The Rural Communist Party Cell 1929–32

Abstract

As the rural socialised economy expanded and the number of production-economic units multiplied during the first Five Year Plan, particularly in 1929–31, the communist party organisation turned ‘face to production’ and it was the party cells which were most involved in and affected by this innovation. This chapter considers how the rural party cells reacted organisationally to their new working environment and concentrates on a number of principal features: the massive increase in cell numbers in the attempt to keep pace with the rapidly expanding collective farm sector; the increased complexity and sophistication in the structure of cells, as they endeavoured to adapt to new conditions; and the problems encountered in the above processes.