Last Congress of the CPSU

Abstract

The article considers the last congress of the CPSU as an important event in the history of this organization. This congress was held in the context of the intensification of the crisis of the USSR. Under these circumstances, the CPSU’s refusal from the constitutional status of the ruling party was due not so much to the opposition’s pressure, but to the rational aspiration of the party elite to absolve itself of responsibility for the crisis. This congress, despite its «democratic» entourage (the presence of representatives of various party factions, radical changes in the highest party bodies, the adoption of a «social-democratic» program, etc.), is assessed as a meeting of the communist elite concerned for its political future. Despite the harsh criticism of Gorbachev leaders, the XXVIII Congress was marked by a compromise of the elite of the CPSU. But if in a tactical way this congress ended successfully for the party elite, then in the strategic perspective this forum predetermined the rapid historical defeat of the CPSU.