Pospelov Commission

The Pospelov Commission (Russian: Комиссия Поспелова) was a closed party commission set up by the Presidium of the CPSU Central Committee on December 31, 1955, chaired by Pyotr Pospelov. Its members were Central Committee Secretary Averky Aristov, All-Union Central Council of Trade Unions chairman Nikolai Shvernik, and P.T. Komarov, deputy chairman of the Party Control Committee.

Mandate and findings

The commission investigated the mass repressions of the delegates and Central Committee members and candidate members elected at the 17th Congress of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks) in 1934. Because that congress was known as the "Congress of Victors," the large number of "enemies" among its participants itself demanded explanation. Meeting in early 1956, the commission presented evidence that in 1937 and 1938, the peak of the Great Purge, Stalin had over one and a half million people arrested for "anti-Soviet activities," of whom more than 680,500 were executed, the majority being long-time CPSU members. The commission's report was presented to the Presidium on February 9, 1956, and caused heated controversy and a split of opinions over further action.

Basis of the Secret Speech

The report laid the basis and the content of "On the Cult of Personality and Its Consequences," which Khrushchev delivered at a closed session of the 20th Party Congress on February 25, 1956. Khrushchev said that after hearing the commission's report he felt obliged to expose Stalin's crimes; the speech was authorized on February 13, and in the days that followed Khrushchev, Pospelov, Aristov, and others drafted and edited it.