Democratic Centralism Essay ⋆ Political Science Essay Examples ⋆ EssayEmpire

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Democratic centralism is a form of internal organization and party discipline associated with Leninist political parties. Its “democratic” aspect is the idea that party members discuss and debate proposals and that decisions are taken by majority vote. “Centralism” means that once a decision is reached, all members, even those that disagree with the decision, are obligated to uphold it. Democratic centralism also has a vertical or hierarchical dimension: Lower organs in the party may offer input in decision making, but decisions from higher-ranking party bodies must be followed by the lower-level structures. Its defenders would maintain that democratic centralism allows an organization to reflect the preferences of its members while maintaining unity in action.

The origins of the term democratic centralism lie with the German Social Democratic Party in the late 1800s, but it gained more currency after being endorsed by Vladimir Lenin in What Is to be Done? (1902), in which he formulated the requirements for a professional, revolutionary party. Among Russian Marxists, Lenin’s ideas were not universally accepted, and Lenin’s advocacy of democratic centralism was one reason for the 1903 schism between Lenin’s Bolsheviks and the Mensheviks, who preferred looser party discipline.

In 1921, after gaining power in Russia, Lenin used the idea of democratic centralism to ban factions within the Bolshevik Party. Lenin’s goal was to establish his authority, promote party unity, and prevent the emergence of counterrevolutionary tendencies. Later, under Joseph Stalin, alleged participation in anti-Stalin factions led many individuals to be dismissed from the party and ultimately put on trial and executed. Leon Trotsky, himself accused of leading such a faction, decried Stalin’s approach, maintaining that freedom of criticism was essential for party democracy. Stalin prevailed over his critics, and under his rule, “democratic” elements effectively ceased to exist, as political decisions were made at the top with little or no input “from below.” Few dared to speak out against Stalin’s preferences.

Democratic centralism was formally enshrined in Article 3 of the 1977 Constitution of the Soviet Union, which read,

The Soviet state is organized and functions on the principle of democratic centralism, namely the electiveness of all bodies of state authority from the lowest to the highest, their accountability to the people, and the obligation of lower bodies to observe the decisions of higher ones. Democratic centralism combines central leadership with local initiative and creative activity and with the responsibility of each state body and official for the work entrusted to them.

Critics of Soviet practices, however, noted that the principles of democratic centralism were contradictory and necessarily led to concentration of power at the top. For example, while democratic centralism prescribes a collective approach to the work of all organizations, criticism of agreed-upon policies is permissible only for the top leadership, not for rank-and-file party members. Hence, discussion of previously agreed–upon policies can take place only after the leadership has decided to permit it. If a policy is unsuccessful, the leadership would be hesitant to permit criticism of it, for fear that such discussions will undermine its power and authority. Another contradiction concerns accountability. While lower-level bodies are supposed to elect higher bodies, it also prescribes that the lower-level bodies are subordinate to higher bodies. In practice, this means that superiors appoint those who nominally elect them to their positions and tell them what decisions to make. Due to these factors, democratic centralism, in practice throughout communist states, led to overcentralization, corruption, and little policy innovation. In the 1980s, Mikhail Gorbachev’s glasnost and perestroika reforms were designed, in part, to move away from democratic centralism by democratizing decision making and soliciting participation of new actors in the political process.

Although all political parties try to impose party discipline, democratic centralism usually has a pejorative meaning because of its association with communist dictatorships. By orders of the Comintern (Communist International) in 1921, it was imposed by Lenin and the Russian Bolshevik Party upon all communist parties in the world and became a guiding principle of political life in those countries (e.g., China, Cuba, countries of Eastern Europe) where communist parties gained power. Some debate what Lenin truly meant by the term, and emphasize its usefulness at the time in Russia in the early 1900s for a clandestine revolutionary organization. Nonetheless, practice suggests that once a party or movement that practices democratic centralism gains power, its practices, especially in a single-party state, lead to concentration of power at the top, not greater popular input into policy, and they are used to justify repression of real and would-be political opponents.

Bibliography:

Lenin,Vladimir I. What Is to be Done? Translated by S.V. and Patricia Utechin. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1963.
Rodinov, Petr. What Is Democratic Centralism? Moscow: Progress Publishers, 1988.
Tiersky, Ronald. Ordinary Stalinism: Democratic Centralism and the Question of Communist Political Development. Boston: Allen and Unwin, 1985.
Waller, Michael. Democratic Centralism: A Historical Commentary. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1981.