17th Congress of the All-Union Communist Party (b)
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The 17th Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union
was held during 26 January - 10 February 1934. The congress was attended by 1,225 delegates with a casting vote and 736 delegates with a consultative vote, representing 1,872,488 party members and 935,298 candidate members.
Nicknamed "The Congress of the Victors" due to the economic successes of the First Five-Year Plan
, it was in fact the last clandestine revolt against Stalin
from within party ranks.
During the elections to the party's Central Committee
Stalin received a significant number (over a hundred, although the precise number is unknown) of negative votes, whereas only three delegates crossed out the name of the popular Leningrad party boss, Sergei Kirov. The results were subsequently covered up on Stalin's orders and it was officially reported that Stalin also received only three negative votes.
During the Congress a group of veteran party members approached Kirov with the suggestion that he replace Stalin as the party leader. Kirov declined the offer and reported the conversation to Stalin.
In public Stalin was acclaimed, not merely as the leader of the party, but as a towering, universal genius in every human sphere. All his former opponents spoke approvingly of him (other than Leon Trotsky
, who had been exiled in 1929) and pledged their total support to the party line.
At the congress Rabkrin
was dissolved and its functions passed to the Sovnarkom's State Control Commission.
The 17th Congress has also been given the name The Congress of the Condemned, because of 1,996 party members present, 1,108 were arrested, and about two thirds of those executed within three years, largely during the Great Terror
. Of the 139 members elected to the Central Committee in the 17th Congress, 98 would be executed in the purges. Of the remaining 41, only 24 would be re-elected to the Central Committee in the 18th Congress.
Communist Party of the Soviet Union
The Communist Party of the Soviet Union was the only legal, ruling political party in the Soviet Union and one of the largest communist organizations in the world...
was held during 26 January - 10 February 1934. The congress was attended by 1,225 delegates with a casting vote and 736 delegates with a consultative vote, representing 1,872,488 party members and 935,298 candidate members.
Nicknamed "The Congress of the Victors" due to the economic successes of the First Five-Year Plan
First Five-Year Plan
The First Five-Year Plan, or 1st Five-Year Plan, of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics was a list of economic goals that was designed to strengthen the country's economy between 1928 and 1932, making the nation both militarily and industrially self-sufficient. "We are fifty or a hundred...
, it was in fact the last clandestine revolt against Stalin
Joseph Stalin
Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin was the Premier of the Soviet Union from 6 May 1941 to 5 March 1953. He was among the Bolshevik revolutionaries who brought about the October Revolution and had held the position of first General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union's Central Committee...
from within party ranks.
During the elections to the party's Central Committee
Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union
The Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union , abbreviated in Russian as ЦК, "Tse-ka", earlier was also called as the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party ...
Stalin received a significant number (over a hundred, although the precise number is unknown) of negative votes, whereas only three delegates crossed out the name of the popular Leningrad party boss, Sergei Kirov. The results were subsequently covered up on Stalin's orders and it was officially reported that Stalin also received only three negative votes.
During the Congress a group of veteran party members approached Kirov with the suggestion that he replace Stalin as the party leader. Kirov declined the offer and reported the conversation to Stalin.
In public Stalin was acclaimed, not merely as the leader of the party, but as a towering, universal genius in every human sphere. All his former opponents spoke approvingly of him (other than Leon Trotsky
Leon Trotsky
Leon Trotsky , born Lev Davidovich Bronshtein, was a Russian Marxist revolutionary and theorist, Soviet politician, and the founder and first leader of the Red Army....
, who had been exiled in 1929) and pledged their total support to the party line.
At the congress Rabkrin
Rabkrin
Rabkrin, RKI or Workers' and Peasants' Inspectorate was a governmental establishment in Soviet Russia and the early Soviet Union responsible for scrutinizing the state, local and enterprise administrations during 1920-1934. It was established on February 7, 1920 to replace the People's...
was dissolved and its functions passed to the Sovnarkom's State Control Commission.
The 17th Congress has also been given the name The Congress of the Condemned, because of 1,996 party members present, 1,108 were arrested, and about two thirds of those executed within three years, largely during the Great Terror
Great Purge
The Great Purge was a series of campaigns of political repression and persecution in the Soviet Union orchestrated by Joseph Stalin from 1936 to 1938...
. Of the 139 members elected to the Central Committee in the 17th Congress, 98 would be executed in the purges. Of the remaining 41, only 24 would be re-elected to the Central Committee in the 18th Congress.