Titov Konstantin

“Contrat Social” á la STALIN Nomenclature and Supreme Authority: Reconstruction of contract 1924–1927

The article is devoted to the proof of a thesis that during the intraparty struggle in 1923–1927 between nomenclature and the supreme authority a political contract was concluded. On the basis of the analysis of I.V.Stalin’s report at the Russian Communist Party (Bolsheviks) 13^th Conference, K.Titov shows that the text formally presented as criticism against L.D.Trotsky’s position contained in fact a range of responsibilities (regarding nomenclature) that a pretender for the supreme authority assumed in the exchange for the political support from the nomenclature. According to the author, in 1930-s this contract was unilaterally torn by the supreme authority that refused to act on the overwhelming majority of its promises, but it was restored in 1956 and 1964 as a result of the “nomenclature’s revanche”.

DOI: 10.30570/2078-5089-2011-61-2-118-127

“CONTRAT SOCIAL” À LA BREZHNEV Nomenclature and Supreme Authority: Reconstruction of Contract 1964

The article argues that the materials from the Plenum of Central Committee of the Communist Party of the USSR held in October 1964 contain a political contract between nomenclature and the supreme authority. Having conducted the frequency analysis of the speech by M.A.Suslov at the plenum, K.Titov demonstrates that nomenclature was mentioned there as the first side to have suffered from N.S.Khrushchev’s actions. He interprets disapproval of these actions as the supreme authority’s commitments to the nomenclature: acknowledgement of nomenclature as an actor within the power relations (“collective governance”), guarantees of its institutional and personnel stability, refusal by the supreme authority from the administrative coercion of nomenclature towards action as well as from setting up sweeping tasks that require much effort. The author states that the conclusion of such contract became the second step (after the 20th Communist Party Congress) towards transforming nomenclature into the “ruling elite” that undermined the bases of the Soviet society and eventually caused its demise.

DOI: 10.30570/2078-5089-2010-5859-3-285-296