of the RCP (b) (1919) and in V. I. Lenin’s works at the time of the elimination of the multiparty system in the USSR. In the process of finding a solution to prevent the replacement of state structures by party bodies, the dominant role of the CPSU in the system of public administration of the USSR was actually recognized, and the preconditions for further radical changes in Soviet society were created.