Michels R. Political Parties: A Sociological Study Of The Oligarchical Tendencies Of Modern Democracy

New York: Hearst's International Library Co., 1915. — 428 p.Democratic Aristocracy and Aristocratic Democracy
The Ethical Embellishment of Social StrugglesLeadership in Democratic OrganizationsTechnical and Administrative Causes of LeadershipIntroductory—The Need for Organization
Mechanical and Technical Impossibility of Direct Government by the Masses
The Modern Democratic Party as a Fighting Party, Dominated BY Militarist Ideas and MethodsPsychological Causes of LeadershipThe Establishment of a Customary Right to the Office of Delegate
The Need for Leadership Felt by the Mass
The Political Gratitude of the Masses
The Cult of Veneration Among the Masses
Accessory Qualities Requisite to Leadership
Accessory Peculiarities of the MassesIntellectual FactorsSuperiority of the Professional Leaders in Respect of Culture, and Their Indispensability; the Formal and Real Incompetence of the MassAutocratic Tendencies of LeadersThe Stability of Leadership
The Financial Power of the Leaders and of the Party
The Leaders and the Press
The Position of the Leaders in Relation to the Masses in Actual Practice
The Struggle Between the Leaders and the Masses
The Struggle Among the Leaders Themselves
Bureaucracy. Centralizing and Decentralizing TendenciesThe Exercise of Power and Its Psychological Reaction Upon the LeadersPsychological Metamorphosis of the Leaders
Bonapartist Ideology
Identification of the Party with the Leader ("Le Parti c'est Moi")Social Analysis of LeadershipIntroductory — The Class Struggle and Its Disintegrating. Influence upon the Bourgeoisie vf235
Analysis of the Bourgeois Elements in the Socialist Leadership
Social Changes Resulting from Organization
The Need for the Differentiation of the Working Class
Labour Leaders of Proletarian Origin
Intellectuals, and the Need for Them in the Workingclass PartiesAttempts to Restrict the Influence of the LeadersThe Referendum
The Postulate of Renunciation
Syndicalism as Prophylactic
Anarchism as ProphylacticSynthesis: The Oligarchical Tendencies of OrganizationThe Conservative Basis of Organization
Democracy and the Iron Law of Oligarchy
Party-Life in War-Time
Final Considerations