15th Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks)

Central Committee elected
by the 15th Congress

14th ← → 16th
The 15th Party Congress; in the foreground Alexei Rykov, Mykola Skrypnyk and Joseph Stalin raising their membership cards.
Duration	19 December 1927 – 13 July 1930
General Secretary	Joseph Stalin
Second Secretary	Vyacheslav Molotov
Inner-groups	Politburo: 9 full & 10 candidates Secretariat: 8 full & 4 candidates Orgburo: 16 full & 9 candidates
No. of departments	11
Members	71 full and 50 candidates (CC)

The Central Committee (CC) composition was elected by the 15th Congress, and sat from 19 December 1927 until 13 July 1930. The CC 1st Plenary Session renewed the composition of the Politburo, Secretariat and the Organizational Bureau (OB) of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks).

The CC was not a permanent institution. It convened plenary sessions, of which six CC plenary sessions and two joint CC–Central Control Commission (CCC) plenary sessions were held between the 15th Congress and the 16th Congress. When the CC was not in session, decision-making powers were transferred to inner bodies of the CC itself; the Politburo, Secretariat and Orgburo (none of these bodies were permanent either, but convened several times a months).

Individuals employed by Central Committee's bureaus, departments and newspapers made up the apparatus between the 15th Congress and the 16th Congress. The bureaus and departments were supervised by the Secretariat, and each secretary (member of the Secretariat) supervised a specific department. The leaders of departments were officially referred to as Heads, while the titles of bureau leaders varied between chairman, first secretary and secretary.