EN
Political and social life in former Cisleithania was developing from the 1860s on. As of the 1890s, the political parties, based until that time on notabilities, were gradually transformed into mass organizations. This was linked with a merge of political activity with the economic interests of particular political streams. Another typical feature of political party life during the existence of Cisleithania and postwar Czechoslovakia was the deep rootedness of national political parties in local communities. The links to local communities were broken with the destruction of the party-based political system after 1938 and were never fully restored.