ABSTRACT
Throughout several decades of Soviet history, the highest organs of Communist Party power, most notably the Politburo, formulated and implemented the principal state policies. The Politburo initiated not only state terror but also those reforms, from NEP to the “thaw” to perestroika, that ultimately brought about the present changes to the political system in Russia. Contemporary Russian society bears the heavy influence ofthe old governing style epitomized by the Politburo.
