The leadership role of the collective and individual responsibility in implementing the principle of democratic centralism
(Baonghean) A fundamental issue in implementing the principle of democratic centralism is the relationship between collective leadership and individual responsibility.
When an individual is assigned a responsibility by the collective, he or she will have a position corresponding to the assigned responsibility. The exercise of the power of the assigned position must be inspected and supervised by the collective, and each individual must voluntarily exercise that power for the benefit of the collective. However, in reality, at times and in some places, the collective lacks a mechanism to inspect and supervise power, and because some leaders are not exemplary, abuse of power occurs. When individual power is abused, if the collective cannot control it, the abuse will become more and more serious, causing the principle of "collective leadership, individual responsibility" to gradually become a formality.
Abuse of power has many different levels but all have one thing in common: using personal power to control the collective. When the collective discusses policies, resolutions, programs, and projects, this control has not occurred because there is no interest relationship, all members of the collective are aiming for a common goal.
When discussing a specific issue such as approving a project, approving a personnel plan, or arranging leadership positions, the relationship of interests begins to appear, and different opinions begin to arise within the group. Any member who promotes personal responsibility for the common good of the group will give objective and constructive opinions. Any member who does not promote personal responsibility for the common good of the group will give opinions that are not objective and lack constructive spirit. There are even cases where leaders who are not exemplary have tried to impose their personal intentions on personnel plans, arranging leadership positions, or approving projects.
In this case, the collective has many people who disagree, but because of respect or fear of the superior, they still have to agree, the leadership role of the collective is not promoted. In particular, there is also a phenomenon of violating the principle of democratic centralism by using the power of the superior to intervene and control the subordinate. A policy has been discussed and agreed upon by the superior collective and assigned to the subordinate to implement, but an individual with the power of the superior has influenced the subordinate to do things that are not in accordance with the general policy. There are also times when a policy has been discussed and agreed upon by the subordinate collective, but because an individual with the power of the superior intervenes, the head of the subordinate has to do things that are contrary to the agreed policy. If the members of the collective do not dare to fight, internal conflicts will secretly occur, and disunity will appear.
For a leadership group consisting of many components such as party cells, professional leaders, and trade unions, the scope of collective leadership is difficult to determine, individual power is easily abused, and individual responsibility is limited. In grassroots units, abuse of personal power occurs when the leader is not exemplary, does not respect the collective, makes decisions on issues beyond his authority, or handles work in an unethical manner. Unit leaders who are not exemplary often abuse personal power in many forms such as: taking advantage of account ownership to use public funds in violation of principles, taking advantage of leadership positions to recruit civil servants in violation of procedures, and arranging staff in violation of the collective's policies.
Faced with the abuse of personal power by unexemplary leaders, collectives in the agency such as party cells and trade unions also find it difficult to fight, and no one dares to speak up at agency leadership meetings. The collective at a higher level that is responsible for managing the leaders of lower-level units must wait for a complaint or a press report before having an opinion. The limitation of the leadership role of the collective has created an environment for unexemplary leaders to slide into political, moral, and lifestyle degradation, with some even violating the law or degenerating.
When individual responsibility is not promoted, it not only limits the leadership role of the collective but also causes many other harmful effects such as: conflicting leaders, internal disunity, individualism, and irresponsible work among staff. As long as the leadership role of the collective is not promoted, individual responsibility is limited. When the collective does not promote its leadership role properly, individuals still have the opportunity to abuse power, and the principle of democratic centralism is violated.
Tran Hong Co
