An earlier posting on the activities of the (political) election process promised a follow-up post on participants in the election process. Here we examine the DDC’s treatment of political parties.
Participants in elections, like election process activities, are found in subdivisions of 324 Political process, primarily in 324.2 Political parties. In general, numbers for political parties are built with:
- 324.2 Political parties, plus
- notation at the country level from Table 2, plus
- notation for the kind of party, as set forth in notation 02–08 in the add table under 324.24–324.29 Parties in specific countries and localities in modern world.
For example, The Chilean Communist Party and the road to socialism is classed in 324.283075 Communist parties in Chile (built with 324.2 Political parties plus notation T2—83 Chile plus notation 075 Communist parties from the add table at 324.24–324.29, following the instructions given there).
Two criteria govern the organization of political parties in the add table under 324.24–324.29. The first is temporal, with historical parties (parties existing only prior to 1945) in notation 02 and parties founded or in existence after 1945 in 03–08. The second is a right-to-left ideological spectrum, applied only to parties founded or existing after 1945; parties founded or in existence after 1945 and identified primarily by a position on that spectrum (e.g., rightist parties, conservative parties, centrist parties, liberal parties, leftist parties) are found in 03–07, while parties founded or in existence after 1945 but not identified primarily by a position on that spectrum (e.g., religious parties, regionalist parties, green parties) are found in 08.
Several exceptions to the general pattern for building numbers for political parties exist:
- International party organizations are classed in 324.1 International party organizations, auxiliaries, activities; the organization of subdivisions of 324.1 is similar to that of notation 03–08 of the 324.24–324.29 add table; for example, International communism and the Communist International, 1919-43 is classed in 324.175 International organizations of communist parties.
- Special developments for political parties in specific countries and localities (United Kingdom, Germany, Austria, Italy, Switzerland, Canada, United States, Australia) are given separately; these developments tend to follow the general pattern, but are not guaranteed to do so.
For example, special developments often have classes for specific political parties (e.g., Social Credit Party of Canada, Whig Party) rather than for kinds of political parties. Typically, they give specific numbers for multiple historical parties, while the add table under 324.24–324.29 gives only a single number (02) for historical parties. Some of the special developments use notation 09 for Other parties (that is, parties other than those expressly named). For example, The Communist Party of Great Britain since 1920 is classed in 324.241097509 (built with 324.24109 Other parties of United Kingdom [other than the Conservative, Liberal, and Labor parties] plus notation 75 from 075 Communist parties in the add table under 324.24–324.29, following the instruction at 324.24109, plus standard subdivision notation T1—09 History ). As a result of these differences, the notation used in special developments does not always align exactly with the meaning the notation has in the add table under 324.24–324.29.
Some of the special developments also provide for political parties at the state/territory/province level within the country. (Remember that the general pattern includes use of Table 2 notation at the level of the country.) Let us consider, for example, The Young Liberal Movement in Victoria: policies, history, structure, constitution and by-laws. The Young Liberals is the youth division of the Liberal Party in Australia, that is, an auxiliary party organization. An instruction at 324.3094–324.3099 Auxiliary party organizations in modern world indicates that auxiliary party organizations in a specific country or state should be classed in 324.24–324.29, plus notation 014 (Auxiliary party organizations) from the add table there. However, a class-elsewhere note at 01 General topics in the add table under 324.24–324.29 tells us that general topics of specific parties should be classed in 02–08; that is, specific kinds of parties are preferred over general topics. Of course, since it has its own special development, Australia is not governed by the add table at 324.24–324.29. But a parallel class-elsewhere note occurs at 324.29401 General topics of parties of Australia: Class general topics of specific parties of Australia in 324.29402–324.29409. Therefore, The Young Liberal Movement in Victoria: policies, history, structure, constitution and by-laws is classed in 324.294505 (built with 324.294 Political parties of Australia, plus notation 5 from T2—945 Victoria, plus facet indicator 0, plus 5 from 324.29405 Liberal Party of Australia, following the instructions at 324.2941—324.2948 Parties in states and territories of Australia).
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