Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) - Branches

The party which controlled political, economic, and social life in the former USSR. It was the only party with the right to put forward candidates in elections, and most of the country's important jobs were controlled by the party. Many posts were confined to party members, who comprised only c.10% of the population. The party was ruled illegal by Boris Yeltsin following the failed 1991 coup, but Russia's constitution court reinstated the legality of at least some of their activities.

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The Communist Party of the Soviet Union (Russian: Коммунисти́ческая Па́ртия Сове́тского Сою́за = КПСС) was the name used by the successors of the Bolshevik faction of the Russian Social-Democratic Labour Party from 1952 to 1991, but the wording Communist Party was present in the party's name since 1918 when the Bolsheviks became the Russian Communist Party (Bolsheviks) (RCP(b)). In 1925 the party became the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks) (Всесоюзная коммунистическая партия (большевиков), ВКП(б)); For information on the pre-1918 party see Bolshevik.

Once the Third International or Comintern was formed in 1919, the democratic centralist Marxist-Leninist structure of the CPSU was copied by the other Comintern members resulting in Communist parties being formed around the world.

For most of the history of Soviet Russia and the Soviet Union, the Communist Party was virtually indistinguishable from the government, as it was the only political party tolerated by the government and its security forces.

In theory, supreme power in the party was invested in the Party Congress, however, in practice the power structure became reversed and, particularly after the death of Lenin, supreme power became the domain of the General Secretary.

Membership

Membership in the party ultimately became a privilege, with Communist Party members becoming an elite class or nomenklatura in Soviet society. Children would join the Young Pioneers and then, at the age of 14, graduate to the Komsomol (Young Communist League) and ultimately, as an adult, if one had shown the proper adherence to party discipline or had the right connections one would become a member of the Communist Party itself.

By 1933, the party had approximately 3.5 million members and candidate members but as a result of the Great Purge party membership fell to 1.9 million by 1939.

In other republics, communists established the Armenian Communist Party, Communist Party of Azerbaijan, Party of Communists of Kyrgyzstan, Communist Party of Ukraine, Party of Communists of Belarus, Party of Communists of the Republic of Moldova, Communist Party of Kazakhstan and the Communist Party of Tajikistan. Along with the CPRF, these parties formed the Union of Communist Parties - Communist Party of the Soviet Union (SKP-KPSS).

In Turkmenistan, the local party apparatus led by Saparmurat Niyazov was converted into the Democratic Party of Turkmenistan. This party would later evolve into the Communist Party of Georgia (SKP). In Latvia, communist organizations were officially banned and a major part of the party there had broken away in 1990 and formed the Latvian Social Democratic Party.

Branches

Republic	CPSU	Communist Party of the Soviet Union	Local Party
Russian SFSR	КПСС	Коммунистическая Партия Советского Союза	Коммунистическая партия РСФСР (1990-1991)
Ukrainian SSR	КПРС	Комуністична Партія Радянського Союзу
Belarusian SSR	КПСС	Камуністычная Партыя Савецкага Саюза
Uzbek SSR
Kazakh SSR	СОКП
Georgian SSR
Azerbaijan SSR		Совет Иттифагы Коммунист Партијасы
Lithuanian SSR	TSKP	Tarybų Sąjungos komunistų partija
Moldavian SSR	ПКУС	Партидул Комунист ал Униуний Советиче
Latvian SSR	PSKP	Padomju Savienības Komunistiskā Partija	Latvijas Komunistiskā Partija
Kyrgyz SSR	ССКП	Советтер Союзунун Коммунисттик партиясы
Tajik SSR
Armenian SSR
Turkmen SSR
Estonian SSR	NLKP	Nõukogude Liidu Kommunistlik Partei	Eestimaa Kommunistlik Partei (EKP)