Page:American Journal of Sociology Volume 15.djvu/74

 6o THE AMERICAN JOURNAL OF SOCIOLOGY

There are some others, however. The most interesting one which has recently come to light is the general strike as it has been organized in Russia. This cannot be assimilated to the platform ; it has a completely different character and operates through different means. It is so new a development and its permanency is so much a matter of doubt that the merest mention of it must here suffice.

Acting through these primary organs upon the secondary or governmental organs, public opinion is coming to wield the dominant power in the state. Keen political observers declare that no tendency is so universal or significant in all countries today as that which marks the decline of legislative bodies. These have proved unamenable to public opinion and other more serviceable organs are being created — especially the popular initiative and referendum. In England the House of Commons is losing its ancient position of prestige, the ministry supporting itself more and more directly upon the people whose commands are communicated at first hand through the press and platform instead of through the representative body. It has come to be an accepted principle of the constitution that a ministry defeated at the polls must resign without waiting for a vote of censure in Parliament ; and the resignation of the last government carried the principle one step farther, since the mandate of the people through press and platform was accepted without even an appeal to a general election, while the ministerial majority in the House of Commons was still secure. Political prophecy is hazardous, but if the trend of governmental evolution which the last decade has disclosed in both the Anglo-Saxon countries continues, may we not confidently expect the actual realization of government by public opinion without the interposition of representative bodies other than very extended electorates ?