A Neglected Document on Socialism and Sex

Abstract

THE FOLLOWING DOCUMENT, Socialism and Sex, was long forgotten until this rediscovery.' In it, H. L. Small-most likely a pseudonym-provides an elegant, if concise, exposition on behalf of destigmatizing consensual sexuality between same-sex lovers. Issued in 1952, Socialism and Sex was written at a moment when few in the United States imagined, let alone expressed, so bold a philosophy of sexual liberation or so explicit a political program in favor of decriminalizing sexual acts between consenting adults of the same sex. Therefore, it provides fresh evidence supplementing recent understandings that a homophile or homosexual rights consciousness was tentatively emerging within that severely repressive context. The important developments of the 1950s cataloged by scholars include the Mattachine Society (formed in 1951), ONE magazine (first issued in 1953), the Daughters of Bilitis (launched in 1955), and literary manifestations such as Allen Ginsberg's poem Howl (1956) and