Iaroslav Kovalchuk1; 1 University of Alberta, Canada
Discussion
Bolshevik criticism and self-criticism were crucial practices in which Soviet Communists were supposed to participate occasionally. Communists were expected to expose problems and publicly demonstrate their responsibility for failures. However, the party leadership was interested in controlling party members, not in genuine criticism that could threaten its power. However, rank-and-file members and local party leaders could use Bolshevik criticism to achieve their goals.
Using Transcarpathian and Lviv party oblast committees (obkoms) as case studies, I present how Communists could participate in Bolshevik criticism differently. Notably, some Communists tried to challenge regional party bosses through allowed forms of public criticism. That is what happened when Communists Polukhin and Perehudov criticized the first secretary of the Lviv obkom, Ivan Hrushetskyi. At the same time, party bosses could publicly criticize their subordinates to reinforce their power. That was the approach of the first secretary of Transcarpathian obkom, Ivan Kompanets, who disciplined the local communists through Bolshevik criticism.
