Randolph Silliman Bourne (; May 30, 1886 – December 22, 1918) was a progressive writer and intellectual born in

Bloomfield, New Jersey Bloomfield is a township in Essex County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2020 United States Census, the township's population was 53,105. It surrounds the Bloomfield Green Historic District. History The initial patent for the land that w ...

, and a graduate of

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

. He is considered to be a spokesman for the young radicals living during

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

. His articles appeared in journals including ''

The Seven Arts ''The Seven Arts'', an early example of the Little Magazine, was edited by James Oppenheim, Waldo Frank, and Van Wyck Brooks; it appeared monthly from November 1916 through October 1917. Jointly envisaged by Oppenheim and Frank, ''The Seven Art ...

'' and ''

The New Republic ''The New Republic'' is an American magazine of commentary on politics, contemporary culture, and the arts. Founded in 1914 by several leaders of the progressive movement, it attempted to find a balance between "a liberalism centered in hu ...

''. Bourne is best known for his essays, especially his unfinished work "The State," discovered after he died. From this essay (which was published posthumously and included in ''Untimely Papers'') comes the phrase "war is the health of the state" which laments the success of governments in arrogating authority and resources during conflicts.

Life and works

Bourne's face was deformed at birth by misused forceps and the umbilical cord was coiled round his left ear, leaving it permanently damaged and misshapen. At age four, he suffered tuberculosis of the spine, resulting in stunted growth and a hunched back. He chronicled his experiences in his essay titled, "The Handicapped - by one of them", considered a foundational work in disability studies. At age 23, he won a scholarship to study at Columbia University, from which he graduated in 1912 with a Bachelor of Arts degree and a

Master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is an academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice.

in 1913. He was a journalist and editor of the Columbia Monthly, and he was also a contributor to the weekly ''

'' since it was first launched in 1914, but after America entered the war, the magazine found his pacifist views incompatible. From 1913 to 1914, he studied in Europe on a Columbia Fellowship.

divided American progressives and pitted an anti-war faction—including Bourne and

Jane Addams Laura Jane Addams (September 6, 1860 May 21, 1935) was an American Settlement movement, settlement activist, Social reform, reformer, social worker, sociologist, public administrator, and author. She was an important leader in the history of s ...

—against a pro-war faction led by pragmatist philosopher and educational theorist

John Dewey John Dewey (; October 20, 1859 – June 1, 1952) was an American philosopher, psychologist, and educational reformer whose ideas have been influential in education and social reform. He was one of the most prominent American scholars in the fi ...

. Bourne was a student of Dewey's at

Columbia Columbia may refer to: * Columbia (personification), the historical female national personification of the United States, and a poetic name for America Places North America Natural features * Columbia Plateau, a geologic and geographic region i ...

, but he rejected Dewey's idea of using the war to spread democracy. (He was a member of the

Boar's Head Society The Boar's Head Society (1910 – 1970s) was a student ''conversazione society'' devoted to poetry at Columbia University. It was an "adjunct to Columbia College's Philolexian Society... The purpose of their new society was entirely creative: ...

. ) In his pointedly titled 1917 essay " Twilight of Idols", he invoked the progressive

pragmatism Pragmatism is a philosophical tradition that considers words and thought as tools and instruments for prediction, problem solving, and action, and rejects the idea that the function of thought is to describe, represent, or mirror reality. ...

of Dewey's contemporary

William James William James (January 11, 1842 – August 26, 1910) was an American philosopher, historian, and psychologist, and the first educator to offer a psychology course in the United States. James is considered to be a leading thinker of the lat ...

to argue that America was using democracy as an end to justify the war, but that democracy itself was never examined. Although initially following Dewey, he felt that Dewey had betrayed his democratic ideals by focusing only on the facade of a democratic government rather than on the ideas behind democracy that Dewey had once professed to respect. Bourne was greatly influenced by Horace Kallen's 1915 essay, "Democracy Versus the Melting-Pot". Like Kallen, Bourne argued that Americanism ought not to be associated with Anglo-Saxonism. In his 1916 article "Trans-National America," Bourne argued that the United States should accommodate immigrant cultures into a "cosmopolitan America," instead of forcing immigrants to assimilate to the dominant Anglo-Saxon-based culture. Bourne was an enthusiast for

Jean-Jacques Rousseau Jean-Jacques Rousseau (, ; 28 June 1712 – 2 July 1778) was a Genevan philosopher, writer, and composer. His political philosophy influenced the progress of the Age of Enlightenment throughout Europe, as well as aspects of the French Revolu ...

's belief in the necessity of a

general will In political philosophy, the general will (french: volonté générale) is the will of the people as a whole. The term was made famous by 18th-century Genevan philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau. Basic ideas The phrase "general will", as Rousseau ...

. Bourne once exclaimed, Bourne died in the

Spanish flu The 1918–1920 influenza pandemic, commonly known by the misnomer Spanish flu or as the Great Influenza epidemic, was an exceptionally deadly global influenza pandemic caused by the H1N1 influenza A virus. The earliest documented case wa ...

pandemic after the war, in 1918.

John Dos Passos John Roderigo Dos Passos (; January 14, 1896 – September 28, 1970) was an American novelist, most notable for his ''U.S.A.'' trilogy. Born in Chicago, Dos Passos graduated from Harvard College in 1916. He traveled widely as a young man, visit ...

, an influential American

modernist Modernism is both a philosophy, philosophical and arts movement that arose from broad transformations in Western world, Western society during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The movement reflected a desire for the creation of new fo ...

writer, eulogized Bourne in the chapter "Randolph Bourne" of his novel ''

1919 Events January * January 1 ** The Czechoslovak Legions occupy much of the self-proclaimed "free city" of Pressburg (now Bratislava), enforcing its incorporation into the new republic of Czechoslovakia. ** HMY ''Iolaire'' sinks off the ...

'' and drew heavily on the ideas presented in ''War Is The Health of the State'' in the novel.

"Trans-National America"

In this article, Bourne rejects the melting-pot theory and does not see immigrants assimilating easily to another culture.Lasch, Hansen. (1977). ''The Radical Will: Selected Writing of Randolph Bourne''. New York: Urizen Books. Bourne's view of nationality was related to the connection between a person and their “spiritual country,”Filler, L. "Randolph Bourne". American Council on public Affairs: Washington D.C. that is, their culture. He argued that people would most often hold tightly to the literature and culture of their native country even if they lived in another. He also believed this was true for the many immigrants to the United States. Therefore, Bourne could not see immigrants from all different parts of the world assimilating to the Anglo-Saxon traditions, which were viewed as American traditions. This article goes on to say that America offers a unique liberty of opportunity and can still offer traditional isolation, which he felt could lead to a cosmopolitan enterprise. He felt that with this great mix of cultures and people, America would be able to grow into a trans-national nation, which would have interconnecting cultural fibers with other countries. Bourne felt America would grow more as a country by broadening people's views to include immigrants' ways instead of conforming everyone to the melting-pot ideal. This broadening of people's views would eventually lead to a nation where all who live in it are united, which would inevitably pull the country towards greatness. This article and most of the ideas in it were influenced by World War I, during which the article was written.

Published Books

*''Youth and Life''. 1913. Houghton Mifflin Company. Essays. *''The Gary Schools''. 1916. Riverside Press. Detailed overview of the progressive schools in Gary, Indiana. *''Untimely Papers''. 1919. Posthumous essays mostly about WW1. Contains the unfinished essay on the State. ("''War is the Health of the State''"). B. W. Huebsch.

External links

Works by Randolph S. Bourne
at Project Gutenberg.
Bourne's obituary
from ''The New Republic'' (1919-01-04), by Floyd Dell
Works by Randolph Bourne
at the Fair Use Repository

includes links to writings by and about Bourne

from the Anarchist Encyclopedia

by Christopher Phelps
Randolph Silliman Bourne Papers
at the Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Columbia University, New York, NY * * ;Online Essays (see also the essay collections at Project Gutenberg).
"Law and Order"
from ''Masses'' (March 1912).
"From an Older Time"
''The Dial'', Vol. LXV, June/December, 1918.
"The Price of Radicalism"
from ''The New Republic'' (March 11, 1916). 161.
"A Mirror of the Middle West"
''The Dial'', November 1918.

from ''Atlantic Monthly'', 118 (July 1916), 86–97.
"The Relegation of God"
''The Dial'', September 1918.
"What is Exploitation?"
from ''The New Republic'' (November 4, 1916). 12–14.
"Mr. Bennett is Disturbed"
''The Dial'', July 1918.
"The War and the Intellectuals"
from ''Seven Arts'' II, June 1917. 133–46.
"The Light Essay"
''The Dial'', November 1918.
"Below the Battle"
from ''Seven Arts'' II, July 1917. 270–77.
"A War Diary"
from ''Seven Arts'' II, September 1917. 535–47.
"H. L. Mencken"
from ''The New Republic'' (November 24, 1917). 102–103.
"An Examination of Eminences"
''The Dial'', December 1918.
"Columbia Students Pity Workers"
from the ''New York Times'' (February 26, 1913). Article at bottom of PDF. * "College Life To-day", ''The North American Review'', September 1912.

References

* * * * * * * * * *

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bourne, Randolph American male essayists Columbia College (New York) alumni People from Bloomfield, New Jersey 1886 births 1918 deaths Deaths from the Spanish flu pandemic in New York (state) American anti–World War I activists 20th-century American essayists 20th-century American male writers Progressive Era in the United States Columbia Graduate School of Arts and Sciences alumni