Democratic centralization

[…] Diese organischen Verbindungen werden in der kommunistischen Parteiorganisation durch den demokratischen Zentralismus erstrebt. II. Ueber den demokratischen Zentralismus 6. Der demokratische Zentralismus in der kommunistischen Parteiorganisation soll eine wirkliche Synthese, Verschmelzung des Zentralismus und der proletarischen Demokratie sein. […]

The Central Committee of the Party is to be entrusted with the ‘ fullest power and authority, and with far-reaching rights’. 'Iron discipline’ is required of the members. All these demands are founded upon the necessity for an absolutely rmanimous leadership of a revolutionary Party in time of civil war. This form of organization is given the name of ‘democratic centralization’ in view of the fact that the authority of the Central Committee of the Party should rest upon the confidence reposed in it by the members.

Largely invisible much of the year, China’s non-Communist parties are thrust to the fore each March for a display of what the official news media calls China’s system of “multiparty cooperation and political consultation.” The news conference, held in a gilded meeting room in the Great Hall of the People, is an Orwellian affair, with party leaders referring to the wonders of “democratic centralization,” heaping praise on the Communist Party and then answering fawning questions from the state media.