In discussing the communist concept of democracy, distinction must be made between what the Party calls _bourgeois democracy_ and _proletarian democracy_. The communists claim that “bourgeois” or “capitalist” democracy (as in the United States) is limited, repressive, and favors the minority; “... in capitalist society we have a democracy that is curtailed, wretched, false; a democracy only for the rich, for the minority.” (_Lenin_) After seizure of power the communists then will inaugurate, they say, “proletarian” democracy (as in Hungary and Russia), which will be “... a million times more democratic than any bourgeois democracy.” Here the dictatorship of the proletariat will be in power, utterly crushing any capitalist opposition. Eventually, however, this “proletarian” democracy will be supplanted by full communism, which, among other things, will be stateless. Basically the communists abhor democracy as practiced in the United States, believing, as they do, in dictatorship, force and violence, and the supreme authority of the Party. However, the Party seeks to utilize “capitalist” democracy and its rights (of which it falsely claims to be a protector) in order to promote its own cause. DEMOCRATIC CENTRALISM: The rigid principle that the decisions of the highest body in the Communist Party (even though it be dominated by one man) are binding upon all lower bodies or organizational units in the Party. DEVIATION: The departure from the policy and line established by the Party. It may either be to the left (known as left-wing sectarianism) or to the right (right-wing opportunism). Regardless, any deviation from a 100 per cent acceptance of the Party line is regarded as a serious situation and a matter for disciplinary action. Obviously, any original thinking or varied interpretations of Party policy are impossible. DIALECTICAL MATERIALISM: The philosophy and world outlook that undergirds communism. “Dialectical materialism is the world outlook of the Marxist-Leninist party. It is called dialectical materialism because its approach to the phenomena of nature, its methods of studying and apprehending them, is _dialectical_, while its interpretation of the phenomena of nature, its conception of these phenomena, its theory, is _materialistic_.” (_Stalin_) See =DIALECTICS= and =MATERIALISM=. DIALECTICS (DIALECTICAL):