The Norm and the Practice in the Socialist Center of Bahía Blanca: Affiliations, Contributions, Unenlistings and Resignations (1911-1919)

Abstract

This article is a case study in microanalytical key, which analyzes the practices of affiliation, contribution, unenlisting and resignation in the socialist center of Bahía Blanca in 1911-1919, contrasting how should be the formal procedure according to the rules and/or costumes established in the party and how was the usual one, along with the reasons of the affiliates to justify that the practice moved away from the norm. We propose to understand the practices within the continuum that goes from formal to informal (from the rules to the usual procedures), in an attempt to transcend the dichotomy between “traditional and modern” action (sign of backwardness and progress respectively), common in studies of political parties in general and of socialism in particular.