The Communist Party of the Soviet Union: 1928-1944: A Study in Elite Formation and Function

W IHAT happens to a revolutionary group when it has been in power for over a generation and forced to face the problems of governing a large modern nation? Has the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, traditionally associated with the underdog, developed into some variety of ruling class? Or is it merely a nonhereditary elite? If so, what are the more important characteristics of this elite? How do they exercise their control over the life of the people? How are policy and leadership determined within this group? Are the leaders and their policy democratically controlled by the Party membership, as many apologists for the Soviets have claimed, or is the Party merely the passive tool of a cruel and ruthless dictatorship, as many disillusioned leftists and liberals have asserted? The present paper is an effort to present a partial answer to these and certain other similar questions, which are significant both