The Central Committee of the 17th Congress of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks) sat from 10 February 1934 until the convening of the 18th Congress on 10 March 1939. Its 1st Plenary Session elected the Politburo, Secretariat and Orgburo. The 17th Congress was labelled the "Congress of Victors" to mark the success of the first five-year plan and the collectivization of agriculture. The CC 1st Plenary Session elected Joseph Stalin General Secretary of the Central Committee, and Lazar Kaganovich continued to serve as Stalin's deputy, an informal post referred to by Sovietologists as Second Secretary, and was empowered to manage party business and sign Politburo resolutions when Stalin was away from Moscow.

This Central Committee composition saw the de-formalisation of politics; for example, the number of Politburo meetings was reduced to 16 for the year of 1934. Politburo decisions were made either by polling the members or informal meeting between Stalin and other Politburo members. According to Ukrainian historian Oleg Khlevniuk the "procedures followed by the Politburo became increasingly simplified as it was transformed from a collective body into an appendage of a decision-making system that rested on Stalin's sole authority. According to Vadim Rogovin, "During the period of the Great Purge, the rights of the Central Committee and its members were restricted even more", noting that CC members lost the right to attend Politburo sessions or being informed on the decisions taken by the Politburo, Secretariat or the Orgburo. When looking back, Nikita Khrushchev lamented the situation; "by 1938, the earlier democracy in the Central Committee had already been greatly undermined. For instance, as a candidate member of the Politburo, I did not receive materials of our sessions. ... I received only the material which Stalin sent to me on his own orders."

Of the 139 full members and candidate members elected at the 17th Party Congress, 98 people were killed in the period 1936–1940. Of these 44 (out of 71) were full members, while 55 (out of 68) were candidate members. Of those arrested, over 80 percent of them were below the age of 50. When the 18th Party Congress convened in 1939, 31 individuals remained in the Central Committee. Of these, seven were not reelected, and of them five were pensioned or relieved of leading offices (Grigory Petrovsky, Gleb Krzhizhanovsky, Grigory Broydo, Mikhail Chuvyrin and Isaak Schwartz) while Tikhon Yurkin and Avraami Zavenyagin were reelected to the CC at the 19th Party Congress (in 1952) and the 20th Party Congress (in 1956) respectively. Of the 24 reelected at the 18th Party Congress, four would be subject to violent repression (Mikhail Kaganovich in 1941, Solomon Lozovsky in 1952, Lavrentiy Beria in 1953 and Mir Jafar Baghirov in 1956). Klavdiya Nikolayeva became the only CC member who had previously been active in intra-party opposition to survive the purge.

When asked in an interview how the Central Committee approved its own destruction (the decision to expel a member from the CC or for a member to be arrested by the authorities had to be approved by the CC itself through a plenary session), Vyacheslav Molotov replied; "In the first place, on democratic centralism—Listen, it did not happen that a minority expelled a majority. It happened gradually. Seventy expelled 10–15 people, then 60 expelled another 15. All in line with majority and minority. ... Essentially, it happened that a minority of the composition of the TsK [CC] remained of this majority, but without formal violation [of democratic centralism]." According to J. Arch Getty and Oleg Naumov the CC "In the name of party unity and with a desperate feeling of corporate self-preservation, the nomenklatura committed suicide." However, there were some within the CC who breached party tradition and spoke against the purges, such as Grigory Kaminsky and Osip Piatnitsky for example.

Plenums The CC was not a permanent institution. The CC was convened for fourteen plenary sessions between the 17th Congress and the 18th Congress. When the CC was not in session, decision-making powers were transferred to inner bodies of the CC itself; the Politburo, Secretariat and Orgburo (none of these bodies were permanent either, but convened to decide on crucial matters).

+ Plenary sessions of the Central Committee Plenum Date Length 1st Plenary Session 10 February 1934 1 day 2nd Plenary Session 29 June – 1 July 1934 3 days 3rd Plenary Session 25–28 November 1934 4 days 4th Plenary Session 1 February 1935 1 day 5th Plenary Session 28 February 1935 1 day 6th Plenary Session 5–7 June 1935 3 days 7th Plenary Session 21–25 December 1935 5 days 8th Plenary Session 1–4 June 1936 4 days 9th Plenary Session 4, 7 July 1936 2 days 10th Plenary Session 23 February – 5 March 1937 12 days 11th Plenary Session 26–29 June 1937 4 days 12th Plenary Session 11–12 October 1937 2 days 13th Plenary Session 11, 14, 18, 20 January 1938 4 days 14th Plenary Session 9–11 January 1938 3 days

Apparatus Individuals employed by Central Committee's bureaus, departments and newspapers made up the apparatus between the 17th Congress and the 18th Congress. The bureaus and departments were supervised by the Secretariat, and each secretary (member of the Secretariat) supervised a specific department. The leaders of departments were officially referred to as Heads, while the titles of bureau leaders varied between chairman, first secretary and secretary.

+Central Committee Apparatus of the 17th Congress of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks) Institution Leader Cyrillic Took office Left office Length of tenure Nationality Gender Administrator of Affairs Тимофей Самсонов 10 February 1934 1935 Russian Male Иван Лычев 1935 May 1938 Russian Male Дмитрий Крупин May 1938 22 March 1939 Russian Male Agriculture Department Андрей Жданов 3 March 1934 10 April 1934 Russian Male Я́ков Я́ковлев 10 April 1934 1936 Jewish Male Bolshevik Алексе́й Сте́цкий 10 February 1934 26 April 1938 Ukrainian Male Cultural and Educational Work Department Алекса́ндр Щербако́в 13 May 1935 1936 Russian Male Алексей Ангаров 1936 July 1937 Russian Male Industrial Department Николай Ежов 3 March 1934 3 March 1935 Russian Male Андрей Андреев 3 March 1935 13 May 1937 Russian Male Михаил Целищев 13 May 1937 September 1937 Russian Male Leninist Culture and Propaganda Department Алексей Стецкий 10 February 1934 13 May 1935 Russian Male Planning, Finance and Trade Department Андрей Жданов 10 April 1934 1934 Russian Male Карл Бауман 1934 20 January 1938 Latvian Male Political-Administrative Department Яков Брезановский 10 March 1934 February 1935 Polish Male Осип Пятницкий 19 August 1935 7 July 1937 Russian Male Pravda Лев Мехлис 10 February 1934 4 September 1937 Jewish Male Press and Publications Department Борис Таль 13 May 1935 4 September 1937 Azerbaijani Male Лев Мехлис 4 September 1937 2 January 1938 Jewish Male Александр Никитин 2 January 1938 21 November 1938 Russian Male Propaganda Department Алексей Стецкий 13 May 1935 26 April 1938 Russian Male Андрей Жданов 21 November 1938 22 March 1939 Russian Male Science and Scientific-technological Discoveries Department Карл Бауман 13 May 1935 14 April 1937 Latvian Male School Department Борис Волин 13 May 1935 1936 Russian Male Special Sector Александр Поскрёбышев 10 February 1934 22 March 1939 Russian Male Transportation Department Лазарь Каганович 10 March 1934 9 July 1935 Jewish Male Николай Зимин 9 July 1935 10 September 1938 Russian Male

Composition Members +Members of the Central Committee of the 17th Congress of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks) Name Cyrillic 16th CC 18th CC Nationality Gender Portrait Пётр Алексеев 1877 1936 1914 Russian Male Андрей Андреев 1895 1971 1914 Russian Male Николай Антипов 1894 1938 1912 Russian Male Алексей Бадаев 1883 1951 1904 Russian Male Мир Багиров 1896 1956 1917 Azerbaijani Male Всеволод Балицкий 1892 1937 1915 Ukrainian Male Карл Бауман 1892 1937 1907 Latvian Male Лавре́нтий Бе́рия 1899 1953 1917 Georgian Male Василий Блюхер 1899 1938 1916 Russian Male Андрей Бубнов 1884 1938 1903 Russian Male Николай Булганин 1895 1975 1917 Russian Male Антон Булин 1894 1938 1914 Russian Male Михаил Чернов 1891 1938 1920 Ukrainian Male Влас Чубар 1891 1939 1907 Ukrainian Male Михаил Чудов 1893 1937 1913 Russian Male Михаил Чувырин 1883 1947 1903 Russian Male Роберт Эйхе 1890 1940 1905 Latvian Male А́вель Енуки́дзе 1877 1937 1898 Georgian Male Ян Гамарник 1894 1937 1916 Jewish Male Владимир Иванов 1893 1938 1915 Russian Male Акмаль Икрамов 1898 1938 1918 Uzbek Male Ураз Исаев 1899 1938 1920 Kazakh Male Иван Кабаков 1891 1937 1914 Russian Male Лазарь Каганович 1893 1991 1911 Jewish Male Михаил Каганович 1888 1941 1905 Jewish Male Михаил Калинин 1875 1946 1898 Russian Male Лаврентий Картвелишвили 1890 1938 1910 Georgian Male Мендель Хатаевич 1893 1937 1913 Russian Male Никита Хрущёв 1894 1971 1918 Russian Male Серге́й Ки́ров 1886 1934 1904 Russian Male Вильгельм Кнорин 1890 1938 1910 Latvian Male Иван Кодацкий 1893 1937 1914 Ukrainian Male Александр Косарев 1903 1939 1919 Russian Male Иосиф Косиор 1889 1937 1908 Polish Male Станислав Косиор 1889 1939 1907 Polish Male Наде́жда Кру́пская 1869 1939 1898 Russian Female Александр Криницкий 1894 1937 1915 Russian Male Глеб Кржижано́вский 1872 1959 1898 Russian Male Михаил Кульков 1891 1939 1915 Russian Male Валериан Куйбышев 1888 1935 1904 Russian Male Дмитрий Лебедь 1893 1937 1904 Russian Male Макси́м Литви́нов 1876 1951 1898 Lithuanian Male Семён Лобов 1888 1937 1913 Russian Male Соломон Лозовский 1892 1952 1901 Jewish Male Исидор Любимов 1882 1937 1902 Russian Male Иван Макаров 1888 1949 1905 Russian Male Дмитро Мануїльський 1883 1959 1903 Ukrainian Male Лев Ме́хлис 1889 1953 1918 Jewish Male Валерий Межлаук 1893 1938 1917 Latvian Male Михаил Михайлов 1902 1938 1919 Russian Male Анаста́с Микоя́н 1895 1978 1915 Armenian Male Левон Мирзоян 1887 1939 1917 Armenian Male Вячеслав Молотов 1890 1986 1906 Russian Male Клавдия Николаева 1893 1944 1909 Russian Female Иван Носов 1888 1937 1905 Russian Male Григо́рий Орджоники́дзе 1886 1937 1903 Georgian Male Николай Пахомов 1890 1938 1912 Russian Male Григо́рій Петро́вський 1878 1958 1898 Ukrainian Male Осип Пятницкий 1882 1938 1898 Russian Male Григо́рій Петро́вський 1887 1939 1904 Russian Male Эдуард Прамнэк 1899 1938 1917 Lithuanian Male Георгий Пятаков 1890 1937 1910 Russian Male Михаил Разумов 1894 1937 1913 Ukrainian Male Ян Рудзутак 1887 1938 1905 Latvian Male Моисей Рухимович 1889 1938 1913 Russian Male Иван Румянцев 1886 1937 1905 Russian Male Кузьма Рындин 1893 1938 1915 Russian Male Борис Шеболдаев 1895 1937 1914 Russian Male Николай Шверник 1888 1970 1905 Russian Male Пётр Смородин 1897 1938 1917 Russian Male Ио́сиф Ста́лин 1878 1953 1898 Georgian Male Алексей Стецкий 1896 1938 1915 Russian Male Даниил Сулимов 1890 1937 1905 Russian Male Александр Угаров 1900 1939 1917 Russian Male Константин Уханов 1891 1937 1907 Russian Male Иосиф Варейкис 1894 1938 1913 Lithuanian Male Климент Ворошилов 1881 1969 1903 Russian Male Я́ков Я́ковлев 1896 1938 1913 Jewish Male Генрих Ягода 1891 1938 1907 Russian Male Иона Якир 1896 1937 1917 Moldovan Male Ефи́м Евдоки́мов 1891 1940 1918 Russian Male Николай Ежов 1895 1940 1917 Russian Male Исаак Зеленский 1890 1937 1906 Jewish Male Андрей Жданов 1896 1948 1915 Russian Male Иван Жуков 1889 1937 1909 Russian Male

Candidates