1923 Nomenklatura System

Inf

Nomenklatura: a formal list of about 5500 designated party and governmental posts.

Getting into the system was by invitation only. They sought to recruit:

• ‘elite’
• loyal
• dedicated (to the party + leader)

The system was very rigged, and created a series of yes-men loyalists who agreed with everything Lenin said.

• This tightened the one-party state internally, and definitely got rid of factionalism
• Stalin would later use this technique to win leadership of the Bolshevik party

Creating a separate group of ‘elites’ defeated the point of communism, but at that point the Bolsheviks began to see themselves as cultured leaders of the illiterate peasants.