Table Of Content

A History of Electoral Socialism Adam and Przeworski John Sprague ISBND-E2b-bflM^7-D ^B\PERr^ StoneS 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 workers 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 ^aseecLO! 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