Class Party Research Articles

Indefensible: On Aristide, Violence, and Democracy

This article analyzes the shifts in the balance of power between Aristide and the Haitian dominant and middle classes and the foreign powers (the United States, France, and Canada) during the two periods of Aristide’s presidency (1991/1994–1996, and 2001–2004). In the first period, an energized popular movement led Aristide to power with significant support among progressive sectors of the middle class and signaled a potential realignment of forces that the Haitian bourgeoisie and its foreign backers believed threatened their interests. The coup d’etat of September 1991 was the dominant class’s response to that perceived threat. The article considers the role of Aristide’s erratic behavior in justify the coup d’etat that would have happened in any case. In the second period, the popular movement was divided and weak, the progressive middle class parties broke with him to form an alliance with the bourgeoisie and the foreign troika. The article assesses the role of corruption and violence by Aristide and his Lavalas Family party in his second overthrow.

The roots of participatory democracy: democratic communists in South Africa and Kerala, India

The Paradox of Democratic Communism PART I: IDEOLOGY AND PRACTICE OF SOCIAL DEMOCRACY Communist Renewal and Ideological Convergence The Counter-hegemonic Politics of the CPI(M) The Hegemonic Politics of the SACP PART II: PARTY, CLASS, AND STATE IN HISTORICAL CONTEXT Party Capacities in Historical Perspective Competing Political Tendencies Party and Class under Electoral Politics Conclusion

Oranges, Posters, Ribbons, and Lemonade: Concrete Computational Strategies for Dividing Fractions

Oranges, posters, ribbons, and lemonade in a mathematics classroom sound like recipe ingredients for a class party. Instead, they were used as storyproblem contexts and concrete models to help students develop computational strategies for dividing fractions.

A aplicação da teoria marxista de Estado na interpretação do golpe militar de 1º de abril de 1964

The report of the historical process that caused the deposition of president João Goulart is analyzed in this article. The concern in observing the chronology of the facts is the methodological approach that guides this report. In factual terms, the aim is to build an interpretation for the following questions: if the President had the control of the Army and the trade unions, why was he deposed without any reaction? Did the deposition of the President arise from his intention to develop structural reforms with the support of the working class? In theoretical terms, the aim is to verify whether it was the bourgeois characteristic of the State which made unfeasible a government supported by unions and a worker class party confined to illegality. Foregrounded by the Marxist theory of state, it is possible to conclude that Goulart was deposed for not considering the distinction between institutional and revolutionary politics.

The Labour Movement and Party Politics in Malaysia

This manuscript aims at examining the relationship between working class cleavage and party politics in Malaysia. My focus will be on the way in which conservative elites in Malaysia have suppressed the labour movement for the purpose of maintaining and consolidating their dominances. The labour movement of Malaysia has been impeded by lack of autonomy against external structure and by internal division. Externally, economic elites, employers have dwarfed labour in organizational capacity and finance, and ruling elites, governments have silenced the labour movement through police and suppressive laws. In the process, political and economic elites capitalized on ethnic cleavage and overshadowed class cleavage. Combined with this external restriction, trade unionism has been limited by internal division within and among trade unions. These already weakened unions have thus failed to exert power in politics, let alone to establish socialist parties in Malaysia.

Class Politics and Political Context in Britain, 1964-1997: Have Voters Become More Individualized?

We assess the impact of social class and local context on individual vote in Britain from 1964 to 1997. Multilevel multinomial logit models are fit to British Election Survey data for eight elections and constituency-level data on social class composition and election spending by the major political parties. We find no evidence for a process of individualization of the voter. Our findings suggest that both individual and contextual social class effects on vote have remained fairly stable over time. Moreover, although we find an increase in the impact of campaign spending over time, this increase was similar among all social classes. Were the individualization thesis to hold, changes would have been most notable among the working class. These findings suggest that the declining salience of social class for electoral outcomes better reflects changes in class structure and party platforms rather than a lessening of importance of social class as a social identity.

Les partis politiques et les élections européennes un an après : bilan et perspectives

This study covers the one-year period since the first election of the European Assembly by universal suffrage, the results of which were rather misleading. The authors attempt to elaborate a conceptual framework capable of analyzing empirically the programs and ideological stands of the parties in the Strasbourg Chamber as they have evolved since the election. As a point of reference, the analysis has recourse to three socio-political cleavages which were observable throughout late European history or tend to appear in the modem context of political life; these include the divisions between 1) "bourgeois" and working class parties; 2) europeanist versus nationalist parties, and 3) industralist (or productivist) as opposed to "ecological" party formations. A detailed examination of both the interventions of euro-deputies in Assembly debates, and data recorded in several interviews with some deputies during this first year of their mandate, reflects not only the existing constellations of power and party alliances within the Assembly that reaffirm themselves on specific issues, but also the potential coalitions which may arise due to the rapidly changing political scene. These new coalitions, which tend to form more easily among members of different parties who share common interests with regard to social and economic issues, may eventually serve to overcome the traditional ideological divisions among parties. In terms of the near future, it doesn't matter so much whether the Euro-right or the Euro-left will succeed in imposing its majority in the Assembly, but whether the European Parliament itself, as an institution, will be able to demonstrate that it can have an effective and more representative voice in the formulation of EEC policies.

Representation as a Vehicle for Solving and Communication

Students in MS. Simpson's seventh-grade prealgebra class were challenged to use data to decide which of several class party plans was best. Because Takisha focused on price, she preferred using a table to justify her decision. Samantha used a written explanation to determine for herself which plan was best. Brandon's group used a table that indicated the price per person. However, when it came to convincing others of the best plan, some students chose other representations. For example, Brandon decided to use his graphing calculator to display linear graphs of the three plans. Melissa decided to use a triple bar graph. Tables, written explanations, rules, equations, and graphs were all important representations used to solve and communicate the results of the problem.

Class, education and extreme party support in Germany, 1991–98

Using ALLBUS data from 1991–98, this article examines the effects of class and education on extreme party support – both on the left and on the right – in the reunited Germany. Our results suggest that the underlying considerations for extreme party support are similar for the left and for the right in both the East and West. Nonetheless, the structures of party support in the two regions differ, indicating the importance of fitting separate models for East and West Germany. This is most obvious with respect to the interplay between social class and education in their effects on PDS support. Here we find evidence of status inconsistency theory: Those with university degrees but in working class positions are significantly more likely to vote for the PDS than others.

Fads, Frills, and Basic Subjects: Special Studies and Social Conflict in Chicago in 1893

In 1893 there were conflicts among the citizens of Chicago over drawing, music, German, physical culture, and other special studies in the public schools. Opinions were divided along lines of class, ethnicity, and political party. Opponents of special studies were businessmen, nativist Anglo Americans, and Republicans. People who supported special studies were principally working men and women, progressive educators, immigrants, and Democrats. The reasons for opposing or supporting special studies varied. Businessmen saw subjects such as drawing and music as being frivolous and costly, while nativists were concerned with issues of social cohesion and common culture. Among those who supported special studies, German Americans held that special studies were part of a well rounded liberal education. Progressive educators argued that special studies made schooling more enjoyable. Working men and women saw special studies as means of social empowerment.

An ‘Organised Disorganisation’: Informal Organisation and the Persistence of Local Party Structures in Argentine Peronism

This article attempts to fill the void in research on the Justicialista Party (PJ) organisation. Challenging accounts of the contemporary PJ as a weak, personalistic organisation, it argues that the party maintains a powerful base-level infrastructure with deep roots in working- and lower-class society. This organisation has been understated by scholars because, unlike prototypical working class party structures, it is informal and highly decentralised. The PJ organisation consists of a range of informal networks – based on unions, clubs, NGOs and activists' homes that are largely unconnected to the party bureaucracy. These organisations provided the government of Carlos Menem with a range of benefits in the 1990s, particularly in the realm of local problem-solving and patronage distribution. Yet they also constrained the Menem leadership, limiting its capacity to impose candidates and strategies on lower-level party branches.

Stating the Difference: State, Discourse and Class Reproduction in Uttar Pradesh, India

Much development literature concerned with state–society relations operates with a simplistic state–people dichotomy. In contrast, this article focuses on the intersection between state and society and argues that this plays an important part in class reproduction in ‘civil society’. This issue is explored with reference to the role of the local state in class reproduction in the Indian countryside. The focus is on the means by which rural social groups negotiate access to the local state and discourses surrounding the state. The balance of colonization, co‐option and opposition that characterizes the relationship between dominant rural classes and local state officials/institutions is examined against the impact of the rise of a populist low class party. It is argued that the intersection between ‘class’ and ‘state’ is closer than even critical studies of state–society relations have posited. Moreover, the state can, within certain limits, be brought to serve interests other than those of the dominant classes.

From Class Party to Catchall Party?: The Adaptation of the Finnish Agrarian‐Center Party

This article seeks to apply Kirchheimer’s ‘catchall party thesis’ to the transformation of the Agrarian‐Center Party in Finland. On at least two counts this might seem a hopeless endeavor. First, Kirchheimer excluded most parties in the smaller West European democracies like Finland from his analysis on the curious grounds that they either had effective majorities or regular access to power and, therefore, had no need of catchall strategies. Second, he expressly excluded certain parties, including significantly Agrarian parties, from his purview because they were too narrowly based to become catchall parties. Kirchheimer also asserts that in general only major parties could successfully achieve a ‘life‐saving transformation.’ The Finnish Agrarian Party was certainly that. In the early 1960s, it was the largest single party, with a substantial classe gardée, and was also the pivotal party of governing coalitions. Accordingly, this article addresses three interrelated questions: a) Why did the Finnish Agrarians seek catchall status? b) What were the catchall strategies they pursued? c) Has an archetypal mass‐class party, contrary to Kirchheimer’s submission, been able to extend the basis of its support to become a catchall party? It is argued that although the Center Party today exhibits the electoral attributes of the catchall party – and is the only Finnish party really to do so – it lacks the organizational characteristics of the genre as enumerated by Kirchheimer.

Class and Conservative Parties: Argentina in Comparative Perspective. Edward L. Gibson

Class and Conservative Parties: Argentina in Comparative Perspective. Edward L. Gibson

Edward Gibson, Class and Conservative Parties: Argentina in Comparative Perspective (Baltimore, MD: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1996), pp. xx + 274, £40.00.

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Old and New Politics in Denmark

A New Politics dimension of non‐economic issue preferences emerged in Denmark during the 1980s. The new dimension is clearly separated from the traditional economic Old Politics dimension, though the two are correlated. The New Politics dimension has not given rise to viable new parties but is represented by three medium‐sized parties: the Sodalist People's and Radical Liberal parties constitute the New Left, and the Progressive Party constitutes the New Right. The three old class parties contribute little towards explaining the individual variance in the position of New Politics; as always, the Social Democratic Party represents the Old Left while the Liberal and Conservative parties represent the Old Right. In terms of social positions, New Left attitudes are correlated especially with level of school education and with employment in the reproductive sectors.

Medical Revolution in Minnesota: A History of the University of Minnesota Medical School

To the Editor.— In his review of my book, 1 Dr Numbers states that in more than 600 pages we learn virtually nothing about the many students who trained at Minnesota. In fact, the book contains many references to medical students. A freshman class party in February 1893 is described (pages 61 to 63), as is the medical students' realization in 1895 that they possessed unusual advantages at Minnesota (page 67). The frequency of illness and death among medical students from typhoid fever and tuberculosis at the turn of the century is mentioned (pages 93 to 94). The students' enjoyment of laboratory classes in bacteriology and their demand for further instruction in clinical microscopy is described (pages 100 to 102). The role of senior medical students in the first university hospital is mentioned (page 101). In chapter 10, the role of senior medical students in Base Hospital No. 26 during

Behavioral small group training to improve the social skills of emotionally-disordered adolescents

Adolescents with a history of disorders such as autism and schizophrenia often exhibit severe social skill deficits which interfere with the ability to establish relationships. In the current study, three students attending special education for emotionally-handicapped teenagers received small-group training at their school. Treatment consisted of training in conversational skill and social problem solving, in multiple baseline fashion and replicated across all three students. Treatment resulted in: (1) more effective performance during unstructured practice conversations, including conversations with persons the teenagers never met before; (2) more effective performance when presented with scenarios of social problems; (3) improved ratings of adjustment made by their teacher; (4) increased quality and rating of social interaction during informal class parties for two of the subjects; and (5) generally improved scores on self-report measures of depression, selfesteem, and loneliness. Implications for the use of social skill enhancement techniques for this population are discussed.

Scandinavian Social Economics Since 1930: A Bibliographic Note

October 1983 issue of the Review of Social Economy [pp. 137 151] contained a bibliographic note on Social Economics 1850-1930. majority of the titles listed there were rare titles, found in the holdings of the University of Kansas library, and consisted to a large degree of treatises written in Danish, Norwegian, and Swedish. Chiefly theoretical in nature, they represented a preface to the experi? ment in social democracy undertaken by the Scandinavian lands begin? ning in the early 1930s.1 It was precisely in the 1930s that the paths of the Nordic and non Nordic nations diverged. From that time forward, the working class parties of Scandinavia may be said to have differed from similar parties in other countries by their dominant and natural status in govern? ment. [Castles, p. x] One observer has said of Swedish social economic policy (which the other Nordic lands also adopted): The Swedish Social Democrats were the first socialist party in the world to be able to increase gradually the power of the state in economic life without revolution or large-scale nationalization. [Childs, p. 18] This was not full-scale socialism but a middle way between unfettered capitalism and socialism. [Childs, pp. 19-20; see also Koblik, p. 332.] 1983 article contained a list of largely theoretical works that led up to the social economic experiment undertaken by Scandinavia's social demo? cracies. This article is designed as a sequel and complement to the former, with some very significant differences. A review of the monograph literature available from 1850 to 1930 reveals stark contrasts to those books published since 1930. Most notable among them is that the English language is much more strongly represented for the recent time period, especially since the Second World War. Thus, the following list of titles may prove more useful to the North American scholar than did the previous one. Next, the majority of titles here are not theoretical in

The federal election of 1968: social class composition and party support in the electoral districts of Ontario

The federal election of 1968: social class composition and party support in the electoral districts of Ontario