Notes

Ian K. Patten
Sociology of Social Movements
Brett Nava-coulter
1 December 2015
Rough Outline: Socialism, Then and Now
Introduction
Hook: Sentence about American hostility to socialism versus the richness of American socialist thought and tradition
Background: Brief history of socialism in America, from utopianism to Marxism to first & second Red Scare, the New Left, neoliberalism, and today’s revivalism
Thesis: Listing specific changes in the economic and political base (context) of socialism, as Marx would know, that have changed the repertoire and framing etc of the movement from its heyday in the early 1900s to its small revival now
Historical context of both movements
The “heyday of American communism”
Industrial revolution & proletarianization - followed by large-scale unionization, still farm workers as well
Example strikes: Ludlow miners strike (National Guard called in), Haymarket Riot, Eugene Debs’ and IWW’s campaigns
Trade unions: Knights of Labor, AFL grow large and powerful in politics
New Deal allows for unionization, taking some power from radicals
Great disasters: World War I & II, 1918 influenza, Great Depression, as well as great prosperity and growth in “roaring twenties”
Political ideology: traditional Marxism (“scientific socialism”) - move from German immigrants to American consciousness (leaders like Big Bill, Eugene Debs)
World War I, First Red Scare, and Russian revolution of 1917 — Lenin puts the revolution in Marxist ideology, vs. reform — movement is hugely optimistic, Marxism-Leninism joins American radical tradition (CPUSA’s huge membership and leading role in movement until WWII, 60k by 1919 and 40k more in SPUSA along with hundreds of thousands across other radical orgs)
The times of modern socialism
Globalization
Collapse of traditional socialist regimes, end of Cold War and public forgetting Red Scare and McCarthyism
Neo-liberal backlash in institutions from government to trade unions
Weakening of industrial working class by loss of manufacturing, growth of information technology and overseas production ( = growth of “middle class”)— following in footsteps of the New Left, giving up “Old Left” and labor-based socialism
Economic uncertainty — Great Recession
What did this mean for repertoire & organization of the movement, then and now?
Then — general attitude is militant due to large radical orgs, unions and labor movement, industrialization and collective work, USSR, economic prosperity & disaster Repertoire heavily labor-based: strikes, general strikes, shop-floor organizing, solidarity songs, pickets, mass meetings
Organization focused on unions, parties in politics based in unions
Now — general attitude is resistant to militancy, need for shifting Overton window, need for reformative change due to loss of industrial working class, strength of capitalism and capitalist ideology, and weak labor movement, but hope with collapse of Soviet-style socialism
Repertoire expands to single-issue tactics: marches, education activities. Petitioning, calling, mailing like NGOs. Loss of mass unionization, strikes, etc. Labor struggles operate in local government and through symbolic protest, less militant about striking/blocking production (changing with fast food workers & SA’s $15 campaign?)
Soft leftism: “Popular Front”-type organizing around civil rights, left parties (ex. organizing for Sanders), smaller issues than the fight against capital — attempts to shift American political landscape to left for room to grow
Organization: revival of local politics and party structure, unions weak and unable to spread message, remaining large unions have lost militancy
Anarchism and affinity groups popularized in anti-global, anti-corporate, anti-nuclear struggles of 90s
Trending towards a return to state and politics — Kshama Sawant and Socialist Alternative
Factionalism — no large party a la CPUSA as voice of movement
What did this mean for framing for public, then and now?
Then — working class supportive of unionism, need to push for militancy
Fiery speeches, serious calls for general strikes, Russian revolution gives optimism
Old Left included more technical Marxism; class was spoken of as proletariat and bourgeois rather than “middle class” or “99%” to appeal to population
Now - Reframing of socialism due to its checkered past, populism is appeal to middle class rather than working class
Done partially by right especially during Obama administration — does this have something to do with Millennial support for “socialism” (social democracy)?
Rhetoric of equality, democracy, anti-corporate, 99% (OWS) vs. technical terms
Coalition building with environmental movements (Climate March), anti-war (ANSWER), Black Lives Matter, etc = “Popular Front” #2
Need to seem less, rather than more, radical
Conclusion
Restatement of argument: Decline of working class changed face of socialism, but decline of economy and collapse of USSR & Cold War are leading to a revival among Millennials and in public mind (after Obama election & now Sanders — despite not being socialists)
Summary of main points: unionization & Russian revolution in past led to more militant ideology, vs. our postmodern ideologies and politics of identity vs labor (class divide is blurred, weakened class politics) — affects repertoire, framing, main players, etc
What does this mean for socialism’s future?
Capital’s need to continue expanding — environmental effects, economic recession never ended, effects on working population, is it possible to grow at compound 3% forever?
Are American politics swinging back to the left? Will socialism regain a small place in public thought, or even become a viable third party in distant future (Millennials) w/democratic & reformist rhetoric, leaving its past behind? Will revolutions abroad (India, Nepal) bring back Marxist thought, or will it leak from academics back into the street?
Is socialism possible in America? Some academics think socialism is against American mythology & will have to fight hard for a place at the political table (plus America’s strong two-party system). Or is it weakness of socialist leaders combined with strong capitalist state and intense propaganda activity (red squads post-Haymarket Riot, WWI repression and jailing/deporting leaders, repression of unions and strikes, Vietnam and Cold War, Red Scares, McCarthyism/purging and Un-American Activities, COINTELPRO, current “War on Terror” becoming war on radical left)
Small hopes to grab onto in the fight for a better tomorrow