Secretariat of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union the CPSU, who was also a Politburo member, was the leader of the Secretariat and of the Party. Dual membership in the Secretariat and the Politburo was in practice reserved for two or three very senior members of the Soviet leadership, and in the post-Stalin era (after March 1953) was a stepping-stone to ultimate power. The last five Soviet leaders (Nikita Khrushchev, Leonid Brezhnev, Yuri Andropov, Konstantin Chernenko and Mikhail Gorbachev) were all senior Secretaries before becoming First or General Secretaries. Additionally, Georgy Malenkov was briefly reckoned as the leader of the Party for a week after Stalin's death by
Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union all between 1939 and 1952. After the death of Joseph Stalin, the congresses were held every five years. Information on congresses, number of delegates, number of people elected to CCs, party membership, the individual who presented the Political Report and information on when the congress was convened can be found in these sources: "Articles and journals:" Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union The Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union () was the supreme decision-making body of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. Its meetings served as convention of all party delegates and their