1945-1953 - Politburo

• The membership of the Politburo in 1945 was almost the same as it had been in 1939 but from 1945, the Politburo rarely met as a full group.
• Stalin preferred to deal with people individually or in small groups.

  • That way, he knew everything that was going on and the connections between different policies.
  • It also enabled Stalin to play people off against each other and encourage rivalry between the other leading Communists who would then look to him for support or affirmation.
• Stalin was paranoid about threats emanating from anywhere, even those in the Politburo.
• To send the message that no one was above suspicion, Stalin expelled Molotov's wife from the Party in December 1949 and then arrested in January 1950.

  • Molotov apologised to Stalin for having abstained in the vote to expel his wife from the party and he made no attempt to intercede on her behalf to try and secure her release.