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From the Predominant to the Dominant Leader, 1930–53

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Collective Leadership in Soviet Politics

Part of the book series: Palgrave Studies in Political Leadership ((PSPL))

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Abstract

The central theme of this chapter is how the predominant leader model of collective leadership was transformed into a dominant leader model of collective leadership. It focuses less on the personality of the oligarchs than on the development of the institutional structures and the rules which emerged to govern the conduct of oligarch politics. It charts this through four sub-periods: 1930–34 when Stalin was a predominant leader, 1935–41 when he was a dominant leader and was involved closely in political life, 1941–45 war-time period when his dominance remained exercised through the collective and 1945–53 when he was dominant but distant and the principal arena of oligarch politics, the Politburo, did not function as a collective body. The dominant leader model of collective leadership was very different from the predominant leader model.

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  1. Department of Government and International Relations, University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia

    Graeme Gill

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  1. Graeme Gill
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Gill, G. (2018). From the Predominant to the Dominant Leader, 1930–53. In: Collective Leadership in Soviet Politics. Palgrave Studies in Political Leadership. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-76962-2_4

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