Trouble from the Start? Early Conceptualisations of the Political Party

What is the purpose of a party? Is it the empowering tool for a specific social class or the sponsor of the common good of the nation? This question appeared first at the foundation congresses of early mass parties in the nineteenth century. Early party activists aimed at promoting the political fortune of their working class supporters, and, at the same time, understood themselves as the only true representatives of the ‘people’. Similar to current party politicians, they were criticised for acting exclusively in their own interest, thereby threatening the common good of the nation. As a response, they developed different theoretical and practical strategies to legitimize their organizations. This paper presents two historical case studies, the German Social Democratic Workers’ Party and the British National Liberal Federation, both founded in the second half of the nineteenth century. Focusing on the different self-legitimizing strategies used by the two organizations, the paper sheds light on early attempts to conceptualize political parties. In contrast to traditional political elites, the first party activists could not base their political claims on birth or prestige, but rather concentrated on notions of democracy and representation. This might be an unusual ECPR proposal, but with its historical perspective the paper contributes to the theme of the workshop by focusing on the very origin of present theoretical interpretations of political parties. The paper challenges our contemporary democratic standard by providing insights into the justification discourse of early parties. Without previous democratic experience, their leaders had to establish a new theoretical and practical framework, justifying their existence in a suspicious and repressive environment. Based on an interdisciplinary research project, the paper will not only present historical sources, but also offer insights into the origins of the epistemology of later party research.