Paper stones : a history of electoral socialism

236 Pages·1986·23.753 MB·English

by  Adam Przeworski, John Sprague

A
History of Electoral Socialism
Adam
and
Przeworski
John Sprague
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A
History ot Electoral Socialism
Adam
Przeworski and John Sprague
At the end ofthe nineteenth century, several political
parties in Europe entered into electoral politics with the
goal ofwinning an overwhelming majority ofvotes for
socialism. Elections were to open the “parliamentary
road” to socialism; they were to bring a “peaceful revo-
lution.” Barricades were no longer needed when work-
ers could cast ballots: votes were “paper stones.” Yet no
political party has ever won an electoral majority on a
program offering a socialist transformation ofsociety.
Adam Przeworski and John Sprague explain why.
(Continued on back flap)
Jacket illustration:
This allegory ofthe
famous Swiss Battle of
Sempach was used on an
electoral broadside by the
Swiss Democratic Social
Party in the 1890’s.
Printed in U.S.A.
xsisz
OMNIV/^
CIVIVAl
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BOSTON
PUBLIC
library
Digitized by the Internet Archive
in 2017 with funding from
China-America Digital Academic Library (CADAL)
https://archive.org/details/paperstoneshistoOOprze
„PAPER_
Stones

A
History of Electoral Socialism
Adam
Przeworski and
John Sprague
The University of Chicago Press
Chicago and London
Adam Przeworski is Martin A. Ryerson Distinguished Service Professor of
Political Science, University of Chicago, and the author of Capitalism and Social
Democracy. John Sprague is professor of political science, Washington
University in St. Louis. He is the author of Voting Patterns ofthe U.S. Supreme
Court and is co-author with Adam Przeworski of Systems Analysisfor Social
Scientists.
The University of Chicago Press, Chicago 60637
The University of Chicago Press, Ltd., London
©
1986 by The University of Chicago
All rights reserved. Published 1986
Printed in the United States of America
95 94 93 92 91 90 89 88 87 86 5 4 3 2
1
This project was supported in part by grants from the National Science
Foundation, SOC75-17906 to the University of Chicago and SOC75-I7456
to Washington University.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Przeworski, Adam.
Paper stones.
Bibliography:
p.
Includes index.
— —
1. Elections History. 2. Voting History.
—
3. Socialist parties History. 1. Sprague, John.
11. Title. HI. Title: Electoral socialism.
JF1027.P79 1986 324.9 86-6984
ISBN 0-226-68497-0
Contents
Prologue
1
/ Electoral Participation and Its Consequences 13
The Decision to Participate 13
Electoral Participation and Class Organization 18
Socialism and Electoralism 22
Great Expectations 25
2 The Dilemma of Electoral Socialism 29
The Magic Barrier 29
Workers as a Minority 31
Allies 40
Party Strategy and Class Ideology 45
Party Strategy and Class Organization 52
The Dilemma of Electoral Socialism 55
The Stagnation of the Socialist Vote 57
j
The Electoral Trade-Off 57
Party Strategies and the Vote 79
Causes of Stagnation 88
Appendix 96
vi Contents
' \
4 Are Socialist Leaders Vote Maximizers? 101
Choice and Necessity 101
The Realm of Choice 103
Vote Maximizing Strategies 109
Was the Stagnation of the Socialist Vote Inevitable? 113
Are Socialist Leaders Vote Maximizers? 119
Appendix 126
Pure Strategies 127
Time Paths of the Vote Under Pure Strategies 128
Carrying Capacities Associated with Pure
Strategies 131
Would Different Assumptions Make Much
Difference? 133
Vote Maximizing Strategies 138
j The Voting Behavior of Individuals 143
Conflicts Over Class and the Voting Behavior
of Individuals 143
Electoral History and the Act of Voting 147
Historical Patterns of Class Voting 158
Clinching Evidence 167
Epilogue 181
Appendix 187
The Calculations 187
The Data 192
Bibliography 203
Name Index 217
Subject Index 221