Central Committee was the common designation of a standing administrative body of
communist partiesA 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...
, analogous to a
board of directorsA board of directors is a body of elected or appointed members who jointly oversee the activities of a company or organization. Other names include board of governors, board of managers, board of regents, board of trustees, and board of visitors...
, whether ruling or non-ruling in the twentieth century and of the surviving, mostly Trotskyist, states in the early twenty first. In such party organizations the committee would typically be made up of delegates elected at a
party congressA party congress is a general conference of a political party. The congress is attended by delegates who represent the party membership. In most parties the party congress is the highest decision making body of the organisation and elects the party's leadership bodies such as the National Executive...
. In those
stateA communist state is a state with a form of government characterized by single-party rule or dominant-party rule of a communist party and a professed allegiance to a Leninist or Marxist-Leninist communist ideology as the guiding principle of the state...
s where it constituted the state power, the Central Committee made decisions for the party between congresses, and usually was responsible for electing the
PolitburoPolitburo , literally "Political Bureau [of the Central Committee]," is the executive committee for a number of communist political parties.-Marxist-Leninist states:...
. In non-ruling Communist parties, the Central Committee is usually understood by the party membership to be the ultimate decision-making
authorityThe word Authority is derived mainly from the Latin word auctoritas, meaning invention, advice, opinion, influence, or command. In English, the word 'authority' can be used to mean power given by the state or by academic knowledge of an area .-Authority in Philosophy:In...
between Congresses once the process of
democratic centralismDemocratic centralism is the name given to the principles of internal organization used by Leninist political parties, and the term is sometimes used as a synonym for any Leninist policy inside a political party...
has led to an agreed-upon position.
Non-Communist organizations also have Central Committees, such as the
Mennonite ChurchThe Mennonite Central Committee is a relief, service, and peace agency representing 15 Mennonite, Brethren in Christ and Amish bodies in North America. The U.S. headquarters are in Akron, Pennsylvania, the Canadian in Winnipeg, Manitoba.-History:...
and
Alcoholics AnonymousAlcoholics Anonymous is an international mutual aid movement which says its "primary purpose is to stay sober and help other alcoholics achieve sobriety." Now claiming more than 2 million members, AA was founded in 1935 by Bill Wilson and Dr. Bob Smith in Akron, Ohio...
, as well as the Central Committee for Conscientious Objectors (to
warWar is a state of organized, armed, and often prolonged conflict carried on between states, nations, or other parties typified by extreme aggression, social disruption, and usually high mortality. War should be understood as an actual, intentional and widespread armed conflict between political...
). In the United States the
DemocraticThe Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...
and the
RepublicanThe Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
Parties both have Central Committees; these act as the leading body of those organizations at the national/administrative level, as well as local committees in a similar capacity within the local Democratic or Republican governments of individual counties and states.
List of Central Committees
- Central Committee of the Communist Party of Russian Federation
- Central Committee of the Communist Party of China
The Central Committee of the Communist Party of China is the highest authority within the Communist Party of China. Its approximately 350 members and alternates are selected once every five years by the National Party Congress....
- Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba
- Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union
The Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union , abbreviated in Russian as ЦК, "Tse-ka", earlier was also called as the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party ...
- Central Committee of the Communist Party of Vietnam
The Central Committee of the Communist Party of Vietnam established 1930, is the highest authority within the Communist Party of Vietnam elected by the Party National Congresses...
- Central Committee of the Hungarian Workers' Party
- Central Committee of the Party of Labor of Albania
- Central Committee of the People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan
The Central Committee was a ruling organ for the People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan .- History :The first Central Committee was held on 1 January 1965 when the PDPA was established. Nur Mohammad Taraki was elected General Secretary of the PDPA at this meeting...
- Central Committee of the Polish United Workers' Party
- Central Committee of the South African Communist Party
- Central Committee of the Korean Worker's Party