The 18th Congress of the Russian Communist Party (Bolsheviks) was held during 10-21 March 1939 in Moscow. It elected the 18th Central Committee.
This is the first Congress to be dominated by the "purified" leadership of the Soviet Union after the Great Purge. This would be the last one held for over a decade.
In the report on the work of the 17th Central Committee of the Communist Party Stalin outlined important aspects of the foreign policy of the USSR, particularly its disappointment with the western democracies and their failure to adopt the policy of collective security advocated by Soviet foreign minister Maxim Litvinov. Shortly after this, Stalin dismissed Litvinov and appointed Vyacheslav Molotov, a move that led to the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact and a temporary understanding with Nazi Germany.
References
- ^ Report on the Work of the Central Committee to the Eighteenth Congress of the C.P.S.U.(B.) by J. V. Stalin, Delivered March 10, 1939.
External links
- Eighteenth Congress of the CPSU (Bolshevik) in The Great Soviet Encyclopedia, 3rd Edition (1970-1979).