Portal de Periódicos da CAPES

Certain Bases of Power Politics

1944; Wiley; Volume: 11; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês

10.2307/1053164

2325-8012

B. U. Ratchford,

Anarchism and Radical Politics

In 1787 James Madison observed that friend of popular governments never finds himself so much alarmed for their character and fate, as when he contemplates their propensity to [the] dangerous vice [of the formation of factions].' Nearly ten years ago Mr. Justice (then Senator) Hugo Black warned that contrary to tradition, against the public morals, and hostile to good government, the lobby has reached such a position of power that it threatens government itself. After Pearl Harbor the lobbyists and the pressure which they represented moved fast to make good the threat perceived by Mr. Justice Black. The year 1943 saw a steady rise in their political might and several vulgar displays of their power. By the end of the year they were riding rough-shod over the public interests. One competent and impartial observer used the words obscene and scandalous to describe the manner in which terrified Congressmen were forced to yield to their selfish and ruthless demands.2 A number of national leaders, including Speaker Rayburn, Mr. Justice Byrnes, and vice-chairman Wilson of the WPB, uttered grave warnings of growing disunity. President Roosevelt, in January 1944, devoted the bulk of his annual report on the state of the nation to the problem. He denounced the noisy minorities and pests who swarm through the lobbies of Congress and the cocktail bars of Washington, representing these special groups and recommended a program designed to bring them under control.3 These growing factions present a grave threat to democratic government. Such an increase in their power in time of war bodes ill for the postwar period when their selfish demands, perhaps augmented by those of a greatly enlarged veterans' lobby, will be unleashed in all their fury. The situation is especially disturbing because it bears a close resemblance to others which have been forerunners of doom for the countries affected. The Spanish philosopher Jos6 Ortega Y Gasset ascribes the steady decline of Spain for the past three centuries to factionalism or particularism as he calls it.4 Hitler was helped to power by minority who thought they could use him to attain their selfish ends. Factional strife prevented France from rearming before 1939 and left her helpless before the Hun in 1940. One recent author has ably and persuasively presented the theme that the growth of pressure groups, especially on the part of labor, was responsible for the breakdown of democracy throughout Europe. He states: