ABSTRACT
The British Labour party’s electoral fortunes have not dimished with a declining individual membership, and the German Social Democrats have won office only after reductions in their traditionally large and active party membership. The new urgency arises not just from the further weakening of parties, but also from the perceived failure of other political means to meet the needs of American society and particulary the needs of the economically disadvantaged. Parties based on class interests, however, are the type whose declining efficacy, if clear, would provide greater support for a general hypothesis about diminishing party capacity in Western democracies. The new issue-oriented activists, be they McGovern Democrats or Goldwater Republicans, were often numerous enough not only to defeat an older cadre leadership for control of the party label but also to be potentially the basis for a European-style membership organization.
