Democratic centralism has nothing to do with abstract democracy.

Evidence

Connected with the question of the bureaucracy and its “optimum” organisation is the debate about so-called “organic centralism” and “democratic centralism” (which despite its name has nothing to do with abstract democracy, in as much as the French Revolution and Third Republic developed form of organic centralism unknown either to the absolute monarchy or to Napoleon I). — Antonio Gramsci, Selections from the Prison Notebooks, 772

Categorization

Category: Definitional Content

• DEFINE: Distinguishes democratic centralism from abstract democracy — a core concept distinction for the theory toolkit.
• QUESTION: The parenthetical about French Revolution organic centralism begs unpacking — what exactly was ‘organic’ about it vs. absolutist centralism?

Related

• Organic and democratic centralism are organisational forms hiding real political relations (similarity 0.87)
• Democratic centralism means adapting constantly to movement rather than hardening into bureaucracy (similarity 0.84)
• Bureaucratic centralism signals a ruling group hardening into a narrow clique (similarity 0.79)