"They Are All Red out Here": Socialist Politics in the Pacific Northwest, 1895-1925 by Jeffrey A. Johnson

Abstract

importer after World War IL In sharp contrast is theCalifornia/western radicalism ofwriter and activistCarey McWilliams as analyzed by Michael Steiner.To throw in another dimen sion of Southern California's complex politics, Darren Dochuk explores the importance of evangelical religion, as spread by ex-southern "hillbilly preachers" and "cowboy preachers," in supporting the rise of conservative politics among recent migrants from the mid South to Los Angeles. It is worth theprice of admission to learn thatBillyGraham firstgained national attention as a tent evangelist in Los Angeles in 1949with sermons like"Amos theHillbilly Preacher" (a reasonably accurate characteriza tion of theBiblical prophet). A topic of itsown is theway thathip capi talism found fertilesoil in the West. Amy Scott explores the transformation of Boulder into a pioneer of socially conscious consumerism (including tea company Celestial Seasonings) and self-consciously green politics via the transitional stageofhippie lifestyle radicalism. Drawing fromhis researchon TheWhole Earth Catalog,Andrew Kirk tellsa parallel storyunder the title "FreeMinds and FreeMarkets." The environmental radicalism ofbooks like Ecotopia and TheMonkey Wrench Gang turnsout tohave much incommon with cyberfrontier geeks and right-leaning libertarians (reminding us that JohnPerryBarlow, a one-time writer of lyrics forthe GratefulDead, also campaigned for Dick Cheney). There are, it seems, lots of techno philes in thegreen ranks ? but only advocates of "appropriate" technologies, of course. This section concludes with John Herron's musings on the implications of cell phones in thewil derness and David Wrobel's historical contex tualizing of the anti-California prejudice that is shared sowidely outside theGolden State. Raising thequestion ofwho has appropriated the identityof "pioneer" at differentpoints in thewestern past, he reminds us that Illinoisan Ronald Reagan was part of a long tradition of new westerners claiming authentic westernness for themselves. Many readers of OHQ will have personal recollections or opinions about the recenthis torycovered in theessays.They will remember thefirsttime theybrewed some Celestial Sea sonings tea,heard about Puget Sound fish-ins, or saw a "Dont Californicate Oregon" sticker on a bumper. The valuable contribution of the essays is to take thehistorian sbackward step and put current events into the framework of social and intellectual change. As politicians wonder which western stateswill go "blue" and which "red" in 2012, reflective readers can use thisbook tohelp think about the cultural values and changes thatwill underlie election day decisions. Carl Abbott Portland State University 'THEYAREALLREDOUT HERE": SOCIALISTPOLITICS IN THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST,1895-1925 byJeffrey A. Johnson University ofOklahoma Press, Norman, 2008. Photographs, notes, bibliography, index. 240 pages. $34.95 cloth. At a time when socialism seems to have re entered our vocabulary as an ideological punching bag, it is refreshing towelcome a new history that recallswhen actual socialism was offered to Americans as a serious electoral alternative to capitalism. Augustana College (South Dakota) history professor Jeffrey A. Johnson s interest inOregon's Socialist Party history goes back at least to a 1976Oregonian articlewrittenwhile hewas a graduate student at theUniversity ofOregon. He has now devel oped his doctoral dissertation at Washington StateUniversity intoa broader consideration of theDebsian Socialist Party (SP) in thePacific Northwest. "They Are All Red Out Here" are the per haps over-enthusiastic words of a Montana 306 OHQ vol. no, no. 2 socialist's report to the International Socialist Review in 1913.The high-water mark of the SP's success in the region was reached around that time, when voters elected dozens of party candidates to public office inWashington, Oregon, Idaho, and Montana. When SP presidential candidate Eugene Victor Debs arrived inPortland in September 1915on the "Red Special," his campaign train, he was escorted fromUnion Station to the Exposition Building (near today's PGE Park) by largecrowds ledby the"Red Special Band." The Oregonian reported on September 15, 1908, that the 10,000who showed tohear him "excoriate the Republicans and Democrats as the instrument of the capitalist class" were impressed: "The demonstration thatattended Mr. Debs' appearance was remarkable. The instantthe socialist leader entered thehall, the signalwas given and theband startedup a lively air.Simultaneously theentireaudience arose as oneman andwith shouts thatshook therafters of thebuilding greeted theirchief." Such eye-witness accounts may be more persuasive in capturing the political atmo sphere of the SP's heyday in the region than are...