Tromp over Robert Michels: een repliek

Samenvatting

J. A. A. van Doorn notes that Tromp criticizes the analysis of the Chinese revolution by stating that Michel's law is not applicable to it, but then says that this impossible application is applied incorrectly. It is a fact that China has managed to avoid the oligarchization which could have been expected. The situation in the USSR cannot be compared to that in China, since the USSR has never undergone a phenomenon similar to the cultural revolution, and has therefore developed a monolithic form of communism. Tromp seems surprised that the Chinese revolution remained anti oligarchical and dynamic in nature; this was precisely the purpose of the cultural revolution. Tromp's criticism of Michel's theory stems largely from the fact that he has viewed the iron law outside of the context of Michel's other work. Michel's schema remains a valuable tool for the analysis of radical democracy. P. Tiersma.