Democratic centralism, communist leaders claim, combines the “strictest discipline with the widest initiative and independent activity of the Party membership.” It is “democratic” because of the preliminary “free discussion of issues” and “right of election”; it is “centralism” because once a decision is made, the discipline of the Party enforces the decision. This is the ideal type of organizational structure, say the communists. The tyranny and dictatorship that are part and parcel of the Communist Party are laid down by the rule: all lower Party organizations are subordinated to the higher bodies, and the highest of all are the Congresses of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, which are run by the Kremlin. A practical demonstration of democratic centralism at work recently occurred in New York City. As we have mentioned, a campaign was launched to circulate a petition to put Elizabeth Gurley Flynn, a member of the National Committee, on the ballot as candidate for the New York City Council. Although the 1957 National Convention of the Party emphasized that Party members could dissent from official Party policy, William Weinstone, another member of the National Committee, issued the order that “Those members who may not agree with this campaign should nevertheless understand that it is their duty to participate in signature getting.” We in the FBI, through confidential sources of information, know what goes on in hundreds of these meetings. We know who the speakers are, what they say (and don’t say), what decisions are made. These “free discussions” would be amusing but for the deadly malady they highlight: a ruthless thought control. Communist members learn what to think, how to vote, what to say by a process of “automatic osmosis”—the seeping of predigested thoughts along the Party line into all subordinate minds, disciplined to accept. The members become ideological sleepwalkers, drugged into complete obedience by an unconscious discipline. Sometimes, absurd as it may seem, secret ballots are used. Members go through all the motions of argument, taking a vote, nominating and electing officers. They become excited, waving their arms, pounding desks, shaking their fists. You would think there was open opposition. But that is merely part of the show. Communist thought control, operating through Party ranks, is a terrifying spectacle, freezing into fixed rigidity the mental processes of thousands. Seen in its true light, democratic centralism is a deceptive cloak dropped over a ruthless dictatorship. Sometimes a member, somehow or other, does not fathom the Party line. He says something out of step. He is simply “ill-informed” and needs more “education.” A Party school or a conference will probably bring him back to his “right senses.”