Abstract

The dissertation examines the relationship between Mikhail Andreevich Suslov and the Soviet ideological system. For the period 1948-82, Suslov was the recognized "ideologist-in-chief" of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. This position was one of great authority and power in the Soviet political system, whose claim to legitimacy rested not on the consent of the governed but on a unique ideological assertion. Briefly stated, this was the idea that the Party leadership alone understood the Marxian "science" of history and, therefore, possessed exclusive right to political rule. The dissertation focuses on Suslov's role as the foremost advocate, defender, and beneficiary of this basic doctrine or theory of "scientific communism." Utilizing recently published materials from Party archives and memoirs of former Soviet officials, as well as other materials gathered by the author on the IREX exchange with the USSR , the project combines a theoretical analysis of the philosophy of Marxism-Leninism with a historical examination of Suslov's political biography. Chapters discuss the development of scientific communism by Marx, Lenin, and Stalin; Suslov's career under Stalin, Khrushchev, and Brezhnev, and the collapse of the Soviet regime following Suslov's death