COMMUNITY POWER STRUCTURES AND PARTISANSHIP.

Comparative community study of local politics in two communities in the Far West in 1953-1954 affords an opportunity to examine the nature of, and relationships between, the political parties in the community, the informal Republican organization of Main Street, and the local power structure. None of the recently reported community power structure studies has focussed upon the question of whether there may be important relationships between the local power structure and partisan behavior. Local elections are legally non-partisan in Valley City, a small retail trading center of about 2,000 adults, as well as in Boomtown, a rapidly growing industrial community of about 16,000 population. In each community self-identified numbered self-identified Republicans but the Republicans have been consistently more successful in state and national elections in Valley City than in Boomtown. In both communities the partisan atmosphere on Main Street was predominantly Republican, although much more so in Valley City than in Boomtown.