Группа демократического централизма (децисты) · 1919–1927

Group of Democratic Centralism

민주중앙집권파

A dissident faction within the Russian Communist Party formed in early 1919, led by Timofei Sapronov, Nikolai Osinsky, and Vladimir Smirnov. The group opposed excessive centralization of power in the party apparatus, bureaucratic authoritarianism, and one-man management in industry, demanding a return to genuine 'democratic centralism', the very principle from which they took their name. They joined the Left Opposition in 1923, formed the more radical 'Group of 15' in 1926, and were expelled at the 15th Party Congress in 1927; most were executed during the Great Purge, remembered as the most unyielding of all oppositionists, having never once recanted.

Related people

Timofei Sapronov Nikolai Osinsky Vladimir Smirnov Vladislav Kosior

Sources

  1. Wikipedia (EN) faction history, leaders, platform, and fate
  2. Wikipedia (RU) состав группы, платформа, политизоляторы и расстрел
  3. britannica.com Britannica entry: origin 1919–1920, leaders, joining Left Opposition, expulsion at 15th Congress
  4. historicalmaterialism.org Decists Working Group, primary documents, Sapronov letters from exile, Aleksei Gusev's 'The Left of the Left'
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