The Party Organism, 1848

Gustav Struve

doi:10.1057/9780230107403_8

Perspectives on Political Parties pp 67-69 | Cite as

The Party Organism, 1848

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Gustav Struve

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Abstract

The relation between the party organism and associational life is like that between war and peace. Parties presume a battle, a contest of perspectives, wishes and interests, whereas simple associations can live quite well in peace, without being attacked by anyone. As a result peaceful, soft, souls—and even those without much decisiveness, determination, or boldness—can be of great service in an association. In contrast, in a party,

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Party Leader Great Service Simple Association Newspaper Editor Assembly Chamber

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Gustav (von) Struve (1805–1870) was a radical democrat who dropped the aristocratic “von” from his surname once he became active in politics. This was only one of the many ways in which Struve let his actions be shaped by his convictions—precisely the prescription he gives to party leaders in this article. Struve began his career as a judge and then became a public attorney, but by the mid-1840s he was devoting most of his energy to publishing. He became a newspaper editor and wrote political pamphlets, including several that earned him short jail sentences. He later took an active role in the revolutionary events of 1848, first as a public speaker, then as leader of a small popular army that unsuccessfully sought to overthrow Baden’s monarchy. After the revolution collapsed Struve went into exile in the United States, where he continued working as a writer and editor. He supported Lincoln in the election of 1860, and when the Civil War broke out the 56-year-old Struve served for a year in a regiment of German volunteers, still putting his principles into practice. The following excerpt is included in part because its equation of party battles with real military skirmishes is an extreme expression of an analogy that was often invoked in the nineteenth century to describe party competition.¹

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Notes

Rochus von Liliencron. 1893. Allgemeine deutsche Biographie. Vol. 36. Leipzig: Duncker and Humblot. Pp. 681–687.Google Scholar

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