Political participation in the democratic socialism: The Turkish Labor Party 1961 - 1971

This dissertation focuses on how and what principles of the democratic socialism model take the relationship between ruler class and ruled class into account. Therefore, the structure and forms of implementation of this relationship are examined. In the scope of this study, within the transformation of the relationship between ruler class and ruled class, the invention of democracy and the role of its development are questioned. In this way the term "political participation" is reached through the term "democracy". Analyzing the term "political participation", this study seeks answers on how political participation frames the relationship between ruling class and communities ones. The correlation between political participation and the democratic socialism model was examined by developing an understanding on the income inequality, gender, identity and age, which are thought that political participation affects. Our analysis of the relationship between ruler class and ruled class, and political participation constitutes a guide for us to find the political line on which democratic socialism stands. In this direction, the democratic socialism model is conceptualized. To accurately conceptualized the model, the concrete incidents and the ideological sources that are thought to affect the occurrence and development of the model are examined. Eventually, this study seeks an answer according to which principles the democratic socialism model organizes the relations between the ruling class and community. In this frame, organizations that all announced they were following the principles of democratic socialism between 1961 and 1971 such as the Turkish Labor Party, the Communist Party of Spain, the Communist Party of France, the Communist Party of Italy, and the Unidad Popular are investigated on how they consider the relations of ruler class and ruled class. With the analysis of a Turkish Labor Party, which is evaluated with a wide framework, it has been determined which principles will be shaped in the democratic socialism model. According to this, democratic socialism deals with the model of active political participation. As a result, the area where democratic socialism can be applied and the political line where the model is found is framed by liberal democracy only.