SMOKERS’ CORNER: POLITICS OF THE BIG TENT

In Europe and the United States, the post-1945 era marked a shift from ‘mass parties’ to broad ‘big-tent’ parties. Mass parties had operated on strict class lines. Democratic socialist outfits appealed to industrial workers, while conservative parties represented business elites and religious traditionalists. Big-tent politics had already taken root in North America due to its vast geography, rapid industrialisation, and diverse immigrant and Black populations. To build winning national majoriti...