As most political observers know, the powerful socialist parties of Western and Central Europe are facing a profound crisis due to their departure from the Marxist slogans of their youth and their increasing inability to define the meaning of "socialist" goals in the prosperous mixed economy of individual enterprise and welfare state now in full blast in most European countries. In Dr. Shell's judgment the Austrian Socialist Party exhibits this transformation most clearly. A modern "mass" party, containing more then ten per cent of the entire Austrian population as dues-paying members, it is no longer full of the sound and fury of Marxist class-war slogans. Instead, its traditional labels conceal a loss of direction, of clear sense of mission, and of the "State within a State" function originally envisaged. In tracing its history, its personalities, and achievements from World War I to the present day, Dr. Shell presents a complete and authoritative picture not only of the Austrian Socialist Party, but of what may well be the shape of things to come in the other Socialist parties of Central and Western Europe.