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American exceptionalism is the theory that U.S. capitalism is different from and superior to capitalism in other countries and that there is no basis for socialism in the United States.[1] It predicted that the United States would be able to avoid economic crises.[2]
History
In the 1840s, Hermann Kriege, a former colleague of Marx, proposed that no revolution would be necessary in the United States because there was so much available land. He believed that redistributing land could permanently end poverty. Marx believed this was an opportunist error.[3]
Jay Lovestone, the leader of the rightist faction of the CPUSA, promoted American exceptionalism in the 1920s before being purged in 1929.[2] Stalin criticized these beliefs.[4]
References
- ↑ William Z. Foster (1952). History of the Communist Party of the United States: 'The American Working Class and Socialism'.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 William Z. Foster (1952). History of the Communist Party of the United States: 'Building the Party of the New Type (1919-1929)'.
- ↑ William Z. Foster (1952). History of the Communist Party of the United States: 'Pioneer Marxists in the United States (1848-1860)'.
- ↑ “It would be wrong to ignore the specific peculiarities of American capitalism. The Communist Party in its work must take them into account. But it would be still more wrong to base the activities of the Communist Party on these specific features, since the foundation of the activities of every Communist Party, including the American Communist Party, on which it must base itself, must be the general features of capitalism, which are the same for all countries, and not its specific features in any given country.”
Joseph Stalin (1929). Speech Delivered in the American Commission of the Presidium of the ECCI (p. 5). [PDF] New York: CPUSA.