Challenging the Capitalist Order Part 2

1. Bela Ronald And Micah Langerquist Challenging the Capitalist Order Part 2

2. The attraction to Progressivism • The wide range of issues in the late 19th and early 20th century attracted the attention of reformers. • The one issue that overshadowed all of these other issues was the fast growing modern industrial economy of the time. • All of the concerns of the reformers could in some way be traced to the influence of (corrupt) corporate America. • It came as no surprise that the main goal of these progressivists was to reinvent the behavior of the capitalist world.

3. Socialism goes electoral • In the period of the 1900-1914 was the only time in history that in the anti-capitalists received the most support. • During these year The Socialist Party of America grew with considerable strength but not enough to rival the other two major political parties. • In the election of 1900 it attracted considerable supporters. • In 1912 the socialist leader Eugene Debs received almost 1 million ballots. • The supporters camed from urban immigrant communities (Germans and Jews) as well as Protestant farmers in the South and Midwest. • Socialist won 1000 state and local offices votes. • Lincoln Steffens (intellectual), Walter Lippmann (journalist), Florence Kelley, Frances Willard, and other women and crusaders against municipal corruptions were attracted.

4. What to do with society • All socialists agreed that basic structural changes were needed in the economy. • There was a lot of disagreement on the extent of those changes and how to go about changing them. • Some agreed with the radical European Marxists goals while other thought that small enterprises should be protected so they could strive while major industries would be nationalized. • Some believed that the electoral politics should be reformed while other supported a militant direct action.

5. Socialism gets the “Wobblies” • One of the most radical groups was the labor union Industrial Workers of the World that were called the Wobblies. • William (Big Bill) Haywood was the leader and advocated that there should de a union of workers and that the “wage slave” system should be abolished. • They rejected political strikes and favored strikes. • This group is believed to have been responsible for exploding railroad lines and power stations as well as other acts of terror, although their use of violence was exaggerated a lot.

6. The rootless Wobblies • The IWW was one of the few labor organizations that was successful particularly in the West. • A large group of laborers such as miners, timbermen, and others workers found it challenging to creat order and sustainability for the unions. • The Wobblies accomplished a great feet since they not only created a union but also a social network and a home for the rootless laborers.

7. It’s too wobbly we’re going down • A strike by the IWW timber workers in WA and ID basically shutdown production in the industry in 1917. • Gaining them the wrath of the federal government that was mobilizing for war and needed timber for war production. • The IWW leaders were then imprisoned and lways were passed in 1917-1919 that outlawed the labor union. • Honorably the organization survived but not for very long.

8. Oh Socialism… you tried • A force within the Socialist party were the ones who supported peaceful changes through political struggles dominated. • They wanted the public to be educated on wht needed to change and the patience within the system for those change to occur. • The socialists did not support the war efforts and by the end of WWI socialist were met with enormous harrassment and persecution as the people became more antiradicalism. • Socialism stopped being a major force politically.

9. The need for progress • All reformers agreed that the nation’s economy with it’s corporate centralization and consolidation was a threat • Most progressivists were hopeful that they could reform inside of the capitalist system. • Instead of nationalizing industries they hoped to restore the economy to a more human scale. • They did argue that the federal government should disperse the largest combinations and emphasize balance between bigness and competition.

10. Brandeis shares his opinions • This was especially supported by the lawyer and later supreme court justice Louis D. Brandeis who expressed his opinions on the “curse of bigness”. • Brandeis and his supporters felt that bigness was not efficient, but their opposition had a moral aspect too. • Bigness was a threat to freedom. • Limited ability for individual to control their destiny • Encouraged abuse of power. • He insisted that the gorvernment regulate that large combinations did not emerge.

11. Progressivism turns to nationalist ideals • To most reformers the most important thing was efficiency and they believed economic concentration encouraged. • They argued the government should guard against power abuse by large institutions. • Distinguish between good and bad trusts and encouraging the good and unencouraging the bad. • A strong modern government was essential to continue regulating the economic consolidation since it was clear it would be a permanent feature in American society. • Herbert Croly was the most influential spokesmen for this emerging “nationalist” view point.

12. Progressivism falls closer to conclusion • The attention of the reformers focused on some form of coordination of the industrial economy. • Some though that businesses should learn new ways of cooperation and self-regulation. • To others regulating and planning economic life should be the job of the government. • Theodore Roosevelt became the most powerful symbol in the reform on a notional level, he said, “We should enter upon a course of supervision, control, and regulation of those great corporations – a regulation which we should not fear , if necessary, to bring to the point of control of monopoly prices.”