ABSTRACT
The Twenty-Seventh Congress in fact climaxed one of the most decisive transition periods in Soviet political history. The inquiry begins with an account of the remarkably enduring generation of leaders who dominated Soviet political life from the purges of the 1930s down to the 1980s. The post-purge generation of the "class of '38" shared a unique set of characteristics. The post-purge officialdom was, by virtue of its origin, experience, and ossification in office, conservative and self-protective in its reflexes. By capitalizing on the practicality and acceptability of bureaucratizing the party from top to bottom, Joseph Stalin rapidly built the personal power base from which he would eventually challenge and destroy his rivals among the revolutionary notables. The circular flow of power slowed down, job-tenure membership in the elite was confirmed, and participatory bureaucracy brought the status-quo interests of the upper officialdom strongly into the policy-making process.
