Resolutions and Decisions of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union Volume 5 : : The Brezhnev Years 1964-1981 / / ed. by Donald Schwartz.

• Superior document: Title is part of eBook package: De Gruyter University of Toronto Press eBook-Package Archive 1933-1999
• HerausgeberIn: Schwartz, Donald,
• Place / Publishing House: Toronto : : University of Toronto Press, , [2019]; ©1974
• Year of Publication: 2019
• Language: English
• Series: Heritage
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (320 p.)

This set of four volumes is an indispensable reference work for the study of modern Russia in general and Soviet Communism in particular. Ever since its foundation on the eve of the twentieth century, the organization now called the Communist Party of the Soviet Union has been embodying its major policies in documents called 'resolutions and decisions.' These form a much more continuous and extensive record of the evolution of Soviet Communism than the writings of any single leader, and the standard Soviet anthology of these materials has gone through eight editions over a fifty-year period. Yet most of this essential material has been available only in Russian, and even in that language the standard editions have been marred by selectivity and editorial comment that is often politically motivated. At last students of modern Russian studies have access to a multi-volume work that not only presents the most important Communist Party resolutions and decisions in English, but also amplifies the standard Soviet anthology in important respects and provides editorial explanation that is independent of Kremlin politics. The rich store of materials in these four volumes ranges from the formation of the party to the fall of Khrushchev, and it deals with a wide range of issues. The clearly organized volumes each contain a major introductory essay as well as shorter background essays on each party congress, conference or Central Committee plenum. The documents approved by these meetings are often fundamental in importance, but the centralist operation of the party in power has been such that many of the most vital decisions have been issued in the name of the Central Committee when there was no meeting of that body at all. It is one of the signal achievements of these volumes that the selection of materials included was based on a list of all known part decisions, whether or not they have been included in the main Soviet reference work. The four volumes in this series are edited as an integral set. Each contains a subject index in which Russian abbreviations and acronymic names are translated. Tables summarizing the personnel of the main party executive bodies since 1917 are also provided. At the same time each of the volumes is built around a coherent period in the development of Russian Communism, and each reflects the special features of its time. Volume 5 covers Brezhnev's consolidation of power; the limits set on his rule are traced through leadership changes, institutional reforms, and policy development. The major industrial reforms, and policy development. The major industrial and agricultural reforms introduced under Brezhnev are documented, as are the struggle to implement the reforms, the resistance of managerial elites and workers, and Brezhnev's attempt to modernize the Soviet economy and improve levels of efficiency and productivity. Internal party changes reflecting the stable oligarchy that emerged after Khrushchev's removal are included, as well as Brezhnev's commitment to security of tenure for cadres and the changing nature and role of the purge. Party efforts to upgrade recruitment procedures, to change the qualitative composition of the party, to improve the procedures for ensuring routinization and responsiveness in the conduct of party business, and to upgrade the party education system are also documented. Evidence is provided of the party's struggle with corruption in the Georgian Republic and the regime's inability to cope effectively with the widespread growth of social problems. The volume conveys the flavour of oligarchic and bureaucratic politics that emerged with Brezhnev's style of leadership.

Table of Contents

Frontmatter -- General Editor's Preface -- Editor's Preface -- Contents -- Introduction -- 5.1 On Eliminating Unjustified Restrictions on the Private Plots of Kolkhozniks, Workers, and Employees* 27 October 1964 -- Plenum of the Central Committee 24 -26 March 1965 -- XXIII Party Congress 29 March-8 April 1966 -- 5.12 On the Work of the Central Committee of the Estonian Communist Party with Leading Cadres* 30 January 1967 -- Plenum of the Central Committee 9-10 April 1968 -- 5.28 On the Work Experience of the Party Committee of the Shchekino Chemical Combine with Respect to Mobilizing its Collective of Working People to Expand the Volume of Production by Increasing Labour Productivity 6 October 1969 -- 5.33 On Measures for Further Improving the Work of Raion and City Soviets of Working People's Deputies* 12 March 1971 -- 5.39 On Literary and Art Criticism 21 January 1972 -- 5.45 On Conducting Report-and-Election Meetings and Party Conferences* 3 October 1973 -- 5.46 On the Work of the Moscow Higher Technical College, Named for N.E. Bauman, and the Saratov State University, Named for N.G. Chernyshevsky, in Raising the Ideological-Theoretical Level of Social Science Teaching 5 June 1974 -- 5.47 On the Results of the Exchange of Party Documents* 31 January 1975 -- XXV Party Congress 24 February-3 March 1976 -- 5.57 On Enhancing the Role of Oral Political Agitation in Fulfilling the Decisions of the XXV CPSU Congress 1 February 1977 -- Plenum of the Central Committee 27 November 1978 -- 5.63 On Further Improving Ideological and Political-Upbringing Work 26 April 1979 -- XXVI Party Congress 23 February-3 March 1981 -- Appendix -- Index