
This is a solid history on how the socialist tradition has actually been part of American politics since the days of Thomas Paine, if not earlier. Author John Nichols chronicles the socialists helped found the Republican party. Yes, you read that right. He profiles those who campaigned in labor battles and at the ballot box. He lists socialists who served in Congress and city halls across America, fighting for racial justice and against unjust wars. Names like Helen Keller, A. Phillip Randolph, Horace Greeley and Eugene Debs will come up again here. Nichols highlights the promise, persecution, and future prospects for the socialist movement. He also chronicles the Democratic Socialists of America (or DSA). Advocating for leftist ideas within the Democratic party, the DSA has achieved mixed results at best. There is an unfortunate detour about a book that Glenn Beck wrote about Common Sense. Beck did so without actually reading Tom Paine’s Common Sense, despite invoking it in his conceit. If he had, Beck would know that Paine was a clear proto-socialist in his policy views and outlook. This anecdote about the pundit is laughable, but it aged poorly. I don’t know anyone who gives a damn about what Glenn Beck thinks on any side of the political spectrum. Beyond that digression, this is an informative and entertaining read.
Take a look at this one if you want to learn about:
- THOMAS PAINE, the proto-socialist founder and radical pamphleteer who wrote Common Sense, The Age of Reason, The Rights of Man. He also advocated for old age pensions and a basic income given to young people. He believed a government should redistribute land and wealth, and provide social welfare for the poor;
- EUGENE DEBS, the fiery labor activist who led the Socialist Party to win 6% of the votes (over a million at the time) while running for president. He would likely have had more success had he not been imprisoned, and his followers persecuted for refusing to support America’s entry in WWI. He called it a war of imperialism pursued for the benefit of the wealthy;
- HORACE GREELEY, CHARLES DANA, and other founding, high-ranking early Republicans were actually socialists or socialist-adjacent. Turns out they admired the works of Karl Marx and other anticapitalists;
- VICTOR BERGER, the Socialist congressman Wisconsin first elected in 1911. He was re-elected in 1918 while indicted for opposing American participation in the First World War. Congress refused to seat him because he was an anti-war socialist. Wisconsin kept re-electing him anyway, because screw Congress, that’s why;
- A. PHILLIP RANDOLPH, the socialist labor and civil rights organizer who actually organized the March on Washington in 1963. This is where MLK gave his “I Have a Dream” Speech, a capstone to Randolph’s career of badassery.
Socialism has deeper, more interesting, and more American roots than many in this country ever believed. It’s given us founders, rebels, congresspersons and mayors. In every era, its ranks have included some of our most successful fighters for justice. Americans who haven’t heard this history would do well to read The “S” Word. It is valuable to understand what socialism has been in the United States, and what it could be again.
The S Word: A Short History of an American Tradition...Socialism
Whether you love socialism or hate it, it's been here since the beginning and is American as they come, from Thomas Paine to MLK.
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