The 14th congress, “industrial congress”, of the all-Union Communist party of Bolsheviks opened

From 18 to 31 December, 1925 in the Andrey Hall of the Great Kremlin palace in Moscow took place the 14th congress of the Russian Communist party of Bolsheviks.

In the congress participated over 1.300 delegates representing over 1 million communist of the country. During the congress were discussed the perspectives of the Soviet state and its economics. There was set a task to transform the USSR “from a country importing machines and equipment to a country producing them”. In order to achieve this goal it was needed to develop the national economy applying new methods along with modern techniques and technologies. The industrialization was also related to the strengthening of defense potential of the USSR.

On the first day of the congress the Secretary General of the party’s Central Committee I.V. Stalin made a political report where he evaluated the international and domestic position of the Soviet state and determined the perspectives of its development. One of the main objectives was to make agrarian Russian an industrial country, ensure its economical independence in the capitalist environment.

The new rules of the party adopted during the congress under the report of A.A. Andreev fixed various conditions for joining the party by persons from different social levels. The role of the Central Committee and the Secretary General deepened. The new rules legalized factory party groups and party organizations in the army.

The 14th congress decided to rename the communist party from the Russian to the All-Union one – the All-Union Communist party of Bolsheviks.

The 14th congress of the party went down to history as a congress of industrialization. The decision made during the congress made a start for transforming the USSR in a powerful industrial country. The most important industrial facilities of the period were the Dnieper Hydroelectric Station (the biggest one in Europe of the time), the Stalingrad tractor factory, the Turkestan-Siberian Railway, the Metallurgical Complex of Magnitogorsk, etc. By the end of the thirties a peasant country became a state producing its own machines and equipment. However this objective resulted from the political regime toughening and an enormous tension of forces.

Lit.: История Всесоюзной коммунистической партии (большевиков). М., 1945; Сталин И. В. Cочинения. Т. 7. М., 1952. С. 261-352; Четырнадцатый съезд ВКП (б) // Большая советская энциклопедия. М., 1978. Т. 29.