Communist Party of the Soviet Union

Communist Party of the Soviet Union 

Although the Communist Party on the eve of World war II continued to be officially depicted as the leading and directing force in Soviet society, Stalin’s victory over the opposition some years earlier had in reality reduced the Party’s position to that of one (albeit a very important one) of the regime’s several refular instruments of administration and control. Stalin himself, rather than the Party or any other organization, had become the central element in this system. And what Stalin wanted more than anything else was a system of rule that would protect and enhance his personal power position.