Democratic Centralists

An opposition group within the Russian Communist Party (Bolshevik). It began to appear in early 1919 and finally formed in 1920. Its main members include T. V. Sapronov, V. Osinski, V. M. Smirnov, V. N. Maximovsky, and others. They were also called as the Decemists.

Under the banner of implementing democratic centralism, this group, while pointing out the fact that the life in the party was too centralized and not democratic enough, wanted to weaken the centralization on the basis of democracy, denied the leading role of the party in the Soviets and trade unions, opposed the one-director system and the individual responsibility system of factory directors in the industrial sector, demanded the freedom to organize factions and groups in the party, opposed the centralized leadership and iron discipline, praised guerrilla practices in the army and demanded the decentralization of political power. The representatives of the “Democratic Centralists” faction advocated the merger of the People’s Council and the Presidium of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee, and called for the abolition of the subordination of the local organs of political power to the central government. The “Democratic Centralists” opposed the Leninist line on organizational issues, the unity of political and organizational leadership of the Central Committee, and sought to exclude the Organizational Bureau from the political leadership. During the 1920-1921 debate on trade union issues, the Democratic Centralists once announced their programme.

The Eighth, Ninth and Tenth Congresses of the Russian Communist Party (Bolshevik) all criticized the Democratic Centralists. After the Tenth Congress of the Russian Communist Party (Bolshevik), it was decided to dissolve all factions and groups, but some members of this group continued their activities against the general line of the Party. Furthermore, in 1923, the group formed an alliance with the Trotsky led opposition. In 1926, the group formed the so-called "Group of Fifteen" headed by Sapronov and Smirnov, and joined the Trotsky-Zinoviev Alliance. In December 1927, the Fifteenth Congress of the Russian Communist Party (Bolshevik) expelled a total of 23 members of this anti-Party group from the Party.