Nomenklatura (1923 onwards)

• A list of 5,500 party and government posts were drawn up in 1923.
• The holders of these posts could only be appointed by approval of the Central Committee.

  • Loyalty counted much more than expertise.
• Party members keen on promotion therefore did not challenge or debate the decisions of the leadership.

  • They were rewarded with special privileges such as better housing.
• The nomenklatura was a further step in the increasing centralisation of control within the Communist Party.

  • Alongside the "ban on factions", this made it very difficult to raise objections to the decisions of the Politburo.