Elite skill level determined how decisively communist parties reformed at their congresses

Evidence

Therefore, the Extraordinary Congresses, held in the fall and winter of 1989–90, were the crucial moments at which the most important of the new decisions would be made. For the communist middle-level elites themselves, the Extraordinary Congresses were an enormous opportunity to advance in the party organizations and put forth new policies. Those elites with experience in reform and negotiation already knew how discredited and in need of change both the political system and the parties had become. The more skilled they were, the more they moved to change party organizations and consolidate their reform programs. In contrast, less skilled party elites moved more cautiously and gradually, changing the party as little as possible and retaining much of the old structures. — Anna M. Grzymala-Busse, Redeeming The Communist Past, 442

Categorization

• XREF: Directly relevant to the reader’s question about which communist successor parties survived by regenerating and which decayed — elite reform skill as the key variable. — connects to: Authoritarian party organizations paradoxically produced skilled elites that won democratic competition — Anna M. Grzymala-Busse, Redeeming The Communist Past: The…, 139; Elite skills accumulate even when reform efforts fail — Anna M. Grzymala-Busse, Redeeming The Communist Past: The…, 161; Elite skill, not ideology, drove communist party organizational regeneration — Anna M. Grzymala-Busse, Redeeming The Communist Past: The…, 390 (+6 more)
• QUESTION: What distinguishes ‘skill’ here — experience in negotiation and reform? Is it measurable independent of outcomes?

Broader Connections

• Elite skills and party cohesion drive successful postcommunist transformation. #corroborates (0.85) — Anna M. Grzymala-Busse, Redeeming The Communist Past, 72
• Elite skill and pragmatism, not ideology, drove successful party transformation. #expands (0.85)
• Mid-level elites drove post-communist party transformation. #qualifies (0.80)
• Communist-era organizational flexibility determined which parties later thrived democratically #corroborates (0.80) — Anna M. Grzymala-Busse, Redeeming The Communist Past, 62