While there were various directorates, committees, and agencies in the USSR, three main political bodies made most of the decisions regarding matters of state, the Communist Party, the Politburo, and the Supreme Soviet, and it is on these three entities that this section focuses on. In 1918, Vladimir Lenin persuaded members of the Bolshevik party to change their name to the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU). In 1921, the CPSU was comprised of 700,000 members. Initially, the Politburo allowed open debate at party meetings, but this policy changed after the Civil War. In 1921 at the Party Congress, all organizations (like Workers� Opposition) were banned. In 1922, all political parties other than the CPSU were shut down and banned. By now the CPSU was extremely powerful. It controlled the Soviet government, which at the time consisted of the Council of People�s Commissars, headed by a chairman (who was also prime minister). Additionally, the CPSU appointed all national and local public officials, who were required to be members of the Communist Party before they could even be considered, much less appointed, to these posts. As time passed, power was transferred from the Politburo to the General Secretary, who controlled the appointment of party members to key posts throughout the country. In April, 1922, Joseph Stalin became General Secretary and dominated the CPSU after the death of Lenin in January of 1924. During the 1930�s, Joseph Stalin instigated a series of purges against senior members of the Communist Party. These �purges� included the removal of key figures such as Leon Trotsky, Nikolai Yezhov, and Gregory Zinoviev, among many others. The men victimized by Stalin�s purges were either assassinated, executed, committed suicide, or died in labor camps. The Politburo was created by Lenin in 1917 to direct the Soviet Revolution and, after the Eighth Party Congress, became the real center of power in the USSR. The Politburo originally consisted of five members, but this was later increased to nine in 1925 and ten in 1930. Its first five members were Vladimir Lenin, Leon Trotsky, Joseph Stalin, Lev Kamenev, and Nikolai Krestinsky. Members of the Politburo were informally selected by current members through a secret process. The selection was approved by the Central Committee. Formally, the Politburo had no official head, but was always led by the General Secretary of the Party, who was usually also head of the Central Committee. The Politburo of the Soviet Union was the central policymaking and governing body of the Communist Party. It consisted of the top members of the Central Committee. Theoretically, it was the political bureau (thus Politburo) of the Central Committee, was elected by them to direct the party between sessions of the committee and operated with an order that only extended to the party. The Politburo was supposed to be responsible to, and subject to, the approval of the Central Committee. However, in truth the Politburo oversaw the governing of the Committee and made all major policy decisions, which were only then passed down through the Central Committee, the Supreme Soviet, and the Party Congress. Furthermore, it had control that extended over the government because Party personnel held all the key government jobs and party discipline insured that Politburo policy was implemented by all government bodies. From the years of 1952, to 1966, the Politburo was known as the Presidium. In 1990, the 28th Party Congress voted on transferring the powers of the Politburo to parliament and the Politburo was officially dissolved in August, 1991. The Supreme Soviet consisted of the highest legislative body in the Soviet Union in the interim of the sessions of the Congress of Soviets, and the only body with the power to pass constitutional amendments. It also elected the Presidium, formed the Supreme Court, and appointed the Procurator General of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (As a brief annotation, the presidium mentioned here is the executive committee of the Supreme Soviet, which is not to be confused with the Politburo. The Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet was the official title of the President of the Soviet Union. Furthermore, although the Politburo was known as the Presidium for a time, the two functioned as different bodies with different functions and should not be confused). Before 1936, it was officially known as the Central Executive Committee. The Supreme Soviet was made of two chambers, each equipped with equal legislative powers, and members who were elected for five year terms. The first chamber, known as the Soviet of the Union, was elected on the basis of population with one deputy elected for every 300,000 people in the Soviet Union. The second chamber, or Soviet of Nationalities, was supposed to represent the ethnic populations, whose members were elected on the basis of twenty five deputies from each union republic. Eleven were from each autonomous republic, five were from each autonomous region, and one was from each autonomous area. By 1980 the Supreme Soviet had 750 members, and met regularly twice each year, but could be called into extraordinary session. The Presidium functioned by carrying out regular operations of the USSR when it was not in session. Each republic of the Soviet Union had its own Supreme Soviet, each functioning along similar lines. On December 26, 1991, the Supreme Soviet officially dissolved the USSR, and itself, along with the Congress of People�s Deputies, was officially dissolved in September 1993.