ABSTRACT
This chapter looks at the internal dynamics of the Politburo and suggests that rather than one Politburo there were in fact a variety of distinct 'politburos' in the late Stalin period. It suggests that a political system as hierarchic as Stalinism required an image of unity and authority at its apex. Over the 1930s the Politburo was pummelled into an instrument of Stalinist rule: what once had been a crucible of political struggle had turned, by World War II, into a tractable committee of Stalin's friends and accessories. By contrast with the Council of Ministers, the Politburo carried out a discrete set of institutional responsibilities which included control of foreign affairs, security matters and organisational issues. After the war Stalin experimented with a variety of organisational forms for the Politburo. This diversity and the diminutive proportions of the smaller politburos enabled Stalin to convert his cabinet into a responsive and flexible instrument of rule.
