Democratic centralism is the name given to the
deontological 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. The
democratic aspect of this organizational method describes the freedom of members of the political party to discuss and debate matters of policy and direction, but once the decision of the party is made by
majority vote, all members are expected to uphold that decision. This latter aspect represents the
centralism. As Lenin described it, democratic centralism consisted of "freedom of discussion, unity of action."