ABSTRACT
This chapter intends to probe and test the practice of Party histories serving as histories of all of the evolving patterns of Soviet society by studying the most influential histories of the Party. A Commission on the History of the October Revolution and the History of the Communist Party, was founded in September 1920 in the thick of the Civil War. From 1923 until 1938, when Joseph Stalin ordered and edited The Short Course, waging intra-Party warfare was the main function of producing Party histories. Stalin's name was largely absent from the authoritative Party histories of the mid-1920s. The Short Course reduced Soviet history to Party history and it reduced Party history to the struggle against 'opportunism' of every shade. Party History scathingly points out that the 'reverses on the Polish front in August 1920 were largely due to the mistakes made by the Soviet command. Party History offers its readers a more accurate idea of the alternative proposals.
