John Lowenhardt & James R. Ozinga 
Rise and Fall of the Soviet Politburo [PDF ebook] 

The Rise and Fall of the Soviet Politburo (1992) is the definitive history and political analysis of this institution. Extensive use of new Soviet sources permitted the authors to provide a comprehensive analysis of the way in which the Politburo operated and a sociological examination of its membership. The history of the Politburo is presented in a lucid and rigorous account that charts its development from creation by Lenin in 1919 to sidetracking by Gorbachev in 1990: an organization that, as the authors state, 'subjected the whole of the USSR to its ruthless dictatorship, but itself bowed time and again to the leader of its own making’.