Democratic centralism

Democratic centralism is the name given to the principles of internal organization used by Leninist political parties, and the term is sometimes used as a synonym for any Leninist policy inside a political party. The term was also adopted by Stalin in his famous book on Leninism, and it is from this work that many commentaries derive. The democratic aspect of this organisational method describes the freedom of members of the political party to discuss and debate matters of policy and direction, but once the decision of the party is made by majority vote, all members are expected to follow that decision in public. This latter aspect represents the centralism.

Related Topics:
Leninist - Stalin - Democratic - Majority vote - Centralism

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As Lenin described it, democratic centralism consisted of "freedom of discussion and criticism, unity of action". The doctrine of democratic centralism served as one of the sources of the split between the Bolsheviks and the Mensheviks. The Mensheviks supported a looser party discipline within the Russian Social Democratic Labor Party in 1903, some of the elements of which would later become common in the Trotskyist movement.

Related Topics:
Bolshevik - Menshevik - Russian Social Democratic Labor Party - 1903 - Trotskyist

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In Lenin's time, democratic centralism was generally viewed as a set of principles for the organising of a revolutionary workers' party. Lenin's model for such a party, which he repeatedly discussed as being 'democratic centralist', was the German Social Democratic Party. Similarly, Lenin's theoretical model of democratic centralism was adapted from the work of Karl Kautsky, as he makes clear in his pamphlet What is to Be Done? http://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1901/witbd/index.htm, though Lenin and Kautsky were opposed on many fundamentals. "What Is To Be Done?" is popularly seen as the founding text of democratic centralism.

Related Topics:
Social Democratic Party - Karl Kautsky - What is to Be Done?

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After the successful consolidation of power by the Communist Party following the Russian Revolution and the Russian Civil War, the Bolshevik leadership instituted an ostensibly "temporary" ban on factions within the party in 1921, by using the very mechanism of "democratic centralism". Thereafter there was less and less communication between the Bolsheviks and the Russian populace, and eventually there was very little freedom of discussion even within the party, except by members of the ruling Politburo. These developments have led some observers to question whether the democratic aspect of democratic centralism can be maintained over time. The issue remains controversial today.

Related Topics:
Russian Revolution - Russian Civil War - 1921 - Politburo

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Democratic centralism may also occasionally be used to refer to the political structure of democratic unitary states.

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