Communist Party of the Soviet Union (TheodoresTomfooleries)
Communist Party of the Soviet Union Коммунистическая партия Советского Союза | |
|---|---|
 The Hammer and sickle and Red star is often used as a symbol of the CPSU. | |
| Abbreviation | CPSU |
| General Secretary | Sabrican Garayev |
| Founded | March 8, 1918 |
| Split from | Russian Social Democratic Labour Party |
| Preceded by | RSDLP |
| Headquarters | 4 Starya Square, Moscow |
| Newspaper | Pravda |
| Youth wing | Little Octobrists (Ages 7-9) Young Pioneers (Ages 9-14) Komsomol (Ages 14 - 28) |
| Membership (2019) |  21,320,201 |
| Ideology | Marxism-Leninism |
| Political position | Far-left |
| Slogan | Workers of the world, unite! |
| Anthem | The Internationale |
| Election symbol | |
| File:Hammer_and_Sickle_and_Star.svg | |
| Party flag | |
| File:Wip | |
| Website | |
| en.cpsu.su | |
The Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU), is the ruling party of the Soviet Union. As a Marxist-Leninist party, the CPSU is a vanguardist party, who's responsibilities are "to represent the interests of the working class, ... but not for the daily grievances of the classes". As the de-facto only legal party in the CPSU, the CPSU holds a monopoly over politics in the Soviet Union, though non-partisan candidates are allowed to run.
The CPSU traces its roots back to the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party, itself a merger of several Marxist and socialist parties operating in the Russian Empire. Vladimir Lenin joined the party in 1903 and quickly divided the party between the Bolsheviks, the "majority", and the Mensheviks, the "minority". The parties officially split from one another in May 1917, with the Bolshevik faction later going on to start the October Revolution. The Mensheviks, who tended to consist of more moderate Marxists such as democratic socialists opposed the Bolsheviks in the Russian Civil War. Following the end of the Civil War, and Lenin's death, the RSDLP(B), renamed the Russian Communist Party (B) renamed itself as the All-Union Communist Party(B) and finally as the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.
The CPSU is not the sole legal party of the entire Soviet Union, as each Soviet Republic has their own regional party, but they are all tied to the CPSU and affiliated heavily with the central government.