Parties and the Masses

Abstract

In developing societies the "masses" are com posed of those persons who have lost identification with their traditional cultures but who have not yet succeeded in becom ing effectively participant members of the political public of the modern, national community. Political parties which attempt to agglutinate and direct the power of this kind of mass can have powerfully positive developmental effects. Sometimes, however, the ideologies of mass leaders lead them to institute such counter-producing systems as corporativism—as in Peron's Argentina—a system which may impede the ability of their so cieties to become fully modern. The growth of mass parties can carry with it what may be called "party charisma," the in vesting of the "movement" with the attribute of universal cor rectness. This tendency avoids some of the problems of suc cession characteristic of personalistic leadership, but reinforces a dogmatism prejudicial to the kind of pragmatic rationalism often seen as an intrinsic part of modern society. The type of mass party which may emerge in any given country is condi tioned by the pre-existing culture, ideological predispositions, accidents of leadership, the historical moment in which such parties appear, and the velocity of the process of modernization. If mass parties succeed in creating truly public men, their func tion in development is positive. Such a result, however, is by no means inevitable.