This describes the CP to a tee.
>
>Methods and rationalizations of "democratic centralism" during times of
>emergency have a way of establishing themselves as administrative means in
>dealing with all opposition. This was Luxemburg's criticism of the Leninism.
The question of democratic centralism is very complex. I refer you to my web page where I have written numerous articles on the subject. In an examination of the problems of the German CP in the early 1920s, I identify strongly with the views of their central leader Paul Levi, who was ousted by the Kremlin. Levi was a disciple of Liebknecht and Luxemburg.
>
>You summon the name of Che Guevara. The Luxemburg topic was brought up in
>a fascinating interview given by Guevara to the American socialist academic
>Maurice Zeitlin on September 14, 1961. In this discussion, the new minister
>came out firmly for "democratic centralism," praised the Soviet example, and
>flatly opposed the right of factions or dissidents to make their views known
>even within the Communist Party itself. Asked by Zeitlin about Luxemburg's
>warnings on this score, Guevara replied coolly that Luxemburg had died "as a
>consequence of her political mistakes" and that "democratic centralism is a
>method of government, not only a method of conquering power." It was clear,
>in other words, that his authoritarian stance was taken on principle and not
>in response to "tactical" considerations.
Che had many mistaken ideas, although on balance he remains one of the great revolutionaries of the 20th century. He and Castro never really thought through the organizational problems of the revolutionary party. Che died in Bolivia as a result of misbegotten trust in the CP. Castro has shown great skill in promoting unity of revolutionary forces, such as in El Salvador and Nicaragua in the 1970s, but has never really understood the historic significance of the Bolshevik Party. Ironically, his July 26th Movement was more in the spirit of the Bolshevik Party than any of the self-declared vanguard parties of the Stalinist or Trotskyist variety in Latin America, but he failed to generalize from this experience and guide other parties. The whole dubious experience of "focoismo" in the 60s is testimony to this.
Louis Proyect (http://www.panix.com/~lnp3/marxism.html)