Party dissolution paradoxically produced unity and elite consolidation

Evidence

Denouncing former misdoings and crimes signaled to both current and potential supporters that the party recognized why it was so discredited, and that it acknowledged responsibility for its history. Breaking with the past could be taken as far as the dissolution of the party, which led to greater party unity and elite consolidation (since the new members and organizations would have to commit their support to the new leadership). — Anna M. Grzymala-Busse, Redeeming The Communist Past, 431

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Reformist party renewal paradoxically centralized power in the chair — Anna M. Grzymala-Busse, Redeeming The Communist Past: The…, 508; Absorbing rival elites into the ruling bloc decapitates and neutralizes opposition; Event coalitions can achieve political goals while modulating internal difference and inequality — Michelle I. Gawerc, Coalition-building and the forging of…, 323

Broader Connections

• Reformist party renewal paradoxically centralized power in the chair #expands (0.85) — Anna M. Grzymala-Busse, Redeeming The Communist Past, 508
• Absorbing rival elites into the ruling bloc decapitates and neutralizes opposition #expands (0.80)