A
political party described as a
communist party includes those that advocate the application of the social principles of
communism through a communist form of
government. The name originates from the 1848 tract
Manifesto of the Communist Party by
Karl Marx,
Friedrich Engels.
[1] The
Leninist concept of a communist party encompases a larger political system and includes not only an
ideological orientation but also a wide set of organizational policies.
A communist party is, at least according to Leninist theory, the vanguard party of the working class, whether ruling or non ruling, but when such a party is in power in a specific country, the party is said to be the highest authority of the dictatorship of the proletariat. Lenin's theories on the role of a communist party were developed as the early 20th-century Russian Social Democracy divided into Bolshevik (meaning "majority") and Menshevik (meaning "minority") factions.
There currently exist hundreds, if not thousands, of communist parties, large and small, throughout the world. Their success rates vary widely some are growing; others are in decline. In five countries (the People's Republic of China, Cuba, North Korea, Laos, and Vietnam) communist parties retain dominance over the state. See the List of communist parties for details on the communist parties of today.
In theory, a communist Congress would elect a Central Committee to execute the will of the Congress between meetings. The Central Committee would elect a much smaller Politburo to elect a general secretary and handle day-to-day operations. In practice in many countries where communist parties were in government, the flow of power often became the reverse the Politburo became self-perpetuating, and controlled the composition of the Central Committee, which in turn controlled the party congresses.
