ABSTRACT
According to the party statutes of all East European communist parties, the party congress is the supreme party organ. Originally conceived as an annual event by the Bolshevik party, over the years the party congress of the East European communist parties (and indeed of the CPSU itself) has evolved into being an every-fifth-year event, following in each case a routine pattern based on Soviet practice. Theoretically, and also officially, the agenda of all East European party congresses is identical: a report of the Central Committee read by the party leader, followed by debates on that report (which in fact repeat various parts of the report), speeches of the leaders of the foreign delegations (also known as the greeting messages of their parties’ Central Committees), adoption of the Central Committee report, report of the Central Control-Auditing Commission and other party organs, adoption of the party program, and election of the top party organs (the Central Committee, Politburo, Secretariat, and Central Control-Auditing Commission).
