bureaucratic centralism

bureaucratic centralism (uncountable)

1. A set of principles of organization whereby power is centralized and subordinate bureaucrats must follow decisions and carry out orders made by their superiors.

   Antonym: democratic centralism

   • 1935, Соломон Лозовский [Solomon Lozovsky], “III. The Struggle against Lassalleanism and all other forms of German Opportunism”, in Marx and the Trade Unions, New York: International Publishers, page 43:

     The bureaucratic centralism of German Social-Democracy, which re-echoed the “national” traditions of the Prussian barrack square, has been a damper on the labour movement of Germany to this very day.