Secret Public Finance: Revenues and Expenditures of the Soviet Communist Party, 1938–1965

Abstract

Patterns of the Soviet Communist Party expenditures, major sources of revenue, and patterns of interregional transfers are analysed with special attention to the party's major donors: the army and large cities. Financial records for the period 1938 – 1965 allow us to study the role of the party in the Soviet institutional design and the relationships between central and regional party organisations. In addition to the selection of cadre, supervision of production, and ‘production’ of ideology, the party provided alternative channels for the redistribution of state resources. Empirical evidence suggests that the pattern of the distribution of subsidies through party channels was consistent with investing in political support by creating promotion incentives in the party system.