Collective leadership

Part of a series on
Communism
Concepts Marxist philosophy Marxian economics Historical materialism Dialectical materialism Surplus value Communist society From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs Class struggle Dictatorship of the proletariat Classless society Collective leadership Common ownership Class consciousness Gift economy Commune (socialism) Workers' self-management Proletarian internationalism World revolution
Aspects Communist society Communist state Communist party Communist revolution Communist symbolism Communism and religion History of communism
Variants Anarchist Anti-revisionism Stalinism Maoism Marxism–Leninism–Maoism Hoxhaism Castroism Council Euro Guevarism Ho Chi Minh Thought Juche Left Leninism Luxemburgism Marxism Marxism–Leninism National Religious Christian Socialism with Chinese characteristics Titoism Trotskyism World List of communist parties
Internationals Communist League First Second Third Fourth
People Karl Marx Friedrich Engels Rosa Luxemburg Vladimir Lenin Leon Trotsky Joseph Stalin Mao Zedong
By country Colombia Japan Korea Malaysia Peru Philippines Poland Vietnam
Related topics Anti-capitalism Anti-communism Third-Worldism Cold War Communitarianism Criticisms of communism Criticisms of communist party rule Left-wing politics New Class New Left Socialist mode of production Socialist economics
Communism portal

Collective leadership is considered an ideal form of ruling a communist party, both within and outside a socialist state. Its main task is to distribute powers and functions from the individual to a single group. For instance, in China or in Vietnam, when the country was ruled by Le Duan, powers have been distributed from the office of General Secretary of the Communist Party and shared with the Politburo Standing Committee while still retaining one ruler. Nowadays, in Vietnam there is not one paramount leader, and power is shared by the party General Secretary, President and the Prime Minister along with collegial bodies such as the Politburo, Secretariat and the Central Committee.

Forms

China

Currently, the central authority of the Chinese government is concentrated in the Politburo Standing Committee, which is composed of 7-members of the Communist Party of China and headed by the General Secretary of the Central Committee.^[1]

Soviet Union

Collective leadership (Russian: коллективное руководство, kollektivnoye rukovodstvo) or Collectivity of leadership (Russian: коллективность руководства, kollektivnost rukovodstva), was considered an ideal form of governance in the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR). Its main task was to distribute powers and functions among the Politburo, the Central Committee, and the Council of Ministers to hinder any attempts to create a one-man dominance over the Soviet political system by a Soviet leader, such as that seen under Joseph Stalin's rule. On the national level, the heart of the collective leadership was officially the Central Committee of the Communist Party, but in practice, was the Politburo. Collective leadership is characterized by limiting the powers of the General Secretary and the Chairman of the Council of Ministers as related to other offices by enhancing the powers of collective bodies, such as the Politburo.

Lenin was, according to Soviet literature, the perfect example of a leader ruling in favour of the collective. Stalin's rule was characterized by one-man dominance, which was a deep breach of collective leadership; this made his leadership highly controversial in the Soviet Union following his death in 1953. At the 20th Party Congress, Stalin's reign was criticized as the "personality cult". Nikita Khrushchev, Stalin's successor, supported the ideal of collective leadership but increasingly ruled in an autocratic fashion. In 1964, Khrushchev was ousted and replaced by Leonid Brezhnev as First Secretary and by Alexei Kosygin as Premier. Collective leadership was strengthened during the Brezhnev years and the later reigns of Yuri Andropov and Konstantin Chernenko. Mikhail Gorbachev's reforms helped spawn factionalism within the Soviet leadership, and members of Gorbachev's faction openly disagreed with him on key issues. The factions usually disagreed on how little or how much reform was needed to rejuvenate the Soviet system.

See also

• Swiss Federal Council

Notes

Sources

• Baylis, Thomas A. (1989). Governing by Committee: Collegial Leadership in Advanced Societies. State University of New York Press. ISBN 978-0-88706-944-4. 
• Cocks, Paul; Daniels, Robert Vincent; Whittier Heer, Nancy (1976). The Dynamics of Soviet Politics. Harvard University Press. ISBN 978-0-674-21881-9. 
• Christian, David (1997). Imperial and Soviet Russia: Power, Privilege, and the Challenge of Modernity. Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN 978-0-312-17352-4. 
• Taras, Roy (1989). Leadership Change in Communist States. Routledge. ISBN 978-0-04-445277-5. 
• Law, David A. (1975). Russian Civilization. Ardent Media. ISBN 978-0-8422-0529-0. 

Communism Concepts Marxist philosophy Marxian economics Historical materialism Dialectical materialism Surplus value Communist society From each according to his ability, to each according to his need Class struggle Dictatorship of the proletariat Classless society Collective leadership Common ownership Class consciousness Gift economy Commune Workers' self-management Proletarian internationalism World revolution Aspects Communist state Communist party Communist revolution Communist symbolism Communism and religion History of communism Variants Marxism Leninism Marxism–Leninism Trotskyism Maoism Juche Anarchist communism Socialism with Chinese characteristics Luxemburgism Titoism Stalinism Castroism Guevarism Hoxhaism Khrushchevism Indian Communism Prachanda Path Đilasism Rankovićism Left communism Council communism Religious communism Christian communism Eurocommunism World communism Stateless communism National communism Primitive communism Scientific communism Ho Chi Minh Thought Harmonious Socialist Society Scientific Outlook on Development List of communist parties Internationals Communist League First International Second International Third International Fourth International People Karl Marx Friedrich Engels Rosa Luxemburg Vladimir Lenin Joseph Stalin Leon Trotsky Mao Zedong Mikhail Bakunin Emma Goldman Peter Kropotkin Related topics Communist world Post-communism Anti-communism Anti-fascism Criticisms of communism Criticisms of communist party rule Anti-capitalism Cold War Democratic centralism Left-wing politics Communist parties with parliamentary representation New Class New Left Workers of the world, unite! Naxalite insurgency Communism portal