Page 333 - DPOL202_COMPARATIVE_POLITICS_AND_GOVERNMENT_ENGLISH

Comparative Politics and Government

Notes • The Labour Party is committed to the doctrine of democratic socialism. Different from the socialist
parties of the European countries, it has a socialism of its own based on the doctrine of Fabianism.
• “The Labour Party’s brand of socialism has been tempered by the exercise of power. The chief
aim has become the establishment of a Labour government rather than the bringing about of
socialism.”
• One important point that makes the Russian Federation fundamentally different from the Soviet
Union is the prevalence of multi-party system and the rise of a number of interest groups some
of which are also known as social and protest movements.
• Russia has a multi-party system. About half a dozen parties take part in the Presidential and
Parliamentary elections and manage to secure sizeable number of votes. Still, the party system
is in a formative stage. These parties are known by the name of their supreme leaders which
shows that they are formed not on the basis of some clear-out programme but on the personality
of a leader.
• None but the Communist Party of Russia has an ideology of its own. It stands on the principles
of Marxism-Leninism. The policies and programmes of other parties are vague and when some
party fights for interest of a particular section of the people, it looks like an interest group. The
Social Democratic Party of the Russian Federation has a socialist programme as it demands a
democratic system ensuring social participation of the employers and the workers and protection
of human rights. It may be taken as a mildly leftist organisation. The Russian Christian
Democratic Movement and Majority Party have a rightist orientation.
• France is ill-known not for having a multi-party system as for leaving an observer baffled in
drawing plausible conclusions from the drama of complication and simplifcation of political
parties and groups, including ‘clubs’ and ‘families’, in which the rightists, the leftists, and the
centrists have peculiar roles to play.
• The element of ideological make-up is virtually missing in all parties excluding the communists.
There is no party in France that may be treated like the Conservative or Labour parties of
England in respect of its political commitment to the ‘right’ or to the ‘left’. Likewise, there is no
party that may be identified with the Republican or Democratic parties of the United States that
are like ‘vote mobilisation’ machines.
• The multiplicity of party system coupled with the diversity of organisation, and attitude draws
sustenance not only from the factors of sociology and economics, it also derives its source from
the geographical composition of the country.
• Naturally this country is bedevilled by a multiplicity of political parties, passionate and internally
fissiparous. The party members live in a state of constant flux often shifting their loyalty from
one group to another and success comes to those who are adept in the art of manipulation
rather than being consistent supporters of a certain policy.
• The surprising part of the study is that after the establishment of the Fifth Republic, the UNR
became a basically different organisation in the sense as it was formed to support de Gaulle in
power, not to win power for him; it was formed by the supporters of de Gaulle without his
being involved, not by de Gaulle to attract supporters.
• It is the most active political party of France which “provides an interesting picture of the role
and tactics of a dictatorial Marxist party inside a democracy”. It was formed in Dec, 1920 by a
vote of many members of the Socialist Party who desired to join the Third International and
although the Comintern was dissolved in 1943, the party “is still Bolshevised in spirit, principles
and organisation”.
• Founded in 1879 and though close to the Communist Party, the Socialist Party (PSU) “stands
worlds apart, because it is rooted in the principle of responsible democracy and civil rights.”
• This party is the defender of the Democratic Republic of France and stands for the programmes
of nationalisation, welfare state, planned economic investment, public housing, industrialisation,
educational opportunity, more equal tax structure, more municipal liberty and more local welfare
services.

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