Advoken's Blog

“Call it democracy, or call it democratic socialism, but there must be a better distribution of wealth within this country for all God’s children.” — Martin Luther King, Jr. in speech before Negro American Labor Council, 1961.

Socialism has become a subject of serious discussion in the United States, likely due to the popularity of various Democratic presidential candidates, like Sen. Bernie Sanders who professes to be a “democratic socialist” and others like Sen. Elizabeth Warren whose policies closely mirror those of some form of socialism.

And according to a 2018 poll, 51% of younger people (millennials) view Socialism as a “positive,” showing how popular the once largely ignored political philosophy currently has become, particularly among younger voters.

As we all know, the concept of Socialism has been around for perhaps two centuries; in this country, it reached perhaps the zenith of its popularity in the decades before and after the year 1900.  Nowhere was Socialism more prominent than in Milwaukee, largely due to its connection with the labor movement.

It likely gained a foothold in the aftermath of the Bay View Tragedy of May 5, 1886, in which seven persons involved in eight-hour-day marches spurred by the Knights of Labor and the fledgling American Federation of Labor were killed by state militia.  Socialists were much involved among the workers in those marches and though the quest for the eight-hour-day fizzled after the Tragedy and the Haymarket Affair in Chicago of May 4 that year, it spawned a recognition among workers and their unions that political action offered a more promising course of action for improving the lives of workers.

The enthusiasm for Socialism thrived in the late 19th and early 20th Century, largely among labor activists, young intellectuals and certain immigrant groups.  Its popularity, however, was hardly universal, but it formed a rallying cry for more militant workers who were interested in forming strong unions.

Many working people turned to Eugene V. Debs, who offered the promises of unionism as a way to win better lives for their families.  As head of the National Railway Union, Debs had prompted as nationwide boycott by railway workers in support of the 1894 strike against the Pullman Company in Chicago.  The boycott ended when the Federal government sent in troops to quell disturbances and Debs and other union leaders were found in contempt of court.  Debs was sentenced to serve three to six months in jail.

While in jail, he was visited by Milwaukee Socialist and future Congressman Victor Berger who talked of the principles and Karl Marx.  Upon his release, Debs declared he

was a Socialist and in 1898, Berger and Debs founded the Social Democratic Party which in 1901 became the Socialist Party of America.  Debs went on to become a four-time Socialist candidate for President, garnering peak of nearly one million votes in 1920 — at the same time he was in prison for espionage for having opposed U.S. involvement in World War I.

At the time, Socialism in this nation faced continual opposition by nation’s largely corporate-owned newspapers; during the “red-scare” of post-World War I period, many Socialists were unfairly linked to Russian communists, a comparison that continues into the 21st Century, perpetuated by right-wing politicians and their lackeys in the conservative media; i.e., conservative talk radio, Fox News and bloggers.

Nonetheless, Socialism today has found favor among large pockets of U.S. citizens, principally among younger voters.  Perhaps they’ve realized that Socialism (in most formats) has called for a society where there is economic equality, reasonable regulation against the worst sins of capitalism and greater justice for all citizens.  They’ve realized that many of Socialism’s longterm goals, such as a progressive tax system, Social Security, workplace safety, were preached for more than 120 years by Socialists like Debs, Berger and Norman Thomas.

Yes, Socialism had played is great role in building a fairer and more equitable America, and, in a way, it can be said it all began with the labor unions in Milwaukee.  — Ken Germanson, March 14, 2020