History of the socialist movement in the United States
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The history of the socialist movement in the United States spans a variety of tendencies, including
Under Socialist Party of America presidential candidate
19th century
Utopian socialism and communities
Utopian socialism was the first American socialist movement. Utopians attempted to develop model socialist societies to demonstrate the virtues of their brand of beliefs. Most utopian socialist ideas originated in Europe, but the United States was most often the site for the experiments themselves. Many utopian experiments occurred in the 19th century as part of this movement, including Brook Farm, the New Harmony, the Shakers, the Amana Colonies, the Oneida Community, The Icarians, Bishop Hill Commune, Aurora, Oregon and Bethel, Missouri.
Robert Owen, a wealthy Welsh industrialist, turned to social reform and socialism and in 1825 founded a communitarian colony called New Harmony in southwestern Indiana. The group fell apart in 1829, mostly due to conflict between utopian ideologues and non-ideological pioneers. In 1841, transcendentalist utopians founded Brook Farm, a community based on Frenchman Charles Fourier's brand of socialism. Nathaniel Hawthorne was a member of this short-lived community, and Ralph Waldo Emerson had declined invitations to join. The group had trouble reaching financial stability and many members left as their leader George Ripley turned more and more to Fourier's doctrine. All hope for its survival was lost when the expensive, Fourier-inspired main building burnt down while under construction. The community dissolved in 1847.
Fourierists also attempted to establish a community in Monmouth County, New Jersey. The North American Phalanx community built a Phalanstère—Fourier's concept of a communal-living structure—out of two farmhouses and an addition that linked the two. The community lasted from 1844 to 1856, when a fire destroyed the community's flour and saw-mills and several workshops. The community had already begun to decline after an ideological schism in 1853. French socialist Étienne Cabet, frustrated in Europe, sought to use his Icarian movement to replace capitalist production with workers cooperatives. He became the most popular socialist advocate of his day, with a special appeal to English artisans were being undercut by factories. In the 1840s, Cabet led groups of emigrants to found utopian communities in Texas and Illinois. However, his work was undercut by his many feuds with his own followers.[19]
Utopian socialism reached the national level fictionally in Edward Bellamy's 1888 novel Looking Backward, a utopian depiction of a socialist United States in the year 2000. The book sold millions of copies and became one of the best-selling American books of the nineteenth century. By one estimation, only Uncle Tom's Cabin surpassed it in sales.[20] The book sparked a following of Bellamy Clubs and influenced socialist and labor leaders, including Eugene V. Debs.[21] Likewise, Upton Sinclair's masterpiece The Jungle was first published in the socialist newspaper Appeal to Reason, criticizing capitalism as being oppressive and exploitative to meatpacking workers in the industrial food system. The book is still widely referred to today as one of the most influential works of literature in modern history.
American anarchist Benjamin Tucker wrote in Individual Liberty:
The economic principles of Modern Socialism are a logical deduction from the principle laid down by Adam Smith in the early chapters of his Wealth of Nations,—namely, that labor is the true measure of price. ... Half a century or more after Smith enunciated the principle above stated, Socialism picked it up where he had dropped it, and in following it to its logical conclusions, made it the basis of a new economic philosophy ... This seems to have been done independently by three different men, of three different nationalities, in three different languages:
stump orators who are so fond of declaiming against Socialism as an imported article.[27]
Early Marxism
German
A larger wave of German immigrants followed in the 1870s and 1880s, including social democratic followers of
The Socialist Labor Party (SLP) was officially founded in 1876 at a convention in Newark, New Jersey. The party was made up overwhelmingly of German immigrants, who had brought Marxist ideals with them to North America. So strong was the heritage that the official party language was German for the first three years. In its nascent years, the party encompassed a broad range of various socialist philosophies, with differing concepts of how to achieve their goals. Nevertheless, there was a militia—the Lehr und Wehr Verein—affiliated to the party. When the SLP reorganised as a Marxist party in 1890, its philosophy solidified and its influence quickly grew and by around the start of the 20th century the SLP was the foremost American socialist party.
Bringing to light the resemblance of the American party's politics to those of Lassalle, Daniel De Leon emerged as an early leader of the Socialist Labor Party. He also adamantly supported unions, but criticized the collective bargaining movement within the United States at the time, favoring a slightly different approach.[a] The resulting disagreement between De Leon's supporters and detractors within the party led to an early schism. De Leon's opponents, led by Morris Hillquit, left the Socialist Labor Party in 1901 as they fused with Eugene V. Debs's Social Democratic Party and formed the Socialist Party of America.
As a leader within the socialist movement, Debs' movement quickly gained national recognition as a charismatic orator. He was often inflammatory and controversial, but also strikingly modest and inspiring. He once said: "I am not a Labor Leader; I do not want you to follow me or anyone else. [...] You must use your heads as well as your hands, and get yourself out of your present condition." Debs lent a great and powerful air to the revolution with his speaking: "There was almost a religious fervor to the movement, as in the eloquence of Debs."[31]
The Socialist movement became coherent and energized under Debs. It included "scores of former Populists, militant miners, and blacklisted railroad workers, who were ... inspired by occasional visits from national figures like Eugene V. Debs."[32]
The first socialist to hold public office in the United States was Fred C. Haack, the owner of a shoe store in
One of the first general strikes in the United States, the
Ties to labor
This article is missing information about the split between the IWW, SP, and SLP, with the IWW rejecting political means and the SP expelling IWW members.(March 2008) |
The Socialist Party formed strong alliances with a number of labor organizations because of their similar goals. In an attempt to rebel against the abuses of corporations, workers had found a solution—or so they thought—in a technique of collective bargaining. By banding together into "unions" and by refusing to work, or "striking", workers would halt production at a plant or in a mine, forcing management to meet their demands. From Daniel De Leon's early proposal to organize unions with a socialist purpose, the two movements became closely tied. They shared as one major ideal the spirit of collectivism—both in the socialist platform and in the idea of collective bargaining.
The most prominent American unions of the time included the American Federation of Labor, the Knights of Labor and the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW). In 1869, Uriah S. Stephens founded the Noble and Holy Order of the Knights of Labor, employing secrecy and fostering a semireligious aura to "create a sense of solidarity."[36] The Knights comprised in essence "one big union of all workers."[37] In 1886, a convention of delegates from twenty separate unions formed the American Federation of Labor, with Samuel Gompers as its head. It peaked[when?] at 4 million members. In 1905, the IWW (or "Wobblies") formed along the same lines as the Knights to become one big union. The IWW found early supporters in De Leon and in Debs.
The socialist movement was able to gain strength from its ties to labor. "The [economic] panic of 1907, as well as the growing strength of the Socialists, Wobblies, and trade unions, sped up the process of reform."[38] However, corporations sought to protect their profits and took steps against unions and strikers. They hired strikebreakers and pressured government to call in the state militias when workers refused to do their jobs. A number of strikes collapsed into violent confrontations.
In May 1886, the Knights of Labor were demonstrating in the
Strikes also took place that same month (May 1886) in other cities, including in Milwaukee,
In early 1894, a dispute broke out between George Pullman and his employees. Debs, then leader of the American Railway Union, organized a strike. United States Attorney General Olney and President Grover Cleveland took the matter to court and were granted several injunctions preventing railroad workers from "interfering with interstate commerce and the mails."[40] The judiciary of the time denied the legitimacy of strikers. Said one judge, "[neither] the weapon of the insurrectionist, nor the inflamed tongue of him who incites fire and sword is the instrument to bring about reforms."[40] This was the first sign of a clash between the government and socialist ideals.
In 1914, one of the most bitter labor conflicts in American history took place at a mining colony in Colorado called
The strikers began to fight back, killing four mine guards and firing into a separate camp where strikebreakers lived. When the body of a strikebreaker was found nearby, the National Guard's General
"On Monday morning, April 20, two dynamite bombs were exploded, in the hills above Ludlow ... a signal for operations to begin. At 9 am a machine gun began firing into the tents [where strikers were living], and then others joined,"[41] one eyewitness reported as "[t]he soldiers and mine guards tried to kill everybody; anything they saw move."[41] That night, the National Guard rode down from the hills surrounding Ludlow and set fire to the tents. Twenty-six people, including two women and eleven children, were killed.[42]
Union members now feared to strike. The military, which saw strikers as dangerous insurgents, intimidated and threatened them. These attitudes were compounded by a public backlash against anarchists and radicals. As public opinion of strikes and of unions soured, the socialists often appeared guilty by association. They were lumped together with strikers and anarchists under a blanket of public distrust.
Early anarchism
The American anarchist
By the 1880s,
20th century
1900s–1920s: opposition to World War I and First Red Scare
Socialists met harsh political opposition when they opposed American entry into
After visiting three communists imprisoned in Canton, Ohio, Eugene V. Debs crossed the street and made a two-hour speech to a crowd in which he condemned the war. "Wars throughout history have been waged for conquest and plunder. [...] The master class has always declared the war and the subject class has always fought the battles," Debs told the crowd.[66] He was immediately arrested and soon convicted under the Espionage Act. During his trial, he did not take the stand, nor call a witness in his defense. However, before the trial began and after his sentencing, he made speeches to the jury: "I have been accused of obstructing the war. I admit it. Gentlemen, I abhor war. [...] I have sympathy with the suffering, struggling people everywhere ...." He also uttered what would become his most famous words: "While there is a lower class, I am in it; while there is a criminal element, I am of it; while there is a soul in prison, I am not free." Debs was sentenced to ten years in prison and served 32 months until President Warren G. Harding pardoned him.
During the war, about half the socialists supported the war, most famously Walter Lippmann. The other half were under attack for obstructing the draft and the Courts held they went beyond the bounds of free speech when they encouraged young men to break the law and not register for the draft. Howard Zinn, historian on the left, says: "The patriotic fervor of war [was] invoked. The courts and jails [were] used to reinforce the idea that certain ideas, certain kinds of resistance, could not be tolerated."[67] The government crackdown on dissenting radicalism paralleled public outrage towards opponents of the war. Several groups were formed on the local and national levels to stop the socialists from undermining the draft laws. The American Vigilante Patrol, a subdivision of the American Defense Society, was formed with the purpose "to put an end to seditious street oratory."[68] The American Protective League was a new private group that kept track of cases of "disloyalty". It eventually claimed it had found 3,000,000 such cases:[68] "Even if these figures are exaggerated, the very size and scope of the League gives a clue to the amount of 'disloyalty'."[68]
The press was also instrumental in spreading feelings of hatred against dissenters:
In April of 1917, the
New York Times quoted (former Secretary of War) Elihu Root as saying: 'We must have no criticism now.' A few months later it quoted him again that 'there are men walking about the streets of this city tonight who ought to be taken out at sunrise tomorrow and shot for treason'. [...] The Minneapolis Journal carried an appeal by the [Minnesota Commission of Public Safety] 'for all patriots to join in the suppression of anti-draft and seditious acts and sentiment'.[68]
Meanwhile, corporations pressured the government to deal with strikes and other disruptions from disgruntled workers. The government felt especially pressured to keep war-related industries running: "As worker discontent and strikes [...] intensified in the summer of 1917, demands grew for prompt federal action. [...] The anti-labor forces concentrated their venom on the IWW."[69] Soon, "the halls of Congress rang with denunciations of the IWW" and the government sided with industry as "federal attorneys viewed strikes not as the behavior of discontented workers but as the outcome of subversive and even German influences."[69]
On September 5, 1917, at the request of President Wilson the Justice Department conducted a raid on the IWW. They stormed every one of the 48 IWW headquarters in the country as "[b]y month's end, a federal grand jury had indicted nearly two hundred IWW leaders on charges of sedition and espionage" under the Espionage Act.[70] Their sentences ranged from a few months to ten years in prison. An ally of the Socialist Party had been practically destroyed. However, Wilson did recognize a problem with the state of labor in the United States. In 1918, working closely with Samuel Gompers of the AFL, he created the National War Labor Board in an attempt to reform labor practices. The Board included an equal number of members from labor and business and included leaders of the AFL. The War Labor Board was able to "institute the eight-hour day in many industries, [...] to raise wages for transit workers [...] [and] to demand equal pay for women [...]."[71] It also required employers to bargain collectively, effectively making unions legal.
On January 21, 1919, 35,000 shipyard workers in
Internal strife caused a schism in the American left after
On January 7, 1920, at the first session of the
Later in 1920, Anarchists bombed Wall Street and sent a number of mail-bombs to prominent businessmen and government leaders. The public lumped together the entire far left as terrorists. A wave of fear swept the country, giving support for the Justice Department to deport thousands of non-citizens active in the far-left. Emma Goldman was the most famous. This was known as the first Red Scare or the "Palmer Raids".[84]
Attorney General
"Socialism" gradually came to be an American conservative attack-word aimed at merely liberal policies and politicians.[87] Since the late 19th century, conservatives had used the term "socialism" (or "creeping socialism") as a means of dismissing spending on public welfare programs which could potentially enlarge the role of the federal government, or lead to higher tax rates. This use of the word had little to do with government ownership of any means of production, or the various socialist parties, as when William Allen White attacked presidential candidate William Jennings Bryan in 1896 by warning that "[t]he election will sustain Americanism or it will plant Socialism."[88][89] Barry Goldwater in 1960 called for Republican unity against John F. Kennedy and the "blueprint for socialism presented by the Democrats."[90]
When the 1920s began, "the IWW was destroyed, the Socialist party falling apart. The strikes were beaten down by force, and the economy was doing just well enough for just enough people to prevent mass rebellion."
Historian Eric Foner described the fundamental problem of those years in a 1984 article for the History Workshop Journal:
Where was the Socialist party at McKee's Rocks, Lawrence or the great steel strike of 1919? The Industrial Workers of the World demonstrated that it was possible to organize the new immigrant proletariat, but despite sympathy for the IWW on the part of Debs and other left-wing socialists, the two organizations went their separate ways. Here, indeed, was the underlying tragedy of those years: the militancy expressed in the IWW was never channeled for political purposes while socialist politics ignored the immigrant workers.[95]
However, despite this decline, a focus on specific local examples shows that within certain communities the socialist trends seen on a national scale continued to influence local socialist movements even after the decline of the mainstream Socialist Party. In specific parts of the USA, such as Ybor City, Tampa , immigrant populations played significant roles in helping translate national socialist efforts into local action. Fuelled by a rising and often radical Latin American immigrant population emerging in the early 1900s, Florida saw major socialist developments both politically for the Socialist Party with their successes in the 1904, 1908 and 1921 national elections and industrially through strike action such as the primarily Latin led February 1919 cigar factory strike in Ybor City, Tampa.[96]
Within Ybor City specifically, supported mainly by the predominantly immigrant workforce, radical socialist ideas spread rapidly, with these ideas continuing late into the 1920s and early 1930s even after the mainstream decline of socialism in the USA.[97] Within cigar factories the often-illiterate workforce would be educated by a ‘lector’- a paid spokesperson who recited anarchist, communist and fictional material to workers.[97] Peter Kropotkin was a particular favourite of workers in Ybor City with his ideas of mutual aid inspiring community led projects and mutual aid societies.[98] These were almost always led by immigrant communities, such as Tampa’s significant Cuban, Spanish and Italian populations.[98] Women played major roles in these socialist projects, with a variety of women, predominantly Latin American, Italian and Spanish migrants expressing various degrees of leadership and taking up roles including teaching, volunteering and political organising.[99][100]
1930s–1940s: popular front and New Deal
The ideological rigidity of the
The
Intellectually, the Popular-Front period saw the development of a strong communist influence in intellectual and artistic life. This often took place through various organizations influenced or controlled by the party, or—as they were pejoratively known—
For the first half of the 20th century, the Communist Party was a highly influential force in various struggles for democratic rights. It
In 1929 Reverend
Norman Thomas attracted nearly 188,000 votes in his 1936 Socialist Party run for president, but performed poorly in historic strongholds of the party. Moreover, the Socialist Party of America's membership had begun to decline.[116] The organization was deeply factionalized, with the Militant faction split into right ("Altmanite"), center ("Clarity") and left ("Appeal") factions, in addition to the radical pacifists led by Thomas. A special convention was planned for the last week of March 1937 to set the party's future policy, initially intended as an unprecedented "secret" gathering.[117]
They fear, in a word, that Soviet America will become the counterpart of what they have been told Soviet Russia looks like. Actually American soviets will be as different from the Russian soviets as the United States of President Roosevelt differs from the Russian Empire of Czar Nicholas II. Yet communism can come in America only through revolution, just as independence and democracy came in America.
Trotsky on If American Should Go Communist in 1934.[118]
Constance Myers indicates that three factors led to the expulsion of the Trotskyists from the Socialist Party in 1937: the divergence between the official Socialists and the Trotskyist faction on the issues, the determination of Jack Altman's wing of the Militants to oust the Trotskyists and Trotsky's own decision to move towards a break with the party.[119] Recognizing that the Clarity faction had chosen to stand with the Altmanites and the Thomas group, Trotsky recommended that the Appeal group focus on disagreements over Spain to provoke a split. At the same time, Thomas, freshly returned from Spain, had come to the conclusion that the Trotskyists had joined the Socialist Party not to make it stronger, but to capture the organization for their own purposes.[120] The 1,000 or so Trotskyists who had entered the Socialist Party in 1936 exited in the summer of 1937 with their ranks swelled by another 1,000.[121] On December 31, 1937, representatives of this faction gathered in Chicago to establish a new political organization—the Socialist Workers Party (SWP).
1950s: Second Red Scare
Anarchism continued to influence important American literary and intellectual personalities of the time, such as
Reunification with the
In 1958, the SPUSA welcomed former members of the
The Second Red Scare is a period lasting roughly from 1950 to 1956 and characterized by heightened fears of Communist influence on American institutions and
1960s–1970s: New Left and social unrest
The term New Left was popularised in the United States in an open letter written in 1960 by
In the wake of the downfall of Senator McCarthy (who never served in the House, nor HUAC), the prestige of HUAC began a gradual decline beginning in the late 1950s. By 1959, the committee was being denounced by former President
The
Kahn and Horowitz, along with
Dr. Martin Luther King was the leader of the
In the 1960s, the
Activists in the 1970s used Socialism and reinterpreted in order to encompass members of radical movements, whether it be the Black Panther Party or the Gay and Lesbian Left. The overlap between all of these different radical movements was that they were oppressed peoples who were subjugated by the ruling straight white male elite class. Similar themes between these different movements was the issue of capitalist violence that was used to preserve power for the ruling class. There was a prominent group of socialist activists in San Francisco who were combatting the issues of homophobia, American imperialism, and police brutality. The assassination of gay rights proponent Harvey Milk by an ex-cop resulted in police violence that "encouraged attacks on gay men, Lesbians, prostitutes, and Third World people."[203] Angela Davis, an ally of the Black Panther Party and a socialist, viewed capitalism as an inherently violent system. In response to a question regarding the violent nature of the Black Panthers, she says "If you are a black person who lives in a black community all your life and walk out on the street everyday seeing white policemen surrounding you… When you live under a situation like that constantly, and then you ask me whether I approve of violence, I mean, that just doesn't make sense at all." Davis speaks to how capitalism subjugates black people through violence and that the main purpose of police is to protect white supremacy. The Black Panther Party were prominent members of Black Power Movement and was fueled by what they saw as systemic racism perpetuated against black people. According to Douglas Sturm, Professor Emeritus of Religion and Political Science at Bucknell University: "Police brutality, lack of opportunity, and the realization that opportunity was not forthcoming in the near future led many Blacks to conclude that armed self-defense coupled with self-help was the only way to end the despair."[204] This armed-self defense made many white Americans fearful of the Black Panthers and contributed to the FBI's designation of the Black Panthers as a terrorist organization. Although the Black Panthers were labeled violent extremists and terrorists, they provided many resources to their communities, including free healthcare, breakfast, and education services.[205]
In 1972, the Socialist Party voted to rename itself as Social Democrats, USA (SDUSA) by a vote of 73 to 34 at its December Convention. Its National Chairmen were Bayard Rustin, a peace and civil rights leader; and Charles S. Zimmerman, an officer of the International Ladies Garment Workers Union (ILGWU).[210][211] In 1973, Michael Harrington resigned from SDUSA and founded the Democratic Socialist Organizing Committee (DSOC), which attracted many of his followers from the former Socialist Party.[212] That same year, David McReynolds and others from the pacifist and immediate-withdrawal wing of the former Socialist Party formed the Socialist Party USA (SPUSA).[213] Bayard Rustin was the national chairperson of SDUSA during the 1970s. SDUSA sponsored a biannual conference[214] that featured discussions, for which SDUSA invited outside academic, political and labor union leaders. These meetings also functioned as reunions for political activists and intellectuals, some of whom worked together for decades.[215]
The
1980s–1990s: New Communist Movement and anti-WTO protests
From 1979–1989, SDUSA members like
Because of their service in government, Gershman and other SDUSA members were called State Department socialists by Massing,
The Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) was formed in 1982 after a merger between the Democratic Socialist Organizing Committee (DSOC) and the New American Movement (NAM).[231][232] At the time of the merger of these two organizations, the DSA was said to consist of approximately 5,000 former members of the DSOC, along with 1,000 from the NAM.[233] Much like the DSOC before it, the DSA was very strongly associated in electoral politics with Michael Harrington's position that "the left wing of realism is found today in the Democratic Party." In its early years, the DSA opposed Republican presidential candidates by giving critical support to Democratic Party nominees like Walter Mondale in 1984.[234] In 1988, the DSA enthusiastically supported Jesse Jackson's second presidential campaign.[235] The DSA's position on American electoral politics states that "democratic socialists reject an either—or approach to electoral coalition building, focused solely on [either] a new party or on realignment within the Democratic Party."[236]
Anarchists became more visible in the 1980s as a result of publishing, protests and conventions. In 1980, the First International Symposium on Anarchism was held in Portland, Oregon.
21st century
The only American member organization of the worldwide
The Occupy Wall Street movement provided a breeding ground for anti-capitalist activism that featured anarchists and socialists, and gave a renewed interest to socialist thought. The long-term background of Occupy begins with the Great Recession, which boosted sentiment for the anti-Capitalist and Social Democratic left, and created a movement against rampant wealth inequality, greed, and rallied for corporations to be held accountable for their incessant lobbying and economic strong-arming of the personal wealth of the owner-class. According to Holly Campbell:
"In addition, the Occupy movement itself also created a number of spaces through which to communicate and exercise dissent—physical spaces through encampments (for their duration), a virtual space of discussion through social media, and an intellectual space through, again, the language of popular occupation and 'the 99%.' All of these spaces have provided a place for people to gather and partake in a sustained dialogue through which to share stories, generate knowledge, and develop resources for dissent against the forces of neoliberal capitalism."[260]
Although the Occupy movement did falter, it did help to revitalize the American Left, which lost considerable influence since the 1970s. There was a greater mainstream interest to left-wing politics and socialism.
An April 2009
In November 2013, Socialist Alternative (SA) candidate Kshama Sawant was elected to Position 2 of the Seattle City Council. Sawant was the first socialist on the council in recent memory.[266][267] Philip Locker, a national organizer for SA, says it "was a watershed moment for the socialist movement across the country."[268]
The Occupy movement ultimately convinced United States Senator Bernie Sanders to run for president in 2016 as a democratic socialist. In his bid, "Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders attracted some of the largest crowds of the 2016 presidential campaign... 11,000 in Phoenix, 25,000 in Los Angeles, and 28,000 in Portland, Oregon. Sanders, a democratic socialist who for three decades has won office as an Independent, ran in the Democratic Party primaries. While he does not advocate the original goal of socialism—that 'a nation's resources and major industries should be owned and operated by the government on behalf of all the people, not by individuals and private companies for their own profit,'... Sanders has put "socialism" back in American political discourse."[269] Sanders is the leading figure in the "political revolution," by which he means an insurgent movement of voters and activists, not a violent storming of the barricades—can make the U.S. work for the majority of its citizens. In addition, his 2020 run for President of the United States saw even larger crowds, topping 26,000 attendees. Senator Sanders also received the most votes in the 2020 Democratic Iowa and Nevada Caucuses, New Hampshire Primary, and the California primary, the most populous state in the Union.
The 21st century has seen an increase in the participation of socialist and left-wing organizing, precipitated by the Occupy movement and Bernie Sanders' 2016 and 2020 presidential runs. This has resulted in an explosive growth of the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) where by "December 2018, DSA had some 55,000 members in 166 chapters and 57 high school and college groups, making it the largest socialist organization in the United States since the heyday of the Communist Party in the 1930s and 1940s."[270] In an interview by The New Labor Forum, a DSA member testifies "I have basically been a lifelong liberal who has very slowly radicalized and was kind of catapulted into radicalization by the Bernie primary campaign. I really didn't know about the term democratic socialism until Bernie started using it."[270] These organizations like the DSA are leading a movement that is giving voice to left-wing positions, emphasizing issues such as affordable housing, universal health care, opposing public subsidies for corporations, seeking the creation of government-owned banks, environmental justice, and free college for all. There have been an increase of democratic socialists elected to Congress, most notably a group of four congresswomen known as "The Squad". In a 2011 survey, more people under the age of 30 had a favorable view of socialism than of capitalism.
Sanders served as the at-large representative for the state of Vermont before being elected to the Senate in 2006. In a 2013 interview with Politico, radio host Thom Hartmann, whose nationally syndicated radio show draws 2.75 million listeners a week, affirmed his position as a democratic socialist. Sanders has been credited with reviving the American socialist movement by bringing it into the mainstream public view for the 2016 presidential election.[271] With the election of Donald Trump, the DSA soared to 25,000 dues-paying members[272] and SA at least 30 percent.[273] Some DSA members had emerged in local races in states like Illinois and Georgia.[274] Subscribers to the socialist quarterly magazine Jacobin doubled in four months following the election to 30,000.[275]
According to a November 2017
In June 2018,
According to Gallup, socialism has gained popularity within the Democratic Party. As of 2018, 57% of Democratic-leaning respondents viewed socialism positively as compared with 53% in 2016. The perception of capitalism among Democratic-leaning voters has also seen a decline since the 2016 presidential election from 56% to 47%. 16% of Republican-leaning voters and 37% of American adults overall had a positive view of socialism in the 2018 poll, compared with 71% and 56% holding a positive view of capitalism, respectively.
On April 2, 2019, four members of the DSA won run-off elections in Chicago while two others retained or won their seat in the February election, bringing the total number to six socialists on the council. Socialists control twelve percent of Chicago's city council power which Jacobin managing editor Micah Uetricht states in The Guardian that it is further evidence of a "socialist surge" in the United States and "the largest socialist electoral victory in modern American history."[284]
At the start of the 2021-22 legislative session, the
In 2022,
In July 2022, research scholar, philosopher, political activist, and founder of the socialist Bread and Roses Party, Jerome Segal, announced he would challenge Joe Biden in the 2024 Democratic Party presidential primaries, Segal dropped out in May 2023 to run for the vacant senate seat in Maryland.[287][288]
In May 2023, Rick Scott issued a travel advisory for socialists and communists visiting the state of Florida, saying it is "openly hostile" to them.[289]
In June 2023, philosopher Cornel West, who has called himself a "non-Marxist socialist" announced his run for president under the People's Party in 2024, he then later announced he was also seeking the Green Party nomination before running as an independent.[290]
See also
- 1912 United States presidential election
- American Left
- Anarchism in the United States
- History of left-wing politics in the United States
- History of the socialist movement in the United Kingdom
- History of the socialist movement in Canada
- The Jungle by Upton Sinclair (socialist writer)
- List of political parties in the United States
- List of socialist members of the United States Congress
- Third parties in the United States
- Why Socialism? by Albert Einstein
- Camille Paglia
- Pink tide
Notes
- ^ The difference between De Leon's ideal union situation and the one being practiced at the time is minute and necessitates a comparison between anarcho-syndicalism and De Leonism. This complex economic discussion remains outside the scope of this article.
- ^ As the conflict dragged on, the state of Colorado was unable to pay the salaries of many National Guardsmen. As enlisted men dropped out, mine guards took their places, their uniforms and their weapons.
References
Citations
- Salon. Retrieved July 19, 2019. "In 1889, French syndicalist Raymond Lavigne proposed to the Second International—the international and internationalist coalition of socialist parties—that May 1 be celebrated internationally the next year to honor the Haymarket Martyrs and demand the eight-hour day, and the year after that the International adopted the day as an international workers' holiday. In countries with strong socialist and communist traditions, May 1 became the primary day to celebrate work, workers and their organizations, often with direct and explicit reference to the martyrs of the Haymarket Massacre. May Day remains an official holiday in countries ranging from Argentina to India to Malaysia to Croatia—and dozens of countries in between."
- ^ a b Isserman, Maurice (June 19, 2009). "Michael Harrington: Warrior on poverty". The New York Times. Retrieved July 19, 2019.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-520-05505-6.
- ^ a b
- Anderson, Jervis (1997). Bayard Rustin: Troubles I've Seen. New York: HarperCollins Publishers.
- Branch, Taylor (1989). Parting the Waters: America in the King Years, 1954–63. New York: Touchstone.
- D'Emilio, John (2003). Lost Prophet: Bayard Rustin and the Quest for Peace and Justice in America. New York: The Free Press.
- D'Emilio, John (2004). Lost Prophet: The Life and Times of Bayard Rustin. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
- ^ a b Horowitz (2007, pp. 220–222)
- ^ a b Saxon, Wolfgang (April 1, 1992). "Tom Kahn, leader in labor and rights movements, was 53". The New York Times.
- ^ Foner, Eric (1984). "Why is there no socialism in the United States". History Workshop (17).
- ^ Oshinsky, David (July 24, 1988). "It Wasn't Easy Being a Leftist". The New York Times.
- ^ Leibovich, Mark (January 21, 2007). "The Socialist Senator". The New York Times. Retrieved October 17, 2014.
And he has clung to a mantle — socialism — that brings considerable stigma, in large part for its association with authoritarian communist regimes (which Sanders is quick to disavow).
- ^ Jackson, Samuel (January 6, 2012). "The failure of American political speech". The Economist. Retrieved June 15, 2019.
Socialism is not 'the government should provide healthcare' or 'the rich should be taxed more' nor any of the other watery social-democratic positions that the American right likes to demonise by calling them 'socialist'—and granted, it is chiefly the right that does so, but the fact that rightists are so rarely confronted and ridiculed for it means that they have successfully muddied the political discourse to the point where an awful lot of Americans have only the flimsiest grasp of what socialism is.
- ^ Truman, Harry S. (October 10, 1952). "Rear Platform and Other Informal Remarks in New York". Harry S. Truman Presidential Library and Museum. "The directive was drafted by Senator Taft at that famous breakfast in New York City a few weeks ago. Senator Taft left that meeting and told the press what the General stands for. Taft explained that the great issue in this campaign is "creeping socialism." Now that is the patented trademark of the special interest lobbies. Socialism is a scare word they have hurled at every advance the people have made in the last 20 years. Socialism is what they called public power. Socialism is what they called social security. Socialism is what they called farm price supports. Socialism is what they called bank deposit insurance. Socialism is what they called the growth of free and independent labor organizations. Socialism is their name for almost anything that helps all the people. When the Republican candidate inscribes the slogan "Down With Socialism" on the banner of his "great crusade," that is really not what he means at all. What he really means is, "Down with Progress--down with Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal," and "down with Harry Truman's fair Deal." That is what he means." Retrieved February 14, 2020.
- ^ Reinhardt, Uwe E. (8 May 2009). "What Is 'Socialized Medicine'?: A Taxonomy of Health Care Systems". Economix. The New York Times. The New York Times Company. Retrieved 15 July 2020.
- ^ Paul, Ari (November 19, 2013). "Seattle's election of Kshama Sawant shows socialism can play in America". The Guardian. Retrieved February 9, 2014.
- ^ Brockell, Gillian (February 13, 2020). "Socialists were winning U.S. elections long before Bernie Sanders and AOC". The Washington Post. Retrieved February 14, 2020.
- ^ Cassidy, John (February 2, 2016). "Bernie Sanders Just Changed the Democratic Party". The New Yorker. Retrieved November 25, 2019.
- ^ Spross, Jeff (April 24, 2018). "Bernie Sanders has Conquered the Democratic Party". The Week. Retrieved November 25, 2019.
- ^ Zurcher, Anthony (June 20, 2019). "Bernie Sanders: What's different this time around?". BBC News. Retrieved November 25, 2019.
- ^ "Modest Declines in Positive Views of 'Socialism' and 'Capitalism' in U.S." Pew Research Center. September 19, 2022. Retrieved August 26, 2023.
- ^ C. Johnson, Utopian Communism in France: Cabot and the Icarians (1974)
- ^ Auerbach, Jonathan. "'The Nation Organized': Utopian Impotence in Edward Bellamy's Looking Backward." American Literary History 1994 6(1):24.
- ^ Auerbach, 24.
- ^ Slate.com
- ^ William Bailie, "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on February 4, 2012. Retrieved June 17, 2013.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) Josiah Warren: The First American Anarchist — A Sociological Study, Boston: Small, Maynard & Co., 1906, p. 20. - ^ "A watch has a cost and a value. The COST consists of the amount of labor bestowed on the mineral or natural wealth, in converting it into metals ...." Warren, Josiah. Equitable Commerce
- ^ Charles A. Madison. "Anarchism in the United States." Journal of the History of Ideas, Vol. 6, No. 1. (January 1945), pp. 53.
- ^ Benjamin Tucker, Individual Liberty.
- ^ ISBN 0-7658-0513-8pp. 11–12.
- ^ Coleman, pp. 15–16
- ^ Coleman, pp. 15–17.
- ^ Zinn, 1980, p. 333.
- ^ Zinn, 1980, p. 332.
- ^ Elmer A. Beck, The Sewer Socialists, 1982, Westburg Associates Publishers, Fennimore, WI, p. 20.
- ^ "Former Sheboygan Alderman is Laid to Rest," Sheboygan Press, August 4, 1944.
- ^ Brecher, Jeremy (1974). "Strike!" (3rd ed.). Fawcett Publications.
- ^ Tindall et al., 1984, p. 827.
- ^ Tindall et al., 1984, p. 828.
- ^ Zinn, 1980, p. 342.
- ^ Tindall and Shi, 1984, p. 829.
- ^ a b Dubofsky, 1994, p. 29.
- ^ a b c d Kick et al., 2002, p. 263.
- ^ Kick et al., 2002, p. 264.
- ^ Tucker said, "the fact that one class of men are dependent for their living upon the sale of their labor, while another class of men are relieved of the necessity of labor by being legally privileged to sell something that is not labor. ... And to such a state of things I am as much opposed as any one. But the minute you remove privilege ... every man will be a laborer exchanging with fellow-laborers ... What Anarchistic-Socialism aims to abolish is usury ... it wants to deprive capital of its reward."Benjamin Tucker. Instead of a Book, p. 404
- ^ George Woodcock, Anarchism: a history of anarchist ideas and movements (1962), p. 459.
- ^ a b Martin, James J. (1970). Men Against the State: The Expositors of Individualist Anarchism in America, 1827-1908. Colorado Springs: Ralph Myles Publisher.
- ISBN 978-1-893626-21-8.
- ISBN 978-0-313-24200-7.
- ^ Infoshop.org. Archived from the originalon June 30, 2007. Retrieved October 31, 2013.
- ^ a b "Lucy Parsons: Woman Of Will" at the Lucy Parsons Center
- ^ "Free Society was the principal English-language forum for anarchist ideas in the United States at the beginning of the twentieth century." Emma Goldman: Making Speech Free, 1902–1909, p.551.
- Liberty from 1881 to 1908, communistic anarchism had not been advocated in any detail.""The Firebrand and the Forging of a New Anarchism: Anarchist Communism and Free Love" by Jessica Moran
- ^ Avrich, Anarchist Portraits, p. 202.
- ^ a b Pateman, p. iii.
- ^ Walter, p. vii.
- ^ Newell, p. vi.
- ISBN 978-0199759286.
- ^ "U.S. Senate: House Member Introduces Resolution to Abolish the Senate".
- ^ "FEDERAL OWNERSHIP URGED FOR WIRELESS; Berger, Socialist Representative, Introduces Bill Based on Titanic's Chaos of Messages". The New York Times, April 25, 1912.
- ^ "Legislative program of the Socialist Party;record of the work of the Socialist representatives in the state legislatures of the United States, 1899-1913, with account of efforts of the party in direct legislation". fau.digital.flvc.org. Retrieved April 15, 2022.
- ^ Zinn, 1980, p. 355.
- ^ a b Zinn, 1980, p. 356.
- ^ This Act, still on the books today, has been repeatedly used in peacetime. Officially, since the Korean War in the 1950s, the United States has been in a constant "state of emergency. Zinn, 1980, p. 356.
- ^ Hagedorn, 54, 58
- ^ United States Congress, Bolshevik Propaganda, 12-4; Powers, 20.
- ^ United States Congress, Bolshevik Propaganda, 14; Lowenthal, 49.
- ^ Zinn, 1980, p. 358.
- ^ Zinn, 1980, p. 367.
- ^ a b c d Zinn, 1980, p. 360.
- ^ a b Dubofsky, 1994, p. 67.
- ^ Dubofsky, 1994, p. 69.
- ^ Dubofsky, 1994, p. 73.
- ^ Murray, 58-60; Brecher, 121.
- ^ Hagedorn, 87; Brecher, 122-4.
- ^ a b Murray, 65.
- ^ Brody, 233-244.
- ^ Rayback, 287; Brody, 244-253; Dubofsky and Dulles, 220.
- ^ Irving Howe and Lewis Coser, The American Communist Party: a Critical History (1962), pp. 27-49.
- ^ Ryan, p. 16.
- ^ Ryan, p. 35.
- ISBN 9780465029457.
- ^ Ryan, p. 36.
- George Matthew Adams Service. January 24, 1920.
- ^ Waldman, Louis, Albany, The Crisis in Government: The History of the Suspension, Trial and Expulsion from the New York State Legislature in 1920 of the Five Socialist Assemblymen by their Political Opponents (NY: Boni and Liveright, 1920), pp. 2-7.
- ^ Robert K. Murray, Red Scare: A Study in National Hysteria, 1919-1920 (University of Minnesota Press, 1955).
- ^ Richard Gid Powers, Secrecy and Power: The Life of J. Edgar Hoover (1988), pp. 67-69.
- ^ Powers, Secrecy and Power (1988), pp. 76-80, 86-91.
- ^ The Economist. "Lexical accuracy: The failure of American political speech" (January 6, 2012) https://www.economist.com/johnson/2012/01/06/the-failure-of-american-political-speech#asterisk
- ^ William Safire, Safire's Political Dictionary (2008), pp. 18, 157.
- ^ Donald T. Critchlow, The conservative ascendancy: how the GOP right made political history (2007), p. 43.
- ISBN 9780313314346.
- ^ Zinn, 1980, p. 373.
- ^ By around the start of the 20th century, the states had passed over 1,600 acts relating to working conditions. Tindall et al., 1984, p. 888.
- ^ Tindall et al., 1984, p. 838.
- ^ David Howell (1986). A Lost Left: Three Studies in Socialism and Nationalism. Manchester U.P. p. 63.
- ^ Eric Foner, "Why Is There No Socialism in the United States?" History Workshop Journal, No. 17 (Spring, 1984), pp. 57-80.
- ISSN 0023-656X.
- ^ JSTOR 30150299.
- ^ JSTOR 1171279.
- JSTOR 30149126.
- S2CID 144100012.
- ^ Brinkley (1995), p. 141; Fried (1990), pp. 6, 15, 78–80.
- ^ Richard D. Wolff (2 September 2013). Organized labor's decline in the US is well-known. But what drove it? The Guardian. Retrieved 19 March 2014.
- ^ a b c Ryan 1997, p. 154
- ^ a b Ryan 1997, p. 155
- ISBN 0394726979, pp.52-58
- ^ "'Organize among Yourselves': Mary Gale on Unemployed Organizing in the Great Depression' History Matters. Retrieved April 11, 2015.
- ^ She mentions James Barrett, Maurice Isserman, Robin D. G. Kelley, Randi Storch, and Kate Weigand.
- ^ Ellen Schrecker, "Soviet Espionage in America: An Oft-Told tale," Reviews in American History, Volume 38, Number 2, June 2010, p. 359. Schrecker goes on to explore why the Left dared to spy.
- ISBN 978-1-57607-597-5.
- ^ Balaji, Murali (2007), The Professor and the Pupil: The Politics and Friendship of W.E.B. Du Bois and Paul Robeson, Nation Books, pp. 70–71.
- ISBN 978-0-8050-6813-9, p. 513.
- ^ Jon Bloom, "A.J. Muste (1885-1967)," in Mari Jo Buhle, Paul Buhle, and Dan Georgakas (eds.), Encyclopedia of the American Left. First edition. New York: Garland Publishing, 1990; pp. 499-500.
- ^ a b c Jon Bloom, "Abraham Johannes ("A.J.") Muste," in Gary M. Fink (ed.), Biographical Dictionary of American Labor. Revised edition. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1984; pp. 428-429.
- ^ Myers, The Prophet's Army, p. 124.
- ^ Robert J. Alexander, The Right Opposition: The Lovestoneites and the International Communist Opposition of the 1930s. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1981.
- ^ Myers, The Prophet's Army, pp. 126-127.
- ^ Myers, The Prophet's Army, p. 127.
- ^ "Leon Trotsky: If America Should Go Communist (1934)". www.marxists.org.
- ^ Myers, The Prophet's Army, p. 133.
- ^ Myers, The Prophet's Army, p. 138.
- ^ Myers, The Prophet's Army, p. 140.
- ^ Phelps, C. (1999). "Introduction: A Socialist Magazine in the American Century." Monthly Review 51 (1): 1–21. p. 2–3.
- ^ "Why Socialism?" by Albert Einstein at Monthly Review
- ^ Peter Clecak, "Monthly Review (1949—)," in Joseph R. Conlin (ed.), The American Radical Press, 1880-1960: Volume 2. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1974; p. 667.
- ^ Dr. Leopold Kohr, 84; Backed Smaller States, The New York Times obituary, February 28, 1994.
- ^ "The Breakdown of Nations". www.ditext.com.
- ^ Cage self-identified as an anarchist in a 1985 interview: "I'm an anarchist. I don't know whether the adjective is pure and simple, or philosophical, or what, but I don't like government! And I don't like institutions! And I don't have any confidence in even good institutions." John Cage at Seventy: An Interview by Stephen Montague. American Music, Summer 1985. Ubu.com. Accessed May 24, 2007.
- ^ TIME, April 4, 1994, Volume 143, No. 14 - "Biographical sketch of Dwight Macdonald" by John Elson. Archived January 21, 2013, at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved December 4, 2008.
- ^ a b George Woodcock. Anarchism: A History of Libertarian Ideas and Movements (1962).
- ^ a b c ""Resisting the Nation State, the pacifist and anarchist tradition" by Geoffrey Ostergaard". Archived from the original on May 14, 2011. Retrieved June 19, 2013.
- ^ Woodstock, George (1962). Anarchism: A History of Libertarian Ideas and Movements.
Finally, somewhat aside from the curve that runs from anarchist individualism to anarcho-syndicalism, we come to Tolstoyanism and to pacifist anarchism that appeared, mostly in Holland, Britain, and the United states, before and after the Second World War and which has continued since then in the deep in the anarchist involvement in the protests against nuclear armament.
- ^ Day, Dorothy. On Pilgrimage - May 1974. Archived October 7, 2012, at the Wayback Machine, "There was no time to answer the one great disagreement which was in their minds--how can you reconcile your Faith in the monolithic, authoritarian Church which seems so far from Jesus who "had no place to lay his head," and who said "sell what you have and give to the poor,"--with your anarchism? Because I have been behind bars in police stations, houses of detention, jails and prison farms, whatsoever they are called, eleven times, and have refused to pay Federal income taxes and have never voted, they accept me as an anarchist. And I in turn, can see Christ in them even though they deny Him, because they are giving themselves to working for a better social order for the wretched of the earth."
- Proudhon), as was Dorothy Day a staunch Christian pacifist and anarchist who founded it in 1933."
- ^ Reid, Stuart (2008-09-08), "Day by the Pool". The American Conservative. Archived October 26, 2010, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Day, Dorothy.On Pilgrimage - February 1974 Archived October 6, 2012, at the Wayback Machine, "The blurb on the back of the book Small Is Beautiful lists fellow spokesmen for the ideas expressed, including "Alex Comfort, Paul Goodman and Murray Bookchin. It is the tradition we might call anarchism." We ourselves have never hesitated to use the word."
- ^ Norman Thomas, Socialism on the Defensive. New York: Harper and Brothers, 1938; pp. 287-288.
- ISBN 978-1-4008-3946-9. Retrieved November 6, 2011.
- ^ August Meier and Elliot Rudwick. Black Detroit and the Rise of the UAW.
- ^ Isserman, The other american, p. 116.
- ^ Drucker (1994, p. 269):
Drucker, Peter (1994). Max Shachtman and his left: A socialist's odyssey through the "American Century". Humanities Press.
- ^ Horowitz (2007, p. 210)
- ^ Kahn (2007, pp. 254–255): Kahn, Tom (2007) [1973], "Max Shachtman: His ideas and his movement" (PDF), Democratiya, 11 (Winter): 252–259, archived from the original (PDF) on May 13, 2021
- ^ Alexander, pp. 812-813.
- ^ For example, Yates v. United States (1957) and Watkins v. United States (1957): Fried (1997), pp. 205, 207.
- ^ For example, California's "Levering Oath" law, declared unconstitutional in 1967: Fried (1997), p. 124.
- ^ For example, Slochower v. Board of Education (1956): Fried (1997), p. 203.
- ^ For example, Faulk vs. AWARE Inc., et al. (1962): Fried (1997), p. 197.
- ^ Schrecker (1998), p. xiii.
- ^ Schrecker (2002), pp. 63–64.
- ^ Schrecker (1998), p. 4.
- ^ a b Lewis, p. 709.
- ^ Du Bois (1968), Autobiography, p. 57; quoted by Hancock, Ange-Marie, "Socialism/Communism," in Young, p. 197.
- ^ Lewis, pp. 690, 694, 695.
- ^ "Mattachine Society". In Dynes, Wayne R., ed. Encyclopedia of Homosexuality.Archived April 19, 2012, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Feinberg, Leslie (June 28, 2005). "Harry Hay: Painful partings". Workers World. Retrieved November 1, 2007.
- ^ a b Gary Kinsman and Patrizia Gentile, The Canadian War on Queers: National Security as Sexual Regulation (Vancouver: UBC Press, 2010), p. 65.
- ^ John D'Emilio and Estelle B. Freedman, Intimate Matters: A History of Sexuality in America, Third Edition (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2012), p. 316.
- ^ "Letter to the New Left by C. Wright Mills 1960". www.marxists.org. Retrieved October 5, 2021.
- ^ Daniel Geary, "'Becoming International Again': C. Wright Mills and the Emergence of a Global New Left, 1956–1962," Journal of American History, December 2008, Vol. 95, Issue 3, pp. 710–736.
- ^ David Burner, Making Peace with the 60s (Princeton University Press, 1996), 155.
- ^ Stephen J. Whitfield. The Culture of the Cold War. The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1996
- ^ Youth International Party, 1992.
- ISBN 0-415-21664-8.
- The Huffington Post. Retrieved 21 January 2014.
- ISBN 0-8006-2392-4.
- ^ JSTOR 40015109.
- ISBN 978-0-306-80252-2.
- Sumner, Gregory D. (1996), Dwight Macdonald and the Politics Circle: The Challenge of Cosmopolitan Democracy
- Whitfield, Stephen J. (1984), A Critical American: The Politics of Dwight Macdonald
- Wreszin, Michael (1994), A Rebel in Defense of Tradition: The Life and Politics of Dwight MacDonald
- ^ Isserman, The Other American, pp. 169–336.
- ^ Drucker (1994, pp. 187–308)
- ISBN 978-0-674-19725-1.
- ^ Kirkpatrick Sale, SDS, pp. 22–25.
- ^ Miller, pp. 75–76, 112–116, 127–132; c.f. p. 107.
- ^ Kirkpatrick Sale, SDS, p. 105.
- ^ Kirkpatrick Sale, SDS, pp. 25–26
- ^ a b Todd Gitlin. The Sixties: Years of Hope, Days of Rage (1987), p. 191. ISBN.
- ^ Sale, p. 287.
Sale described an "all‑out invasion of SDS by the Progressive Labor Party. PLers—concentrated chiefly in Boston, New York, and California, with some strength in Chicago and Michigan—were positively cyclotronic in their ability to split and splinter chapter organizations: if it wasn't their self‑righteous positiveness it was their caucus‑controlled rigidity, if not their deliberate disruptiveness it was their overt bids for control, if not their repetitious appeals for base‑building it was their unrelenting Marxism." Kirkpatrick Sale, SDS, pp. 253.
- ^ "The student radicals had gamely resisted the resurrected Marxist-Leninist sects ..." (p. 258); "for more than a year, SDS had been the target of a takeover attempt by the Progressive Labor Party, a Marxist-Leninist cadre of Maoists," Miller, p. 284. Miller describes Marxist Leninists also on pages 228, 231, 240, and 254: c.f., p. 268.
- ^ Sale wrote, "SDS papers and pamphlets talked of 'armed struggle,' 'disciplined cadre,' 'white fighting force,' and the need for "a communist party that can guide this movement to victory"; SDS leaders and publications quoted Mao and Lenin and Ho Chi Minh more regularly than Jenminh Jih Pao. and a few of them even sought to say a few good words for Stalin," p. 269.
- ^ Sherman, Howard J. (1966). "Monopoly Capital-An Essay on the American Economic and Social Order". American Economic Review. 56 (4): 919–21.
- ^ Foster, J. B.; F. Magdoff (2009). The Great Financial Crisis. New York: Monthly Review Press.
- ^ Foster, J. B.; R.W. McChesney (2012). The Endless Crisis. New York: Monthly Review Press.
- ^ McChesney, R. W. (2013). Digital Disconnect. New York: Monthly Review Press.
- ^ "Ronald Creagh. Laboratoires de l'utopie. Les communautés libertaires aux États-Unis. Paris. Payot. 1983. pg. 11". Wikiwix.com. Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved February 3, 2014.
- ^ John Patten, "Islands of Anarchy: Simian, Cienfuegos, Refract and their support network" Archived June 4, 2011, at the Wayback Machine: "These groups had their roots in the anarchist resurgence of the nineteen sixties. Young militants finding their way to anarchism, often from the anti-bomb and anti-Vietnam war movements, linked up with an earlier generation of activists, largely outside the ossified structures of 'official' anarchism. Anarchist tactics embraced demonstrations, direct action such as industrial militancy and squatting, protest bombings like those of the First of May Group and Angry Brigade – and a spree of publishing activity."
- ^ "Farrell provides a detailed history of the Catholic Workers and their founders Dorothy Day and Peter Maurin. He explains that their pacifism, anarchism, and commitment to the downtrodden were one of the important models and inspirations for the '60s. As Farrell puts it, "Catholic Workers identified the issues of the sixties before the Sixties began, and they offered models of protest long before the protest decade." James J, Farrell, "The Spirit of the Sixties: The Making of Postwar Radicalism."
- Stonewall Rebellion, the New York Gay Liberation Front based their organization in part on a reading of Murray Bookchin's anarchist writings." "Anarchism" by Charley Shively in Encyclopedia of Homosexuality, p. 52.
- ^ "Within the movements of the sixties there was much more receptivity to anarchism-in-fact than had existed in the movements of the thirties ... But the movements of the sixties were driven by concerns that were more compatible with an expressive style of politics, with hostility to authority in general and state power in particular ... By the late sixties, political protest was intertwined with cultural radicalism based on a critique of all authority and all hierarchies of power. Anarchism circulated within the movement along with other radical ideologies. The influence of anarchism was strongest among radical feminists, in the commune movement, and probably in the Weather Underground and elsewhere in the violent fringe of the anti-war movement." Barbara Epstein, "Anarchism and the Anti-Globalization Movement", Monthly Review, Volume 53, Number 4, September 2001.
- ISBN 978-1-56639-976-0. Retrieved December 28, 2011.
- ^ Lytle 2006, pp. 213, 215.
- ^ "Overview: who were (are) the Diggers?". The Digger Archives. Retrieved June 17, 2007.
- ^ Gail Dolgin; Vicente Franco (2007). American Experience: The Summer of Love. PBS. Retrieved April 23, 2007.
- ^ Holloway, David (2002). "Yippies". St. James Encyclopedia of Pop Culture.
- ^ Abbie Hoffman, Soon to be a Major Motion Picture, Perigee Books, 1980, p. 128.
- ISBN 9780553372120.)
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link - ^ "ABC News – Breaking News, Latest News and Videos". ABC News.
- ^ a b "Dorothy Day dead at 83". The Bulletin. November 29, 1980. p. 61.
- ^ a b Small, Mike. "Murray Bookchin," The Guardian, August 8, 2006.
- ^ John Muir Institute for Environmental Studies, University of New Mexico, Environmental Philosophy, Inc., University of Georgia, Environmental Ethics v.12 1990: 193.
- ^ Curtis. "Life of A Party." Crisis; September/October 2006, Vol. 113, Issue 5, p 30–37, 8 pp.
- ^ Da Costa, Francisco. "The Black Panther Party". Retrieved June 5, 2006.
- ^ Seale, Bobby (September 1997). Seize the Time (Reprint ed.). Black Classic Press. pp. 23, 256, 383.
- ISBN 978-0-201-48341-3.
- )
- S2CID 143530867.
- )
- ^ "None".
- ^ "A break-in to end all break-ins; In 1971, stolen FBI files exposed the government's domestic spying program". Los Angeles Times, March 8, 2006.
- ^ Jeffreys-Jones, Rhodri. THE FBI, Yale University Press, 2008, p. 189.
- ^ Ken Gewertz (April 12, 2007). "Albert Einstein, Civil Rights activist". Harvard University Gazette. Archived from the original on May 29, 2007. Retrieved June 11, 2007.
- ^ Anonymous (December 31, 1972). "Socialist Party now the Social Democrats, U.S.A." New York Times. p. 36. Retrieved February 8, 2010.
- ^ Anonymous (December 31, 1972). "Socialist Party now the Social Democrats, U.S.A." (PDF). New York Times. p. 36.
- ^ Isserman, p. 311.
- ^ Isserman, p. 422.
- ^ Social Democrats, USA (1973), The American Challenge: A social-democratic program for the seventies, New York: SDUSA
- ^ Meyerson, Harold (2002). "Solidarity, Whatever". Dissent. 49 (Fall, number 4): 16. Archived from the original on June 20, 2010. Retrieved October 31, 2013.
- ^ a b Wakin, Daniel J., "Quieter Lives for 60's Militants, but Intensity of Beliefs Hasn't Faded", article The New York Times, August 24, 2003. Retrieved June 7, 2008.
- ^ The Weather Underground, produced by Carrie Lozano, directed by Bill Siegel and Sam Green, New Video Group, 2003, DVD.
- ISBN 1-56584-962-0, pp. 293-296.
- ^ Chronology of Political Events, 1954-1992, Part Four 1975-1980. Max Elbaum. Retrieved from Revolution In The Air: Sixties Radicals Turn to Lenin, Mao and Che, March 18, 2010. "1977 August 12–18: Eleventh Congress of the Chinese Communist Party. Mao and the Cultural Revolution are given positive assessments but the Congress officially declares the Cultural Revolution ended. That same month, CPC chair Hua Guofeng and U.S. CP(M-L) chair Mike Klonsky exchange toasts at banquet for CP(M-L) leaders in Beijing; this is effective recognition of the CP(M-L) as the semi-official pro-China party in the U.S."
- ^ Horowitz, Rachelle (2007). "Tom Kahn and the fight for democracy: A political portrait and personal recollection" (PDF). Democratiya (Merged with Dissent in 2009). 11: 204–251. Archived from the original (PDF) on October 12, 2009.
- JSTOR 20671880.
- ^ Opening statement by Tom Kahn in Kahn & Podhoretz (2008, p. 235):
Kahn, Tom; Podhoretz, Norman (2008). "How to support Solidarnosc: A debate" (PDF). Democratiya (Merged with Dissent in 2009). 13 (Summer). Sponsored by the Committee for the Free World and the League for Industrial Democracy, with introduction by Midge Decter and moderation by Carl Gershman, and held at the Polish Institute for Arts and Sciences, New York City in March 1981: 230–261. Archived from the original (PDF) on November 17, 2011.
- ^ "The AFL–CIO had channeled more than $4 million to it, including computers, printing presses, and supplies" according to Horowitz, Rachelle (2005). "Tom Kahn and the fight for democracy: A political portrait and personal recollection". Archived from the original on March 3, 2011.
- ^ Puddington (2005):
Puddington, Arch (2005). "Surviving the underground: How American unions helped solidarity win". American Educator (Summer). American Federation of Teachers. Retrieved June 4, 2011.
- ^ Massing (1987)
- ^ "A 1987 article in The New Republic described these developments as a Trotskyist takeover of the Reagan administration" wrote Lipset (1988, p. 34).
- ^ Lind, Michael (April 7, 2003). "The weird men behind George W. Bush's war". New Statesman. London. Archived from the original on September 27, 2011.
- ^ Wald, Alan (June 27, 2003). "Are Trotskyites Running the Pentagon?". History News Network.
- S2CID 162356558.. Enter Stage Right. 2004 (3). The question of 'Shachtmanism', pp. 1–2.
King, Bill (March 22, 2004). "Neoconservatives and Trotskyism"
- ^ Muravchik (2006). Addressing the allegation that SDUSUA was a "Trotskyist" organization, Muravchik wrote that in the early 1960s, two future members of SDUSA, Tom Kahn and Paul Feldman
became devotees of a former Trotskyist named Max Shachtman—a fact that today has taken on a life of its own. Tracing forward in lineage through me and a few other ex-YPSL's [members of the Young Peoples Socialist League] turned neoconservatives, this happenstance has fueled the accusation that neoconservatism itself, and through it the foreign policy of the Bush administration, are somehow rooted in 'Trotskyism.'
I am more inclined to laugh than to cry over this, but since the myth has traveled so far, let me briefly try once more, as I have done at greater length in the past, to set the record straight.[See "The Neoconservative Cabal," Commentary, September 2003] The alleged connective chain is broken at every link. The falsity of its more recent elements is readily ascertainable by anyone who cares for the truth—namely, that George Bush was never a neoconservative and that most neoconservatives were never YPSL's. The earlier connections are more obscure but no less false. Although Shachtman was one of the elder statesmen who occasionally made stirring speeches to us, no YPSL of my generation was a Shachtmanite. What is more, our mentors, Paul and Tom, had come under Shachtman's sway years after he himself had ceased to be a Trotskyite.
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Further reading
- Paul Buhle. Marxism in the United States. A History of the American Left. Verso. 2013.
- ISBN 978-0991030392.
- Egbert, Donald Drew & Persons, Stow, Socialism and American Life, Princeton University Press; Oxford University Press, 1952.
- Frances Goldin, Debby Smith, Michael Smith. Imagine: Living in a Socialist USA. ISBN 0062305573.
- ISBN 1611453356.
- Hillquit, Morris. History of Socialism in the United States (1906).
- ISBN 0199322511.
- ISBN 184467679X.
- Noyes, John Humphrey. History of American Socialisms (1870).
- Zinn, Howard. A People's History of the United States. Harper Perennial (1980; updated version, 2010).
External links
- Early Marxists in North America (Marxist Internet Archive).
- Eugene V. Debs: Trade Unionist, Socialist, Revolutionary 1855-1926 Archived June 29, 2016, at the Bernard Sanders(19co79).
- "Is Obama a socialist? What does the evidence say?", The Christian Science Monitor, July 1, 2010.
- The "O" in Socialism by Betsy Reed, The Nation, June 12, 2009.
- "Why I Am a Socialist" by Chris Hedges, Truthdig, December 29, 2008.
- Ari Paul, "Seattle's election of Kshama Sawant shows socialism can play in America". The Guardian, November 19, 2013.
- Towards a Socialist America. Andrew Wilkes, The Huffington Post, September 29, 2014.
- Want to Rebuild the Left? Take Socialism Seriously. Kshama Sawant for The Nation. March 23, 2015.
- Bernie Sanders's Presidential Bid Represents a Long Tradition of American Socialism. Peter Dreier for The American Prospect. May 2015.
- The Re-Emergence of Socialism in America. WNPR. November 18, 2015.
- Socialism's Return. The Nation. February 21, 2017.
- Here's how socialism went mainstream in American politics. CNBC. July 31, 2019.
- Some young Americans warm to socialism, even Miami Cubans. Associated Press. August 25, 2019.
- Democratic Leaders Join House Republican Attack on "Socialism" . Jacobin. February 4, 2023