Communists and Their Party in the Late Soviet Period
Author(s)
White, Stephen
Abstract
Between 1986 and 1991, the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) attempted but failed to reform itself. Though the membership showed considerable potential for renewal and democratization, the Leninist model of organization was too deeply entrenched to allow the Party to respond adequately to democratic impulses. After 1989, membership declined, dues payments lagged, Communist parties in outlying Soviet republics cut loose from the CPSU, and fewer than 50 percent of the members still adhered to decisions of the 28th Party Congress. Even leadership in the Central Committee had become “largely formal.” Where Soviet-type Communist parties had shown some real capacity for reform (e.g., in Lithuania, Poland, Hungary, and Bulgaria), they continued to show parliamentary strength.
