ABSTRACT
Joseph Stalin undoubtedly undermined efforts to bring about a "renaissance of Leningrad," either out of distaste for the former imperial capital or distrust of that city's powerful political machine. The purges of the Leningrad Affair consumed a local political elite that had emerged under the sponsorship of Sergei Kirov during the late 1920s and early 1930s. Stalin's personal animus, the pressures of collectivization, the reorientation of the Soviet industrial system towards Moscow and the East all made their contributions to Leningrad's transformation from a world city to a provincial center; all were apparent before the Second World War. Political as well as social forces at work throughout the Soviet Union took on unique significance within the Leningrad environment, dashing efforts to stave off the provincialization of a former world center. While the relative weight of Leningrad party membership within the national Communist Party organization declined, the composition of the Leningrad party itself was undergoing considerable change.
