Introduction

Abstract

The XXVIII Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) was held on July 2–13, 1990 against the background of fast-moving political developments and a highly unstable situation. For some commentators it was seen as possibly the last congress for the CPSU as a ruling party in the Soviet Union, for others it was to be no less than the funeral of the party and of communism. The very significance of the Congress was itself a matter of contention amongst the various currents of political opinion in the USSR. For reformers it was a chance for Gorbachev to rescue perestroika and to secure the continued development of the reform process. For the most outspoken radicals the reform process had already by-passed the party, with the CPSU conducting its deliberations in limbo, cut off from the real political processes in the country. For conservatives the Congress was an opportunity to reverse the slide into disorder and anarchy. At no time since the 1920s had a party congress convened against a background of such uncertainty regarding the fate of the party and the USSR itself.