Democratic centralism was the organizational form of revolutionary organizations/parties in the industrial era. Under democratic centralism, democracy meant collective discussion and decision making, while centralism was individual responsibility to carry out the decisions. It is a principle of organization pioneered by Vladimir Lenin and constituted the foundation of his “party of a new type.” These principles were used by Communist parties of the Third Communist International.
(See, J. Peters, A Manual on Organization, 1935.)
http://www.marxists.org/history/usa/parties/cpusa/1935/07/organisers-manual/ch02.htm
During the period of Lenin and the Third International, democracy within a communist party was realized with the National Congress or national convention as the highest authority of the organization. The period leading to the Convention was a period of extraordinarily broad democracy. During this period all members discussed and debated the program, political resolutions and policy to guide the organization between national gatherings. Once program and policy were discussed and debated and leading bodies elected, centralism was realized in that the decisions of the Congress were binding on all members, including those that might disagree. Lenin described democratic centralism as “freedom of discussion, unity of action.”
(V. I. Lenin, Report on the Unity Congress of the R.S.D.L.P., 1906.)
http://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1906/rucong/viii.htm
Developed during the transition from agriculture to industry, democratic centralism was conceived and its principles applied on the basis of the logic of industrial mechanics, social life organized around the factory system and hierarchal organization structures based on industrial time frames. Today, in the national security state and universal surveillance, based on robotics, computers and people-to-people platforms, old industrial forms of existence, including democratic centralism, are obsolete.
(See, International, 3rd.)
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