Regional Party Conferences

Based on published and unpublished documents, the paper analyses the process and results of elections to the Leningrad Regional Committee of the CPSU in the first half of 1960s and second half of 1970s. Relying on formal criteria proposed by Central Committee of VKP(b) in first post-war years, the author concludes about significant influence of formal approach in formation of governing party body of regional level. A degree of pre-determination increased from the first half of the 1960s to the turn of the 1970s and 1980s. In addition, a policy of quotas based on gender, job, professional, or social characteristics was put in place. At the same time, the authorities have had to respond to the demands of the times, which is reflected in particular in the clarification of educational and vocational criteria. The individual case leads to the general question: were some elements of such a policy specific to Soviet society or to the bureaucratic system of governance as a whole?