Work with party personnel in the second half of the 1980s (based on the materials of the Penza region)

Koroleva Larisa Doctor of History Head of the Department at Penza State University of Architecture and Construction 28 Titova str., Penza, 440028, Russia la-koro@yandex.ru Other publications by this author

Personnel policy issues are being updated in crisis and difficult periods of society's development. In the USSR in the second half of the 1980s, the availability of qualified personnel was an indispensable condition for the successful implementation of the goals of "perestroika".

V. V. Alekseev ^[1], V. Ya. Bondar ^[2], G. A. Borshchevsky ^[3], E. I. Volgin ^[4], P. K. Goncharov ^[5], M. V. Kotlyarov ^[6] studied the experience, trends and contradictions of working with party personnel in the second half of the 1980s. P. V. Kuzmin, L. G. Khalanskaya ^[7], V. A. Yatskov ^[8] and others. Changes in party organizations, including personnel issues, in the conditions of "perestroika" directly in the Penza region were considered by O. V. Melnichenko ^[9], I. V. Seelev ^[10] and others. Foreign researchers actively addressed the topic of the Soviet nomenclature, the formation of the party elite, and personnel issues. Thus, Professor D. Lane of the University of Cambridge believed that the party-state elite was not united, it was a collection of multi-vector elites with separate spheres of influence, which were constantly replenished ^[11]. Professor of Political Science S. White argued that glasnost, the new electoral system of 1988, contributed to the development of real parliamentarism in the USSR ^[12].

At the January 1987 plenum of the Central Committee of the CPSU, it was emphasized that the success of perestroika crucially depended on how quickly and deeply the cadres realized the need for change, creatively and purposefully they would implement the party line. The XIX All-Union Party Conference also pointed out the fundamental importance of this provision. It was said at the conference that changes were taking place, but extremely slowly, since many party committees and party workers were not easily given the science of mastering new methods of work; not all of them were able to act in an environment of transparency and democracy.

One of the ways to solve these problems was to organize the training and retraining of highly qualified party personnel, taking into account new tasks and conditions. And until April 1985, great importance was attached to the selection, placement and education of personnel; these issues were discussed at plenums and bureau meetings, party meetings, conferences, etc.; leaders, activists, and the reserve for nomination were systematically trained. However, in solving personnel issues, subjectivism, overorganization, and formalism were often allowed; the preparation of the reserve was sometimes reduced to drawing up lists with the inclusion of obviously unacceptable candidates. B. I. Chernov, head of the department of organizational, party and personnel work of the Penza Regional Committee of the CPSU, noted in 1989 that "weak, detached from the opinion of the labor collective, knowledge of people, shallow study of political, business and moral qualities of personnel often led to the fact that people who did not have the necessary qualities for this became leaders, and sometimes and obviously unworthy" ^{[13, l. 11]}. So, during 1984-1988 in the Penza region, 70 heads of state farms and collective farms who failed to cope with their duties or compromised themselves were dismissed from their posts. In the state farm "Novy" of the Maloserdobinsky district, for example, 3 directors and most of the main specialists were replaced during this period. In March 1986, V. Kiselyov was appointed director of the state farm "Valovaisky" of the Pachelma district, who was dismissed from his post the following year as having failed to provide leadership. With a similar formulation, in 1987, after six months of work, the secretary of the party committee of the Pokrovsky state farm in the Pachelma district, A. Kolodkin, was dismissed. Turnover among the secretaries of the party organizations of collective farms and state farms of the region was quite high: every sixth of them was dismissed from his post for negative reasons.

It became a common practice to elect leaders of various ranks on a competitive basis, which gradually replaced the party principle of appointment – election to responsible positions ^{[3, pp. 6-7]}. Thus, in the region in 1987-1988, the first secretary of the Bashmakovsky district party committee, the secretary of the Bekovsky district committee of the CPSU, the secretaries of several Komsomol district committees, etc. were elected. Moreover, in some cases, those who were not recommended by higher authorities and nominated by labor collectives, or on their own initiative, were elected. The elections were accompanied by extensive discussions, debates of candidates, etc. And sometimes the main "instigators" were the Communists. So, it was at the request of party organizations that the directors of the state farm "Mokshansky" of the Mokshansky district and "Taneyevsky" of the Luninsky district, the head of the production and installation department "Volgoprom Ventilation" and others were dismissed from their posts, as unjustified by the trust placed in them.

In the spirit of developing democratic principles in the life of society, the Penza and Nizhnelomovsky City committees of the CPSU, the Bessonovsky and Issinsky district committees of the CPSU, etc., a number of party committees of primary organizations, when forming a reserve for nomination, submitted all candidates for open discussion in party organizations and labor collectives, if there were several candidates, a competition was announced. B. I. Chernov, Head of the Department of Organizational, Party and Personnel work of the Penza Regional Committee of the CPSU, described the promotion of personnel to the reserve in the Zarya production association as follows: "The result exceeded all expectations. The discussion of each candidate was active, principled and, most importantly, friendly. Those who refrained from being recommended to the reserve were comradely advised to show themselves better in business, harden their character, become more demanding, and think about studying" ^{[13, l. 13-14]}. Indeed, such a public formation of the personnel reserve allowed for a more objective assessment of people's leadership abilities, contributed to increasing the responsibility of the candidates themselves and the teams that nominated them.

However, granting grassroots party links and labor collectives the right to independently elect their leaders did not mean the elimination of control over the process by the regional committee, city committees and district committees of the CPSU. The Bureau of the Penza Regional Committee of the Party developed and approved a clear system for organizing work with personnel reserves, according to which an analysis of its qualitative composition was carried out, measures were developed to improve training, etc. The Kuznetsk and Penza city committees, Bessonovsky and Zheleznodorozhny district committees of the party drew up two- and three-year unified plans for working with personnel, constantly made forecasts of personnel movements and etc .

An effective means of monitoring the practical activities of personnel was systematic interviews with them with updating the characteristics of employees. So, in 1987-1988, 1,200 leaders passed such interviews, including in the regional party committee – almost 60% of those who were part of the regional committee's nomenclature. The Regional Committee of the CPSU conducted interviews with the secretaries of city and district party committees; city and district committees – with the secretaries of primary party organizations, heads of departments and other responsible party workers. As a result, 16 party employees were released as they did not correspond to their position. In order to more objectively assess the political maturity and business qualities of employees, the degree of their readiness to perform their duties in the conditions of "perestroika", since 1987, certification of employees of the regional committee, city committees, district committees of the CPSU, senior staff of the regional executive committee, the regional committee of people's control, the regional Council of the Prof, the regional Komsomol Committee has been introduced. By the beginning of 1988, about 30% of all responsible employees in the region had been certified.

The first secretary of the Penza Regional Party Committee, F. M. Kulikov, in the context of supporting the "perestroika" processes, ensured the stable work of the party apparatus. But the leadership understood that "it is especially difficult to psychologically rebuild those leaders who have been engaged for years in recruiting personnel and forming a reserve in private, in a narrow circle, behind closed doors," therefore, the regional committee set the task for party organizations to "patiently, but persistently and purposefully teach leaders democratic methods of leadership, openness and transparency in work" ^{[13, L. 15]}. The article of the Penza Regional Committee of the CPSU "To develop a new approach to the selection and training of personnel", prepared for the IPK AON under the Central Committee of the CPSU, stated bluntly: "It is clear that now no one will openly oppose broad democracy and transparency in working with personnel, against the electability of leaders. However, party organizations should be ready to stop any, even the slightest attempts to organize both the elections themselves and the nomination to the reserve, to make them ... a performance played out according to the scenario of one or another leader" ^{[13, L. 15-16]}. Indeed, the previous trends in the practice of the authorities remained largely unchanged on the ground. The Bureau of the Regional Committee of the CPSU recognized that "the processes of democratization, the development of new political methods of leadership of party committees, the elimination of the command and administrative style, the separation of functions of party and Soviet bodies are slow" ^{[13, l. 64]}. On February 12, the central newspaper Pravda published an article by a local correspondent E. Potlova with the telling title "Taming Glasnost" with sharp criticism of the Gorodishchensky district committee of the CPSU, which revealed shortcomings in his work on the selection and education of senior staff: "... The old cadres of stagnant times in many key posts of the middle posts are still strong. ... They will try to make the most of their strength and power in order to establish themselves, to wash out of the public consciousness the 2parase of free-thinking 2, to re-accustom to ostentatious discipline 2 the bottoms that were shaken by perestroika 2" ^[14].

At numerous meetings of party organizations, for example, the Penza Factory of toys and art products, the state farm "Neighborhood" of the Bashmakovsky district, etc., harsh criticism was voiced against the leadership for its penchant for party administration, commitment to the administrative and command style of leadership, underestimation of economic methods, comprehensive consideration of people's interests in making managerial decisions, etc.

The Central Committee of the CPSU paid great attention to the issues of Marxist-Leninist theoretical training, the essence of the modern strategy and policy of the party. The Penza Regional Committee of the party implemented a unified system of continuous party and political education of senior officials, which included training at the Academy of Social Sciences under the Central Committee of the CPSU, higher party schools, and advanced training courses. For example, in 1984-1988, 4 party workers graduated from the AON at the Central Committee of the CPMM in person and in absentia, and about 200 communists graduated from the Saratov Higher Party School (VPS). In 1989, 163 communists of the regional party organization studied at the Higher Party School; already 43% of the secretaries and 23% of the heads of departments of city and district committees had higher party political education. Students of the AON at the Central Committee of the CPSU and the Higher School of Economics were considered, as a rule, as potential party and Soviet workers for promotion to higher positions. Thus, V. N. Sadchikov, a graduate of the AON at the Central Committee of the CPSU, headed the editorial office of the newspaper Penzenskaya Pravda, the second secretary of the Bekovsky district committee of the CPSU, A. A. Pavlov, after graduating from the Higher School of Economics, was elected chairman of the district executive committee, the head of the organizational department of the Kolyshlei district committee of the CPSU, V. A. Mikhailova, was nominated to the apparatus of the regional committee of the CPSU, the secretary of the party committee of the Rudovsky state farm of the Bashmakovsky district, M. I. Molodtsova was elected secretary of the district party committee. 20% of graduates of advanced training courses for party, Soviet and ideological workers of the regional Committee of the CPSU were sent to more responsible Soviet-party and economic work.

About 580 people were trained annually at advanced training courses for party, Soviet and ideological workers of the regional Committee of the CPSU, since 1988 – 1,500 people. Highly qualified teachers – more than 60 doctors and candidates of sciences, 20-25 responsible employees of the regional Committee of the CPSU, the regional executive committee, heads of regional enterprises and departments - gave lectures and conducted seminars and practical classes at the courses. Such active forms of learning as "round tables", conversations, business games, logical blocks (i.e., allocating several school days to study a single main problem), etc. were widely used. For conducting field practical classes, the regional Committee of the CPSU has identified over 100 party committees and Councils of People's Deputies as the basic ones. So, on the example of the Oktyabrsky district of Penza, the experience of party organizations in party and political support for the restructuring of the economic mechanism was studied; in Kuznetsk - work with personnel; in Bessonovsky, Kuznetsky and Luninsky districts – party leadership of agro–industrial complexes; in the Zheleznodorozhny district of Penza – work with elected activists; in Tamalinsky district – the use of democratic principles in the work of local councils, etc.

Along with the courses, the University of Scientific and Technological Progress with specialization in economic sectors and the University of Marxism-Leninism under the regional Party Committee played a significant role in improving the skills of Soviet party personnel in the region. Special attention was paid to the schools of the reserve of personnel at the city and district committees of the party (Penza and Kuznetsky city committees, Luninsky district Committee of the CPSU, etc.). So, two faculties functioned at the reserve school at the Leninsky district Committee of the CPSU in Penza – party construction and personnel management. The program of the faculties included issues of effective economic management, work in a democratic and transparent environment, etc. Of the 360 graduates of the school, the vast majority received new offers. For example, the head of the department of the Gipromash Institute, Yu. N. Shlyapnikov, became its director, the head of the workshop, D. N. Zaitsev, Deputy general director of the Electromechanika production association, etc.

The study of key issues of "perestroika" based on the analysis of regional socio-economic conditions, advanced training of Soviet party personnel was facilitated by the annual scientific and practical conferences, field meetings and seminars held in the region. For example, in the work on improving the educational process at courses at the Regional Committee of the CPSU, improving its effectiveness, the regional Party Committee maintained close contacts with the Institute for Advanced Training of Leading Party, Soviet and Ideological Cadres of the AON at the Central Committee of the CPSU, with the Saratov Higher Party School. For example, in May 1988, together with the Saratov Higher School of Economics, a scientific and practical conference "Moral education of workers in the conditions of perestroika and acceleration of socio-economic development of the country" was held, where the second secretary of the regional party committee A. F. Kovlyagin, head of the Department of Scientific Communism of the Saratov Higher School of Economics, Doctor of Philosophy, Professor V. A. Shabalin and others spoke. In 1989, the scientific and practical conference "Party work - to the level of the requirements of the XIX All-Union Party Conference" was held.

Despite all the measures taken, not all party workers understood the essence of "perestroika" and adequately responded to the demands of the current moment, and as a result, the CPSU lost its position, including at the regional level. Thus, according to the results of a 1989 sociological survey in the city of Kuznetsk with the second largest party organization in the region after Penza, it showed that respondents did not see real changes in "perestroika"; 35% of respondents noted an increase in glasnost, 17% in demands; about 30% indicated that the urban communists could not become an avant–garde force ^{[15, L. 7]}.

Thus, the Soviet party leadership of the country, starting the "perestroika", sought to maintain the continuity of its course, including personnel policy. The system of training and advanced training of personnel was systematic and comprehensive. But calls for renewal on the ground have not always been supported by the conservative attitudes of local authorities.