The Incapacity to Believe in Democratic Representation

At the core of the issues discussed in this journal lies a very important question: precisely what is meant when a party is called parliamentarian? It must be accepted that the socialist party was essentially subjugated by the parliamentary system when it was forced to make concessions and adaptations to survive. The socialist party in France was transformed into a parliamentary party of great significance, and party leaders developed into mighty parliamentarians. That this occurred, however, is a powerful indication that the party, in its obedience, accepted and condoned the fundamental principles of representative government, to which, in theory, it should have been ideologically opposed. W. A. Butler