Growing Tensions in Mass Politics

Alongside disturbances in artistic life, the political atmosphere grew charged. On the one hand, liberal opinions led to political representation for workingmen. Networks of communication, especially the development of journalism, created a common fund of political knowledge that made mass politics possible. On the other hand, many political activists were no longer satisfied with the liberal rights such as the vote sought by earlier reformers. Some militant nationalists, anti-Semites, socialists, suffragists, and others demanded changes that challenged liberal values and individual rights. Traditional elites, resentful of the rising middle classes and urban peoples, aimed to overturn constitutional processes and crush city life. Politics soon threatened national unity.