Socialist Mayors in the United States

Description

The United States is known as a country that has been highly antagonistic to Socialism of any form. Socialists in the United States have tended to be political outsiders, mounting criticisms of the government without serving in elected office themselves. However, from around 1900 to 1920, Socialist politicians in the United States were prominent and active at the municipal level, holding office as government insiders. Socialist mayors in over two hundred small cities across the United States brought meaningful improvements in the quality of life for people in their communities, playing an important role in this period’s municipal reform movement. Despite the limitations of being associated with a minority party—particularly a party that divided over whether to pursue elected office in the United States—these mayors pushed for reforms, challenged the status quo, and held their own in demonstrating the ability to govern.
Socialist Mayors in the United States is the first comprehensive study of nationwide Socialist activity at the municipal level during the Progressive Era. It is a unique study of the Socialist mayors in this period: their election, how they approached their job, and what they accomplished. Berman offers a fresh look at the nature of the Socialist Party by focusing on its municipal program, interaction with non-Socialist municipal reformers, local political operations, and the tensions within the party as it delved into political action on this level. Socialist Mayors in the United States is an illumination of seldom-explored political and governmental characteristics of medium and small towns, often very small towns, where Socialists enjoyed most of their successes. Preface
Introduction: Going from Outsider to Insider
1. The Party Framework
2. Municipal Reform: Where the Socialists Fitted In
3. The Socialist Municipal Program
4. Socialist Mayors: The Rising and Falling Tide
5. Getting There, Staying There
6. Coming In, Progress, and Problems
7. Being Mayor: Limitations, Opportunities, and Roles
8. Managing, Budgeting, Cleaning Up the Town
9. The Working Class, Labor, and Business
Conclusion
Appendix 1: Biographies of Featured Mayors
Appendix 2: Municipalities with Social Administration, 1898-1920
Notes
Bibliography
Index “In Socialist Mayors in the United States: Governing in an Era of Municipal Reform, 1900-1920, David R. Berman places these mayors in a larger context of progressive governmental reform that focused on chief executives as change agents who could provide more efficient, honest, and trustworthy administrations. His study covers the entire process of running for election, the coalitions that brought socialist mayors to victory, and a thorough analysis of their governing abilities along with the challenges they faced in being able to live up to their goals as socialists when in office. Berman’s book is a much-needed study of US democratic Socialism at the grassroots level that clearly demonstrates that Socialism was not a foreign import but a truly American political movement.”—Greg Hall, author of Writing Labor’s Emancipation: The Anarchist Life and Times of Jay Fox “For far too long scholars and readers have been without a volume that traces on-the-ground municipal Socialism during its Progressive Era high point. David Berman has carefully chronicled the country’s Socialist mayors during this important radical period. Those interested in the history of the US Left broadly and American Socialism specifically will no doubt be grateful to have Berman’s excellent and sweeping volume at hand.”—Jeffrey Johnson, author of “They Are All Red Out Here”: Socialist Politics in the Pacific Northwest, 1895-1925 and The 1916 Preparedness Day Bombing: Anarchy and Terrorism in Progressive Era America “David R. Berman’s fascinating new book directs our attention to Socialists in small-town and small-city America, showing us how they positioned themselves both as ardent critics of capitalism and as people ready to tackle the everyday problems of their communities. We learn about Socialist politics and ideological debates in this deeply researched book, but also about the relationship between Socialism and left-progressive reform as well as how parties and local and municipal government worked. Political historians and scholars of radical politics will find this a valuable study.”—Paula Baker, author of Curbing Campaign Cash: Henry Ford, Truman Newberry, and the Politics of Progressive Reform

Additional information