Socialism is the socioeconomic movement birthed of the radical change of the Industrial

Revolution in Europe, where it has been causing great political waves ever since the Communist
Manifesto was first published by Karl Marx and Frederich Engels in 1848. The changes to
socialism and its affects have been less extreme in American society. It adapts and reforms with
fluidity of the American economy. What was first an idealistic, and largely unrealistic belief has
become a major political movement. However, socialism never deviated too far from it roots as a
pro-labor, anti-corporate movement, it never strayed down the road of Leninism or Stalinism.
American socialism has changed throughout history from that of utopian settlements to the voice
of the laborer to the champion of the welfare state and, more recently, to protector of the middle
class. While socialist policy in the United States has always been prevalent and even supported
the American people, the people never recognize socialism as the solution, and, sometimes, not
as a good thing at all. Americans are quick to blame socialism and slow to accept its ideas,
however Americans have historically been willing to accept socialist ideas if presented by a
different name. Only now, with the more accepting nature of liberalism and the widespread
availability of knowledge due to the advent of the internet, are voters accepting socialism in
name as a mainstream area of political thought.
Utopian Socialism
Socialism was first introduced to the United States in the form of utopian socialism, one
of the two main branches at the time. Utopian socialism differs from other branches of socialism,
like Marxism, its main contemporary, in that does rely on the existence of class struggle or
revolution to come to prominence. Several utopian societies arose across the American
continent during the nineteenth century. They sought to create perfect societies, isolated from the
materialism and strife of the outside world. The best example of these societies was perhaps New

Harmony, Indiana which was founded by Robert Owen, one of utopian socialisms forefathers. In
New Harmony, labor was currency, hours of labor granted citizens credits to use at the general
store. In this way, Owen hoped to make the settlement self-sustaining by using greed to benefit
the society as a whole. The settlement was also devoid of individual materialism. Everything was
owned by society as a whole. New Harmony, as well as almost all utopian settlement eventually
failed as they could not remain self-sustaining on larger scales and collapsed as they grew. Public
perception of utopian societies was generally not positive. Owens own son said of New
Harmony a heterogeneous collection of radicals, enthusiastic devotees to principle, honest
latitudinarians, and lazy theorists, with a sprinkling of unprincipled sharpers thrown in (Robert
Dale Owen). Public perception of the utopian socialists in the United States was that they were
just congregating groups of lazy workers and extreme radicals. Socialism existed on the fringe of
American society, an ideology practiced by the unemployed, crackpots, and anarchists. Socialism
in its American debut was either looked down on or ignored. The utopian movement largely died
out by the time of the advent of the Civil War.
The Gilded Age
Socialism evolved into its more modern form in the period between the Civil War and
World War I, known as the Gilded Age and Progressive Era. The Gilded Age was the period after
the Civil War where American industry grew more than it ever had. The number of industrial
workers exploded and a small few people became very, very wealthy. This was the time where
the Rockefellers, Carnegies, and Vanderbilts found their wealth. Corporations benefitted from
and laborers suffered from a largely pro-business government which did very little to regulate
business practices and the economy, practically nothing compared to todays standard. More
traditional socialism rose to more prominence during this time because of extreme class

inequality and horrible working conditions. The socialism of this time focused mainly on the
right of laborers and the conditions in which they worked. The Socialist Party of America,
founded in 1901 by Eugene V. Debs and Daniel De Leon, started gathering support as workers
hoped to change their situation through political means. The American Federation of Labor
(AFL), founded in 1886 and headed by Samuel Gompers at the time, was the more extreme
group. It was a collection of craft labor unions that sought change through protest, which often
turned violent because of actions on both sides. The corporate dominated society lashed out
against these movements physically, using groups like the Pinkerton Detective Agency to
forcefully suppress protest, politically, putting pro-business leaders in key positions, and
economically, putting the United States on the gold standard in 1896 which greatly deflated the
value of the dollar, hurting debtors. Much of the public during the Gilded Age didnt question
corporate practices because the industrial growth led to the nations prosperity. Many were
suspicious of labor unions and thought they only sought to incite violence.
The Progressive Era
Where similar conditions brought about violent revolutions in Europe and strong support
for socialist parties and officials, they did not in America. The Socialist Party never saw major
support and never gained more than six percent of the popular vote in the general election.
Eugene V. Debs ran for president six times, ran from a jail cell, and even lost to Warren G.
Harding, perhaps one of the worst presidents. The AFL never had complete support of all unions
and may very little headway because of Pinkerton intimidation. Some believe this is because of
the commonplace assertion known as the American Dream. Most Americans not only believe in
their potential to succeed, but in their right to succeed if they work hard. Socialism never took
root in America because the poor see themselves not as an exploited proletariat but as

temporarily embarrassed millionaires (Ronald Wright A Short History of Progress). The public
also trusted corporate America too much. This stemmed from extreme economic growth and the
overall lack of information. This changed because of two things, the publishing of The Jungle by
Upton Sinclair and the death of President William McKinley, which allowed Theodore Roosevelt
to assume the office. The Jungle exposed corporations to the public eye, sowing that their
practices were not to be trusted. Theodore Roosevelt was staunchly anti-trust (anti-monopoly)
and convinced the public they were bad for democracy as a whole. One would think the public
would have now turned to socialist groups and leaders who had, in essence, foretold this
outcome. But instead they turned to progressivism, which introduced regulatory and anti-trust
legislation on an unprecedented scale. Progressivism was basically socialism without large scale
labor reform. The gains for labor the progressives made were seen as moral issues not just labor
issues, like child labor and worker safety laws. People supported progressivism because it
present business and capitalism as both good things with a few injustices, socialism presented
them as bad for the citizenry in the long run.
Wilson, Palmer, and the First Red Scare
Progressivism was also largely favored over socialism because of the start of World War
I. Many American socialists were against the war and any strikes during the war were seen as a
detriment to the war effort. The Wilson Administration championed the Espionage Act, which
could carry a sentence of up to twenty years for whoever, when the United States is at war, shall
willfully cause or attempt to cause insubordination, disloyalty, mutiny, or refusal of duty . . . or
willfully obstruct the recruiting or enlistment of service of the United States. This, in tandem
with anarchists attacks in New York, led to the First Red Scare. Fear and paranoia about
socialism and any of the far left spread throughout the country. These led to the Palmer Raids.

Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer had a bomb explode outside of his house, because of the
scare he immediately blamed radicals, which include socialist, communists, anarchists, and
those who were remotely liberally inclined. Palmer created a subdivision within the justice
department headed by J. Edgar Hoover for the sole purpose of rounding up these radicals.
These arresting sprees were known as the Palmer Raids, during which more than six thousand
individuals were wrongly arrested. Due to the First Red Scare and the Palmer Raids, socialism
largely died out in America after the war and was basically a non-factor during the 1920s. In
addition the postwar boom had few people worrying about their class status or working
conditions. It would take the great economic disaster in American history for people to start
thinking positively about socialist policy again.
The New Deal, Socialism Incognito
The Great Depression saw the collapse of the American financial system and with it the
entire economy. The nation saw unbelievably high rates of deflation and unemployment hit an
all-time high. Franklin Roosevelts New Deal brought dug the nation out of the Depression. The
New Deal is perhaps the greatest victory for American socialism. The New Deal pioneered the
creation of the American welfare state and drastically increased the power of the federal
government, mainly increasing the governments regulation of and intervention in the economy.
However, once again, even though these reforms have origins in and have long be championed
by socialism, the American people did not acknowledge these as socialist policies. Norman
Thomas, who ran for president six times for the Socialist Party against FDR, said The American
people would never knowingly vote for Socialism, but that under the name of liberalism, they
would adopt every fragment of the socialist program (Norman Thomas). During the New Deal,
the government basically took over the economy in an attempt to combat widespread

unemployment and rampant deflation. Social welfare policies such as Social Security were
introduced during this time. Labor laws such as the Fair Labor Standards Act, which set
maximum hours and minimum wages, and economic regulations such as the Securities at
Exchange Commission and Glass-Steagall Act, which regulate Wall Street and the banking
system, respectively, were enacted. All of the things socialists had been struggling for years were
achieved, just not under the socialist label.
Soviets, McCarthy, and the Second Red Scare
As one can see, the American aversion to socialism in not a Cold War phenomenon,
however, our conflict with the Soviet Union greatly aggravated this underlying tendency. During
World War II, there was a small boom in the popularity of socialism in the United States. This
came about because of the success of New Deal policy, the alliance with the Soviet Union, and
the fact that socialism is basically the political opposite of fascism. However, this boom was as
short-lived as Americas cooperation with the USSR. The quick deterioration of relations with
Russia led to a paranoia amongst the American people about socialism and communism alike.
This led to the Second Red Scare, which swept across the country during the early 1950s. This
paranoia was aggravated greatly by the Korean War, which was essentially a proxy war with
communist China. This Scare was spearheaded by Senator Joseph McCarthy of Wisconsin, who
claimed that the State Department as well as the Truman Administration had been compromised
and infiltrated by communist spies. The hearings he conducted and his fiery rhetoric led to the
creation of the House Committee on Un-American Activities (HUAC), which investigated
largely the entertainment industry, blacklisting performers and largely affected public opinion. It
also led to the creation of the Subversive Activities Control Board (SACB), which investigated
officials and government staff, acting as a more official body with more de jure power. Due to

the efforts of these bodies, socialism by name largely died out during the Cold War. Even
socialist policy did not have much success. The only time socialist-esque policy was met with
any support was the introduction of President Lyndon B. Johnsons Great Society, which he
envisioned as a second New Deal. However, of all of the policies proposed by the Great Society,
only Medicare and Medicaid gained any real ground, a far cry from the hundreds of entitlement,
economic, and banking policies that have endured since the New Deal. It would not be until the
end of the twentieth century that socialism would see its revival.
Socialism, Sanders, and Scandinavia
In April 2015, Senator Bernie Sander of Vermont announced his candidacy for the
presidency. This was one of the first time that a self-proclaimed socialist ran in one of the two
major political parties. This is a drastic transition from the stigma of the Cold War. This is closely
linked to the proliferation of the Internet. The availability of information has allowed people to
realize that socialism is not the ultimate evil. A large focus of Sanders campaign focuses on
informing voters on what socialism actually is versus what 100 plus years of negative public
opinion has made people believe socialism. The change in socialisms appeal and popularity is
also linked to the success of socialist nations in the industrialized world. Nearly all of the
Scandinavian nations have socialist income tax policy and are repeatedly ranked among the top
nations in the United Nations World Happiness Report. Canada, largely thought of by Americans
as just a second America, has long had socialized health care and has been very successful as a
major, industrialized nation. These positive pressures are exacerbated by capitalisms fall from
grace. The Great Recession, caused by the market crash of 2008, was widely believed to be
caused by corporate greed and capitalism run out of control. This has left people to mistrust

capitalism and turn to socialism as the next reasonable choice. Socialism has become a way to
curb to excesses of capitalism and reign it in.
Socialism, while ever present in American politics, has gone through several changes in
public opinion. From the practices of a few radicals to a threat to the nation at large to a
reasonable option at a polling place, socialism has greatly changed in the eyes of the American
public. As the world continues to become increasingly globalized, and the public becomes more
and more informed, socialism will lose its ever present connection to communism, and may
finally lose the stigma the American people have always put upon it.

Works Cited
Clayton, Joseph. Robert Owen: Pioneer of Social Reforms. London: A.C. Fifield, 1908. Print.
H.R. 291, 65th Cong. (1917) (enacted). Print. The Espionage Act
Sinclair, Upton. The Jungle. Cambridge, MA: R. Bentley, 1971. Print.
Thomas, Norman. 1944. Wikipedia. Web. 30 Nov. 2015.
Wright, Ronald. A Short History of Progress. New York: Carroll & Graf, 2005. Print.