Politburo of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union

This article is missing information about the history of the Politburo from 1953 to 1991. Please expand the article to include this information. Further details may exist on the talk page. (November 2021)

Politburo of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union Политбюро ЦК Коммунистической партии Советского Союза.
Emblem of the CPSU
History
Founded	October 1917 (1917-10)
Disbanded	26 December 1991 (1991-12-26)
Leadership
General Secretary	Joseph Stalin (1922–1953) (first) Mikhail Gorbachev (1985–1990) (last)
Elected by	Central Committee
Responsible to	Central Committee
Seats	Varied
Meeting place
Kremlin Senate, Moscow, Russian SFSR[1][2]

The Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union,^[a] abbreviated Politbureau CC CPSS^[b] or simply Politbureau,^[c] was the highest political body of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union and de facto a collective presidency of the USSR.^[3] It was founded in October 1917, and refounded in March 1919, at the 8th Congress of the Bolshevik Party. It was known as the Presidium from 1952 to 1966. The Politburo's authority was significantly undermined during the August coup and subsequently ended three months later upon its dissolution in 1991.^[3]

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