Stalin and the Secretaries of Local Party Organizations, 1921–1927: Subordinates, Clients, or Supporters?

Abstract

This article uses archival evidence to reexamine the relationship between Stalin and the secretaries of local party organizations during the nep. The orthodox view holds that after April 1922 Stalin installed individuals personally loyal to him as secretaries throughout the party’s network of territorial committees. Stalin used these supporters to manipulate the selection of delegates to the Twelfth Party Congress, which allowed him to fabricate majorities in the Central Committee and Politburo. Using operational records generated in the Central Committee Secretariat to examine patterns of secretarial office holding, this article shows that no fewer than 490 officials served as party secretaries during Stalin’s first five years as General Secretary and that rates of turnover among local party secretaries remained persistently high. These findings suggest that Stalin did not construct a stable network of clients among the secretaries of local party organizations prior to the Fifteenth Party Congress.