Page:Theses Presented to the Second World Congress of the Communist International (1920).pdf/16

 nature of the lowest unit, the absolute authority of all the decisions of a higher unit upon the one immediately beneath, and a strong party central organ, whose decrees are binding upon all the leaders of party life between party conventions.

15. In view of the state of siege introduced by the bourgeoisie against the Communists, a whole series of Communist Parties in Europe and America are compelled to exist illegally. It must be remembered that under such conditions it may become necessary sometimes temporarily to deviate from the strict observance of the elective principle, and to delegate to the leading party organisations the right of cooptation, as was done in Russia at one time. Under the state of siege the Communist Party cannot have recourse to a democratic referendum among all the members of the Party (as was proposed by part of the American Communists) but on the contrary it should empower its leading central organ to make important decisions in emergencies on behalf of all the members of the party.

16. The doctrine of a wide "autonomy" for the separate local organisations of the party at the present moment only weakens the ranks of the Communist Party, undermines its working capacity and aids the development of petty-bourgeois, anarchistic, centrifugal tendencies.