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| | Defining the term
socialist party
A Party that follows Marxist and Leninist ideals in a socialist system
functions in an entirely different way than its counterparts in western
democracies. The
following text addresses the differences in the way in which political parties
are understood in the two systems and attempts to highlight the main
distinguishing features.
We will start by reminding ourselves of the main elements that form our understanding of
what a party is in a democratic system, as described in basic
course 1 and in other sections of this education server:
The understanding of the term party in a democratic
system
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The
illustration opposite demonstrates one of the most central features of
parties active in democratic systems: A party links "the people" with
the political system "the state". This linking is two
directional: Firstly, parties articulate the interests of the people and
feed these interests into society's decision-making centre. Secondly,
parties keep citizens informed about the political decisions that have been
taken in a political system. In a
democracy, political
parties are just one of many institutions performing a mediating
role between the political system and society. A wide range of
other independent political organizations are also extremely active in this so-called intermediate
sphere; these include associations,
civil-action groups, other political parties and the media. The term pluralism
is a word used to express this state of affairs. |
While they share a mediating role, there is one
large difference between these other mediatorial organizations and political
parties: Political parties
want to exercise direct influence on the decisions made in a given political
system using parliament and other state bodies. Indeed, it is for this very reason that
they put themselves forward for election. While it is true that other
organizations - in particular associations - also try to influence the
decision-making process, this participation is different in that it has not been
legitimized by the electorate. Of all the organizations and institutions in this
intermediate sphere, it is political parties alone that extend
their influence into the area of 'state' to differing degrees.
One definition
of parties in a democratic system of government might be as follows:
A
party is an association of citizens that links pluralistic society with
the political system. A party performs a mediating role. In addition
to this, it also contributes to the decision-making process in a given
political system or attempts to gain a position in which it can
contribute. Contribution of this sort to the decision-making process is legitimized
by the electorate. |
The understanding of the term
party in a socialist system
 |
As the
illustration opposite demonstrates one of the key aspects of a socialist
system is the way in which the Communist Party projects itself into the areas of
"state" and "the people" engulfing all. Rather
than the party being a part of an intermediate system linking the
people and the political system, the party is
the system. The party feeds its own interests into the political system
rather than articulating the interests of the populace. As a result of
this, a (single) party in a socialist system is not a mediator between
society and the political system as described above. |
Moreover, the number of actors depicted by
the two illustrations are different in number. In the socialist model there are no
civil-action groups, associations or media - only one party. The reason for this
is that civil-action groups do not exist in socialist states. Indeed, the
Communist Party has a constitutionally founded monopoly of power, which serves
in ruling out the existence of other autonomous parties. Elections in socialist
nations are not free in the democratic sense of the word. The electorate are not free to
'choose'
between alternatives. The "Party" in a socialist state is not legitimized by the
electorate. Justification for party power is derived from Marxist and Leninist
ideology.
In
contrast to their democratic counterparts, the media and associations in
socialist systems are not independent, autonomous players. They are
dominated by the party and mostly function as a sort of
transmission belt for implementing party policy. In a socialist system
the main role of trades unions is to mobilize and discipline workers so
they are ready to implement economic plans drawn up by the party. Positions of power
and influence within the union are filled with party members. Trade
union leaders are more often than not also top party officials. That which is
particularly true for trade unions also extends to other areas of
society. The party has great sway and power in choosing those to hold public office across all areas of society. Neither is the media
an autonomous institution. The job of the media is to "educate"
the population. The media receives instructions and is controlled by the
Party. It is a "mouthpiece" for the Party and as such is subject to
censorship. |
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The
leadership role of the Party
According
to Lenin, the strived-for socialist revolution and the
subsequent expansion of socialism must be carried out under the
leadership of the Communist Party. Indeed, he said that only the
Communist Party had the most highly developed awareness about
the needs of society and the correct insight into the things
that needed to be done for society to develop. To this end, the
Communist Party's leadership role would stretch into all areas
of political and civil life and be derived from its monopoly of knowledge. |
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Another
striking aspect highlighted by the illustration and of enormous
importance is the "size" of the party: The party superimposes
itself completely upon the political system. In stark contrast to
political parties in western democracies, which project themselves
into the political system only, Party influence in socialist
states extends beyond that of forming political opinion and contributing
to the decision-making process. The Party dominates the entire decision-making process within the political
system both with regard to
staffing and content. Moreover, Party influence extends far further
into the community. This finds expression in the fact that the Communist
Party steers and controls many areas at a social and community level.
Indeed, its influence even extends beyond local businesses and companies
into the private lives of the people.
[Above: Lenin] |
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Democratic
centralism
The
principle of democratic centralism conceived by Lenin formed the
Communist Party's fundamental organizational base and was an
integral part of the statue for all parties based on Marxist and
Leninist ideas. Democratic centralism encompassed the following
elements:
 | All
ruling party bodies may stand for election from lower to
higher levels |
| Regular
reporting by party bodies for presentation before the party
and senior party bodies |
|
Tight
party discipline and subordination of minorities below the
majority; a ban on the formation of other political
groupings |
| Decisions
made by senior party bodies are absolutely binding for all
lower-ranking bodies |
In
reality the two centralist elements dominated and legitimized
the concentration of power in the hands of the Party secretariat
and the Politburo.
As
far as the democratic election of members from lower to higher
levels was concerned, the Party leadership was indeed elected,
but the choice of candidates had to be approved in advance by
senior Party authorities. The second democratic feature, namely
the requirement to report, was used more to pass on instructions
and propaganda than it was to exercise control and revision from the
bottom upwards.
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Set against this background, how might we
define a socialist party? The following definition
attempts to address some of the most important characteristics:
In a
socialist system, the Communist Party is an association of citizens with
a monopoly of power which steers and controls society in its entirety.
It justifies and derives its ruling position from Marxist and Leninist ideology. |
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