A political party’s history is inseparable from its broader social group and national context.

Evidence

The history of a party, in other words, can only be the history of a particular social group. But this group is not isolated; it has friends, kindred groups, opponents, enemies. The history of any given party can only emerge from the complex portrayal of the totality of society and State (often with international ramifications too). Hence it may be said that to write the history of a party means nothing less than to write the general history of a country from a monographic viewpoint, in order to highlight a particular aspect of it. A party will have had greater or less significance and weight precisely to the extent to which its particular activity has been more or less decisive in determining a country’s history. — Antonio Gramsci, Selections from the Prison Notebooks, 671

Categorization

Category: Definitional Content

• DEFINE: Defines how Gramsci conceptualizes the party — as the most advanced element of a social group, not an isolated institution — the foundation for understanding his ‘political party’ theory.

Related

• A party’s history is the general history of a country from one viewpoint. (similarity 0.89)
• The political party, not an individual, is the modern protagonist of political transformation (similarity 0.84)
• Political parties are mechanisms for producing organic intellectuals (similarity 0.82)
• A party becomes historically necessary when conditions for its State power are already forming (similarity 0.81)
• Political parties remain the most effective instrument for producing leaders (similarity 0.81)
• Party spirit, not individualism, is the foundation of State spirit (similarity 0.80)
• The modern prince is the political party, not a person. (similarity 0.80)
• Objective historical conditions only become politically effective through organized cadres and capable leadership. (similarity 0.80)
• A mass base is necessary but insufficient for a party to exist (similarity 0.79)
• Parties are not passive expressions of classes but act back upon them (similarity 0.79)
• Political parties prove that organized permanent passion is operationally possible (similarity 0.79)
• Political parties function as laboratories unifying theory and practice into new intelligentsias. (similarity 0.79)