Politburo,  in Russian and Soviet history, the supreme policy-
making body of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. The
Politburo until July 1990 exercised supreme control over the
Soviet government; in 1990 the Politburo was enlarged and was
separated to a certain degree from control over the Soviet
government. With the breakup of the Soviet Union in 1991 and the
subsequent banning of the Communist Party in Russia (1991), the
Politburo also was effectively dissolved.  The first Politburo
was created in Russia by the Bolshevik Party Central Committee
in late October 1917 to provide continuous and flexible
leadership in that year’s uprising. The seven Politburo members
included Vladimir Lenin, Leon Trotsky, and Joseph Stalin. The
Bolshevik coup accomplished, the Politburo was dissolved. The
8th Party Congress in March 1919 instructed the Central
Committee to elect a new Politburo of five from its ranks; its
formal role would be to decide on questions too urgent to await
Central Committee deliberation. The Po