The CPSU: The Guiding Force in Soviet Society

Abstract

The Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) is the nucleus of all political activity in the USSR. It proclaims itself the “leading and guiding force of Soviet society.”1 At all levels of government, it is charged with making policies and supervising the prompt, efficient execution of policy decisions. Since 1917, the Party has developed from a handful of professional revolutionaries into a massive bureaucracy incorporating more than 19 million members. Its growth has been accompanied by a proliferation of responsibilities, as well as an erosion of the revolutionary zeal of its members.