American Socialism's Flood and Ebb: The Rise and Decline of the Socialist Party in America, 1901–1912*

Abstract

BETWEEN 1901, WHEN the new Socialist Party was established in the United States, and 1912, the tide of socialism seemed to be reaching a swell here and in Europe, and many were predicting that in a short time all industrial nations would be engulfed. From very meager beginnings, the American party grew into an organization with 150,000 affiliated members and with a voting strength of nearly one million. In 1910 Victor Berger became the first socialist ever to win election to Congress, and by 1912, socialists held 56 important city offices, including the mayoralties of Milwaukee, Wisconsin; Butte, Montana; Schenectady, New York; and Berkeley, California. Socialists held 1,039 offices in more than 300 municipalities.' Yet almost in a matter of months this spectacular advance was halted and the Socialist Party was in ruins. Although the successes and failures of the socialist parties have been treated before, the rapid rise and decline of the Socialist Party from 1901-12 remains a major historical mystery. Recently this subject has reappeared in the literature of the social sciences. In Volume III of his A History of Socialist Thought, G.D.H. Cole states, Evidently it is of the greatest importance to discover why these things happened-both why American Socialism appeared to be making such swift headway during the early years of the present century, and why it suffered eclipse.2 This article will have the following objectives: (1) to survey briefly the growth of socialism in America; (2) to present and analyze the Marxian position on the role of the socialists, and (3) to discuss the institutional and economic factors retarding the growth of socialist parties in the United States.