Politburo

A politburo (/ˈpɒlɪtbjʊəroʊ/) or political bureau is the executive committee for communist parties.[1] It is present in most former and existing communist states.

The Soviet Politburo passes a resolution to execute 346 "enemies of the CPSU and the Soviet Government" who led "counter-revolutionary, pro-trotskyist, plotting and spying activities", signed by secretary Stalin, 17 January 1940

Names

The term "politburo" in English comes from the Russian Politbyuro (Политбюро), itself a contraction of Politicheskoye byuro (Политическое бюро, "Political Bureau"). The Spanish term Politburó is directly loaned from Russian, as is the German Politbüro. Chinese uses a calque (Chinese: 政治局; pinyin: Zhèngzhìjú), from which the Vietnamese (Bộ Chính trị "部政治"), and Korean (정치국, 政治局 Jeongchiguk) terms derive.

History

The first politburo was created in Russia by the Bolshevik Party in 1917 during the Russian Revolution that occurred during that year.[2][3] The first Politburo had seven members: Lenin, Zinoviev, Kamenev, Trotsky, Stalin, Sokolnikov, and Bubnov.[4]

During the 20th century, politburos were established in most Communist states. They included the politburos of the USSR, East Germany, Afghanistan, and Czechoslovakia. Several countries still have a politburo system in operation: China, North Korea, Laos, Vietnam, and Cuba.[5]

Marxist–Leninist states

In Marxist–Leninist states, the communist party claims to be the vanguard of the people, therefore the legitimate body to lead the state. The party selects officials to serve in its politburo, which decides party policy. As a one-party state, party policy invariably becomes national policy.

Each Party Congress elects a Central Committee which, in turn, elects the members of the politburo and a General Secretary. This process is termed democratic centralism. In theory, the politburo is answerable to the Central Committee, however in practice all the authority lies with the politburo.

Trotskyist parties

In Trotskyist parties, the Politburo is a bureau of the Central Committee tasked with making day-to-day political decisions, which must later be ratified by the Central Committee. It is appointed by the Central Committee from among its members. The post of General Secretary carries far less weight in this model. See, for example, the Lanka Sama Samaja Party.

See also
  • Eastern Bloc politics
  • Executive committee
  • Orgburo
  • Politburo of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union
  • Politburo of the Chinese Communist Party
  • Politburo of the Communist Party of Cuba
  • Politburo of the Communist Party of Vietnam
  • Politburo of the Communist Party of India (Marxist)
  • Politburo of the Lao People's Revolutionary Party
  • Politburo of the Party of Labour of Albania
  • Politburo of the People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan
  • Politburo of the Polish United Workers' Party
  • Politburo of the Workers' Party of Korea
  • Political Bureau of the Central Committee of FRELIMO
  • Politburo of the Zimbabwe African National Union – Patriotic Front
  • Presidium

References
  1. "Received 2012-02-02". Merriam-webster.com. 31 August 2012. Retrieved 16 June 2014.
  2. "USSR: Communist Party: Politburo". Archontology.org. Retrieved 16 June 2014.
  3. "Politburo (Soviet political body) – Encyclopædia Britannica". Britannica.com. 24 April 2013. Retrieved 16 June 2014.
  4. Dmitri Volkogonov, Lenin. A New Biography, translated and edited by Harold Shukman (New York: The Free Press, 1994), p. 185.
  5. "A List of Current Communist Countries". Geography.about.com. 29 May 2014. Retrieved 16 June 2014.
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