Word: bossism
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...influence. Watering down Leninist eschatology, Soviet Communism no longer believes in an inevitable violent clash with capitalism and has shown in practice that the worldwide revolution is the least of its concerns. Soviet Communism has long been called "bureaucratic dictatorship," and the description is apt. A party-controlled bureaucratic bossism pervades every area of life, with stultifying results. Art and literature must conform to the precepts of "socialist realism;" that means they must provide didactic uplift about Communism. There are few civil rights for individuals. Dissent from party and government is severely punished. Even so, a small band of dissenters...
...conspiring to make trouble. But their visible leaders, at least, were disaffected young Americans who professed as much scorn for Communism as for capitalism. Foolhardy and arrogant as their tactics often were, the main goal of the protesters was to express their rejection of both the war and party bossism, and they undeniably made it register in the minds of Democratic leaders. Ironically-and perhaps significantly-the demonstrators' most effective allies were the police, without whose brutal aid the protest would not have been so striking...
...candidates' increasingly frantic supplication of supposedly convinced delegates suggests that quite a few of those 4,322 minds may be open. In this volatile political year, which has been rife with surprises, which has produced widespread grumbling about preordained choices but presents little visible evidence of bossism at work the delegates may conceivably be more independent than ever...
This year, the whole un-system is being put to question by the critics of the "old politics," mostly Eugene McCarthy's dissidents, the now leaderless forces of Robert Kennedy and Nelson Rockefeller's supporters. They condemn it, sometimes indiscriminately, as an outworn relic of bossism and a negation of the popular will. Since the delegates to the national conventions do not directly represent the voters, runs the simplest argument, the conventions conducted by the parties do not really pick candidates who are the people's choice...
...Edith Green suggested that state and local officials be given the control over local programs that they had long asked for. The leadership agreed, not only mollifying Southerners but also assuring that big-city Democratic machines would throw their all into the battle. The dramatic change had been found. "Bossism and boll weevil!" cried an outraged Charlie Goodell. The remark won his cause few Southern votes...