Vladimir Lenin coined the term “Democratic Centralism” in order to describe what he considered to be Bolshevik “bipartisanship.”  In his famous book What Is To Be Done? Lenin worried that left to themselves, the proletariat would never achieve the kind of “revolutionary consciousness” required to overthrow the capitalist system.  Therefore a “vanguard” of socialist intellectuals like Lenin and Trotsky were needed in order to instill the proper “consciousness” into the mentally challenged masses.“Democratic Centralism” was Lenin’s way of insuring that individuals within the Bolshevik party could “openly” and “democratically” discuss proposals that came down from the intellectual vanguard.  The “centralism” however insured that once a decision was made by “consensus” there could be no deviating from the party line during the implementation of the...(Read Full Post)