ABSTRACT
Most of the material offered on the pages that follow depends upon quantitative measures of evolving Politburo affairs. At best, the empirical findings will add some new insights into Politburo affairs that were not previously perceived by historical and political analysts. The incumbent members of the Politburo have their NOMENKLATURA list of possible appointees to all high national offices. Western economists have dubbed the Soviet Union a "command economy." It is a command society, in which nothing is outside of the purview of the Politburo. To the degree that it is possible, the members of the Politburo attempt to engineer the whole of the citizens' lives. The members of the Politburo continuously spend much of their effort making speeches and writing tracts expressing their view of a Soviet common will, but always with the premise that Soviet values and goals are rooted in the Marxist-Leninist "science of society."
