HIGHER PARTY SCHOOL UNDER THE CENTRAL COMMITTEE OF THE ALL-UNION COMMUNIST PARTY OF BOLSHEVIKS. PROPAGANDA IS MORE IMPORTANT THAN ECONOMY (1939–1945)

The article, based on the documents from the Russian State Archives of Social and Political History, presents the initial stage of the formation and development of the Higher Party School (HPS) under the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks. The stage covers the 1939–1945 period. The Higher Party School replaced a number of earlier educational institutions of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks; it established itself and strengthened after all 25 industrial academies were liquidated in 1940, which testified to the priorities of the country’s leadership in the field of education: preference was given to the training of ideological personnel. That trend also existed during the Great Patriotic War: at that time the range of specialties only expanded and began to cover such areas of training as journalism and diplomacy. During the war, the students were given the task of continuing their studies, since ideological personnel were needed in different sectors of the front and the rearward area. The HPS became an important tool for replacing elites – from the “old Bolsheviks” to the new party cadres, personally devoted to Stalin. Educational institutions such as the Higher Party School made a significant contribution to the transformation of Soviet society, to the creation of a solid basis for its unanimity and full support for the course of the country’s leadership in politics, economy, and culture