SOURCE: "From Socialism to Fascism: The Relation Between Theory and Practice in the Work of Robert Michels: I. From Marxist Revolutionary to Political Sociologist," in Political Studies, Vol. XXV, No. 1, 1977, pp. 3-24.

In the following essay, Beetham traces Michels's development from political activist and ideologist to a more disciplined sociological theorist.

Robert Michels' book Political Parties has for long been regarded as a classic of political science. Its interest stems not only from the insights it offers into the working of Left-wing parties, but from the way it confronts central issues in both socialist and democratic theory: in socialism, the problem of the development of a revolutionary consciousness among the working class; in democracy, the question of how to secure popular control of representatives. Although the pessimistic conclusion of Michels' 'iron law of oligarchy' is controver-sial, the work is frequently cited as a model of how to relate...