ABSTRACT
Many Soviet commentators have argued that Russia lacks a true multiparty system not because one party is the de facto ruler, but because the socio-economic basis for such a system is not yet present in Russian society. The new Soviet political scene has an increasingly large and important Russian component, one that is becoming more detached and distinct by the month. In the words of one Soviet sociologist, the state of affairs in Russian politics should be described not as partiinost', the development of genuine parties, but as portsialnost', battle of ideological groupings lacking a "real social base." Russian political pluralism, insofar as it is manifested in new political parties, can only be described as unstable and largely divorced from its potential social bases. The "democratic mainstream" consists of those ideas common to most of the new Russian parties. The Nation features prominently in the world views of a smaller group of parties, those of the "New Right."
