THE NEW URBAN LEFT - PARTIES WITHOUT ACTORS

One of the hallmarks of late political modernity may be that grassroot s groups and urban social movements are fixed in increasingly distal r elations with left of center parties. We examine the history of these relations in the city of Montreal, where there has been an historic pr ogression from left parties, with significant constituencies, to parti es without local actors. The 1994 municipal erection in Montreal is re viewed in this light. Our findings indicate, however, that urban movem ents have developed a 'transfunctionality'. This places them in a conf lict-laden stance to urban social policy, by signaling that which has been excluded from chat relationship, through the arbitrariness of the service function they have taken on. These transformations have usher ed them away from protest activities and towards a politics of everyda y life (needs satisfactions, well-being), increasing their base consti tuencies, while lowering their ideological and rhetorical positions. G rassroots groups are bringing an Unaccustomed political diversity into the discourse of the traditional and new urban left. These are not pr ogrammatic rehearsals, in search of a reworked or revised totality, bu t rather represent strategically placed claims to appropriate greater political, social and cultural spaces around issues of mutuality, self -help and effective local power.