In particular, Mikhail Suslov, Second Secretary of the CPSU and the party's primary ideologue, was on poor terms with Masherov. Suslov allegedly sabotaged Masherov's attempts to move upwards by inviting him to the 24th Congress of the CPSU in 1971 and requesting that he give a speech criticising Eurocommunism. This was despite the attendance of Eurocommunist politicians, including Georges Marchais and Dolores Ibárruri, head of the French Communist Party and honorary president of the Spanish Communist Party, respectively.