ISJ Index | Main Newspaper Index
Encyclopedia of Trotskyism | Marxists’ Internet Archive
From International Socialism, No.24, Spring 1966, p.35.
Transcribed & marked up by Einde O’Callaghan for ETOL.
The Liberal Party
J.S. Rasmussen
Constable, 45s
McKenzie, in his British Political Parties, claims that the demands of the parliamentary system are the major influence in determining a party’s internal distribution of power. Thus the similarity between the Conservative and Labour Parties is due to the fact that each party is, or has the prospect of being, responsible for government. Rasmussen’s book is divided into two parts – the first of which aims at refuting McKenzie’s thesis. The responsibilities of government can hardly affect the present power structure of the Liberal Party which is basically similar to those of the two major parties – ie the leadership gets its own way in the end. There is no prospect of inner-party democracy – indeed Rasmussen sees the democratic rhetoric and rank-and-file distrust of leadership as a major cause of the party’s weakness.
The second part gives the results of interviews with MPs and parliamentary candidates – in particular on why they supported the Liberals rather than the other two parties. There is little of interest here – except that the martyr’s role appears a satisfying one for many Liberal candidates. Failure to examine the economic and social background of this group – let alone that of the leadership and the rank-ana-file – is, perhaps, the major weakness of this study. An interest in class and economic power, together with a wider interpretation of the demands of the system, would have produced a more interesting book and a reversal of the argument of the first pan.
ISJ Index | Main Newspaper Index
Encyclopedia of Trotskyism | Marxists’ Internet Archive
Last updated on 15.5.2008