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The Soviet Central Committee: An Elite Analysis

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 August 2014

Michael P. Gehlen  and
Michael McBride
Michael P. Gehlen
Affiliation:
Purdue University
Michael McBride
Affiliation:
Purdue University
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Extract

This paper is a study of the backgrounds of the members of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. The purpose of its first part is to present and interpret certain quantitative material concerning the background characteristics of the members of the Central Committee. The conclusion elaborates premises regarding the function of co-optation in the higher Party organs and suggests possible relationships of this function to the education and career experiences of the Central Committee membership as discussed in the first part. To pursue an ideal study of this type, we recognize that extensive interviews and depth exploration of the sociological histories of the members would be desirable. In the case of the Soviet political elite such a course is obviously not possible at the present time. Nevertheless, sufficient data exist to make a modest beginning toward what we hope will help to lay a foundation for more extensive analysis of elites in the Soviet system in the future.

Two basic assumptions underlie our interest in the backgrounds of the Soviet political elite. First, and more important for this paper, is the premise that persons are co-opted into the Central Committee primarily, though not exclusively, as a result of the group associations they have made during the courses of their careers. These associations are largely career associations, and most of the members become part of the elite of important functional groups before they become members of the Party elite. Educational backgrounds, age, Party status, role associations, occupation, and other factors all converge to influence the development of the careers of the members.

Type
Research Article
Information
American Political Science Review , Volume 62 , Issue 4 , December 1968 , pp. 1232 - 1241
Copyright
Copyright © American Political Science Association 1968

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References

1 The most accessible source of biographical data is the Who's Who in the USSR, 1965–1966, compiled by the Institute for the Study of the USSR, Munich, Germany, and published by the Scarecrow Press, Inc., 1966Google Scholar. Additional information is available in the files of the Institute. Short but current biographical sketches are published in the Ezhegodnik of the Great Soviet Encyclopedia. More extensive biographies, though sometimes less up-to-date, are found in Biograficheskii slovar', produced at different times by different professional groups (scientists, engineers, etc.) in the USSR.

2 References to the background characteristics of the Central Committee membership between 1961 and 1966 are based on Gehlen, Michael P., “The Educational Backgrounds and Career Orientations of the Members of the Central Committee of the CPSU,” The American Behavioral Scientist, 9 (April, 1966), 11–14CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

3 Compilations of the members and their positions at the time of election to the Central Committee are available in Current Soviet Policies, Volumes I–IV, published by Columbia University Press and by Praeger, Frederick A.Google Scholar.

4 See Selznick, Philip, TVA and the Grassroots, University of California Publications in Culture and Society, Vol. III, pp. 259–261Google Scholar. For other works involving either elite or group analysis see: Bass, Bernard M., Leadership, Psychology, and Organizational Behavior (New York: Harper, 1960)Google Scholar; Cartwright, Dorwin and Zander, Alvin, Group Dynamics, Research and Theory (Evanston, Illinois: Row, Peterson, 1960)Google Scholar; Edinger, Lewis J., Political Leadership of Industrial Societies (New York: John Wiley and Sons, 1967)Google Scholar; Gordon, Thomas, Group-Centered Leadership (Boston: Houghton-Mifflin, 1955)Google Scholar; Janowitz, Morris, The Professional Soldier (New York: The Free Press of Glencoe, 1960Google Scholar; Lasswell, Harold D., Power and Personality (New York: Viking Press, 1948)Google Scholar; Marvick, Dwaine, Political Decision-Makers (New York: The Free Press of Glencoe, 1961)Google Scholar; Tannenbaum, Robert, Leadership and Organization: a Behavioral Science Approach (New York: McGraw Hill, 1961)Google Scholar. For one of the few indepth analyses of an important segment of the Soviet elite, see Armstrong, John A., The Soviet Bureaucratic Elite (New York: Praeger, 1959)Google Scholar.

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