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93-605: The Central Committee of the Lao People's Revolutionary Party (LPRP) is the highest organ between the two national congresses . The Central Committee was established at the 1st National Congress in 1955. At the 2nd LPRP National Congress , held on 3–6 February 1972, it established the Politburo and the Secretariat . Books: Central committee Communist parties are organised on Leninist lines based on

186-406: A conscience vote , voting against the decision of the caucus will result in expulsion from the party entirely if internal discussions fail to dissuade the member from crossing the floor. Even in parties with no such requirement like the conservative Liberal Party of Australia , discipline remains strong and defections against the party are very rare. In India, party discipline in regards to voting

279-431: A control commission , responsible for party discipline work, a central military commission , responsible for military affairs, an orgburo , responsible for organisational questions, or other organs. The politburo was the highest political organ of the central committee and directed party work between central committee sessions. While formally accountable to the central committee, and despite reporting on its work to it,

372-418: A purge . People often failed to get reelected since they lost or voluntarily left their political office. The central committees could be seen as representative organs of various political offices and institutions. Once an individual loses his or her political office, he or she also loses his or her central committee membership. In line with this reasoning, members lost reelection since the party leadership used

465-500: A broad sense (also known as party cohesion ), the discipline is adherence of the party members at large to an agreed system of political norms and rules. In a narrow sense, most pronounced under the Westminster model , the party discipline is an obligation of the members of parliament to vote along their party's line , with few exceptions. The deviations might be countered by consequences (" whipping " ) that are designed to ensure

558-487: A central committee session, work under the central committee's leadership. The LCY Control Commission worked under the central committee's leadership until the 9th LCY Congress , held in 1969, which transformed it into the only statutory review organ of a ruling communist party, the Commission on Statutory Questions . The 9th Extraordinary PUWP Congress , held in 1981, amended the party statute to state explicitly that

651-530: A member of the CPCZ Presidium , accused the United States of being an anti-Soviet state that refused "to reconcile itself to the fact that it has lost its dominating position in the world policy and economy". The session made clear its support for "The Soviet peace initiatives aim at averting the danger of a world nuclear war" which it argued corresponded "to the vital interests and peace wishes of

744-425: A number of consequences. Punishment for members who break party discipline largely varies on a case-to-case basis, but members may find themselves in a variety of positions from being internally demoted in the party to being expelled from the party itself. This results in there often being immense pressure for parliamentarians to compromise their beliefs if they conflict with the policy or decision that has been made by

837-401: A party are granted a conscience vote or free vote, in which party discipline is waived, and given members are free to vote to their individual preference. This shared ideology is an essential and important part of party cohesion, and reinforcing the given shared ideology through methods such as party discipline is crucial to the ruling party's survival in government. "It is my will to join

930-582: A party congress usually elects the central committee. These sessions, especially in communist Eastern Europe, seldom lasted more than an hour. The congress closing session usually noted that the election of members and candidates to the central committee was carried out unanimously. However, this was not always the case: Nicolae Ceaușescu , the general secretary of the Central Committee of the Romanian Communist Party (RCP), told

1023-399: A politburo are the highest-standing officials of the given communist party and are, in practice, the country's leading political elite. Members usually have varied political backgrounds and experience from party, executive, legislative, and judicial work. The secretariat is responsible for overseeing the execution of the decisions of the politburo and the central committee, communicating with

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1116-488: A session of the PUWP Central Committee, held on 4 September 1980, removed Edward Gierek, the incumbent first secretary of the PUWP Central Committee, due to his "health issues". Others were removed due to specific reasons; for instance, Edward Babiuch and Zdzislaw Zandarowski were removed for "allowing distortions in interparty life, for shaping an incorrect style of party work, and for inadequate concern for

1209-410: A strong sense of cohesion. Strict party discipline allows political parties to maintain control over the entire respective party caucus and ensure that the party's agenda is placed above all else. Increasing levels of party discipline in liberal democracy have often seen the majority of low-ranking elected party members become simple brand ambassadors whose overarching duty is to represent the values of

1302-597: A threat to party conformity. Examples of this behaviour include the expulsion of former attorney general Jody Wilson-Raybould from the Liberal Party of Canada in response to her pursuit of criminal proceedings in the SNC Lavalin scandal. Parties often view minority candidates as simple brand ambassadors that check social diversity quotas which has been shown to impair these members from ever doing anything substantive. This, in turn, negatively correlates with

1395-472: Is Jacqui Lambie , who won election to the federal senate in 2013 with the Palmer United Party , then quit to start a microparty under her own name only four months later, winning another term after a double dissolution . Following an eligibility issue she was forced to resign in late 2017 due to her British citizenship. Australian law requires the replacement to be from the same party and so she

1488-573: Is "organisational matters", meaning personnel changes in party and state organs. The communiques published by these sessions are usually brief and say little to nothing about the reason for the changes. But this was not abnormal. For instance, the official communique of the 13th Session of the Central Committee of the 7th Congress of the Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SED), held on 11–12 December 1980, only notes that two politburo members, Günter Mittag and Gerhard Schürer , spoke at

1581-405: Is discussed is routine in nature. These sessions are in most cases organised identically, and the key speech is often delivered by a central committee secretary responsible, for example, for economic affairs or international affairs. The discussions at the sessions are very seldom made public, but adopted resolutions are sometimes made public and session communiques are nearly always distributed to

1674-519: Is especially true for list MPs , who do not represent an electorate; (as if they do not vote along the party line) they risk staunch discipline. However research does show that proportional voting systems do result in constituent representatives engaging more with their respective ridings while regional (list) MP's often spend more time legislating. Weak party discipline is usually more frequent in parties of notables and elite parties than in populist parties. The centrist Radical-Socialist Party and

1767-400: Is institutionalised by giving the party two-thirds of the seats in the highest organ of state power , which has complete control over all state activities per the principle of unified power. These members are, in most cases, elected in non-competitive elections and stand as candidates on the approval of the central committee. Many central committee members also serve concurrently as members of

1860-491: Is no more than a simple brand ambassador. This stringent discipline in the Canadian system has, in turn, played a part in what is deemed the presidentialization of the Westminster parliamentary system . The Canadian system has come to possess many characteristics of presidential systems without any of the formal attributes. The position of the Canadian prime minister has seen an increasing level of power which has resulted in

1953-500: Is only the case after a routine [session], when nothing unusual has happened." These communiques were structured similarly throughout the communist world. Such sessions usually dealt with public matters, such as the economic plan and the state budget. For example, the HSWP Central Committee session held on 3 December 1981 transparently informed about which guests participated in the session and specifically stated what

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2046-457: Is organised on similar lines as the permanent organs. In some instances, the secretaries head permanent organs in tandem with their supervisory responsibilities. The leading organs of a central committee were elected organs delegated with the central committee's powers when it was not in session. Every ruling communist party had a politburo and secretariat , albeit the name might differ from party to party. Other central committees also elected

2139-492: Is strong enough that a vote by the legislature against the government is understood, by convention, to cause the government to "collapse". Party leaders in such governments also often have the authority to expel members of the party who violate the party line. Within the United Kingdom, the devolved Scottish Parliament uses the mixed member proportionality system of voting and so party discipline tends to be high. That

2232-648: Is the Extraordinary Plenary Session of the PUWP Central Committee on 9 February 1981 that removed Józef Pińkowski , the sitting head of government, and replaced him with Wojciech Jaruzelski . Ruling central committees normally can convene for three meeting types: sessions (also called plenums), extraordinary sessions, and joint sessions. These three types have two sub-forms: a closed session and an enlarged session in which non-members are invited to participate. Central committee sessions dealing with non-party issues are often enlarged, even if what

2325-450: The 11th RCP Congress , held on 25–28 November 1974, that the central committee had been elected "quasi-unanimously". Criteria for membership differs from party to party. For example, Enver Hoxha , the general secretary of the Central Committee of the Party of Labour of Albania (PLA), stated on 6 November 1981 at the 8th PLA Congress , that members were nominated based on their loyalty to

2418-491: The Canadian House of Commons voted the party line 99.6 percent of the time between 2015 and 2019. Canadian MP's also face intense pressure to toe the line when making public remarks inside and outside the legislature. In Italy , party discipline or group discipline as its referred to is required by the statutes of parliamentary groups. This group discipline has registered an oscillation from strong to weak over

2511-720: The Central Committee of the Hungarian Socialist Workers' Party (HSWP) "adopted recommendations for filling of jobs in the state apparatus" to the highest organ of state power, the National Assembly , on 29 March 1979. In other instances, the central committee could instruct its members to resign from state offices. The 7th Session of the Central Committee of the 8th PUWP Congress , held on 1–2 December 1980, instructed Edward Babiuch , Jerzy Łukaszewicz , Tadeusz Pyka , Jan Szydlak , Tadeusz Wraszczyk , and Zdzislaw Zandarowski to resign their seats in

2604-657: The Control Commission worked independently of the PUWP Central Committee. In some parties, as in the CPCZ and the HSWP, the chairman and ordinary members of the party control commission are barred from holding office in the central committee. In other parties, as in China, the head of the control commission is also a member of its Central Committee, Politburo and Politburo Standing Committee. The second to last session of

2697-674: The French Section of the Workers' International and the French Communist Party which demand near absolute conformity to maintain party membership and good standing. Party discipline tends to be increasingly strong in countries that employ the Westminster parliamentary system , such as the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand. The Australian Labor Party , for example, requires absolute solidarity with caucus decisions. Apart from extremely rare examples of

2790-487: The Great National Assembly , convened and adopted the central committee's proposals. Moreover, the speakers that spoke at the central committee sessions usually speak at the session of the highest organ of state power. Very few debates take place at the session of the highest organ of state power, and in most cases, these organs adopt the central committee's recommendations unanimously. This was not always

2883-541: The KGB , while the Chinese Communist Party has a Publicity Department responsible for supervising party and state media across China. Outside of these departments, central committees usually have other units as well, such as a publishing house, party schools, scholarly institutes and a capital construction section, for example. The leaders of these permanent organs are usually called "heads". The Secretariat

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2976-662: The League of Communists of Yugoslavia (LCY) opted to abolish its secretariat in 1966 to divide powers more equally. Later, in 1978, the 11th LCY Congress turned the Presidency , the Yugoslav counterpart to the politburo, into a "political-executive organ" in which no member could concurrently be a member and a secretary. Political work was headed by the president of the LCY Presidency , the party leader, and no member of

3069-838: The Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union "on instructions of the Central Committee". Upon his election, Chernenko nominated Nikolai Tikhonov as chairman of the Council of Ministers , the Soviet government, also on the instructions of the Central Committee. Moreover, Chernenko and Gorbachev both stated that the instruction had also been "approved by the party group" of the Supreme Soviet. Marxist constitutional theorist Sylwester Zawadzk , and member of

3162-639: The Sejm , the highest organ of state power in the People's Republic of Poland , and instructing its former leader, Edward Gierek , to resign from his seat in the State Council . The central committee could also nominate individuals to state positions. On 11 April 1984, during the 1st Session of the 11th Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union , Mikhail Gorbachev nominated Konstantin Chernenko as chairman of

3255-442: The legislature . Party discipline is important for all systems of government that allow parties to hold political power , as it can often be a determining factor in both the practical functionality of the government, as well as the efficient function of legitimate political process. Parliamentary groups can have discipline analogous to party discipline. Breaking party discipline in both formal and informal settings may result in

3348-697: The " Highway Law of the People's Republic of China " in 1999 and the " Property Law of the People's Republic of China " in 2006. In both cases, the proposed legislation was amended and passed at a later date. In some cases, the central committee adopts decisions on behalf of state organs despite it not being in their jurisdiction. This occurred at a session of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia (CPCZ) on 13–14 September 1979 when it removed Jan Gregor , Frantisek Hamouz and Bohuslav Vecera from their government posts. Another example

3441-479: The "historic" central committee were kept a secret. For instance, the contents of the BCP Central Committee session on 17 April 1956 that removed Valko Chervenkov as general secretary were deemed too sensitive to be published even thirty years after the event took place. Central committee sessions could also produce transparent communiques and resolutions. Scholar Hazan contends, "As a rule, this

3534-433: The CPCZ; the HSWP Central Committee rarely replaced members who died in office. Other times, the removal of certain members was not explained. The RCP Central Committee session, held on 26 November 1981, published a communique that stated Leonte Răutu had been removed but did not disclose why. The same RCP session removed Virgil Trofin and Vasilie Ogherlaci and noted in the session communique that they were "excluded from

3627-449: The Central Committee and punished by a vote of censure and warning." According to Hazan, its not certain that the decision to remove these figures was independently decided by central committee. The RCP Political Committee , the party's name for their politburo, had already decided to remove these members, and one can, therefore, construe the central committee's decision instead as a ratification of an already made decision. In some cases,

3720-626: The Communist Party of China, uphold the Party's program, observe the provisions of the Party constitution, fulfill a Party member's duties, carry out the Party's decisions, strictly observe Party discipline, guard Party secrets, be loyal to the Party, work hard, fight for communism throughout my life, be ready at all times to sacrifice my all for the Party and the people, and never betray the Party." — Chinese Communist Party Admission Oath . Party discipline tends to vary largely depending on

3813-747: The Czechoslovak people." A central committee, not always the case in non-ruling parties, has two components: one composed of elected officials and another composed of non-elected officials. The non-elected officials compose the permanent organs of the central committee, which makes up the central committee apparatus. The activity of a central committee is constant and does not cease in between its sessions. The central committee usually has several internal departments, commissions, committees, newspapers and other organs working continuously when not in session. These organisational sub-units do everything from greeting foreign delegations, issuing regulations, monitoring

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3906-490: The PUWP Central Committee, but provincial delegations from the floor nominated a further 79 candidates. The congress delegates then elected the central committee by secret vote by crossing of 79 candidates. The result was that eleven out of fifteen incumbent members of the Politburo and the Secretariat were voted out of office. Normally, up to two-thirds of central committee members are reelected at party congresses. Those who fail to get reelected are usually not victims of

3999-573: The RCP Central Committee session of 25 March 1981 clarified the party's foreign affairs policy and how it differed from other Eastern European communist parties. In other situations, as was a normal occurrence in former communist Europe (bar Yugoslavia), the central committee convened to express support for Soviet foreign policy . This occurred at the CPCZ Central Committee session on 21 April 1982, where Vasiľ Biľak ,

4092-594: The Soviet Union (CPSU) as an example, since "each secretary has responsibility for one or more departments, and hence the departmental officials work as the staff assistants of the secretaries." The permanent organs are often organised on branch lines. For example, the CPSU Central Committee had the Administrative Organs Department responsible for supervising the works of the ministries of Civil Aviation , Defence and

4185-473: The Westminster system of parliamentary democracy. Party discipline weakened to a degree in the United Kingdom during Brexit under Theresa May with only a slim majority and intra-party divisions between hard Brexiteers and soft or anti Brexiters; and post 2019 under Boris Johnson (though Johnson has a large majority, making backbench dissent less of a difficulty). An independent evaluation found that MPs in

4278-693: The case. The Assembly of the Yugoslavia rejected bills, the Polish Sejm voted against government appointments and, under Gorbachev's leadership, the Congress of People's Deputies and the Supreme Soviet regularly voted contrary to the wishes of the Soviet government and party leaders. There have been several attempts to reform the relationship between the central committee and the highest organ of state power. In China, according to scholar Anthony Saich, "the party cannot guarantee absolute support [in

4371-572: The central committee and that the president of the LCY Central Committee served as an ex officio central committee member. However, unlike the other ruling communist parties, the party congress did not elect the LCY Central Committee from 1974 onwards. The congresses and conferences of the LCY branches nominated individuals to serve in the LCY Central Committee, and the LCY congress decided on

4464-430: The central committee. Party members who serve in the highest organ of state power are also bound by party discipline and have to enact policies approved by the central committee. The leading role principle entails that the central committee adopts recommendations on state policy on behalf of the party to, most commonly, the highest organ of state power , but also to other state organs if deemed necessary. For instance,

4557-432: The central committee. The party leader, most often known as general secretary of the central committee , led the secretariat's work. As such, several scholars, like Darrell P. Hammer , Archie Brown and Wu Guoguang , have referred to the general secretary as the central committee's chief executive officer . While all ruling central committees have had secretariats at some points, some opted to abolish them. For example,

4650-482: The congress as an occasion to rearrange which institutions were to be represented in the central committee. In this way, the party leadership could guarantee that certain sectors were represented in the central committee. Despite this, many ruling central committees had elders in their ranks who had been members their whole careers. For example, in the HSWP, Antal Apró , Sándor Gáspár , Károly Kiss , István Szabó and Rezső Nyers had been central committee members since

4743-499: The early 1950s. For example, the 3rd Extraordinary Session of the Central Committee of the 6th LCY Congress , held on 16–17 January 1954, was both publicly broadcast and made public in written form in the LCY Central Committee's theoretical journal, Komunist . This is against the norm in most communist parties as the majority of them did, and still do, keep proceedings secret. Sessions have, on several occasions, produced documents of an authoritative ideological nature. For instance,

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4836-619: The electoral procedure varies. For instance, the Communist Party of Vietnam 's control organ, the Central Inspection Commission , is elected by a session of the central committee. In contrast, the CCP counterpart, the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection , is elected by the party congress . Control commissions in all these parties, whether elected by the central committee or congress, bear more or less

4929-699: The eligibility of the candidates proposed. The sitting party leadership usually controls congress proceedings, nominating candidates close to them and trying to remove opponents. Moreover, in some parties, as in the Bulgarian Communist Party (BCP), the central committee was empowered to elect additional members between congresses, which the Central Committee of the 11th BCP Congress did do on two occasions. While most personnel changes did occur at congresses, removing or adding new central committee members between congresses occurred semi-regularly. The reasons for removing members varied. For instance,

5022-461: The highest organ of state power of Poland, defined the relationship between the party and state as follows, "The Marxist-Leninist party gives political direction to the work of both the [Highest organ of state power] and the Government. [Highest organ of state power] and Government both work to carry out a common program for building socialism. It does not mean, however, that under these conditions

5115-493: The highest organ of state power. In the Soviet Union, 227 out of 241 members of the Central Committee of the 24th Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) concurrently served in the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union . They tended to dominate the Supreme Soviet and occupied leading political positions within it. In 1971–1973, forty per cent of debate participants were either members or alternates of

5208-552: The highest organ of state power] and has accepted a looser form of control than during the Maoist days when the [National People's Congress] (NPC) was simply stocked with model workers and peasants, pliant intellectuals and senior party leaders." The first reforms were instituted in 1991, when the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party (CPC) adopted a regulation that limited the party's interference in

5301-473: The importance of the [highest organ of state power's] constitutional functions is reduced." In practice, the party's central committee normally discusses and adopts the state plan and budget before the highest organ of state power does. On 25 November 1981, the RCP Central Committee convened to discuss and adopt the state plan and budget. Two days later, on 27 November, the Romanian highest organ of state power,

5394-435: The international policy stance of the HSWP and outlined the basic features of the 1982 plan and budget. However, in other instances, the session makes public the resolutions adopted. For instance, the RCP Central Committee session on 9 February 1982 made public the resolution on "Resetting of Prices and Augmentation of Remuneration of Working Personnel". According to Hazan, the RCP Central Committee took this move to help justify

5487-465: The larger party. While the brand ambassador phenomenon does work to ensure the smooth operation of democracy, it also has several criticism, such as the oppression of dissenting opinions. This oppression of dissenting opinions sees the creation of a virtual barrier for free thinkers. Perspective party members who may vary from political norms in terms of sex, race or gender identity are thus placed at odds with party officials who may view this deviation from

5580-405: The majority. Secondly, he posited that lower-level organs were subservient to higher-level organs. Third, members willingly acquiesced to discipline, and political discipline was equally obligatory for all party members. Democracy, on the other hand, meant, according to Dobieszewski, that every member had equal opportunity to participate in the formulation of the party's programme and line, as well as

5673-620: The nationwide party organisation and being responsible for personnel appointments throughout the party. For example, the CPSU statute , adopted at the 22nd Congress in 1961, stated that the CPSU Secretariat was "to direct current work, chiefly the selection of personnel and the verification of the fulfilment of Party decisions." The most powerful individuals in the communist state system were politburo members who concurrently served as secretariat members, also referred to as secretaries of

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5766-443: The norm as a threat to party cohesion. This proverbial prohibition of those who deviate from the norm in establishment politics includes its tendency to suppress the representation of women and minority members of the party. Research from a variety of global legislatures has indicated that parties tend to only select women and minorities who are extremely partisan loyal. Parties also often systemically weed out members they deem to be

5859-459: The parties leadership. In order to maintain strict discipline and discourage behaviour such as floor crossing , which entails the given member leaving the party to join another caucus in the legislature, parties often offer a number of incentives to loyal members. These incentives also greatly vary on a case-to-case basis; examples include financial incentives and internal promotion within the party. There are, however, occasions in which members of

5952-545: The party and people, fidelity to Marxism–Leninism and their participating in socialist construction. Another criterion was age, with Hoxha noting that newer members were younger than incumbent ones. He also stated that party organizations had put forward over 2,000 potential candidates to the leadership but had shortened the list to 125 nominees for central committee membership. Hoxha's statement was, according to Hazan, vague but more transparent on election practices than most of his communist counterparts. The exception to this rule

6045-775: The party as a whole and preparing agenda items and dossiers for politburo meetings. Because of the central committee's role in the political system of communist states, foreign observers often state that it has functions resembling parliaments in liberal democracies . For example, the central committee apparatus of the former communist ruling parties of Europe had twenty to thirty organisational subunits that covered everything from foreign relations and trade to sports and science, similar to parliamentary special committees . Some organisational units are deemed party secrets and not publicly acknowledged. Many organisational units are shared by all communist parties, such as having organisational units for agitation and propaganda and organisation. At

6138-531: The party leadership lost control or chose to democratise congress proceedings. For instance, the 9th Extraordinary Congress of the Polish United Workers' Party , held on 14–20 July 1981, was, according to Hazan, "the only time that the election of an East European Central Committee was subjected to democratic procedures", in the liberal democratic sense. The Electoral Commission of the 9th PUWP Congress originally proposed 200 nominees for 200 seats in

6231-446: The party's seizure of power in 1948. Another interpretation, as outlined by Hazan, is that "the exercise of electing a new Central Committee is designed to remove those elements that had, for various reasons, become undesirable, while promoting people faithful to the party leader and his closest associates." Party discipline The term party discipline is used in politics in two closely related, yet distinct, meanings. In

6324-697: The politburo often ends up controlling the central committee. The politburos is often a small organ composed of anywhere from 10 to 30 members. In some parties, as in the RCP and in the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), the politburo has a standing committee that leads politburo work. In China, it is known as the Politburo Standing Committee , and in Romania, it was known as the Political Executive Committee . The members of

6417-587: The position becoming arguably more powerful than some actual presidential systems . The 2015 reforms to Canadian senate sought to increase independence, ideological diversity, and encouraging the exercising of formal powers, by eliminating political parties in the senate. While party discipline has been somewhat loosened, it has not really been effectively loosened as appointees are still likely to follow respective party policy and rhetoric. While senators are now officially unaffiliated with political parties research has shown that they still to tend to largely vote along

6510-419: The presidency could concurrently serve as a secretary, called executive secretary in the LCY. Executive work was led by the secretary of the LCY Presidency , and the officeholder was assisted by executive secretaries, who could not concurrently serve in the LCY Presidency but had to be members of the LCY Central Committee to be eligible to serve. A control commission is also widespread in communist parties, but

6603-512: The price increases to the population. In other cases, as with the PUWP Central Committee sessions from 1980 to 1982 and those of the LCY more generally, the agenda and proceedings of the sessions were made entirely public. In the PUWP, proceedings were aired live by state radio and television, while in Yugoslavia, public broadcasting of central committee sessions had been a normal occurrence since

6696-506: The principles of democratic centralism and unified power . Adolf Dobieszewski , an official of the Central Committee of the Polish United Workers' Party (PUWP), tried to define democratic centralism in 1980. He posited that centralism involves unifying party building and policy to construct a socialist society. To achieve unity in party building and policy, Dobieszewski contended that the minority had to be subordinate to

6789-480: The prioritization of women and other minority rights. This negative correlation can be seen to drastic effect in the practice of sacrificial lambs in electoral politics. Canadian parliaments have seen an especially drastic rise in party discipline over the past 100 years. In the early 1900s, just 20 percent of elected MPs voted with their respective party 100 percent of the time. The past ten years , however, has seen MPs vote against their party less than 1 percent of

6882-399: The public that "measures to ensure the consistent and all-round implementation of the decisions of the 11th BCP Congress" had been adopted and discussed. What these measures were was not made public. The importance of the session was indicated by the fact that Todor Zhivkov , the first secretary of the BCP Central Committee, "read a detailed report" to the session. However, the report's content

6975-442: The public. In some instances, the number of non-members exceeds that of central committee members. The Romanian Communist Party (RCP) did this, and the Central Committee of the 12th RCP Congress convened an enlarged session on 1 June 1982 attended by 360 guests to discuss the "current stage of building socialism in Romania". Sessions dealing exclusively with party affairs are usually closed. These sessions' most common agenda item

7068-439: The quality of party ranks", while Jan Szydlak was removed "for errors in economic policy and support for arbitrary action in this field." In other cases, the central committee elected additional members on the death of sitting member. For example, a session of the CPCZ Central Committee, held on 1 December 1977, opted to elect Miloš Jakeš to the central committee to replace the recently deceased Jan Baryl . Not every party did as

7161-432: The relative cohesion of members of the respective party group. In order to maintain party discipline, given political parties usually appoint a party whip whose primary task it is to maintain party discipline and to ensure the given party members support the party on the floor of the legislature. In liberal democracies , party discipline commonly refers to the control that party leaders have over their caucus members in

7254-414: The right to elect and recall officials at all levels. Unified power is the opposite of the separation of powers , and seeks to centralise all power into one organ. This meant that the unified power of the party was bestowed on the congress, which was often designated as the party's "supreme organ". This supreme organ is responsible for electing the central committee, which is typically tasked with directing

7347-523: The right-wing parties during the French Third Republic (1871–1940) all had little to no party discipline. In the United States, the modern Democratic Party and Republican Party both have relatively weaker party discipline in contrast to Westminsters system. That is aptly illustrated by the vote on the federal Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act , in which the only senator to vote against overriding President Barack Obama 's veto

7440-424: The same functions and responsibilities. They are responsible for investigating disciplinary issues, screening party members, handling appeals against party decisions, combatting political corruption and, in instances where control and auditing functions have been merged, auditing the party's economic and financial affairs. In most cases, bar a few exceptions, these organs, no matter if they are elected by congress or

7533-551: The same time, others are unique, such as the Department of Western Affairs of the SED Central Committee . These organs are supervised by the secretariat , and this institutional function is usually vaguely stated in the party statute. The difference between elected and non-elected personnel in the apparatus is blurred, according to scholars Jerry F. Hough and Merle Fainsod , and using the Communist Party of

7626-652: The session, that fifteen central committee members participated in session discussions and that it approved the SED Politburo's report and the proposed economic plan for 1981. The same rule regards extraordinary sessions, both ordinary and enlarged, as well. In some cases, these sessions were made public long after the fact. For example, the Central Committee of the Bulgarian Communist Party (BCP) reported that an "important" Central Committee session had taken place 1–2 July 1976, but only informed

7719-507: The time. This mass conformity has had a drastic effect on Canadian elections, with just 4 to 5 percent of Canadians listing the actual candidate as prioritization in elections. Furthermore, statistics show that voter opinions of local candidates matter in less than 15 percent of elections. Thus Canada has become widely regarded as the parliamentary democracy with the most stringent party discipline. This, in turn, has led to frustration among many Canadian voters who feel their elected representative

7812-519: The type of governmental system of a given country. The term has a somewhat different meaning in Marxist–Leninist political systems such as the People's Republic of China . In this case party discipline refers to actual administrative sanctions such as fines or expulsion that the Chinese Communist Party can impose on its members for actions such as corruption or disagreeing with the party. Other examples of even stronger party discipline include

7905-512: The work of China's highest organ of state power, the NPC. The document clarifies that the CPC has the right to review all proposed laws, but detailed scrutiny of articles and other legal features should be left to the NPC. In line with this, the number of negative votes by NPC deputies against proposed legislation and candidates has increased since 1991. The NPC has also rejected proposed legislation, such as

7998-452: The work of state organs, granting approval to the state plan and budget ahead of the discussions in the highest organ of state power , and endorsing the appointments of individuals to prominent state roles. However, more generally, central committees are empowered to deal with any issue that falls under the party's purview. Most communist states formally enshrine the communist party's leading or guiding role in state and society , and this

8091-515: The work of the communist party in between two congresses. According to scholar Baruch Hazan, the former ruling Eastern European communist parties provided nearly identical descriptions of the functions and powers of their central committees. Their responsibilities included representing the party externally, organising party organs, directing their activities, nominating personnel for internal organs, evaluating party cadres, and administering internal funds. Additionally, they were responsible for overseeing

8184-400: The years, defined as a pendulum, depending on the political phase of the government. In Australia the electoral conditions can result in candidates from one of the minor parties or a microparty , elected to government with extremely small vote numbers. Discipline in these small parties is often non-existent and results in the elected member leaving to sit as an independent. An example of this

8277-478: Was discussed. In this, the communique stated, "The Central Committee discussed and approved: a report submitted by Comrade Andreas Gyenes , secretary of the Central Committee, on topical international issues; and a proposal submitted by Comrade Ferenc Havasi , member of the Politburo and secretary of the Central Committee, on guiding principles for the 1982 plan and state budget." The ensuing communique summarised

8370-489: Was not made public either. Despite the meeting's secretive nature, and the low level of transparency about it, the BCP Central Committee's main newspaper Rabotnichesko delo wrote, "the entire population is called upon to fulfill the 'program' contained in the report." That is, the Bulgarian people were called to participate in implementing resolutions they were not acquainted with. In other more extreme cases, details of

8463-786: Was replaced by Steven Martin. Martin then refused to resign himself, which would have allowed Lambie to return. He was expelled from the Lambie party, sitting as an independent before joining the Tasmanian Nationals . Party discipline has become increasingly important in the Twenty-First Century due in part to the rise of instant communication. The rise of digital media combined with global hyper- political polarization has caused parties to maintain not only strict party discipline but even stricter message discipline; which has become increasingly important in order to present

8556-561: Was the League of Communists of Yugoslavia (LCY), which had instituted clear and transparent rules on elections to the LCY Central Committee . For example, the Sixth Session of the Central Committee of the 10th LCY Congress , held on 20 March 1978, instituted a system in which each republican branch had twenty representatives, each autonomous province had fifteen members, that the army branch had fifteen members in

8649-558: Was the retiring Democratic minority leader Harry Reid . This can also be seen in Republican failures to repeal Obamacare and the general power wielded by senators with a pivotal vote, such as Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema during the 117th Congress. This looser degree of party discipline in the United States is part due to the structure of the federal presidential republic government which by design enables elected representatives to exercise an increased degree of autonomy as opposed to

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