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A central Committee is commonly the central executive unit of a Leninist (commonly also Trotskyist) or Communist party, whether ruling or non-ruling. In a Communist party, the Central Committee is made up of delegates elected at a Party Congress. In those Communist parties historically ruling around a Marxist-Leninist state, the Central Committee makes decisions for the party between congresses, and usually is responsible for electing the Politburo. In non-ruling Communist parties, the Central Committee is usually understood by the party membership to be the ultimate decision-making authority between Congresses once the process of democratic centralism has led to an agreed-upon position.

Organizations besides Communist ones also have Central Committees, such as the Mennonite Church and Alcoholics Anonymous, as well as the Central Committee for Conscientious Objectors (to war). In the United States the Democratic and the Republican 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.

[edit] List of Central Committees

• Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union in the Soviet Union
• Central Committee of the Communist Party of China in the People's Republic of China
• Central Committee of the Communist Party of Vietnam in the Socialist Republic of Vietnam
• Central Committee of the Korean Workers' Party in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea)
• Central Committee of the Polish United Workers Party in People's Republic of Poland
• Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba
• Central Committee of the Hungarian Workers' Party
• Central Committee of the People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan in the Republic of Afghanistan
• Democratic State Central Committee of Connecticut
• Central Committee of the South African Communist Party
• Central Committee of the Party of Labor of Albania

[edit] See also

• Eastern Bloc politics