Remarks at the Plenum of the CC VKP(b), 21 February 1941

Source: Tom 18

Source: Tom 18

We have been conferring here, members of the Politburo and certain members of the CC, and have reached the following conclusion: it would be a good idea to expand the membership, at least of the candidate members of the Politburo. There are now quite a few old-timers in the Politburo, people who are on their way out, and it is necessary for others, younger people, to be selected so that they can learn and be ready, if need be, to take their places. What this amounts to is that we need to widen the circle of people working in the Politburo.

Concretely, this has led us to the following opinion -- it would be a good idea to add some people now. At present there are 2 candidate members of the Politburo. The first candidate is Beria and the second is Shvernik. It would be a good idea to bring the number up to five, to add three more, so that they can assist the members of the Politburo in their work. For instance, it would not be a bad idea to bring Comrade Voznesensky in as a candidate member of the Politburo -- he deserves it -- and Shcherbakov, the First Secretary of the Moscow Oblast, and Malenkov as the third. I think it would be a good idea to include them.

Stalin's Politburo in the 1930s. P. 172-173.

RGASPI. F. 17. Op. 3. D. 549. L. 80-82.