The Organizational Strategies of Communist Parties in East Central Europe, 1945-1989
The Organizational Strategies of Communist Parties in East Central Europe, 1945-1989

Summary/Abstract: The organizational strategies of the communist parties during the era of state socialism (1945-1989) are among the lesser-documented aspects of the parties' rule. Yet these strategies, consisting of the means of party control over society and internal personnel policies within the party, underlay the communist parties' ability to reform and negotiate under communism. The less the parties relied on the loyalty of party members and extensive organizational networks as a way to control society, and the more pragmatic and skilled their elites, the more able the communist parties to innovate and implement policy reforms (however meager), and to negotiate with the anticommunist opposition. [...]

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