In the period from December 2 to 19, 1927, the Fifteenth Congress of the CPSU (B.) Was held in Moscow, attended by 1669 deputies who received the right to represent the almost 900-thousand army of the country's Communists and another 350 thousand candidates for membership in the party, which individually seized in their hands all the fullness of power.
Advances in International Politics
Despite the fact that formally its agenda, which included reports of the Central Committee, as well as a number of commissions and committees, did not differ much from those that became the basis for the work of most subsequent party forums, it was this composition of deputies who were destined to take a number of decisions that largely determined all subsequent history of the state.
Having listened to the political report of the Central Committee made by I.V. Stalin, the 15th Congress of the CPSU (B.) Noted that, despite the complexity of the international situation, it was possible to significantly strengthen the power of the USSR, increase its role in maintaining peace, and also achieve tangible progress on the organization of the world revolutionary movement.
The last point was especially emphasized, since in those years the prospect of establishing communist rule on the whole earth was still seriously considered. At the same time, endorsing the foreign and domestic policies pursued by the Central Committee, the congress instructed to further strengthen the country's defense capabilities and strengthen ties with workers of foreign countries in every way.
Domestic Political Issues
Thus completing the consideration of issues related to international politics and expressing readiness to render all possible assistance to the world proletariat in getting rid of exploitation, the deputies turned to domestic affairs, which were also reflected in Stalin's report. In it, he noted, in particular, that during the reporting period, the country “confidently moved forward along the path indicated by Lenin.”
Encouraging statistics
Behind this phrase, which later became a propaganda cliché born at the 15th Congress of the Communist Party, quite real indicators were hidden. In particular, industry increased its share in the national economy — by 1926, its income was 39%. For comparison, we can say that two years ago this figure did not exceed 32%.
The heavy industry made a significant breakthrough, in which new industries appeared, such as mechanical engineering, turbine engineering, machine tool engineering, the chemical industry, and aircraft manufacturing. The process of nationalization of industrial enterprises was completed, which contributed to the displacement of the capitalist element. This is eloquently indicated by the indicators of the volume of gross output issued by the private sector. During the reporting period, it decreased from 40% to 24%, which was also noted by deputies of the 15th congress of the CPSU (b)
The course towards collectivization
However, along with these obvious successes, the issue related to the organization of agriculture remained unresolved. In the pace of its development, this area lagged significantly behind industry. Party ideologists saw the cause of this phenomenon primarily in the struggle unfolding between the socialist and capitalist tendencies that swept the countryside.
The fact is that while in the cities, by the period of the 15th Congress of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks, production relations prevailed, formed on the basis of the Leninist principles pursued by the party, the village still continued to live in the old fashion, that is, focusing solely on the privately owned economy. As a result, an increase in agricultural output by 4–5 times was inferior to similar indicators in industry, which prevented the satisfaction of an ever-increasing need for food.
In this connection, the need arose to carry out comprehensive reforms aimed at radically restructuring production relations in agriculture and creating a solid socialist base in it. This was the main task of the 15th congress of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks. The course toward collectivization proclaimed by its deputies was to ensure the crowding out of small-scale peasant farms by powerful production complexes created on the basis of joint land use and ownership of all productive means.
Finding the reasons for the backlog in agriculture
At the same time, the resolution passed on this issue by the congress provided for an irreconcilable struggle against all who could directly or indirectly oppose the planned reforms. Since the landowners as a class long ceased to exist, the role of the enemies of progress in agriculture went to the fists, that is, the most hardworking and successful part of the peasantry.
Representatives of this social stratum, having managed to raise production to the proper level, significantly exceeded the standard of living of their fellow villagers, which caused envy and hatred in them. This is precisely what the Communists took to implement the plans for the socialization of peasant farms.
Disposal of money - a gloomy page in Russian history
Directly during the work of the Fifteenth Congress of the CPSU (B.), A course was declared against the kulaks. The success of this trend in domestic politics was previously ensured, since in this case the multi-million peasant poor who had nothing, and therefore could not lose, became the ally of the Communists, while the kulaks lost everything that they had acquired through hard and many years of work.
Thus, strong kulak farms, which provided the bulk of food supplies, were ruined, and the collective farms formed in their place could not feed a multimillion-dollar country. As a result, famine began, the main victims of which were the peasants themselves, since all the products they produced were mercilessly seized and sent to the cities to the need of the growing and gaining strength proletariat.
Political opponents of Stalin
In addition to developing directions in foreign policy and collectivization of agriculture, there was another important topic raised at the 15th congress of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks. The date of its discovery went down in history as the beginning of the struggle with the so-called Trotskyist-Zinoviev opposition. This was an extremely important moment in the history of the country, as it gave a new impetus to the destruction of all domestic political opponents.
At the proposal of the Central Control Commission of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks (the Central Control Commission was abbreviated as follows), the agenda of the congress included the issue of the anti-Party bloc that a few years earlier had more than a hundred members and was headed by L.D. Trotsky and G.E. Zinoviev. At first, scattered, and then merged together, its participants waged a purposeful struggle against the course taken by the party, at the head of which Stalin was firmly established.
Political Heretics
In the eyes of ordinary communists, their activities seemed to be a real heresy, since supporters of Trotsky and Zinoviev questioned the possibility of building a healthy socialist society in a single country — be it the USSR or another state — and, worst of all, they tried to revise Lenin’s teachings, pointing to there are contradictions. The very presence of these “political renegades” in the party ranks - as official propaganda subsequently dubbed them - violated the unity of its ranks. Urgent action was required.
In this regard, a resolution was entered into the resolution of the 15th Congress of the CPSU (b) stating that persons belonging to the Trotsky-Zinoviev opposition cannot continue to be in the ranks of the Communist Party, therefore their membership in it is suspended. In response to this, the opposition members present at the congress made a statement on the cessation of the factional struggle and full submission to decisions emanating from the leading party bodies. However, they made a reservation that they reserve the right to adhere to their former political views.
The defeat of the opposition
For a more detailed study of materials related to the activities of the anti-party bloc, a commission was created within the framework of the congress, the work of which was headed by G. K. Ordzhonikidze. Having examined all aspects of the case, its members came to the conclusion that, from an ideological point of view, the activities of the above group are programmatic in nature, and tactically went beyond the scope of party discipline.
In general, according to the commission, there were all the signs of anti-Soviet activity, responsibility for which is provided for in the relevant articles of the law. At this stage, by a decision of the 15th congress of the CPSU (b), all members of the bloc were expelled from the party, and later declared enemies of the people and, for the most part, shot. Their ideological inspirer L.D. Trotsky was forced to leave the country, but in 1940 he was killed as a result of an assassination attempt committed in the Mexican city of Coyoacan by the NKVD agent Ramon Mercader.
Such are the results of this congress, which laid the foundation for the actual destruction by centuries of the existing class of the working peasantry of the country and the beginning of mass political repression.