15th Congress of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks)

Front row: Rykov, Skrypnyk and Stalin voting

The 15th Congress of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks) was held during 2–19 December 1927 in Moscow. It was attended by 898 delegates with a casting vote and 771 with a consultative vote.^[1]

History

Background

In October 1927, the last Left Opposition members were expelled from the Central Committee elected by the 14th Congress, and in November 1927 Leon Trotsky and Grigory Zinoviev were expelled from the Party itself.

Repudiation of the United Opposition

The 15th Congress of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks) was convened in Moscow on December 2, 1927. This marked the first Soviet Communist Party Congress in two years, this despite the fact that party regulations called for annual meetings.^[2] The gathering was retrospectively remembered as the "Congress of the Collectivization of Agriculture and of the Socialist Offensive on All Fronts" in the celebratory official party history of 1962, although in actual fact a major part of time spent by the gathering related to internal party politics and the final ritualistic repudiation of the United Opposition of Trotsky, Zinoviev, and their supporters, effectively ending a two-year factional war.^[2]

Oppositionists Christian Rakovsky and Lev Kamenev held brief speeches in front of the Congress.^[3] Rakovsky's speech^[4] was interrupted fifty-seven times by his opponents, including Nikolai Bukharin, Martemyan Ryutin, and Lazar Kaganovich.^[3] Although, unlike Rakovsky, Kamenev used the occasion to appeal for reconciliation, he was nevertheless interrupted twenty-four times by the same group.^[3]

Theses on Industrialization

The Central Committee adopted a set of theses regarding industrialization which had been prepared in October 1927 by the Central Committee.^[5]

Election of a new Central Committee

The 15th Congress elected a new Central Committee to govern activities of the Communist Party during the period in between Congresses.

Central Committee: 71 members, 50 candidates to Central Committee membership Central Revision Commission: 9 members Central Control Commission: 195 members

List of elected members to the Central Committee

1. Akulov, Ivan Alekseevich (1888—1937)
2. Andreev, Andrei Andreevich (1895—1971)
3. Antipov, Nikolai Kirillovich (1894—1938)
4. Artiukhina, Aleksandra Vasil'evna (1889—1969)
5. Badaev, Aleksei Egorovich (1883—1951)
6. Bauman, Karl Ianovich (1892—1937)
7. Bubnov, Andrei Sergeevich (1884—1938)
8. Bukharin, Nikolai Ivanovich (1888—1938)
9. Chicherin, Georgii Vasil'evich (1872—1936)
10. Chubar', Vlas Iakovlevich (1891—1939)
11. Chudov, Mikhail Semenovich (1893—1937)
12. Dogadov, Aleksandr Ivanovich (1888—1937)
13. Gamarnik, Ian Borisovich (1894—1937)
14. Goloshchekin, Filipp Isaevich (1897—1941)
15. Kabakov, Ivan Dmitrievich (1891—1937)
16. Kaganovich, Lazar' Moiseevich (1893—1991)
17. Kalinin, Mikhail Ivanovich (1875—1946)
18. Kviring, Emmanuil Ionovich (1888—1937)
19. Kirkizh, Kupriian Osipovich (1888—1932)
20. Kirov, Sergei Mironovich (1886—1934)
21. Knorin, Vil'gel'm Georgievich (1890—1938)
22. Kolotilov, Nikolai Nikolaevich (1885—1937)
23. Komarov, Nikolai Pavlovich(1886—1937)
24. Kosior, Iosif Vikent'evich (1893—1937)
25. Kosior, Stanislav Vikent'evich (1889—1939)
26. Kotov, Vasilii Afanas'evich (1885—1937)
27. Krzhizhanovskii, Gleb Maksimilianovich (1872—1959)
28. Krupskaia, Nadezhda Konstantinovna (1869—1939)
29. Kubiak, Nikolai Afanas'evich (1881—1937)
30. Kuibyshev, Valerian Vladimirovich (1888—1935)
31. Kulikov, Egor Fedorovich (1891—1943)
32. Lepse, Ivan Ivanovich (1889—1929)
33. Lobov, Semen Semenovich (1888—1937)
34. Oppokov, Georgii Ippolitovich (1888—1937)
35. Liubimov, Isidor Evstigneevich (1882—1937)
36. Manuil'skii, Dmitrii Zakharovich (1883—1959)
37. Medvedev, Aleksei Vasil'evich (1884—1937)
38. Menzhinskii, Viacheslav Rudol'fovich (1874—1934)
39. Mikoian, Anastas Ivanovich (1895—1978)
40. Mikhailov, Vasilii Mikhailovich (1894—1937)
41. Molotov, Viacheslav Mikhailovich (1890—1986)
42. Moskvin, Ivan Mikhailovich (1890—1937)
43. Orakhelashvili, Mamiia Dmitrievich (1881—1937)
44. Petrovskii, Grigorii Ivanovich (1878—1958)
45. Postyshev, Pavel Petrovich (1887—1939)
46. Piatnitskii, Iosif Aronovich (1882—1938)
47. Rudzutak, Ian Ernestovich (1887—1938)
48. Rumiantsev, Ivan Petrovich (1886—1937)
49. Rukhimovich, Moisei L'vovich (1889—1938)
50. Rykov, Aleksei Ivanovich (1881—1938)
51. Shvarts, Isaak Izrailevich (1879—1951)
52. Shvernik, Nikolai Mikhailovich (1888—1970)
53. Shmidt, Vasilii Vladimirovich (1886—1938)
54. Skrypnik, Nikolai Alekseevich (1872—1933)
55. Smirnov, Aleksandr Petrovich (1878—1938)
56. Sokol'nikov, Grigorii Iakovlevich (1888—1939)
57. Stalin, Iosif Vissarionovich (1878—1953)
58. Stepanov-Skvortsov, Ivan Ivanovich (1870—1928)
59. Stetskii, Aleksei Ivanovich (1896—1938)
60. Strievskii, Konstantin Konstantinovich (1885—1938)
61. Sulimov, Daniil Egorovich (1890—1937)
62. Syrtsov, Sergei Ivanovich (1893—1937)
63. Tolokontsev, Aleksandr Fedorovich (1889—1937)
64. Tomskii, Mikhail Pavlovich (1880—1936)
65. Ugarov, Fedor Iakovlevich (1885—1932)
66. Uglanov, Nikolai Aleksandrovich (1886—1937)
67. Ukhanov, Konstantin Vasil'evich (1891—1937)
68. Tsiurupa, Aleksandr Dmitrievich (1870—1928)
69. Voroshilov, Kliment Efremovich (1881—1969)
70. Zelenskii, Isaak Abramovich (1890—1938)
71. Zhukov, Ivan Pavlovich (1889—1937)

Footnotes

Further reading

• J.V. Stalin, The Fifteenth Congress of the CPSU(b), December 2-19, 1927, Works: Volume 10. Moscow: Foreign Languages Publishing House, 1954 pp. 275–382.

External links

• Fifteenth Congress of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolshevik) at the Great Soviet Encyclopedia (1979)