ABSTRACT
Volunteer activists, grouped by parliamentary constituencies, created the organizational bases for British parties when they began to seek more members after the extension of the suffrage. The party labels alone, even if representing no more than skeletal organizations, may suffice to structure the vote along party lines. The frequent occurrence of mass-membership party organizations is prima facie evidence only that they are or were originally useful, and not that they are necessary as vote-getting agencies. Israel and Austria offer extreme examples both of membership size and nonelectoral bases of party organizations. France provides the most useful organizational contrast to Sweden. Except for Communists and Socialists, and perhaps the postwar Movement Republicaine Populaire, French parties have never been mass-membership organizations. Just as political parties have been functional responses to voting by a mass electorate, so their nongovernmental or extra-parliamentary organizations have been means created by party leaders, including candidates, to help win votes and secure office.
