Socialists and the Ballot Box

This book offers an analysis of the apparent contradiction in the socialist movement between refusal to participate in electoral politics and the neccessity, particularly in advanced industrial countries, of participating in the electoral process. The author brings clarity to this discussion with a historical analysis of the practices of the U.S. Socialist, Communist, and Trotskyist parties, examining the success and failure of their approaches toward electoral politics. The conclusion draws together and synthesizes historical experience in a way which points toward a more logical way for revolutionary parties to make use of the electoral process.