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 ideological tendencies, including anarchism, communism, democratic socialism, Marxism, Marxism-Leninism, social democracy, Trotskyism, and utopian socialism. One 2021 poll reported 41% of American adults had a positive view of socialism and 57% had a positive view of capitalism.[1]

It began with utopian communities in the early 1800s such as the Shakers.

Labor activists (mostly comprising of European settler-colonists) founded the Socialist Labor Party of America in 1877. The Socialist Party of America was established in 1901. By that time, anarchism also rose to prominence around the country. Socialists of different tendencies were involved in early American labor organizations and struggles. These reached a high point in the Haymarket affair in Chicago which started International Workers' Day as the main workers holiday around the world, Labor Day and making the eight-hour day a worldwide objective by workers organizations and socialist parties worldwide.[2]

Milwaukee has had several socialist mayors such as Emil Seidel, Daniel Hoan and Frank Zeidler whilst Socialist Party presidential candidate Eugene V. Debs won nearly one million votes in the 1920 presidential election.[3][4]

Self-described "democratic socialist" Bernie Sanders won 13 million votes in the 2016 Democratic Party presidential primary, gaining considerable popular support, particularly among the younger generation and the working class.[5][6][7]

19th century

Utopian socialism and communities

Early Marxism

Ties to labor

Early anarchism

20th century

1900-20s: opposition to WWI and First Red Scare

Under Socialist Party of America presidential candidate Eugene V. Debs, socialist opposition to World War I led to the governmental repression collectively known as the First Red Scare. The Socialist Party declined in the 1920s, but the party nonetheless often ran Norman Thomas for president.

1930-40s: popular front and New Deal

In the 1930s, the Communist Party USA was at the forefront of labor and racial struggles, long before the civil rights movement. It suffered a split which converged into the Trotskyist Socialist Workers Party.

1950s: Second Red Scare

In the 1950s, socialism was attacked by McCarthyism (also known as the "Second Red Scare") and in the 1960s it was revived by the general radicalization brought by the New Left and other social struggles and revolts.

1960-70s: New Left & Intelligence Agency Misdirection

The New Left was a political movement in the Western world which was socially progressive but was carefully manipulated by intelligence agencies to ensure that it would avoid the class analysis found in Marxism-Leninism. The so-called "Father of the New Left", Herbert Marcuse, was actually an agent for the Office of Strategic Services, the precursor to the Central Intelligence Agency.[8][9][10] The CIA later built the Congress for Cultural Freedom which helped to facilitate the growth of the "Non-communist left"

In the 1960s, Michael Harrington and other socialists were called to assist the Kennedy administration and then the Johnson administration's War on Poverty and Great Society[11] while socialists also played important roles in the civil rights movement.[12][13][14][15] Unlike in Western Europe, Australia, and New Zealand, a major social-democratic party has never materialized in the United States[16] and the socialist movement in the United States was relatively weak in comparison.[17]

1980-90s: New Communist Movement & anti-WTO protests

21st century

See also

References

  1. ↑ Chantal Da Silva (June 28, 2021). "Support for socialism gaining traction in US, poll suggests" Independent.
  2. ↑
    “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 Haymarket Martyrs. May Day remains an official holiday in countries ranging from Argentina to India to Malaysia to Croatia—and dozens of countries in between.”

    Jacob Remes. "May Day's radical history" Salon. Archived from the original on 2021-11-03. Retrieved 2019-07-19.
  3. ↑ Ari Paul (2013-11-19). "Seattle's election of Kshama Sawant shows socialism can play in America" The Guardian. Retrieved 2014-02-09.
  4. ↑ Gillian Brockwell (2020-02-13). "Socialists were winning U.S. elections long before Bernie Sanders and AOC" The Washington Post. Retrieved 2020-02-14.
  5. ↑ John Cassidy (2016-02-02). "Bernie Sanders Just Changed the Democratic Party" The New Yorker. Retrieved 2019-11-25.
  6. ↑ Jeff Spross (2018-04-24). "Bernie Sanders has Conquered the Democratic Party" The Week. Retrieved 2019-11-25.
  7. ↑ Anthony Zurcher (2019-06-20). "Bernie Sanders: What's different this time around?" BBC News. Retrieved 2019-11-25.
  8. ↑ https://www.marcuse.org/herbert/booksabout/70s/Bourne1979MarcuseGrandfatherNewLeft.pdf
  9. ↑ Stanley Rothman (2017). The End of the Experiment: The Rise of Cultural Elites and the Decline of America's Civic Culture. ISBN 9781351295628
  10. ↑ Secret Reports on Nazi Germany. The Frankfurt School Contribution to the War Effort by Franz Neumann, Herbert Marcuse & Otto Kirchheimer, Edited by Raffaele Laudani, (Princeton University Press, 2013) p. 2
  11. ↑ Maurice Isserman (2009-06-19). "Michael Harrington: Warrior on poverty" The New York Times. Retrieved 2019-07-19.
  12. ↑ Jervis Anderson (1973). A. Philip Randolph: A Biographical Portrait. University of California Press. ISBN 978-0-520-05505-6
  13. ↑ * Jervis Anderson (1997). Bayard Rustin: Troubles I've Seen. New York: HarperCollins Publishers.
    • Taylor Branch (1989). Parting the Waters: America in the King Years, 1954–63. New York: Touchstone.
    • John D'Emilio (2003). Lost Prophet: Bayard Rustin and the Quest for Peace and Justice in America. New York: The Free Press.
    • John D'Emilio (2004). Lost Prophet: The Life and Times of Bayard Rustin. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
  14. ↑ Rachelle Horowitz (2007). Tom Kahn and the fight for democracy: A political portrait and personal recollection. Democratiya (Merged with Dissent in 2009), vol.11 (pp. 204–251).
  15. ↑ Wolfgang Saxon (1992-04-1). "Tom Kahn, leader in labor and rights movements, was 53" The New York Times.
  16. ↑ Eric Foner (1984). Why is there no socialism in the United States. History Workshop, vol.17.
  17. ↑ David Oshinsky (1988-07-24). "It Wasn't Easy Being a Leftist" The New York Times. Archived from the original on 2015-05-25.
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