Oligarchy in Leadership

Abstract

The leadership of parties tends naturally to assume oligarchic form. A veritable ‘ruling class’ comes into being that is more or less closed; it is an ‘inner circle’ into which it is difficult to penetrate. The phenomenon is just as true of titular leaders as of the real leaders, of autocratic as of democratic rulers. In theory, the principle of election should prevent the formation of an oligarchy; in fact, it seems rather to favour it. The masses are naturally conservative; they become attached to their old leaders, they are suspicious of new faces. Socialist parties, in which the recruitment of leaders is more democratic than in others, find correspondingly greater difficulty in finding new leaders.