Eestimaa Kommunistliku Partei Keskkomitee nomenklatuur 1940-1953. (Limburgan)

The purpose of this article is to analyse the development of the nomenclature (nomenklatura) system of the Estonian Communist Party Central Committee (ECP CC), and the positions, their number, shares and changes in the ECP CC nomenclature between 1945-1953. In addition, separate analysis is conducted on positions belonging both to the ECP CC nomenclature and to the nomenclature of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU CC). The current article is based on records from the Estonian State Archive (former Party Archive). The nomenclature is a list of key positions in Party and state bureaucracy, as well as in leading social organisations. Every Party organisation had its own nomenclature list at every administrative level. Party nomenclature was divided into two lists: the “main” list and the “accounting” list. Appointments to and dismissals from positions belonging to the “main list” had to be approved by the pertinent Party organisation. “Accounting” nomenclature consisted of positions for which the Party had to be informed of appointments and dismissals. In the USSR, personnel related issues -- the selection of cadres suitable to the Party -- were already considered important during the first years of Soviet rule. The issue of controlling positions in all the important sectors of society was raised by the early 1920’s. The first Union-wide nomenclature was developed and approved in October of 1923. The nomenclature divided positions into two. In the case of the first list, the recruitment and dismissal of a person required the approval of the Party’s Central Committee. In the case of the second list, the only requirement was to inform the Party’s CC. After the war, the renewal and rearrangement of the nomenclature system was raised as an important issue. The new Central Committee nomenclature was finally approved in October of 1946. There were 42 784 positions in total, of which 24.6% were related to Party and Young Communist League organisations. In 1946, the procedure for appointing people to positions was specified. Then next wave of major changes in the nomenclature was made in 1953 when Nikita Khrushchev presented a new nomenclature list to the CPSU CC Presidium. The new list of positions approved in July of 1953 reduced the number of positions to 25 300. Compared to the prior list, the new nomenclature significantly increased the rights of different organisations and regions to make personnel decisions. The establishment of nomenclature in the Estonian SSR (ESSR) was already an important issue during the first year of Soviet rule in 1940. Getting the nomenclature system to function as a control mechanism was critically important because Estonia’s Party and government apparatus needed suitable employees. The first nomenclature was approved by the Bureau of the ECP CC in 1941. The most important year from the standpoint of establishing a functional nomenclature system was 1945, when the documentation system of nomenclature personnel was established. The nomenclature of the ECP CC changed constantly. Changes in the current listed nomenclature were made through minor corrections until the approval of a new nomenclature. Six approved nomenclatures of the ECP CC are known from the years 1946-1953. The number of positions in these nomenclatures remained between 1544 and 3155. Institutions belonging to the nomenclature in 1946-1953 could go through several changes in their names and structures. The number of pertinent positions was often increased or decreased by new approved nomenclature or through minor corrections. Despite the continuous changes, the overall list of organisations and institutions remained the same, and the nomenclature system commanded and controlled key positions in all of the important sectors of society as a whole. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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