Rethinking Political Organisation

Abstract

The membership and influence of political parties is declining throughout the Western world, and most quickly in Britain. Traditionally, political parties have been the means of giving shape, leadership and coherence to radical politics. But in present circumstances they are simply not up to the task. There’s never been a golden age for parties of the Left, but there have been periods — the 1920s up till the late 1960s — when the majority of people desiring change in a broadly socialist direction would be members or supporters of mass socialist or communist parties. The situation now is that by far the majority of people actively pursuing goals of social justice, equality, deeper democracy, demilitarised politics, and social and environmental sustainability, do so without being members of political parties. I am one of them.KeywordsPolitical PartyRadical PoliticsElectoral PoliticsOpen ReflectionSocial ForumThese keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.