Communist party

In modern usage, a communist party is a political party which promotes communism, a sociopolitical philosophy based on the particular interpretation of Marxism put forth by Vladimir Lenin. Communist parties today may or may not formally use the term "Communist" in their name. Even if they do, not all follow a strict interpretation of any of the main 'schools' of communism (chiefly Leninism, Maoism, Stalinism or Trotskyism).

Structure of Communist parties

:See: democratic centralism.

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In theory, a party congress would elect a Central Committee to execute the will of the Congress between meetings. The Central Committee would elect a much smaller Politburo to elect a general secretary and handle day-to-day operations. In practice, the flow of power often became the reverse: the Politburo became self-perpetuating, and controlled the composition of the Central Committee, which in turn controlled the party congresses.

Related Topics:
Party congress - Central Committee - Politburo - General secretary

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Some modern communist parties still hold to the democratic centralist tradition. Others have abadoned democratic centralism, often accompanied by a renouncing of Marxism-Leninism overall, and instead pursue a structure more in common with social democracy, advocating welfare-statism such as is found in Scandanavia and most parts of Western Europe.

Related Topics:
Marxism-Leninism - Social democracy - Welfare-statism - Scandanavia - Western Europe

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