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American political parties



Democrats and Republicans

The United States is one of the first countries in the world to have political parties, and it is also one of the typical countries with a two-party system. The Democrats and Republicans occupy important positions in the country's political life. The American electoral system, parliamentary system, administrative management system, and judicial system are all closely related to the two-party system.

History After the victory of the North American bourgeois revolution in the 18th century, the US ruling class formed federalists (or Federalists) and anti-federalists (or Anti-Federalists) two major political parties. After the establishment of the federal government in 1789, the two factions had serious disagreements on constitutional interpretation, federal and state authority, public debt, and the establishment of a national bank. The Federalists headed by A. Hamilton represented the big bourgeoisie and businessmen of the Northeast. Interests, advocates a lenient interpretation of the Constitution and the establishment of a centralized government; anti-Federalists headed by T. Jefferson represent the interests of bourgeois democrats, state power parties, etc., advocate a strict interpretation of the constitution, require expansion of state power, and protection Freedom. The two factions carried out activities inside and outside the parliament, and gradually developed from political factions in the parliament to a national political party. Anti-Federalists began to organize the Democratic Republican Party in 1791, with Secretary of State Jefferson as the leader, so it is also called the Jefferson Republican Party. The Federalists formally established the Federal Party in 1795 and ruled from 1797 to 1801. After 1801, the Federal Party was loosely organized and internally overwhelmed. It adopted a pro-British stance in the American-British War of 1812 to 1814, attempting to split the federation, which aroused public anger. It fell into a slump and survived in name by 1817. After the outbreak of the European War in 1792, the Republican Party expanded rapidly. It won the election in 1800 and Jefferson was elected president. By the 1820s, the Republican Party split into two factions: the faction that followed J.Q. Adams called the National Republican Party, and the faction that supported A. Jackson was called the Democratic Republican Party. The National Republican Party lost in the two presidential elections in 1828 and 1832, and it gradually fell into obscurity. The Democratic Republican Party was referred to as the Democratic Party in the 1828 election. After winning the general election, Jackson was elected president. At the 3rd National Convention held in 1840, it was officially named the Democratic Party. In 1834, the Whig Party was established. It was a loose coalition of parties opposed to the Jackson regime. In 1840, it became the main national party after winning both the White House and Congress. In the late 1840s, the Whig alliance began to disintegrate. By 1854, most of the Northern Whigs had joined the newly formed Republican Party. In July 1854, the Republican Party was established in Jackson City, Michigan. In the next four years, the Republican Party replaced the Whig Party in the northern states and became the main opponent of the Democratic Party. At this point, the two major political parties in the United States were formed and the two-party system began to be established. In the late 1850s, the Democratic Party split, and some northern Democrats joined the Republican Party; Southern Democrats defended the interests of plantation slave owners, advocated the consolidation and expansion of slavery, and created rebellions, which led to the outbreak of the Northern and Southern Wars. After the war, the United States transitioned from liberal capitalism to monopoly capitalism. The differences between the Republican and Democratic parties became smaller and smaller, and their fundamental interests became more and more consistent. Both represented the interests of monopoly capital.

The Third Party

In the United States, people generally refer to parties other than the two major parties as the third party. The first third party in the United States was the workers' party that emerged with the rise of the labor movement and the socialist movement. In the 1830s, in the struggle of the working class to improve economic life and expand political rights, New York City and more than 20 cities in Ohio, Delaware, Maine, Pennsylvania and other states established labor organizations, but these labor organizations Neither has developed into a national organization. After the Civil War, American industrial production developed rapidly, and the working class continued to expand, which promoted the upsurge of the labor movement. National labor organizations began to appear, including the National Labor League and the Knights of Labor. Although they played a progressive role, Lacking a clear political program and a stable leadership core, it declined and disintegrated by the end of the 19th century. From 1867 to 1868, the First International American Branch was established in New York, Chicago, and San Francisco. In 1872, it was officially named the North American Federation of the International Workers' Association. There were 30 branches and 5000 members in total. In 1874, the Marxists F.A. Zorger, J. Weidmai and others established the Socialist Labor Party of America in the city of Ferratvreya. In the early days of its establishment, the party had a greater influence among the American people. In 1879, it developed more than 10,000 party members in 25 states. After D. De Leon became the leader of the party in 1890, due to sectarianism and syndicalism, the party declined day by day and became a general workers' organization. At the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century, the American labor movement and the socialist movement entered a new stage. One of the important signs was the emergence of the American Socialist Party and the American Communist Party.

Third parties also include political parties that existed for a short period of time to elect the president in history. Such as the Populace Party in 1892, the National Progressive Party in 1912 and the Progressive Party in 1924. In modern America, there are third parties such as the Green Party, the Civic Party, and the Democratic Socialist Organization. Among them, the Democratic Socialist Organization established in 1862 has a certain influence in American political life, and it is a full member of the Socialist International. Other small parties have little influence.

Features: Since the establishment of the two-party system in the 1850s in the United States, the Democratic and Republican parties have been in power by running for president in turn. The two major political parties have some common characteristics:

①Neither of the two major parties has a fixed program, nor does it have an ultimate goal or long-term purpose. They only have a campaign program that meets the needs of the general election.

②The two major parties have no party membership to restrict their members. Ordinary party members of the two parties are not fixed, have no organizational connection with the organizations of the two parties, and do not pay party dues. By convention, anyone who declares and registers as a Democrat or Republican during voter registration is considered a member of the Democratic or Republican Party.

③Both parties have established four-level organizational structures: National Committee, State Committee, County Committee, and Grassroots Constituency Committee. There is no vertical leadership relationship between them, and there are only some work connections. The two parties have party leaders and their assistants (supervisors) in the Senate and the House of Representatives, as well as caucus meetings and policy committees, campaign committees, and committee affairs committees. They also have no leadership with party organizations outside the two houses of Congress. Relationship.

④The elected government officials of the United States include the president, governor, county governor, mayor, etc., as well as members of Congress. They are basically candidates from both parties. They campaigned as members of a political party, and after being elected they held public office as members of a political party.

⑤In the presidential election, the two-party national congress nominates the presidential candidate; the victory or defeat of the presidential candidates of the two parties distinguishes the ruling party and the opposition party; the president is the leader of the ruling party of course. The leader of the opposition party is the unsuccessful presidential candidate.

⑥The majority party and the minority party are distinguished by the number of seats obtained by the two parties in the congressional election. The president is elected by the people, not by the Congress, so the ruling party is not necessarily the majority party.

American Socialist Party

In 1901, the American Socialist Party was formed by the merger of the Hillquet faction of the American Socialist Labor Party and other workers’ parties. After the founding of the party, work was actively carried out among the masses of workers, blacks, and women, and the party’s strength and influence continued to grow. The party advocates social reform and regards parliamentary struggle and voting for votes as the only way to fight. In World War I, the right wing of the party supported the government's imperialist policy, and the left wing opposed the imperialist war. After the war, the party split, and the left wing headed by C.E. Ruthenberg and J. Reid was expelled from the party by the right-wing leadership group. Since then, the party has been in decline.

The Communist Party of America

The Communist Party of America was established in January 1919. The founder is Lutenberg, the former left-wing leader of the Socialist Party. In May 1920, some party members joined forces with the Communist Labor Party of the United States to form the United Communist Party of the United States. In May 1921, the Unified Communist Party merged with the American Communist Party to form the American Communist Party with Ruthenberg as its executive secretary. In December 1921, with the support of the U.S. Communist Party, the American Workers' Party was established. In April 1923, the Communist Party merged with the Workers' Party, and it was called the American Workers' Party. In August 1925, it was renamed the American Workers' (Communist) Party. In 1930 it was renamed its current name. The Eighth National Congress of the Communist Party of China was held in April 1934, and E.R. Browder was elected as the general secretary. In the 1930s, the U.S. Communist Party actively carried out revolutionary activities and led the struggle of unemployed workers; supported blacks against racial discrimination; participated in the organization of industrial unions (the Federation of Industry); organized 3,000 volunteers to Spain to participate in the anti-Franco war, thereby expanding the party's ranks And impact. In 1936 there were 41,000 party members. In May 1944, the "Twelfth National Congress" of the U.S. Communist Party passed Browder's proposal to disband the party and establish a non-party American Communist Political Association, with Browder as its chairman. In June 1945, the Communist Political Association passed a resolution criticizing Browder, and the Communist Party of America was restored in July. Browder was expelled from the party in 1946. After the Second World War, the U.S. government stepped up its suppression of the U.S. Communist Party and weakened the party’s power. After the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union in 1956, the United States was divided into three factions. In 1975, the party's "21st National Congress" focused on industrial workers and blacks. In 1981, the “Twenty-Three” adopted a program that proposed to establish an anti-monopoly party led by labor on the basis of ensuring the political independence of labor. The main task is to organize all the forces of the anti-monopoly front Victory in the general election. The U.S. Communist Party advocates that, on the one hand, the rights of the people should be extended to governments and departments at all levels, and on the other hand, the economic lifeline must be controlled and nationalized to open the way for socialism. The party had about 10,000 members in 1988. The general secretary is G. Hall (since 1988). The organ newspaper is "Daily World", and the theoretical publication is "Politics Monthly".

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