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Centrists, with their fondness for majority rule, share some ideals with classical democrats, though it distances itself from the strong ideological commitments often associated with that viewpoint. Close and sometimes overlapping with centrism are the ideals of political liberalism (in the European sense), though the latter generally emphasizes individual rather than the community.
Centrism is important because it applies to very large swaths of the populace. In many countries, most members of the public tend to identify themselves as independent rather than as left-wing, right-wing, or any other political extreme. Politicians of many parties try to appeal to this so-called Vital Center, although many pundits find fault in this approach. For example, candidates using centrist politics to gain wider appeal risk losing support from the more idealistic members of their political parties. Also, centrist candidates may find themselves strongly agreeing with opponents in debates, potentially confusing voters as to how they stack up. This may have contributed to the controversial outcome of the 2000 U.S. presidential election in the United States (admittedly aggravated by political polarizationIn politics, polarization is the process by which the public opinion divides and goes to the extremes. It can also refer to when the extreme factions of a political party gain dominance in a party. In either case moderate voices often find that they have among voters, a fairly different phenomenon).
Centrism has a specific meaning within the BolshevikA Bolshevik ("", derived from Russian word loosely translated as "majority") was a member of a faction of Bolsheviks of the Russian Social Democratic Labor Party (RSDLP) led by Vladimir Lenin. The other faction was known as the Mensheviks, derived from "m and Third InternationalThe term Third International has two well-established meanings: For the unabridged dictionary, see Webster's Third New International Dictionary''. For the 20th-century Soviet-led Marxist coalition, see Comintern. political traditions. It usually reflects an ideologically held position between a revolutionaryA revolutionary is somebody who wants a revolution, and seeks to promote, encourage, or lead the creation of one. Notable revolutionaries John Adams Mirabal sisters Samuel Adams Aung San Tupac Amaru Mikhail Bakunin Ben Bella Andres Bello Simon Bolivar Fid and reformist position. For instance, the Independent Labour PartyThe Independent Labour Party (ILP) was a former political party in the United Kingdom. The party was formed in 1893 making it one of the earliest democratic socialist political parties operating in the United Kingdom. Its founder chairman was James Keir H was seen as revolutionary centrist because they were seen as radical formations that were moving towards a revolutionary position and had the potential to either become full fledged revolutionary parties or have a large number of their members move towards an openly revolutionary position. Centrism is seen as opportunistic as it promises a revolution at some far-off point but urges reformist practices in the mean time but it Centrist movements are seen as being pregnant with revolutionary possibilities because of their internal contradictions and the possibility of winning them to a purely revolutionary position given the right circumstances.
Centrism also denotes positions held in the 1920s inner-party debates of the Bolsheviks. This centrist was to the left of rightism which denoted continued support for the New Economic Program and accommodation with the bourgeoisie nations. It was, however, to the right of leftism which denoted an immediate return to class warfare within the Soviet Union, including collectivisation, nationalisation and central planning. By the end of the 1920s the centrists had been outmanouvred by Joseph Stalin who, while casually aligning with all three positions, built his own power bloc and then implemented a particularly rigorous form of the leftist program.
See: Two Articles on Centrism by Leon Trotsky