Social democracy in the United States
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The American Left consists of individuals and groups that have sought egalitarian changes in the economic, political and cultural institutions of the United States. Various subgroups with a national scope are active. Liberals and
progressives Progressivism holds that it is possible to improve human societies through political action. As a political movement, progressivism seeks to advance the human condition through social reform based on purported advancements in science, techno ...
believe that equality can be accommodated into existing capitalist structures, but they differ in their criticism of capitalism and on the extent of reform and the welfare state. Anarchists, communists, and socialists with international imperatives are also present within this macro-movement. Many communes and egalitarian communities have existed in the United States as a sub-category of the broader
intentional community An intentional community is a voluntary residential community which is designed to have a high degree of social cohesion and teamwork from the start. The members of an intentional community typically hold a common social, political, religious, ...
movement, some of which were based on utopian socialist ideals. The left has been involved in both
Democratic Democrat, Democrats, or Democratic may refer to: Politics *A proponent of democracy, or democratic government; a form of government involving rule by the people. *A member of a Democratic Party: **Democratic Party (United States) (D) **Democratic ...
and Republican parties at different times, having originated in the Democratic-Republican Party as opposed to the
Federalist Party The Federalist Party was a Conservatism in the United States, conservative political party which was the first political party in the United States. As such, under Alexander Hamilton, it dominated the national government from 1789 to 1801. De ...
. Although left-wing politics came to the United States in the 19th century, there are no major left-wing political parties in the United States. Despite existing left-wing factions within the
Democratic Party Democratic Party most often refers to: *Democratic Party (United States) Democratic Party and similar terms may also refer to: Active parties Africa *Botswana Democratic Party *Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea *Gabonese Democratic Party *Demo ...
, as well as minor third parties such as the
Green Party A green party is a formally organized political party based on the principles of green politics, such as social justice, environmentalism and nonviolence. Greens believe that these issues are inherently related to one another as a foundation ...
, Communist Party, Party for Socialism and Liberation, Workers World Party, Socialist Party, and American Solidarity Party (a
Christian democratic Christian democracy (sometimes named Centrist democracy) is a political ideology that emerged in 19th-century Europe under the influence of Catholic social teaching and neo-Calvinism. It was conceived as a combination of modern democratic ...
party leaning left on economics), none of the parties have ever won a seat in congress. Academic scholars have long studied the reasons why no viable socialist parties have emerged in the United States. Some writers ascribe this to the failures of socialist organization and leadership, some to the incompatibility of socialism and
American values American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...
and others to the limitations imposed by the
United States Constitution The Constitution of the United States is the Supremacy Clause, supreme law of the United States, United States of America. It superseded the Articles of Confederation, the nation's first constitution, in 1789. Originally comprising seven ar ...
. Vladimir Lenin and Leon Trotsky were particularly concerned because it challenged
orthodox Marxist Orthodox Marxism is the body of Marxist thought that emerged after the death of Karl Marx (1818–1883) and which became the official philosophy of the majority of the socialist movement as represented in the Second International until the Firs ...
beliefs that the most advanced industrial country would provide a model for the future of less developed nations. If socialism represented the future, then it should be strongest in the United States. While branches of the
Working Men's Party : ''For other organizations with a similar name, see Workingmen's Party (disambiguation).'' The Working Men's Party in New York was a political party founded in April 1829 in New York City. After a promising debut in the fall election of 1829, ...
were founded in the 1820s and 1830s in the United States, they advocated land reform,
universal education Universal access to education is the ability of all people to have equal opportunity in education, regardless of their social class, race, gender, sexuality, ethnic background or physical and mental disabilities. The term is used both in colleg ...
and improved working conditions in the form of
labor rights Labor rights or workers' rights are both legal rights and human rights relating to labor relations between workers and employers. These rights are codified in national and international labor and employment law. In general, these rights influen ...
, not collective ownership, disappearing after their goals were taken up by Jacksonian democracy. Samuel Gompers, the leader of the
American Federation of Labor The American Federation of Labor (A.F. of L.) was a national federation of labor unions in the United States that continues today as the AFL-CIO. It was founded in Columbus, Ohio, in 1886 by an alliance of craft unions eager to provide mutu ...
, thought that workers must rely on themselves because any rights provided by government could be revoked. Economic unrest in the 1890s was represented by
populism Populism refers to a range of political stances that emphasize the idea of "the people" and often juxtapose this group against " the elite". It is frequently associated with anti-establishment and anti-political sentiment. The term developed ...
and the People's Party. Although using
anti-capitalist Anti-capitalism is a political ideology and Political movement, movement encompassing a variety of attitudes and ideas that oppose capitalism. In this sense, anti-capitalists are those who wish to replace capitalism with another type of economi ...
rhetoric, it represented the views of small farmers who wanted to protect their own
private property Private property is a legal designation for the ownership of property by non-governmental legal entities. Private property is distinguishable from public property and personal property, which is owned by a state entity, and from collective or ...
, not a call for communism, collectivism, or socialism. Progressives in the early 20th century criticized the way capitalism had developed but were essentially middle class and reformist; however, both populism and progressivism steered some people to left-wing politics and many popular writers of the progressive period were left-wing. Even the
New Left The New Left was a broad political movement mainly in the 1960s and 1970s consisting of activists in the Western world who campaigned for a broad range of social issues such as civil and political rights, environmentalism, feminism, gay rights, g ...
relied on radical democratic traditions rather than left-wing ideology. Friedrich Engels thought that the lack of a feudal past was the reason for the American working class holding
middle-class The middle class refers to a class of people in the middle of a social hierarchy, often defined by occupation, income, education, or social status. The term has historically been associated with modernity, capitalism and political debate. Comm ...
values. Writing at a time when American industry was developing quickly towards the mass-production system known as Fordism,
Max Weber Maximilian Karl Emil Weber (; ; 21 April 186414 June 1920) was a German sociologist, historian, jurist and political economist, who is regarded as among the most important theorists of the development of modern Western society. His ideas profo ...
and
Antonio Gramsci Antonio Francesco Gramsci ( , , ; 22 January 1891 – 27 April 1937) was an Italian Marxist philosopher, journalist, linguist, writer, and politician. He wrote on philosophy, political theory, sociology, history, and linguistics. He was a ...
saw individualism and '' laissez-faire'' liberalism as core shared American beliefs. According to the historian David De Leon, American radicalism was rooted in
libertarianism Libertarianism (from french: libertaire, "libertarian"; from la, libertas, "freedom") is a political philosophy that upholds liberty as a core value. Libertarians seek to maximize autonomy and political freedom, and minimize the state's en ...
and syndicalism rather than communism,
Fabianism The Fabian Society is a British socialist organisation whose purpose is to advance the principles of social democracy and democratic socialism via gradualist and reformist effort in democracies, rather than by revolutionary overthrow. The Fab ...
and social democracy, being opposed to
centralized Centralisation or centralization (see spelling differences) is the process by which the activities of an organisation, particularly those regarding planning and decision-making, framing strategy and policies become concentrated within a particu ...
power and collectivism. The character of the
American political system The politics of the United States function within a framework of a constitutional federal republic and presidential system, with three distinct branches that share powers. These are: the U.S. Congress which forms the legislative branch, a b ...
is hostile toward third parties and has also been presented as a reason for the absence of a strong socialist party in the United States.
Political repression Political repression is the act of a state entity controlling a citizenry by force for political reasons, particularly for the purpose of restricting or preventing the citizenry's ability to take part in the political life of a society, thereb ...
has also contributed to the weakness of the left in the United States. Many cities had
Red Squad In the United States, Red Squads were police intelligence units that specialized in infiltrating, conducting counter-measures and gathering intelligence on political and social groups during the 20th century. Dating as far back as the Haymarket R ...
s to monitor and disrupt leftist groups in response to labor unrest such as the Haymarket Riot. During World War II, the Smith Act made membership in revolutionary groups illegal. After the war, Senator
Joseph McCarthy Joseph Raymond McCarthy (November 14, 1908 – May 2, 1957) was an American politician who served as a Republican U.S. Senator from the state of Wisconsin from 1947 until his death in 1957. Beginning in 1950, McCarthy became the most visi ...
used the Smith Act to launch a crusade (
McCarthyism McCarthyism is the practice of making false or unfounded accusations of subversion and treason, especially when related to anarchism, communism and socialism, and especially when done in a public and attention-grabbing manner. The term origin ...
) to purge alleged communists from government and the media. In the 1960s, the FBI's COINTELPRO program monitored, infiltrated, disrupted and discredited radical groups in the United States. In 2008, Maryland police were revealed to have added the names and personal information of anti-war protesters and death penalty opponents to a database which was intended to be used for tracking terrorists. Terry Turchie, a former deputy assistant director of the FBI's Counter-terrorism Division, admitted that "one of the missions of the FBI in its counterintelligence efforts was to try to keep these people (progressives and self-described socialists) out of office."


History


Origins and developments (~1600s–1900s)

Many indigenous tribes in North America practiced what Marxists would later call primitive communism, meaning they practiced economic cooperation among the members of their tribes. The first European socialists to arrive in North America were a Christian sect known as
Labadists The Labadists were a 17th-century Protestant religious community movement founded by Jean de Labadie (1610–1674), a French pietist. The movement derived its name from that of its founder. Jean de Labadie's life Jean de Labadie (1610–1674) ...
, who founded the commune of Bohemia Manor in 1683, about west of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Their communal way of life was based on the communal practices of the apostles and early Christians. The first secular American socialists were German
Marxist Marxism is a Left-wing politics, left-wing to Far-left politics, far-left method of socioeconomic analysis that uses a Materialism, materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to understand S ...
immigrants who arrived following the Revolutions of 1848, also known as Forty-Eighters.Draper, pp. 11–12. Joseph Weydemeyer, a German colleague of Karl Marx who sought refuge in New York in 1851 following the 1848 revolutions, established the first Marxist journal in the U.S., called ''Die Revolution'', but It folded after two issues. In 1852 he established the ''Proletarierbund'', which would become the American Workers' League, the first Marxist organization in the U.S., but it too was short-lived, having failed to attract a native English-speaking membership. In 1866, William H. Sylvis formed the
National Labor Union The National Labor Union (NLU) is the first national labor federation in the United States. Founded in 1866 and dissolved in 1873, it paved the way for other organizations, such as the Knights of Labor and the AFL (American Federation of Labor). ...
(NLU). Frederich Albert Sorge, a German who had found refuge in New York following the 1848 revolutions, took Local No. 5 of the NLU into the First International as Section One in the U.S. By 1872, there were 22 sections, which were able to hold a convention in New York. The General Council of the International moved to New York with Sorge as General Secretary, but following internal conflict, it dissolved in 1876.Coleman, pp. 15–17 A larger wave of German immigrants followed in the 1870s and 1880s, which included social democratic followers of
Ferdinand Lassalle Ferdinand Lassalle (; 11 April 1825 – 31 August 1864) was a Prussian-German jurist, philosopher, socialist and political activist best remembered as the initiator of the social democratic movement in Germany. "Lassalle was the first man in Ger ...
. Lasalle believed that state aid through political action was the road to revolution and was opposed to trade unionism which he saw as futile, believing that according to the iron law of wages employers would only pay subsistence wages. The Lassalleans formed the Social Democratic Party of North America in 1874 and both Marxists and Lassalleans formed the
Workingmen's Party of the United States The Workingmen's Party of the United States (WPUS), established in 1876, was one of the first Marxist-influenced political parties in the United States. It is remembered as the forerunner of the Socialist Labor Party of America. Organizational h ...
in 1876. When the Lassalleans gained control in 1877, they changed the name to the Socialist Labor Party of North America (SLP). However, many socialists abandoned political action altogether and moved to trade unionism. Two former socialists,
Adolph Strasser Adolph Strasser (1843-1939), born in the Austro-Hungarian empire, was an American trade union organizer. Strasser is best remembered as a founder of the United Cigarmakers Union and the American Federation of Labor (AF of L). Strasser was additiona ...
and Samuel Gompers, formed the
American Federation of Labor The American Federation of Labor (A.F. of L.) was a national federation of labor unions in the United States that continues today as the AFL-CIO. It was founded in Columbus, Ohio, in 1886 by an alliance of craft unions eager to provide mutu ...
(AFL) in 1886. Anarchists split from the Socialist Labor Party to form the Revolutionary Socialist Party in 1881. By 1885 they had 7,000 members, double the membership of the SLP. They were inspired by the International Anarchist Congress of 1881 in London. There were two federations in the United States that pledged adherence to the International. A convention of immigrant anarchists in Chicago formed the International Working People's Association (Black International), while a group of Native Americans in San Francisco formed the International Workingmen's Association (Red International). Following a violent demonstration at Haymarket in Chicago in 1886, public opinion turned against anarchism. While very little violence could be attributed to anarchists, the attempted murder of a financier by an anarchist in 1892 and the 1901
assassination Assassination is the murder of a prominent or important person, such as a head of state, head of government, politician, world leader, member of a royal family or CEO. The murder of a celebrity, activist, or artist, though they may not have ...
of the American president, William McKinley, by a professed anarchist led to the ending of political asylum for anarchists in 1903. In 1919, following the
Palmer Raids The Palmer Raids were a series of raids conducted in November 1919 and January 1920 by the United States Department of Justice under the administration of President Woodrow Wilson to capture and arrest suspected socialists, especially anarchists ...
, anarchists were imprisoned and many, including
Emma Goldman Emma Goldman (June 27, 1869 – May 14, 1940) was a Russian-born anarchist political activist and writer. She played a pivotal role in the development of anarchist political philosophy in North America and Europe in the first half of the ...
and Alexander Berkman, were deported. Yet anarchism again reached great public notice with the trial of the anarchists Sacco and Vanzetti, who would be executed in 1927. Daniel De Leon, who became leader of the SLP in 1890, took it in a Marxist direction.
Eugene V. Debs Eugene Victor "Gene" Debs (November 5, 1855 – October 20, 1926) was an American socialism, socialist, political activist, trade unionist, one of the founding members of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), and five times the candidate ...
, who had been an organizer for the
American Railway Union The American Railway Union (ARU) was briefly among the largest labor unions of its time and one of the first industrial unions in the United States. Launched at a meeting held in Chicago in February 1893, the ARU won an early victory in a strike ...
formed the rival
Social Democratic Party of America The Social Democratic Party of America (SDP) was a short-lived political party in the United States established in 1898. The group was formed out of elements of the Social Democracy of America (SDA) and was a predecessor to the Socialist Party of ...
in 1898. Members of the SLP, led by Morris Hillquit and opposed to the De Leon's domineering personal rule and his anti-AFL trade union policy joined with the Social Democrats to form the
Socialist Party of America The Socialist Party of America (SPA) was a socialist political party in the United States formed in 1901 by a merger between the three-year-old Social Democratic Party of America and disaffected elements of the Socialist Labor Party of Ameri ...
(SPA). In 1905, a convention of socialists, anarchists and trade unionists disenchanted with the bureaucracy and craft unionism of the AFL, founded the rival Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), led by such figures as William D. "Big Bill" Haywood, Helen Keller, De Leon and Debs. The organizers of the IWW disagreed on whether electoral politics could be employed to liberate the working class. Debs left the IWW in 1906, and De Leon was expelled in 1908, forming a rival "Chicago IWW" that was closely linked to the SLP. The (Minneapolis) IWW's ideology evolved into
anarcho-syndicalism Anarcho-syndicalism is a political philosophy and anarchist school of thought that views revolutionary industrial unionism or syndicalism as a method for workers in capitalist society to gain control of an economy and thus control influence in b ...
, or "revolutionary industrial unionism", and avoided electoral political activity altogether. It was successful organizing unskilled migratory workers in the lumber, agriculture, and construction trades in the Western states and immigrant textile workers in the Eastern states and occasionally accepted violence as part of industrial action. The SPA was divided between reformers who believed that socialism could be achieved through gradual reform of capitalism and revolutionaries who thought that socialism could only develop after capitalism was overthrown, but the party steered a center path between the two. The SPA achieved the peak of its success by 1912 when its presidential candidate received 5.9% of the popular vote. The first Socialist congressman,
Victor L. Berger Victor Luitpold Berger (February 28, 1860August 7, 1929) was an Austrian–American socialist politician and journalist who was a founding member of the Social Democratic Party of America and its successor, the Socialist Party of America. Born in ...
, had been elected in 1910. By the beginning of 1912, there were 1,039 Socialist officeholders, including 56 mayors, 305 aldermen and councilmen, 22 police officials, and some state legislators. Milwaukee, Berkeley, Butte, Schenectady, and Flint were run by Socialists. A Socialist challenger to Gompers took one-third of the vote in a challenge for leadership of the AFL. The SPA had 5 English and 8 foreign-language daily newspapers, 262 English and 36 foreign-language weeklies, and 10 English and 2 foreign-language monthlies. American entry into the First World War in 1917 led to a patriotic hysteria aimed against Germans, immigrants, African Americans, class-conscious workers, and Socialists, and the ensuing Espionage Act and Sedition Act were used against them. The government harassed Socialist newspapers, the post office denied the SP use of the mails, and antiwar militants were arrested. Soon Debs and more than sixty IWW leaders were charged under the acts.


Communist–Socialist split, the New Deal and Red Scares (1910s–1940s)

In 1919, John Reed, Benjamin Gitlow and other Socialists formed the
Communist Labor Party of America The Communist Labor Party of America (CLPA) was one of the organizational predecessors of the Communist Party USA. The group was established at the end of August 1919 following a three-way split of the Socialist Party of America. Although a legal ...
, while Socialist foreign sections led by
C. E. Ruthenberg Charles Emil Ruthenberg (July 9, 1882 – March 1, 1927) was an American Marxist politician and a founder and head of the Communist Party USA (CPUSA). Biography Early years Charles Emil Ruthenberg was born July 9, 1882, in Cleveland, Ohio, ...
formed the Communist Party. These two groups would be combined as the
Communist Party USA The Communist Party USA, officially the Communist Party of the United States of America (CPUSA), is a communist party in the United States which was established in 1919 after a split in the Socialist Party of America following the Russian Revo ...
(CPUSA). The Communists organized the Trade Union Unity League to compete with the AFL and claimed to represent 50,000 workers. In 1928, following divisions inside the Soviet Union, Jay Lovestone, who had replaced Ruthenberg as general secretary of the CPUSA following his death, joined with
William Z. Foster William Zebulon Foster (February 25, 1881 – September 1, 1961) was a Political radicalism, radical American labor organizer and Communism, Communist politician, whose career included serving as General Secretary of the Communist Party US ...
to expel Foster's former allies,
James P. Cannon James Patrick Cannon (February 11, 1890 – August 21, 1974) was an American Trotskyist and a leader of the Socialist Workers Party. Born on February 11, 1890, in Rosedale, Kansas, the son of Irish immigrants with strong socialist convictio ...
and
Max Shachtman Max Shachtman (; September 10, 1904 – November 4, 1972) was an American Marxist theorist. He went from being an associate of Leon Trotsky to a social democrat and mentor of senior assistants to AFL–CIO President George Meany. Beginnings S ...
, who were followers of Leon Trotsky. Following another Soviet factional dispute, Lovestone and Gitlow were expelled, and
Earl Browder Earl Russell Browder (May 20, 1891 – June 27, 1973) was an American politician, communist activist and leader of the Communist Party USA (CPUSA). Browder was the General Secretary of the CPUSA during the 1930s and first half of the 1940s. Duri ...
became party leader. Cannon, Shachtman, and
Martin Abern Martin may refer to: Places * Martin City (disambiguation) * Martin County (disambiguation) * Martin Township (disambiguation) Antarctica * Martin Peninsula, Marie Byrd Land * Port Martin, Adelie Land * Point Martin, South Orkney Islands Austral ...
then set up the Trotskyist
Communist League of America The Communist League of America (Opposition) was founded by James P. Cannon, Max Shachtman and Martin Abern late in 1928 after their expulsion from the Communist Party USA for Trotskyism. The CLA(O) was the United States section of Leon Trotsky's I ...
, and recruited members from the CPUSA. The League then merged with A. J. Muste's
American Workers Party The American Workers Party (AWP) was a socialist organization established in December 1933 by activists in the Conference for Progressive Labor Action, a group headed by A.J. Muste. Formation The American Workers Party was established in Decem ...
in 1934, forming the Workers Party. New members included James Burnham and
Sidney Hook Sidney Hook (December 20, 1902 – July 12, 1989) was an American philosopher of pragmatism known for his contributions to the philosophy of history, the philosophy of education, political theory, and ethics. After embracing communism in his youth ...
. By the 1930s the Socialist Party was deeply divided between an Old Guard, led by Hillquit, and younger Militants, who were more sympathetic to the Soviet Union, led by Norman Thomas. The Old Guard left the party to form the
Social Democratic Federation The Social Democratic Federation (SDF) was established as Britain's first organised socialist political party by H. M. Hyndman, and had its first meeting on 7 June 1881. Those joining the SDF included William Morris, George Lansbury, James Con ...
. Following talks between the Workers Party and the Socialists, members of the Workers Party joined the Socialists in 1936. Once inside they operated as a separate faction. The Trotskyists were expelled from the Socialist Party the following year and set up the Socialist Workers Party (SWP) and the youth wing of the Socialists, the Young People's Socialist League (YPSL) joined them. Shachtman and others were expelled from the SWP in 1940 over their position on the Soviet Union and set up the Workers Party. Within months many members of the new party, including Burnham, had left. The Workers Party was renamed the Independent Socialist League (ISL) in 1949 and ceased being a political party. Some members of the Socialist Party's Old Guard formed the American Labor Party (ALP) in New York State, with support from the
Congress of Industrial Organizations The Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO) was a federation of unions that organized workers in industrial unions in the United States and Canada from 1935 to 1955. Originally created in 1935 as a committee within the American Federation of ...
(CIO). The right-wing of this party broke away in 1944 to form the
Liberal Party of New York The Liberal Party of New York is a political party in New York. Its platform supports a standard set of socially liberal policies, including abortion rights, increased spending on education, and universal health care. History The Liberal Party wa ...
. In the 1936, 1940 and 1944 elections the ALP received 274,000, 417,000, and 496,000 votes in New York State, while the Liberals received 329,000 votes in 1944.


Civil rights, War on Poverty and the New Left (1950s–1960s)

In 1958, the Socialist Party welcomed former members of the Independent Socialist League, which before its 1956 dissolution had been led by
Max Shachtman Max Shachtman (; September 10, 1904 – November 4, 1972) was an American Marxist theorist. He went from being an associate of Leon Trotsky to a social democrat and mentor of senior assistants to AFL–CIO President George Meany. Beginnings S ...
. Shachtman had developed a neo-Marxist critique of Soviet communism as " bureaucratic collectivism", a new form of class society that was more oppressive than any form of capitalism. Shachtman's theory was similar to that of many dissidents and refugees from Communism, such as the theory of the " new class" proposed by Yugoslavian dissident
Milovan Đilas Milovan Djilas (; , ; 12 June 1911 – 30 April 1995) was a Yugoslav communist politician, theorist and author. He was a key figure in the Partisan movement during World War II, as well as in the post-war government. A self-identified democrat ...
(Djilas).Page 6: Shachtman's ISL had attracted youth like Irving Howe, Michael Harrington, Tom Kahn, and Rachelle Horowitz.: The YPSL was dissolved, but the party formed a new youth group under the same name. Kahn and Horowitz, along with
Norman Hill Norman Hill (born April 22, 1933 in Summit, New Jersey) is an American administrator, civil rights activist and labor leader. He attended Haverford College in Pennsylvania and received a bachelor's degree in 1956 in the field of sociology. He was ...
, helped Bayard Rustin with the civil rights movement. Rustin had helped to spread pacificism and
nonviolence Nonviolence is the personal practice of not causing harm to others under any condition. It may come from the belief that hurting people, animals and/or the environment is unnecessary to achieve an outcome and it may refer to a general philosoph ...
to leaders of the civil rights movement, like Martin Luther King Jr. Rustin's circle and
A. Philip Randolph Asa Philip Randolph (April 15, 1889 – May 16, 1979) was an American labor unionist and civil rights activist. In 1925, he organized and led the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, the first successful African-American led labor union. In ...
organized the
1963 March on Washington Events January * January 1 – Bogle–Chandler case: Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation scientist Dr. Gilbert Bogle and Mrs. Margaret Chandler are found dead (presumed poisoned), in bushland near the Lane Cove ...
, where Martin Luther King delivered his
I Have a Dream "I Have a Dream" is a public speech that was delivered by American civil rights activist and Baptist minister, Martin Luther King Jr., during the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom on August 28, 1963. In the speech, King called ...
speech.Jervis Anderson, ''A. Philip Randolph: A Biographical Portrait'' (1973; University of California Press, 1986). * Anderson, Jervis. ''Bayard Rustin: Troubles I've Seen'' (New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 1997). * Branch, Taylor. ''Parting the Waters: America in the King Years, 1954–63'' (New York: Touchstone, 1989). * D'Emilio, John. ''Lost Prophet: The Life and Times of Bayard Rustin'' (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 2004). Michael Harrington soon became the most visible socialist in the United States when his '' The Other America'' became a best seller, following a long and laudatory '' New Yorker'' review by
Dwight Macdonald Dwight Macdonald (March 24, 1906 – December 19, 1982) was an American writer, editor, film critic, social critic, literary critic, philosopher, and activist. Macdonald was a member of the New York Intellectuals and editor of their leftist maga ...
. Harrington and other socialists were called to Washington, D.C., to assist the Kennedy Administration and then the Johnson Administration's war on poverty and Great Society. Shachtman, Harrington, Kahn, and Rustin argued advocated a political strategy called "realignment" that prioritized strengthening labor unions and other progressive organizations that were already active in the Democratic Party. Contributing to the day-to-day struggles of the civil rights movement and labor unions had gained socialists credibility and influence, and had helped to push politicians in the Democratic Party towards " social-liberal" or
social-democratic Social democracy is a Political philosophy, political, Social philosophy, social, and economic philosophy within socialism that supports Democracy, political and economic democracy. As a policy regime, it is described by academics as advocati ...
positions, at least on civil rights and the war on poverty. Harrington, Kahn, and Horowitz were officers and staff-persons of the League for Industrial Democracy (LID), which helped to start the
New Left The New Left was a broad political movement mainly in the 1960s and 1970s consisting of activists in the Western world who campaigned for a broad range of social issues such as civil and political rights, environmentalism, feminism, gay rights, g ...
Students for a Democratic Society (SDS). The three LID officers clashed with the less experienced activists of SDS, like
Tom Hayden Thomas Emmet Hayden (December 11, 1939October 23, 2016) was an American social and political activist, author, and politician. Hayden was best known for his role as an anti-war, civil rights, and intellectual activist in the 1960s, authoring th ...
, when the latter's
Port Huron Statement The Port Huron Statement is a 1962 political manifesto of the American student activist movement Students for a Democratic Society (SDS). It was written by SDS members, and completed on June 15, 1962, at a United Auto Workers (UAW) retreat outside ...
criticized socialist and liberal opposition to communism and criticized the labor movement while promoting students as agents of social change. LID and SDS split in 1965, when SDS voted to remove from its constitution the "''exclusion clause''" that prohibited membership by communists: The SDS exclusion clause had barred "advocates of or apologists for" "totalitarianism". The clause's removal effectively invited "disciplined cadre" to attempt to "take over or paralyze" SDS, as had occurred to mass organizations in the thirties. Afterwards, Marxism–Leninism, particularly the Progressive Labor Party, helped to write "the death sentence" for SDS, which nonetheless had over 100 thousand members at its peak.


SDUSA–SPUSA split, foundation of DSOC–DSA and anti-WTO protests (1970s–1990s)

In 1972, the Socialist Party voted to rename itself as Social Democrats, USA (SDUSA) by a vote of 73 to 34 at its December Convention; its National Chairmen were Bayard Rustin, a peace and civil-rights leader, and
Charles S. Zimmerman Charles S. "Sasha" Zimmerman (1896–1983) was an American socialist activist and trade union leader, who was an associate of Jay Lovestone. Zimmerman had a career spanning five decades as an official of the International Ladies Garment Workers U ...
, an officer of the International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union (ILGWU). In 1973, Michael Harrington resigned from SDUSA and founded the Democratic Socialist Organizing Committee (DSOC), which attracted many of his followers from the former Socialist Party.Isserman, p. 311. The same year, David McReynolds and others from the pacifist and immediate-withdrawal wing of the former Socialist Party formed the Socialist Party USA. When the SPA became SDUSA, the majority had 22 of 33 votes on the (January 1973) national committee of SDUSA. Two minority caucuses of SDUSA became associated with two other socialist organizations, each of which was founded later in 1973. Many members of Michael Harrington's ("Coalition") caucus, with 8 of 33 seats on the 1973 SDUSA national committee, joined Harrington's DSOC. Many members of the Debs caucus, with 2 of 33 seats on SDUSA's 1973 national committee, joined the Socialist Party of the United States (SPUSA). From 1979 to 1989, SDUSA members like Tom Kahn organized the AFL–CIO's fundraising of $300,000, which bought printing presses and other supplies requested by ''Solidarnosc'' (Solidarity), the independent labor-union of Poland.:
SDUSA members helped form a bipartisan coalition (of the Democratic and Republican parties) to support the founding of the National Endowment for Democracy (NED), whose first President was
Carl Gershman Carl Gershman (born July 20, 1943) is an American civil servant who served as the president of the National Endowment for Democracy since its founding in 1984 until 2021. Gershman previously served as the United States Ambassador to the United Nat ...
. The NED publicly allocated $4 million of public aid to Solidarity through 1989.:
In the 1990s, anarchists attempted to organize across North America around Love and Rage, which drew several hundred activists. By 1997 anarchist organizations began to proliferate. One successful anarchist movement was
Food not Bombs Food Not Bombs (FNB) is a loose-knit group of independent collectives, sharing free vegan and vegetarian food with others. The group believes that corporate and government priorities are skewed to allow hunger to persist in the midst of abundance ...
, that distributed free vegetarian meals. Anarchists received significant media coverage for their disruption of the 1999 World Trade Organization conference, called the
Battle in Seattle ''Battle in Seattle'' is a 2007 political action-thriller film written and directed by Stuart Townsend, in his directorial debut. The story is loosely based on the protest activity at the WTO Ministerial Conference of 1999. The film premiered ...
, where the
Direct Action Network Direct Action Network (DAN) was a North American confederation of anti-corporate, anti-authoritarian and anarchist affinity groups, collectives, and organizations. It grew out of the Seattle chapter which had been formed to coordinate the nonviol ...
was organized. Most organizations were short-lived and anarchism went into decline following a reaction by the authorities that was increased after the September 11 attacks in 2001.


Occupy, Bernie Sanders campaigns and DSA electoral victories (2000s–present)

In the 2000 presidential election, Ralph Nader and Winona LaDuke received 2,882,000 votes or 2.74% of the popular vote on the
Green Party A green party is a formally organized political party based on the principles of green politics, such as social justice, environmentalism and nonviolence. Greens believe that these issues are inherently related to one another as a foundation ...
ticket. Filmmaker
Michael Moore Michael Francis Moore (born April 23, 1954) is an American filmmaker, author and left-wing activist. His works frequently address the topics of globalization and capitalism. Moore won the 2002 Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature for ' ...
directed a series of popular movies examining the United States and its government policy from a left perspective, including '' Bowling for Columbine'', '' Sicko'', '' Capitalism: A Love Story'' and ''
Fahrenheit 9/11 ''Fahrenheit 9/11'' is a 2004 American documentary film directed, written by, and starring filmmaker, director, political commentator and activist Michael Moore. The film takes a liberal, critical look at the presidency of George W. Bush, the w ...
'', which was the top grossing documentary film of all time. In 2011, Occupy Wall Street protests demanding accountability for the financial crisis of 2007–2008 and against inequality started in Manhattan,
New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...
and soon spread to other cities around the country, becoming known more broadly as the Occupy movement.
Kshama Sawant Kshama Sawant (; born October 17, 1973) is an Indian-American politician and economist who has served on the Seattle City Council since 2014. She is a member of Socialist Alternative (United States), Socialist Alternative, the first and only mem ...
was elected to the Seattle City Council as an openly socialist candidate in 2013. She was re-elected in 2015.
Bernie Sanders Bernard Sanders (born September8, 1941) is an American politician who has served as the junior United States senator from Vermont since 2007. He was the U.S. representative for the state's at-large congressional district from 1991 to 2007 ...
, a self-described democratic socialist who runs as an independent, won his first election as mayor of
Burlington, Vermont Burlington is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Vermont and the seat of Chittenden County. It is located south of the Canada–United States border and south of Montreal. As of the 2020 U.S. census, the population was 44,743. It ...
in 1981 and was re-elected for three additional terms. He then represented Vermont in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1991 until 2007, and was subsequently elected U.S. Senator for Vermont in 2007, a position which he still holds. Although he did not win the 2016 Democratic Party presidential nomination, Sanders won the fifth highest number of primary votes of any candidate in a nomination race, Democratic or Republican, and had caused an upset in Michigan and many other states. Democratic Socialists of America member
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (; ; born October 13, 1989), also known by her initials AOC, is an American politician and activist. She has served as the U.S. representative for New York's 14th congressional district since 2019, as a member of th ...
defeated ten-term incumbent Joe Crowley in the NY-14 U.S House primary and went on to win her general election. She is the youngest woman ever elected to Congress and ran on a
progressive Progressive may refer to: Politics * Progressivism, a political philosophy in support of social reform ** Progressivism in the United States, the political philosophy in the American context * Progressive realism, an American foreign policy par ...
platform. Broadly, the modern American Left is characterized by organizations like the Democratic Socialists of America, the largest socialist organization in the US with over 90,000 members. The DSA has seen a huge resurgence in growth with Bernie Sanders' 2016 presidential campaign and continues to grow despite having had a membership of around 5,000 members only a decade ago. Unlike other parts of the modern left like the Socialist Equality Party, the DSA is not a political party and its affiliated candidates usually run on a Democratic or independent ticket. The most widely circulated socialist publication in the US, the ''
Jacobin , logo = JacobinVignette03.jpg , logo_size = 180px , logo_caption = Seal of the Jacobin Club (1792–1794) , motto = "Live free or die"(french: Vivre libre ou mourir) , successor = Pa ...
'', along with other leftist publications like ''Dissent'' and ''Monthly Review'', have all become increasingly popular with the resurgence of
democratic socialism Democratic socialism is a Left-wing politics, left-wing political philosophy that supports political democracy and some form of a socially owned economy, with a particular emphasis on economic democracy, workplace democracy, and workers' self- ...
post-Sanders and Ocasio-Cortez.


Political currents


Anarchism

Anarchism in the United States first emerged from individualistic,
free-thinking Freethought (sometimes spelled free thought) is an epistemological viewpoint which holds that beliefs should not be formed on the basis of authority, tradition, revelation, or dogma, and that beliefs should instead be reached by other metho ...
, and utopian socialism as typified by the work of thinkers such as Josiah Warren and
Henry David Thoreau Henry David Thoreau (July 12, 1817May 6, 1862) was an American naturalist, essayist, poet, and philosopher. A leading Transcendentalism, transcendentalist, he is best known for his book ''Walden'', a reflection upon simple living in natural su ...
. This was overshadowed by a mass, cosmopolitan, and working-class movement between the 1880s and 1940s, whose members were mostly recent immigrants, including those of German, Italian, Jewish, Mexican, and Russian descent. Prominent figures of this period include Albert Parsons and Lucy Parsons,
Emma Goldman Emma Goldman (June 27, 1869 – May 14, 1940) was a Russian-born anarchist political activist and writer. She played a pivotal role in the development of anarchist political philosophy in North America and Europe in the first half of the ...
,
Carlo Tresca Carlo Tresca (March 9, 1879 – January 11, 1943) was an Italian-American newspaper editor, orator, and labor organizer who was a leader of the Industrial Workers of the World during the 1910s. He is remembered as a leading public opponent of fas ...
, and
Ricardo Flores Magón Cipriano Ricardo Flores Magón (, known as Ricardo Flores Magón; September 16, 1874 – November 21, 1922) was a noted Mexican anarchist and social reform activist. His brothers Enrique and Jesús were also active in politics. Followers of ...
. The anarchist movement achieved notoriety due to violent clashes with police, assassinations, and sensational
Red Scare A Red Scare is the promotion of a widespread fear of a potential rise of communism, anarchism or other leftist ideologies by a society or state. The term is most often used to refer to two periods in the history of the United States which ar ...
propaganda, but most anarchist activity took place in the realm of agitation and labor organizing among largely immigrant workers. Anarchist organizations include: * Anarchist Black Cross *
Anarchist People of Color Anarchism in the United States began in the mid-19th century and started to grow in influence as it entered the American labor movements, growing an anarcho-communist current as well as gaining notoriety for violent propaganda of the deed and c ...
* Black Rose Anarchist Federation/Federación Anarquista Rosa Negra * First of May Anarchist Alliance *
Food Not Bombs Food Not Bombs (FNB) is a loose-knit group of independent collectives, sharing free vegan and vegetarian food with others. The group believes that corporate and government priorities are skewed to allow hunger to persist in the midst of abundance ...
Amster, p. xii * Green Mountain Anarchist Collective * Industrial Workers of the World * International Working People's Association *
Local to Global Justice Local to Global Justice is a volunteer organization based in Tempe, Arizona, United States. It sponsors events dealing with social justice issues, mostly held on and around the Arizona State University (ASU) Tempe campus. The group is a registered ...
* Revolutionary Socialist League * Union of Russian Workers * Workers Solidarity Alliance * Youth International Party


De Leonism

De Leonism, occasionally known as Marxism–De Leonism, is a libertarian Marxist ideological variant developed by the American activist Daniel De Leon.


Socialist Labor Party

Founded in 1876, the Socialist Labor Party (SLP) was a reformist party but adopted the theories of Karl Marx and Daniel De Leon in 1900, leading to the defection of reformers to the new
Socialist Party of America The Socialist Party of America (SPA) was a socialist political party in the United States formed in 1901 by a merger between the three-year-old Social Democratic Party of America and disaffected elements of the Socialist Labor Party of Ameri ...
(SPA). It contested elections, including every election for President of the United States from 1892 to 1976. Some of its prominent members included Jack London and James Connolly. By 2009 it had lost its premises and ceased publishing its newspaper, ''The People''. In 1970, a group of dissidents left the SLP to form Socialist Reconstruction. Socialist Reconstruction then expelled some of its dissidents, who formed the Socialist Forum Group.


Democratic socialism and social democracy

The
Socialist Party of America The Socialist Party of America (SPA) was a socialist political party in the United States formed in 1901 by a merger between the three-year-old Social Democratic Party of America and disaffected elements of the Socialist Labor Party of Ameri ...
was founded in 1901. Eugene Debs ran as the party's presidential candidate five times and received 6% of the popular vote in 1912. The party suffered political repression during World War I due to its
pacifist Pacifism is the opposition or resistance to war, militarism (including conscription and mandatory military service) or violence. Pacifists generally reject theories of Just War. The word ''pacifism'' was coined by the French peace campaign ...
stance and broke into factions over whether or not to support the Bolshevik Revolution in Russia and whether or not to join the
Comintern The Communist International (Comintern), also known as the Third International, was a Soviet Union, Soviet-controlled international organization founded in 1919 that advocated world communism. The Comintern resolved at its Second Congress to ...
. The Socialist Party was re-formed in the mid-1920s but stopped running candidates after 1956, having been undercut by Franklin D. Roosevelt's
New Deal The New Deal was a series of programs, public work projects, financial reforms, and regulations enacted by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in the United States between 1933 and 1939. Major federal programs agencies included the Civilian Cons ...
and the resulting leftward movement of the Democratic Party to its right, and by the Communist Party on its left. In the early 1970s, the party split into tiny factions. After 1960 the Socialist Party also functioned "as an educational organization". Members of the Debs–Thomas Socialist Party helped to develop leaders of social-movement organizations, including the civil-rights movement and the New Left. Similarly, contemporary social-democratic and democratic-socialist organizations are known because of their members' activities in other organizations.


Democratic Socialists of America

Michael Harrington resigned from Social Democrats, USA early in 1973. He rejected the SDUSA (majority Socialist Party) position on the Vietnam War, which demanded an end to bombings and a negotiated peace settlement. Harrington called rather for an immediate cease fire and immediate withdrawal of U.S. forces from Vietnam. Even before the December 1972 convention, Michael Harrington had resigned as an Honorary Chairperson of the Socialist Party. In the early spring of 1973, he resigned his membership in SDUSA. That same year, Harrington and his supporters formed the Democratic Socialist Organizing Committee (DSOC). At its start, DSOC had 840 members, of which 2 percent served on its national board; approximately 200 had been members of Social Democrats, USA or its predecessors whose membership was then 1,800, according to a 1973 profile of Harrington. The DSOC became a member of the Socialist International. It supported progressive Democrats including DSOC member Congressman
Ron Dellums Ronald Vernie Dellums (November 24, 1935 – July 30, 2018) was an American politician who served as Mayor of Oakland from 2007 to 2011. He had previously served thirteen terms as a Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Californi ...
and worked to help network activists in the Democratic Party and in labor unions. In 1982, the DSOC established the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) upon merging with the New American Movement, an organization of democratic socialists mostly from the New Left. Its high-profile members included Congressman Major Owens, Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib, Congresswoman
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (; ; born October 13, 1989), also known by her initials AOC, is an American politician and activist. She has served as the U.S. representative for New York's 14th congressional district since 2019, as a member of th ...
, Congressman Ron Dellums, multiple state legislators (
Sara Innamorato Sara G. Innamorato is an American politician who was elected to the Pennsylvania House of Representatives in 2018 and is the Representative for the 21st district, which includes parts of Pittsburgh and the surrounding area. Early life and educ ...
,
Lee J. Carter Lee Jin Carter (born June 2, 1987) is an American former politician who represented the 50th district in the Virginia House of Delegates from 2018 to 2022. A member of the Democratic Party, he defeated Jackson Miller, the Republican House Major ...
,
Summer Lee Summer Lynn Lee (born November 26, 1987) is an American politician and community organizer serving as the U.S. representative for Pennsylvania's 12th congressional district since 2023. A member of the Democratic Party, Lee served as a member of t ...
, Julia Salazar), and
William Winpisinger William Wayne Winpisinger (December 10, 1924 – December 11, 1997) was the eleventh International President of the million-member International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers from 1977 until his retirement in 1989. Well-read i ...
, President of the
International Association of Machinists The International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM) is an AFL–CIO/ CLC trade union representing approx. 646,933 workers as of 2006 in more than 200 industries with most of its membership in the United States and Canada. Or ...
. In 2019 at the Democratic Socialists of America convention in Atlanta, Georgia, DSA confirmed its support for Senator
Bernie Sanders Bernard Sanders (born September8, 1941) is an American politician who has served as the junior United States senator from Vermont since 2007. He was the U.S. representative for the state's at-large congressional district from 1991 to 2007 ...
in the
2020 United States presidential election The 2020 United States presidential election was the 59th quadrennial presidential election, held on Tuesday, November 3, 2020. The Democratic ticket of former vice president Joe Biden and the junior U.S. senator from California Kamala Ha ...
. Since the
2016 United States presidential election The 2016 United States presidential election was the 58th quadrennial presidential election, held on Tuesday, November 8, 2016. The Republican ticket of businessman Donald Trump and Indiana governor Mike Pence defeated the Democratic ticket ...
, the DSA has grown to more than 50,000 members, making it the largest socialist organization in the United States. In 2017, DSA left the Socialist International, citing its support of
neoliberal Neoliberalism (also neo-liberalism) is a term used to signify the late 20th century political reappearance of 19th-century ideas associated with free-market capitalism after it fell into decline following the Second World War. A prominent fa ...
economic policies.


Social Democrats, USA

The Socialist Party of America changed its name to Social Democrats, USA (SDUSA) in 1972. In electoral politics, SDUSA's National Co-chairman Bayard Rustin stated that its goal was to transform the Democratic Party into a social-democratic party. SDUSA sponsored a conferences that featured discussions and debates over proposed resolutions, some of which were adopted as organizational statements. For these conferences, SDUSA invited a range of academic, political, and labor-union leaders. These meetings also functioned as reunions for political activists and intellectuals, some of whom worked together for decades. Many SDUSA members served as organizational leaders, especially in labor unions. Rustin served as President of the A. Philip Randolph Institute, and was succeeded by
Norman Hill Norman Hill (born April 22, 1933 in Summit, New Jersey) is an American administrator, civil rights activist and labor leader. He attended Haverford College in Pennsylvania and received a bachelor's degree in 1956 in the field of sociology. He was ...
. Tom Kahn served as Director of International Affairs for the AFL–CIO. Sandra Feldman served as President of the American Federation of Teachers (AFT). Rachelle Horowitz served as Political Director for the AFT and serves on the board for the
National Democratic Institute The National Democratic Institute (NDI), or National Democratic Institute for International Affairs, is a non-profit American NGO that works with partners in developing countries to increase the effectiveness of democratic institutions. The NDI's ...
. Other members of SDUSA specialized in international politics.
Penn Kemble Richard Penn Kemble (January 21, 1941 – October 15, 2005), commonly known as "Penn," was an American political activist and a founding member of Social Democrats, USA. He supported democracy and labor unions in the USA and internationally, and s ...
served as the acting director of the
U.S. Information Agency The United States Information Agency (USIA), which operated from 1953 to 1999, was a United States agency devoted to " public diplomacy". In 1999, prior to the reorganization of intelligence agencies by President George W. Bush, President Bill ...
in the
Presidency of Bill Clinton Bill Clinton's tenure as the 42nd president of the United States began with his first inauguration on January 20, 1993, and ended on January 20, 2001. Clinton, a Democrat from Arkansas, took office following a decisive election victory over Re ...
. After having served as the U.S. Representative to the U.N.'s Committee on human rights during the first Reagan Administration,
Carl Gershman Carl Gershman (born July 20, 1943) is an American civil servant who served as the president of the National Endowment for Democracy since its founding in 1984 until 2021. Gershman previously served as the United States Ambassador to the United Nat ...
has served as the President of the National Endowment for Democracy.


Socialist Party USA

In the Socialist Party before 1973, members of the Debs Caucus opposed endorsing or otherwise supporting Democratic Party candidates. They began working outside the Socialist Party with antiwar groups such as the Students for a Democratic Society. Some locals voted to disaffiliate with SDUSA and more members resigned; they re-organized as the Socialist Party USA (SPUSA) while continuing to operate the old Debs Caucus paper, the ''Socialist Tribune'', later renamed ''The Socialist''. The SPUSA continues to run local and national candidates, including Dan La Botz' 2010 campaign for US Senate in Ohio that won over 25,000 votes and Pat Noble's successful election onto the Red Bank Regional High School Board of Education in 2012 and subsequent re-election in 2015. The SPUSA has run or endorsed a presidential ticket in every election since its founding, most recently nominating Greens party co-founder and activist Howie Hawkins in the 2020 presidential election.


Christian democracy


American Solidarity Party

The American Solidarity Party (ASP) is a
fiscally progressive Economic progressivism or fiscal progressivism is a political and economic philosophy incorporating the socioeconomic principles of social democrats and political progressives. These views are often rooted in the concept of social justice and h ...
and socially conservative Christian-democratic political party with a
social-democratic Social democracy is a Political philosophy, political, Social philosophy, social, and economic philosophy within socialism that supports Democracy, political and economic democracy. As a policy regime, it is described by academics as advocati ...
faction in the United States. It favors a social market economy with a distributist flavor, and seeks "widespread economic participation and ownership" through supporting small business, as well as providing a social safety net programs. It also has a minor
anti-capitalism Anti-capitalism is a political ideology and movement encompassing a variety of attitudes and ideas that oppose capitalism. In this sense, anti-capitalists are those who wish to replace capitalism with another type of economic system, such as s ...
faction. The party's name was inspired by
Solidarity ''Solidarity'' is an awareness of shared interests, objectives, standards, and sympathies creating a psychological sense of unity of groups or classes. It is based on class collaboration.''Merriam Webster'', http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictio ...
(''Solidarnosc''), the independent labor union of Poland.


Green politics


Green Party of the United States

The Green Party of the United States is a eco-socialist party whose platform emphasizes environmentalism, non-hierarchical participatory democracy, social justice, respect for diversity, peace, and nonviolence. At their 2016 party convention in Houston, the party changed its platform to support a decentralized form of eco-socialism based on workplace democracy. In the 2000 presidential election, Ralph Nader and Winona LaDuke received 2,882,955 votes or 2.74% of the popular vote. In the
2016 election The following elections occurred in the year 2016. Africa Benin Republic *2016 Beninese presidential election 6 March 2016 Cape Verde * 2016 Cape Verdean presidential election 2 October 2016 Chad * 2016 Chadian presidential election 10 A ...
, Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein and running mate
Ajamu Baraka Ajamu Sibeko Baraka ( ; born October 25, 1953) is an American political activist. In 2016, he was the Green Party nominee for Vice President of the United States on the ballot in 45 states and received 1,457,216 votes (1.07% of the popular vote). ...
qualified to be on the ballot in 44 states and the District of Columbia, with 3 additional states allowing write-in votes. The Greens/Green Party USA is a much smaller group focusing on education and local, grassroots organizing.


Marxism–Leninism

Marxism–Leninism has been advocated and practiced by American communists of many kinds, including pro-Soviet, Trotskyist, Maoist, or independent.


American Party of Labor

The American Party of Labor was founded in 2008 and adheres to Hoxhaism. It has its origins in the activities of the American communist
Jack Shulman Jacob (Jack) Shulman, (1914–1999), was an American anti-Revisionist Communist activist who fought in the Spanish Civil War and later moved to the People's Republic of China. Background Jacob Schulman was born and raised in Rochester, New York ...
, former secretary of
Communist Party USA The Communist Party USA, officially the Communist Party of the United States of America (CPUSA), is a communist party in the United States which was established in 1919 after a split in the Socialist Party of America following the Russian Revo ...
leader
William Z. Foster William Zebulon Foster (February 25, 1881 – September 1, 1961) was a Political radicalism, radical American labor organizer and Communism, Communist politician, whose career included serving as General Secretary of the Communist Party US ...
; and the British Marxist-Leninist
Bill Bland William "Barbosa" Bland (28 April 1916 – 13 March 2001) was a British Marxist-Leninist and optician. Early life Bland was born in Ashton-under-Lyne, Lancashire, and attended Manchester Grammar School. His father was director of a printing ...
. Members of the American Party of Labor had previously been active in Alliance Marxist-Leninist and International Struggle Marxist-Leninist, two organizations founded by Shulman and Bland. The present-day APL sees itself as upholding and continuing the work of Shulman and Bland. Although not a formal member of the
International Conference of Marxist–Leninist Parties and Organizations (Unity & Struggle) The International Conference of Marxist–Leninist Parties and Organizations ( es, Conferencia Internacional de Partidos y Organizaciones Marxista-Leninistas; abbreviations: ICMLPO or CIPOML) is an international organization of anti-revisionis ...
, the APL is generally supportive of its line and maintains friendly relations with a number of foreign communist parties including the
Chilean Communist Party (Proletarian Action) Chilean Communist Party (Proletarian Action) ( es, Partido Comunista Chileno (Acción Proletaria), ) is an anti-revisionist Marxist–Leninist communist party in Chile, founded in 1979 and originating from the pro-Albanian tradition. It has pres ...
, the Turkish Labour Party (EMEP), the Labour Party of Iran, and the Communist Party of Great Britain (Marxist–Leninist). It has been involved in a number of events, such as a 2013 protest against the
Golden Dawn Golden Dawn or The Golden Dawn may refer to: Organizations * Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, a nineteenth century magical order based in Britain ** The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, Inc., a modern revival founded in 1977 ** Open Source ...
in Chicago, a 2014 meeting on the Ukraine and a protest against Donald Trump at the
2016 Republican National Convention The 2016 Republican National Convention, in which delegates of the United States Republican Party chose the party's nominees for president and vice president in the 2016 U.S. presidential election, was held July 18–21, 2016, at Quicken Lo ...
. A significant program of the American Party of Labor is "Red Aid: Service to the People", which involves providing food, clothing and other assistance to the poor and homeless in impoverished communities, and has been established in multiple US cities. Its current organ, ''The Red Phoenix'', carries articles concerning contemporary political issues and theoretical and historical questions.


Communist Party USA

Established in 1919, the Communist Party USA (CP) claimed a membership of 100,000 in 1939 and maintained a membership over 50,000 until the 1950s. However, the 1956 invasion of Hungary,
McCarthyism McCarthyism is the practice of making false or unfounded accusations of subversion and treason, especially when related to anarchism, communism and socialism, and especially when done in a public and attention-grabbing manner. The term origin ...
and investigations by the
House Unamerican Activities Committee The House Committee on Un-American Activities (HCUA), popularly dubbed the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC), was an investigative committee of the United States House of Representatives, created in 1938 to investigate alleged disloy ...
(HUAC) contributed to its steady decline despite a brief increase in membership from the mid-1960s. Its estimated membership in 1996 was between 4,000 and 5,000. From the 1940s, the FBI attempted to disrupt the CP, including through its Counter‐Intelligence Program (COINTELPRO). Several Communist front organizations founded in the 1950s continued to operate at least into the 1990s, notably the Veterans of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade, the American Committee for the Protection of Foreign Born, the
Labor Research Association The Labor Research Association (LRA) was a left-wing labor statistics bureau established in November 1927 by members of the Workers (Communist) Party of America. The organization published a biannual series of volumes known as the ''Labor Fact Book ...
, the
National Council of American-Soviet Friendship National may refer to: Common uses * Nation or country ** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen Places in the United States * National, Maryland, ce ...
, and the U.S. Peace Council. Other groups with less direct links to the CP include the National Lawyers Guild, the National Emergency Civil Liberties Committee, and the Center for Constitutional Rights. Many leading members of the
New Left The New Left was a broad political movement mainly in the 1960s and 1970s consisting of activists in the Western world who campaigned for a broad range of social issues such as civil and political rights, environmentalism, feminism, gay rights, g ...
, including some members of the Weather Underground and the May 19th Communist Organization were members of the National Lawyers Guild. However, CP attempts to influence the New Left were mostly unsuccessful. The CP attracted media attention in the 1970s with the membership of the high-profile activist, Angela Davis. The CP publishes the '' People's World'' and '' Political Affairs''. Beginning in 1988, the CP stopped running candidates for President of the United States. After the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991, it was found that the Soviet Union had provided funding to the CP throughout its history. The CP had always supported the positions of the Soviet Union. Because of the continued slip into an ideology of social democracy that began after the death of CPUSA National Chair Gus Hall, dissident groups began to form around the country that were opposed to the increased pro-capitalist policies of the CPUSA National Committee. There was a fear among members that the CP was on the road to liquidation as a political party. There were several telltale signs that this was happening. The new National Chairman of the CP, Sam Webb began exploring ways to fund the party which suffered a great loss of financial assistance when Mikail Gorbachev assumed leadership of the CP of the Soviet Union. The party began to invest in real estate around the country and used party funds to refurbish its headquarters in New York. The CP leased out several floors of their headquarters to local businesses such as Wix, a website design company. They also leased out the first floor to an art supply company, closing the bookshop of International Publishers, the CP publishing company. Currently, there are no CP bookstores around the country. The CP then made the decision not to print its weekly newspaper, the ''People's Weekly World''. The paper is only available online. The party's online theoretical journal, ''Political Affairs'', was also discontinued. Currently, the CP does not have an organizing department. Dues books have been continued. No attempt has been made to establish ties with the World Federation of Trade Unions (WFTU) which is the largest socialist-communist trade union federation in the world.


Freedom Road Socialist Organization

The Freedom Road Socialist Organization (FRSO) was founded in 1985 through the mergers of Maoist and
Marxist–Leninist Marxism is a left-wing to far-left method of socioeconomic analysis that uses a materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to understand class relations and social conflict and a dialect ...
organizations active near the end of the New Communist Movement. The FRSO grew out of an initial merger of the Proletarian Unity League and the Revolutionary Workers Headquarters. Some years later, the Organization for Revolutionary Unity and the Amilcar Cabral/Paul Robeson Collective merged into the FRSO. In 1999, the FRSO split into two organizations, both of which retain the FRSO name to this day. The split primarily concerned the organization's continued adherence to Marxism–Leninism, with one side of the FRSO upholding Marxism–Leninism and the other side preferring to pursue a strategy of regrouping and rebuilding the Left in the United States. These organizations are commonly identified through their publications, which are ''Fight Back! News'' and ''Freedom Road'', and their websites, (frso.org) and (freedomroad.org), respectively. In 2010, members of the FRSO (frso.org) and other anti-war and international solidarity activists were raided by the FBI. Secret documents left by the FBI revealed that agents planned to question activists about their involvement in the FRSO (frso.org) and their international solidarity work related to
Colombia Colombia (, ; ), officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country in South America with insular regions in North America—near Nicaragua's Caribbean coast—as well as in the Pacific Ocean. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Car ...
and
Palestine __NOTOC__ Palestine may refer to: * State of Palestine, a state in Western Asia * Palestine (region), a geographic region in Western Asia * Palestinian territories, territories occupied by Israel since 1967, namely the West Bank (including East ...
. The FRSO (frso.org) works in the Committee to Stop FBI Repression. Both FRSO groups continue to uphold the right of national self-determination for African-Americans and
Chicanos Chicano or Chicana is a chosen identity for many Mexican Americans in the United States. The label ''Chicano'' is sometimes used interchangeably with ''Mexican American'', although the terms have different meanings. While Mexican-American ident ...
. The FRSO (frso.org) works in the labor movement, the student movement, and the oppressed nationalities movement.


Party for Socialism and Liberation

The Party for Socialism and Liberation was formed in 2004 as a result of a split in the Workers World Party. The San Francisco, Los Angeles and Washington, D.C. branches left almost in their entirety and the party has grown significantly since then. The new party took control of the Worker's World Party front organization
Act Now to Stop War and End Racism Act Now to Stop War and End Racism (ANSWER), also known as International A.N.S.W.E.R. and the ANSWER Coalition, is a United States–based protest umbrella group consisting of many antiwar and civil rights organizations. Formed in the wake of th ...
(A.N.S.W.E.R.) at the time of the split. Following the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, A.N.S.W.E.R. organized the "Seize BP" campaign, which organized demonstrations calling for the U.S. federal government to seize BP's assets and place them in trust to pay for damages. The PSL has also been active in the antiracist movement, participating in protests across the country throughout 2020. Several organizers in their Denver branch were arrested for their involvement in protests against the
death of Elijah McClain Elijah Jovan McClain (February 25, 1996 – August 30, 2019) was a 23-year-old African-American massage therapist from Aurora, Colorado, who died six days after a violent police encounter, during which he was injected with ketamine by paramed ...
.


Progressive Labor Party

The Progressive Labor Party (PL) was formed as the Progressive Labor Movement in 1962 by a group of former members of the Communist Party USA, most of whom had quit or been expelled for supporting China in the Sino-Soviet split. To them, the Soviet Union was imperialist. They competed with the CP and SWP for influence in the anti-war movement and the Students for a Democratic Society (SDS), forming the ''May 2 Movement'' as its anti-war front organization. Its major publications are ''Progressive Labor'' and the ''Marxist–Leninist Quarterly''. They later abandoned Maoism, refusing to follow the line of any foreign country and formed the front group, the
International Committee Against Racism The International Committee Against Racism was the "mass organization" of the Progressive Labor Party in the United States. It was founded in 1973Klehr, Harvey (1990) ''Far Left of Center: The American Radical Left''. New York: Transaction Publis ...
(InCAR), in 1973. Much of their activity included violent confrontations against far-right groups, such as Nazis and Klansmen. While membership in 1978 was about 1,500, by 1996 it had fallen below 500.


Revolutionary Communist Party, USA

Formed in 1969 as the Bay Area Revolutionary Union (BARU), the Revolutionary Communist Party (RCP) had almost one thousand members in twenty-five states by 1975. Its main founder and long-time leader, Bob Avakian, a Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) organizer had fought off attempts for control of the SDS by the Progressive Labor Party. The party has been unwaveringly Maoist. Working through the U.S.-China Peoples Friendship Association, the party arranged for visits by Americans to China. Their newspaper, ''Revolutionary Worker'' has featured articles supportive of Albania and North Korea, while the party, unusually for the Left, has been hostile to
school busing Race-integration busing in the United States (also known simply as busing, Integrated busing or by its critics as forced busing) was the practice of assigning and transporting students to schools within or outside their local school districts in ...
, the
Equal Rights Amendment The Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) is a proposed amendment to the United States Constitution designed to guarantee equal legal rights for all American citizens regardless of sex. Proponents assert it would end legal distinctions between men and ...
(ERA), and gay rights. The party fell out of favour with the Chinese government after the death of Mao Zedong, partly because of the personality cult of the RCP leader. By the mid-1990s the party numbered fewer than 500 members.


Workers World Party

The Workers World Party (WWP) was formed in 1958 by fewer than one hundred people who left the Socialist Workers Party after the SWP supported socialists in New York State elections. Their publication is ''
Workers World The Workers World Party (WWP) is a revolutionary Marxist–Leninist communist party founded in 1959 by a group led by Sam Marcy of the Socialist Workers Party (SWP). Marcy and his followers split from the SWP in 1958 over a series of long-stan ...
''. The party's position has developed from Trotskyism to independent Marxism–Leninism, supporting all Marxist states. They have been active in organizing protests against far-right groups. They were also notable for being the main US supporter of the former Ethiopian communist government. In the 1990s their membership was estimated at 200. Their front group,
Act Now to Stop War and End Racism Act Now to Stop War and End Racism (ANSWER), also known as International A.N.S.W.E.R. and the ANSWER Coalition, is a United States–based protest umbrella group consisting of many antiwar and civil rights organizations. Formed in the wake of th ...
(A.N.S.W.E.R.) organized the early protests against the war in Iraq, which brought hundreds of thousands of protesters to Washington, D.C. before the war had even begun. However, following a split in the party in 2004, some members left to form the Party for Socialism and Liberation, taking leadership of A.N.S.W.E.R. with them. The Workers World Party then formed the
Troops Out Now Coalition The Troops Out Now Coalition (TONC) is a United States anti-war organization, which describes itself as "a national grassroots coalition of antiwar activists, trade unionists, solidarity activists and community organizers." Closely associated with ...
.Reuters


Trotskyism

Many Trotskyist parties and organizations exist that advocate communism. These groups are distinct from Marxist–Leninist groups in that they generally adhere to the theory and writings of Leon Trotsky. Many owe their organizational heritage to the Socialist Workers Party, which emerged as a split-off from the CP.


Freedom Socialist Party

The Freedom Socialist Party began in 1966 as the Seattle branch of the Socialist Workers Party that had split from the party and joined with others who had not belonged to the SWP. They differed with the SWP on the role of African Americans, whom they saw as being the future vanguard of the revolution, and of women, emphasizing their rights, which they called " socialist feminism".
Clara Fraser Clara Fraser (March 12, 1923 – February 24, 1998) was a socialist feminist political organizer, who co-founded and led the Freedom Socialist Party and Radical Women. Biography Early life and activism Clara Fraser was born in 1923 to Jewis ...
came to lead the party and was to form the group Radical Women.


International Marxist Tendency

The US Section of the International Marxist Tendency is an American Trotskyist organization formed in 2002. The IMT is inspired by the theories of Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels, Vladimir Lenin, and Leon Trotsky, as well as British Trotskyist Ted Grant, and publishes a regular newspaper called
Socialist Revolution
' (formerly ''Socialist Appeal''). It also supports a publishing house calle
Marxist Books
The organization argues for a break with the Democrats and Republicans, and the formation of a mass working-class party with a socialist program.


International Socialist Organization

The International Socialist Organization (ISO) was a group founded in 1977 as a section of the International Socialist Tendency (IST). The organization held Leninist positions on
imperialism Imperialism is the state policy, practice, or advocacy of extending power and dominion, especially by direct territorial acquisition or by gaining political and economic control of other areas, often through employing hard power (economic and ...
and considered itself a vanguard party, preparing the ground for a revolutionary party to hypothetically succeed it. The organization held a Trotskyist critique of nominally socialist states, which it considered class societies. In contrast to this, the ISO advocated the tradition of "socialism from below". It was strongly influenced by the perspectives of Hal Draper and
Tony Cliff Tony Cliff (born Yigael Glückstein, he, יגאל גליקשטיין; 20 May 1917 – 9 April 2000) was a Trotskyist activist. Born to a Jewish family in Palestine, he moved to Britain in 1947 and by the end of the 1950s had assumed the pen nam ...
. It broke from the IST in 2001 but continued to exist as an independent organization for the next eighteen years. The ISO emphasized educational work on the socialist tradition. Branches also took part in activism against the Iraq War, against police brutality, against the death penalty, and in labor strikes, among other social movements. At its peak in 2013, the group had as many as 1500 members. The organization argued that it was the largest revolutionary socialist group in the United States at that time. The ISO found itself in crisis early 2019, largely stemming from a scandal over the leadership's response to a 2013 sexual misconduct case. The ISO voted to dissolve itself in March 2019.


Socialist Action

Socialist Action was formed in 1983 by members, almost all of whom had been expelled from the Socialist Workers Party. Its members remained loyal to Trotskyist principles, including "
permanent revolution Permanent revolution is the strategy of a revolutionary class pursuing its own interests independently and without compromise or alliance with opposing sections of society. As a term within Marxist theory, it was first coined by Karl Marx and ...
", that they claimed the SWP had abandoned. Strongly critical of authoritarian regimes, including the Soviet Union and Iran, it championed socialist revolution in third world countries. It was an active participant in the Cleveland Emergency National Conference in September 1984, set up to challenge American policy in Central America, and played a major role in organizing demonstrations against American action against the
Sandanista The Sandinista National Liberation Front ( es, Frente Sandinista de Liberación Nacional, FSLN) is a socialist political party in Nicaragua. Its members are called Sandinistas () in both English and Spanish. The party is named after Augusto Cé ...
rebels in Nicaragua.


Socialist Alternative

Although Socialist Alternative has sometimes pursued a democratic socialist strategy, most notably in Seattle where
Kshama Sawant Kshama Sawant (; born October 17, 1973) is an Indian-American politician and economist who has served on the Seattle City Council since 2014. She is a member of Socialist Alternative (United States), Socialist Alternative, the first and only mem ...
was elected to the Seattle City Council as an openly socialist candidate in 2013., it identifies as a Trotskyist political organization. Socialist Alternative is the U.S. affiliate of the International Socialist Alternative, which is a Brussels-based international of Trotskyist political parties.


Socialist Equality Party

The Socialist Equality Party (SEP) is a political party that formed after a 1964 ideological rupture with Socialist Workers Party over the issue of their support of the
Fidel Castro Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz (; ; 13 August 1926 – 25 November 2016) was a Cuban revolutionary and politician who was the leader of Cuba from 1959 to 2008, serving as the prime minister of Cuba from 1959 to 1976 and president from 1976 to 200 ...
government in Cuba, The SEP are composed of Trotskyists and are affiliated with the World Socialist Web Site.


Socialist Workers Party

With fewer than one thousand members in 1996, the Socialist Worker's Party (SWP) was the second-largest Marxist–Leninist party in the United States. Formed by supporters of Leon Trotsky, they believed that the Soviet Union and other Communist states remained "worker's states" and should be defended against reactionary forces, although their leadership had sold out the workers. They became members of the Trotskyist Fourth International. Their publications include
The Militant ''The Militant'' is an international socialist newsweekly connected to the Socialist Workers Party (SWP) and the Pathfinder Press. It is published in the United States and distributed in other countries such as Canada, the United Kingdom, Aus ...
and a theoretical journal, the International Socialist Review. Two groups that broke with the SWP in the 1960s were the
Spartacist League The Spartacus League (German: ''Spartakusbund'') was a Marxist revolutionary movement organized in Germany during World War I. It was founded in August 1914 as the "International Group" by Rosa Luxemburg, Karl Liebknecht, Clara Zetkin, and other ...
and the Workers League (which would later evolve into the Socialist Equality Party). The SWP has been involved in numerous violent scuffles.George & Wilcox, p. 110 In 1970 the party successfully sued the FBI for COINTELPRO, where the FBI opened and copied mail, planted informants, wiretapped members' homes, bugged conventions, and broke into party offices. The party fields candidates for President of the United States.


Solidarity

Solidarity is a socialist organization associated with the journal ''Against the Current''. Solidarity is an organizational descendant of International Socialists, a Trotskyist organization based on the proposition that the Soviet Union was not a "degenerate workers' state" (as in
orthodox Trotskyism Orthodox Trotskyism is a branch of Trotskyism which aims to adhere more closely to the philosophy, methods and positions of Leon Trotsky and the early Fourth International, Vladimir Lenin and Karl Marx than other avowed Trotskyists. The first Tro ...
) but rather " bureaucratic collectivism", a new and especially repressive class society.


Spartacist League

The Spartacist League was formed in 1966 by members of the Socialist Workers Party who had been expelled two years earlier after accusing the SWP of adopting "petty bourgeois ideology". Beginning with a membership of around 75, their numbers dropped to 40 by 1969 although they grew to several hundred in the early 1970s, with Maoists disillusioned with China's new foreign policy joining the group.Klehr, pp. 70–73 The League saw the Soviet Union as a " deformed workers' state", and supported it over some policies. It is committed to Trotskyist "
permanent revolution Permanent revolution is the strategy of a revolutionary class pursuing its own interests independently and without compromise or alliance with opposing sections of society. As a term within Marxist theory, it was first coined by Karl Marx and ...
", rejecting Mao's peasant guerilla warfare model. The group's publication is '' Workers Vanguard''. Much of the group's activity has involved stopping Ku Klux Klan and Nazi rallies.


Notable figures and current publications


People

* Bob Avakian – chairman of the Revolutionary Communist Party, USA *
Bill Ayers William Charles Ayers (; born December 26, 1944) rose to prominence during the 1960s as a domestic terrorist. During the 1960s, Ayers was a leader of the Weather Underground militant group, described by the FBI as a terrorist group. In 196 ...
– co-founder and co-leader of the Weather Underground *
John Bachtell John Bachtell (born March 26, 1956) is a far-left politician, American Marxist, activist, trade unionist, and community organizer who served as the Chairman of the National Committee of the Communist Party USA from its 30th National Convention in ...
– chairman of the
Communist Party USA The Communist Party USA, officially the Communist Party of the United States of America (CPUSA), is a communist party in the United States which was established in 1919 after a split in the Socialist Party of America following the Russian Revo ...
*
General Baker General Gordon Baker Jr. (September 6, 1941 – May 18, 2014) was an American labor organizer and activist. Biography General Baker was born in Detroit, Michigan, where his parents had relocated from Georgia so that his father could find wor ...
– leader of the League of Revolutionary Black Workers * Roger Nash Baldwin – founding member of the
ACLU The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is a nonprofit organization founded in 1920 "to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties guaranteed to every person in this country by the Constitution and laws of the United States". T ...
* Jack BarnesSocialist Workers Party leader * Harry Belafonte – singer, civil rights and social activist * Edward Bellamyutopian socialist author *
Victor L. Berger Victor Luitpold Berger (February 28, 1860August 7, 1929) was an Austrian–American socialist politician and journalist who was a founding member of the Social Democratic Party of America and its successor, the Socialist Party of America. Born in ...
Socialist Party of America The Socialist Party of America (SPA) was a socialist political party in the United States formed in 1901 by a merger between the three-year-old Social Democratic Party of America and disaffected elements of the Socialist Labor Party of Ameri ...
congressman * Grace Lee Boggs – Chinese-American Marxist * James Boggs - African-American Marxist *
Murray Bookchin Murray Bookchin (January 14, 1921 – July 30, 2006) was an American social theorist, author, orator, historian, and political philosopher. A pioneer in the environmental movement, Bookchin formulated and developed the theory of social ec ...
– anarchist and libertarian socialist theorist *
Earl Browder Earl Russell Browder (May 20, 1891 – June 27, 1973) was an American politician, communist activist and leader of the Communist Party USA (CPUSA). Browder was the General Secretary of the CPUSA during the 1930s and first half of the 1940s. Duri ...
– Communist Party leader *
James P. Cannon James Patrick Cannon (February 11, 1890 – August 21, 1974) was an American Trotskyist and a leader of the Socialist Workers Party. Born on February 11, 1890, in Rosedale, Kansas, the son of Irish immigrants with strong socialist convictio ...
– leader of the Socialist Workers Party *
Cesar Chavez Cesar Chavez (born Cesario Estrada Chavez ; ; March 31, 1927 – April 23, 1993) was an American labor leader and civil rights activist. Along with Dolores Huerta, he co-founded the National Farm Workers Association (NFWA), which later merged ...
United Farm Workers leader * Noam Chomsky – linguistics academic and anarchist activist * Angela Davis – Communist Party leader * Dorothy Day – founding member of the Catholic Worker Movement * Daniel De Leon
Marxist Marxism is a Left-wing politics, left-wing to Far-left politics, far-left method of socioeconomic analysis that uses a Materialism, materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to understand S ...
theoretician and newspaper editor *
Eugene V. Debs Eugene Victor "Gene" Debs (November 5, 1855 – October 20, 1926) was an American socialism, socialist, political activist, trade unionist, one of the founding members of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), and five times the candidate ...
– Socialist Party of America leader and presidential candidate *
David Dellinger David T. Dellinger (August 22, 1915 – May 25, 2004) was an American pacifist and an activist for nonviolent social change. He achieved peak prominence as one of the Chicago Seven, who were put on trial in 1969. Early life and schooling Dellin ...
– Socialist Party of America leader and pacifist *
Ron Dellums Ronald Vernie Dellums (November 24, 1935 – July 30, 2018) was an American politician who served as Mayor of Oakland from 2007 to 2011. He had previously served thirteen terms as a Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Californi ...
– Socialist congressman from California * Farrell Dobbs – leader of the Socialist Workers Party * Hal Draper – Young Peoples Socialist League leader and socialist intellectual *
W. E. B. Du Bois William Edward Burghardt Du Bois ( ; February 23, 1868 – August 27, 1963) was an American-Ghanaian sociologist, socialist, historian, and Pan-Africanist civil rights activist. Born in Great Barrington, Massachusetts, Du Bois grew up in ...
– Sociologist, historian, and civil rights activist *
Barbara Ehrenreich Barbara Ehrenreich (, ; ; August 26, 1941 – September 1, 2022) was an American author and political activist. During the 1980s and early 1990s, she was a prominent figure in the Democratic Socialists of America. She was a widely read and awar ...
– co-chair of Democratic Socialists of America * Albert Einstein – physicist *
Jane Fonda Jane Seymour Fonda (born December 21, 1937) is an American actress, activist, and former fashion model. Recognized as a film icon, Fonda is the recipient of various accolades including two Academy Awards, two British Academy Film Awards, sev ...
-
New Left The New Left was a broad political movement mainly in the 1960s and 1970s consisting of activists in the Western world who campaigned for a broad range of social issues such as civil and political rights, environmentalism, feminism, gay rights, g ...
antiwar activist, actor, CED Founder, climate activist *
William Z. Foster William Zebulon Foster (February 25, 1881 – September 1, 1961) was a Political radicalism, radical American labor organizer and Communism, Communist politician, whose career included serving as General Secretary of the Communist Party US ...
– Communist Party leader * Gil Green – Young Communist and Communist Party USA leader *
Emma Goldman Emma Goldman (June 27, 1869 – May 14, 1940) was a Russian-born anarchist political activist and writer. She played a pivotal role in the development of anarchist political philosophy in North America and Europe in the first half of the ...
– anarchist activist * Laurence Gronlund – utopian socialist author * Gus Hall – Communist Party leader and presidential candidate * Dashiell Hammett – author * Fred Hampton - Black Panther * Michael Harrington – democratic socialist activist *
Tom Hayden Thomas Emmet Hayden (December 11, 1939October 23, 2016) was an American social and political activist, author, and politician. Hayden was best known for his role as an anti-war, civil rights, and intellectual activist in the 1960s, authoring th ...
New Left The New Left was a broad political movement mainly in the 1960s and 1970s consisting of activists in the Western world who campaigned for a broad range of social issues such as civil and political rights, environmentalism, feminism, gay rights, g ...
activist and California assemblyman * Bill HaywoodIWW labor activist *
Chris Hedges Christopher Lynn Hedges (born September 18, 1956) is an American journalist, Presbyterian minister, author, and commentator. In his early career, Hedges worked as a freelance war correspondent in Central America for ''The Christian Science Mon ...
– dissident academic and Presbyterian Minister *
Alger Hiss Alger Hiss (November 11, 1904 – November 15, 1996) was an American government official accused in 1948 of having spied for the Soviet Union in the 1930s. Statutes of limitations had expired for espionage, but he was convicted of perjury in con ...
State Department The United States Department of State (DOS), or State Department, is an United States federal executive departments, executive department of the Federal government of the United States, U.S. federal government responsible for the country's fore ...
official, accused Soviet spy *
Abbie Hoffman Abbot Howard "Abbie" Hoffman (November 30, 1936 – April 12, 1989) was an American political and social activist who co-founded the Youth International Party ("Yippies") and was a member of the Chicago Seven. He was also a leading proponen ...
Yippie activist * Irving Howe – democratic socialist activist *
Mary Harris "Mother" Jones Mary G. Harris Jones (1837 (baptized) – November 30, 1930), known as Mother Jones from 1897 onwards, was an Irish-born American schoolteacher and dressmaker who became a prominent union organizer, community organizer, and activist. She h ...
– IWW labor activist * Tom Kahn – social democratic, civil rights and labor activist * Helen Keller – author and activist * Martin Luther King Jr. – civil rights activist * Gloria La Riva – ten-time perennial presidential candidate for the Workers World Party and the Party for Socialism and Liberation * Jack London – author * Meyer London – Socialist Party of America congressman * Vito Marcantonio – Socialist congressman from New York *
Sam Marcy Sam Ballan (1911 – February 1, 1998), known by his pen name Sam Marcy, was an American lawyer, writer, and Marxist-Leninist activist of the post-World War II era. He co-founded the Workers World Party in 1959 and served as its chairperson unt ...
– chairman of the Workers World Party * A. J. Muste – pacifist, labor and civil rights activist *
Immanuel Ness Immanuel Ness is a scholar of worker's organisation, migration, mobilisation and politics and Labour movement, labour activist teaching at Brooklyn College of the City University of New York. His contribution is on worker's movements and party f ...
– labor activist *
Huey P. Newton Huey Percy Newton (February 17, 1942 – August 22, 1989) was an African-American revolutionary, notable as founder of the Black Panther Party. Newton crafted the Party's ten-point manifesto with Bobby Seale in 1966. Under Newton's leadershi ...
– leader of the Black Panther Party * David North - World Socialist Web Site *
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (; ; born October 13, 1989), also known by her initials AOC, is an American politician and activist. She has served as the U.S. representative for New York's 14th congressional district since 2019, as a member of th ...
Representative for New York's 14th congressional district and democratic socialist * Michael Parenti - academic *
A. Philip Randolph Asa Philip Randolph (April 15, 1889 – May 16, 1979) was an American labor unionist and civil rights activist. In 1925, he organized and led the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, the first successful African-American led labor union. In ...
– civil rights and labor leader *
Adolph Reed Adolf (also spelt Adolph or Adolphe, Adolfo and when Latinised Adolphus) is a given name used in German-speaking countries, Scandinavia, the Netherlands and Flanders, France, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Latin America and to a lesser extent in vari ...
– Political Scientist, academic, and Marxist * John Reed – journalist * Paul Robeson – actor, civil rights and labor activist * Jerry Rubin – Yippie activist * Bayard Rustin – pacifist and civil rights activist *
C. E. Ruthenberg Charles Emil Ruthenberg (July 9, 1882 – March 1, 1927) was an American Marxist politician and a founder and head of the Communist Party USA (CPUSA). Biography Early years Charles Emil Ruthenberg was born July 9, 1882, in Cleveland, Ohio, ...
– Communist Party leader *
Bernie Sanders Bernard Sanders (born September8, 1941) is an American politician who has served as the junior United States senator from Vermont since 2007. He was the U.S. representative for the state's at-large congressional district from 1991 to 2007 ...
– Independent democratic socialist Senator and Democratic presidential candidate in the 2016 and 2020 presidential elections *
Margaret Sanger Margaret Higgins Sanger (born Margaret Louise Higgins; September 14, 1879September 6, 1966), also known as Margaret Sanger Slee, was an American birth control activist, sex educator, writer, and nurse. Sanger popularized the term "birth control ...
– reproductive rights and labor activist *
Kshama Sawant Kshama Sawant (; born October 17, 1973) is an Indian-American politician and economist who has served on the Seattle City Council since 2014. She is a member of Socialist Alternative (United States), Socialist Alternative, the first and only mem ...
Trotskyist activist and member of the Seattle City Council *
Max Shachtman Max Shachtman (; September 10, 1904 – November 4, 1972) was an American Marxist theorist. He went from being an associate of Leon Trotsky to a social democrat and mentor of senior assistants to AFL–CIO President George Meany. Beginnings S ...
– Marxist theorist and activist * Irwin Silber – Marxist journalist * Upton Sinclair – author and socialist politician * Jill Stein – Green Party presidential candidate *
I. F. Stone Isidor Feinstein "I. F." Stone (December 24, 1907 – June 18, 1989) was an American investigative journalist, writer, and author. Known for his politically progressive views, Stone is best remembered for ''I. F. Stone's Weekly'' (1953–1971), ...
– journalist * Paul Sweezy – Marxist economist and journalist * Norman Thomas – Socialist Party of America leader and presidential candidate * Benjamin Tucker – anarchist and libertarian socialist thinker *
Mark Twain Samuel Langhorne Clemens (November 30, 1835 – April 21, 1910), known by his pen name Mark Twain, was an American writer, humorist, entrepreneur, publisher, and lecturer. He was praised as the "greatest humorist the United States has p ...
– author *
Henry A. Wallace Henry Agard Wallace (October 7, 1888 – November 18, 1965) was an American politician, journalist, farmer, and businessman who served as the 33rd vice president of the United States, the 11th U.S. Secretary of Agriculture, and the 10th U.S. S ...
– Former Vice President and presidential candidate of the Progressive Party in 1948. * Cornel West – dissident academic *
Tim Wohlforth Timothy Andrew Wohlforth (May 15, 1933 – August 23, 2019), was a United States Trotskyist leader. On leaving the Trotskyist movement he became a writer of crime fiction and of politically oriented non-fiction. As a student, Wohlforth joined the ...
– Trotskyist leader *
Richard D. Wolff Richard David Wolff (born April 1, 1942) is an American Marxian economist known for his work on economic methodology and class analysis. He is professor emeritus of economics at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and a visiting professor ...
– academic * Malcolm X – civil rights activist * Howard Zinn – academic * Hasan Piker – political commentator and Twitch streamer


Publications

* ''
The New Hampshire Gazette ''The New Hampshire Gazette'' is a non-profit, alternative, bi-weekly newspaper published in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. Its editors claim that the paper, which all but disappeared into other publications until the late 1900s, is the oldest news ...
'', fortnightly, press run 5,500, founded 1756. * '' The Nation'', weekly, established 1865. Circulation 190,000. * '' The Progressive'', monthly, established 1909. * ''
Monthly Review The ''Monthly Review'', established in 1949, is an independent socialist magazine published monthly in New York City. The publication is the longest continuously published socialist magazine in the United States. History Establishment Following ...
'', monthly, established 1949. Circulation 7,000. * '' Dissent'', quarterly, established 1954. * '' Texas Observer'', established 1954. * ''
Fifth Estate The Fifth Estate is a socio-cultural reference to groupings of outlier viewpoints in contemporary society, and is most associated with bloggers, journalists publishing in non-mainstream media outlets, and the social media or "social license". The ...
'', quarterly, established 1965. * '' Review of Radical Political Economics'', quarterly, established 1968. * '' Dollars & Sense'', bimonthly, established 1974. * '' Mother Jones'', bimonthly, established 1974. * '' In These Times'', monthly, established 1976. Circulation 17,000. * ''
Z Magazine Z Communications is a left-wing activist-oriented media group founded in 1986 by Michael Albert and Lydia Sargent.Max Elbaum''Revolution in the Air: Sixties Radicals Turn to Lenin, Mao and Che'' London, England, UK; New York, New York, US: Verso, ...
'', monthly established 1977. Circulation 10,000 print and 6,000 online subscribers. * ''
Labor Notes --> Labor Notes is an American non-profit organization and network for rank-and-file union members and grassroots labor activists. Though officially titled the Labor Education and Research Project, the project is best known by the title of its mo ...
'', monthly, established 1979. * '' Utne Reader'', bimonthly, established 1984. Circulation 150,000. * ''
Left Business Observer Doug Henwood (born December 7, 1952) is an American journalist, economic analyst, author, and financial trader who writes frequently about economic affairs. Until 2013 he published a newsletter, ''Left Business Observer'', that analyzes economics a ...
'', established 1986. * '' The American Prospect'', monthly, established 1990. Circulation 55,000.* '' The Baffler'', established 1988. * ''
CounterPunch ''CounterPunch'' is a left-wing online magazine. Content includes a free section published five days a week as well as a subscriber-only area called CounterPunch+, where original articles are published weekly. ''CounterPunch'' is based in the Unit ...
'', semi-monthly, established 1994. * CrimethInc., anarchist publishing collective established 1996. * ''
Working USA ''Journal of Labor and Society'', formerly ''Working USA: The Journal of Labor and Society'', is a quarterly peer-reviewed academic journal published by Brill covering the political economy of labour, labor movements, and class relations throughou ...
'', quarterly, established 1997. * ''
The Indypendent ''The Indypendent'' is a progressive newspaper based in Brooklyn, New York. It is published monthly, distributed worldwide and is available for free throughout New York City and online. It currently prints 30,000 copies per issue, covering local ...
'', published 17 times per year, established 2000. * '' Truthout'', website, established 2001. * ''
Left Turn ''Left Turn'' was a bimonthly activist news magazine that focused on international social justice movements. Based in New York City and produced by an all volunteer editorial collective, the magazine promoted anti-imperialism and anti-authoritari ...
'', website, established 2001. *
Socialist Revolution
' (formerly ''Socialist Appeal''), established 2001. * ''Black Commentator'', web-only weekly, established 2002. * ''
Jacobin , logo = JacobinVignette03.jpg , logo_size = 180px , logo_caption = Seal of the Jacobin Club (1792–1794) , motto = "Live free or die"(french: Vivre libre ou mourir) , successor = Pa ...
'', established 2010. * '' It's Going Down'', established 2016.


Public officeholders


Communist Party USA


Wisconsin

#
Wahsayah Whitebird Wahsayah Whitebird (born 1992) is a member of the Communist Party of the United States who served from 2019 to 2021 on the City Council of Ashland, Wisconsin, United States. Whitebird is a Native American from the Bad River Band of the Chippe ...
– Member of the
Ashland, Wisconsin Ashland is a city in Ashland and Bayfield counties in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. It is the county seat of Ashland County. The city is a port on Lake Superior, near the head of Chequamegon Bay. The population was 7,908 at the 2020 census, al ...
city-council.


Green Party of the United States

There have been at least 65 officeholders for the Green Party of the United States.


Arkansas

# Alvin Clay – Justice of the Peace Mississippi County, District 6 Elected: 2012 # Kade Holliday – County Clerk Craighead County, Arkansas Elected: 2012 # Roger Watkins – Constable Craighead County, District 5 Elected: 2012


California

#
Dan Hamburg Daniel Hamburg (born October 6, 1948) is an American politician in Northern California who was elected as a Democratic Party Congressman in 1992, serving one term from 1993 to 1995. In 1998, he was the Green Party gubernatorial candidate in Calif ...
– Board of Supervisors, District 5, Mendocino County # Bruce Delgado – Mayor, Marina (Monterey County) # Larry Bragman – Town Council, Fairfax (Marin County) # Renée Goddard – Town Council, Fairfax (Marin County) # John Reed – Town Council, Fairfax (Marin County) # Gayle Mclaughlin – City Council, Richmond (Contra Costa) # Deborah Heathersone – Town Council, Point Arena (Mendocino County) # Paul Pitino – Town Council, Arcata (Humboldt County) # John Keener (politician), John Keener – City Council, Pacifica (San Mateo County) # Vahe Peroomian – Board of Trustees, Glendale Community College District, Glendale (Los Angeles County) # Amy Martenson – Board of Trustees, District 2, Napa Valley College, Napa (Napa County) # April Clary – Board of Trustees, Student Representative, Napa Valley College, Napa (Napa County) # Heather Bass – Board of Directors, Gilroy Unified School District, Gilroy, Santa Clara County # Dave Clark – Board of Directors, Cardiff School District (San Diego County) # Phyllis Greenleaf – Board of Trustees, Live Oak Elementary School District (Santa Cruz County) # Adriana Griffin – Red Bluff Union School District, Red Bluff (Tehama County) # Jim C. Keller – Board of Trustees, Bonny Doon Union Elementary School District, Santa Cruz County # Brigitte Kubacki – Governing Boardmember, Green Point School, Blue Lake (Humboldt County) # Jose Lara – Vice President and Governing Board Member, El Rancho Unified School District, Pico Rivera (Los Angeles) # Kimberly Ann Peterson – Board of Trustees, Geyserville Unified School District (Sonoma County) # Karen Pickett (politician), Karen Pickett – Board Member, Canyon Canyon Elementary School District (Contra Costa County) # Kathy Rallings – Board of Trustees, Carlsbad Unified School District, Carlsbad, San Diego County # Sean Reagan – Governing Boardmember, Norwalk-La Mirada Unified School District, Norwalk (Los Angeles County) # Curtis Robinson – Board of Trustees, Area 6, Marin County Board of Education (Marin County) # Christopher Sabec (politician), Christopher Sabec – Governing Boardmember, Lagunitas School District (Marin County) # Katherine Salinas – Governing Boardmember, Arcata School District, Arcata (Humboldt County) # Jeffrey Dean Schwartz – Governing Boardmember, Arcata School District, Arcata (Humboldt County) # Alex Shantz – Board of Trustees, St. Helena Unified School District, Napa County # Dana Silvernale – Governing Boardmember, North Humboldt Union High School (Humboldt County) # Jim Smith (politician), Jim Smith – President, Canyon School Board, Canyon Township (Contra Costa County) # Logan Blair Smith – Little Shasta Elementary School District, Montague (Shasta County) # Rama Zarcufsky – Governing Boardmember, Maple Creek School District (Humboldt County) # John Selawsky – Rent Stabilization Board, Berkeley (Alameda County) # Jesse Townley – Rent Stabilization Board, Berkeley (Alameda County) # Jeff Davis (politician), Jeff Davis – Board of Directors, Alameda-Contra Costa Transit District (Alameda and Contra Costa Counties) # Karen Anderson (politician), Karen Anderson – Board of Directors, Coastside Fire Protection District (San Mateo County) # Robert L. Campbell – Scotts Valley Fire District (Santa Cruz County) # William Lemos – Fire Protection District, Mendocino (Mendocino County) # Russell Pace – Board of Directors, Willow Creek Fire District (Humboldt County) # John Abraham Powell – Board of Directors, Montecito Fire District, Montecito (Santa Barbara County) # Larry Bragman – Board of Directors, Division 3, Marin Municipal Water District Board (Marin County) # James Harvey (politician), James Harvey – Board of Directors, Montara Water and Sanitary District (San Mateo County) # Randy Marx – Board of Directors, Fair Oaks Water District, Division 4 (Sacramento County) # Jan Shriner – Board of Directors, Marina Coast Water District (Monterey County) # Kaitlin Sopoci-Belknap – Board of Directors, Humboldt Bay Municipal Water District, Division 1 (Humboldt County) # James Barone – Boardmember, Rollingwood-Wilart Recreation and Parks District (Contra Costa County) # William Hayes (California politician), William Hayes – Board of Directors, Mendocino Coast Park and Recreation District (Mendocino County) # Illijana Asara – Board of Directors, Community Service District, Big Lagoon (Humboldt County) # Gerald Epperson – Board of Directors, Crocket Community Services District, Contra Costa County # Joseph Gauder – Boardmember, Covelo Community Services District, Covelo (Mendocino County) # Crispin Littlehales – Boardmember, Covelo Community Services District, Covelo (Mendocino County) # George A. Wheeler – Board of Directors, Community Service District, McKinleyville (Humboldt County) # Mathew Clark – Board of Directors, Granada Sanitary District (San Mateo County) # Nanette Corley – Director, Resort Improvement District, Whitehorn (Humboldt County) # Sylvia Aroth – Outreach Officer, Venice Neighborhood Council, Los Angeles (Los Angeles County) # Robin Doyno – At-Large Community Officer, Mar Vista Neighborhood Council, Los Angeles (Los Angeles County) # Janine Jordan – District 4 Business Representative, Mid-Town North Hollywood Neighborhood Council, Los Angeles (Los Angeles County) # Jack Lindblad – At Large Community Stakeholder, North Hollywood Northeast Neighborhood Council, Los Angeles (Los Angeles County) # Johanna A. Sanchez – Secretary, Historic Highland Park Neighborhood Council, Los Angeles (Los Angeles County) # Johanna A. Sanchez – At-Large Director, Historic Highland Park Neighborhood Council, Los Angeles (Los Angeles County) # Marisol Sanchez (politician), Marisol Sanchez – Area 1 Seat, Boyle Heights Neighborhood Council, Los Angeles (Los Angeles County) # William Bretz – Crest/Dehesa/Harrison Canyon/Granite Hill Planning Group (San Diego County) # Claudia White – Member, Descanso Community Planning Group (San Diego County) # Annette Keenberg – Town Council, Lake Los Angeles (Los Angeles County) # Rama Zarcufsky – Governing Boardmember, Maple Creek School District (Humboldt County)


Socialist Alternative


Washington

#
Kshama Sawant Kshama Sawant (; born October 17, 1973) is an Indian-American politician and economist who has served on the Seattle City Council since 2014. She is a member of Socialist Alternative (United States), Socialist Alternative, the first and only mem ...
Seattle City Council, Position 2


Socialist Party USA


New Jersey

# Pat Noble – Member of the Red Bank Regional High School Board of Education for Red Bank


Vermont Progressive Party

# David Zuckerman – Lieutenant Governor #
Doug Hoffer Douglas R. Hoffer Jr. (born September 3, 1951) is an American policy analysis, policy analyst from Burlington, Vermont, Burlington, Vermont, who is currently serving as the Vermont Auditor of Accounts, Vermont State Auditor. He took office on Jan ...
– State Auditor # Tim Ashe – Pro Tem of the Vermont Senate # Chris Pearson – Member of the Vermont Senate #
Anthony Pollina Anthony Pollina (born February 17, 1952) is an American Progressive politician who has served as a member of the Vermont Senate since 2011. Biography Anthony Pollina was born in Ridgewood, New Jersey on February 17, 1952, the son of Salvatore P ...
– Member of the Vermont Senate # Mollie S. Burke – Member of the
Vermont House of Representatives The Vermont House of Representatives is the lower house of the Vermont General Assembly, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Vermont. The House comprises 150 members, with each member representing around 4,100 citizens. Representatives ar ...
# Robin Chesnut-Tangerman – Member of the
Vermont House of Representatives The Vermont House of Representatives is the lower house of the Vermont General Assembly, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Vermont. The House comprises 150 members, with each member representing around 4,100 citizens. Representatives ar ...
# Diana Gonzalez – Member of the
Vermont House of Representatives The Vermont House of Representatives is the lower house of the Vermont General Assembly, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Vermont. The House comprises 150 members, with each member representing around 4,100 citizens. Representatives ar ...
#
Sandy Haas Sandy Haas (born May 8, 1946) is a Vermont lawyer and innkeeper. Since 2005 she has served as a Progressive Party member of the Vermont House of Representatives representing the Windsor-Rutland District. Background Haas was born on May 8, ...
– Member of the
Vermont House of Representatives The Vermont House of Representatives is the lower house of the Vermont General Assembly, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Vermont. The House comprises 150 members, with each member representing around 4,100 citizens. Representatives ar ...
# Selene Colburn – Member of the
Vermont House of Representatives The Vermont House of Representatives is the lower house of the Vermont General Assembly, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Vermont. The House comprises 150 members, with each member representing around 4,100 citizens. Representatives ar ...
# Brian Cina – Member of the
Vermont House of Representatives The Vermont House of Representatives is the lower house of the Vermont General Assembly, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Vermont. The House comprises 150 members, with each member representing around 4,100 citizens. Representatives ar ...
# Jane Knodell – Burlington City Council President (Central District) # Max Tracy – Burlington City Council (Ward 2) # Sara Giannoni – Burlington City Council (Ward 3) # Wendy Coe – Ward Clerk (Ward 2) # Carmen Solari – Inspector of Elections (Ward 2) # Kit Andrews – Inspector of Elections (Ward 3) # Jeremy Hansen – Berlin Select Board # Steve May Richmond Select Board #
Susan Hatch Davis Susan Hatch Davis is an American politician from Vermont. A member of the Vermont Progressive Party, she was a candidate in the 2022 Vermont gubernatorial election. before withdrawing from the race. The Progressive Party ended up endorsing Brenda ...
– Former Member of the
Vermont House of Representatives The Vermont House of Representatives is the lower house of the Vermont General Assembly, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Vermont. The House comprises 150 members, with each member representing around 4,100 citizens. Representatives ar ...
# Dexter Randel Former Member of the
Vermont House of Representatives The Vermont House of Representatives is the lower house of the Vermont General Assembly, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Vermont. The House comprises 150 members, with each member representing around 4,100 citizens. Representatives ar ...
& Former Troy Select Board # Bob Kiss – Former Mayor of Burlington # Peter Clevelle – Former Mayor of Burlington # David Van Deusen – Former Moretown Select Board & Former First Constable


Working Families Party


Connecticut

#
Ed Gomes Edwin A. Gomes (February 25, 1936 – December 22, 2020) was an American politician, a Democratic member of the Connecticut State Senate, representing District 23, which includes Bridgeport. He was elected to the chamber in a special election on ...
– Member of the Connecticut Senate from the 23rd district


New York

#
Diana Richardson Diana Richardson (born January 16, 1983) is an American politician who served as a member of the New York Assembly. She was elected on the Working Families Party line in a 2015 special election to replace Karim Camara in the 43rd district, which ...
– Member of the
New York State Assembly The New York State Assembly is the lower house of the New York State Legislature, with the New York State Senate being the upper house. There are 150 seats in the Assembly. Assembly members serve two-year terms without term limits. The Assem ...
from the 43rd district


See also

*
African-American leftism African-American leftism refers to left-wing political currents that have developed among various African-American communities in the United States of America. These currents are active around social issues, and often call for an African-Amer ...
* Espionage Act of 1917 *
Handschu agreement The Handschu agreement is a set of guidelines that regulate police behavior in New York City with regard to political activity. Background In 1971, members of the Black Panther Party known as the Panther 21 were tried for conspiracy to blow up p ...
*
History of the socialist movement in the United States The history of the socialist movement in the United States spans a variety of tendencies, including Anarchism in the United States, anarchists, Communism in the United States, communists, democratic socialists, Marxists, Marxist–Leninists, T ...
*
House Un-American Activities Committee The House Committee on Un-American Activities (HCUA), popularly dubbed the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC), was an investigative committee of the United States House of Representatives, created in 1938 to investigate alleged disloy ...
*
Liberalism in the United States Liberalism in the United States is a political and moral philosophy based on concepts of unalienable rights of the individual. The fundamental liberal ideals of freedom of speech, freedom of the press, freedom of religion, the separation of chu ...
*
Millennial socialism Millennial socialism is a resurgence of interest in democratic socialism and social democracy among Americans and Britons born in the 1980s and later, generationally known as millennials and Generation Z. Background American millennials and ...
* Modern liberalism in the United States * Progressivism in the United States *
Red Scare A Red Scare is the promotion of a widespread fear of a potential rise of communism, anarchism or other leftist ideologies by a society or state. The term is most often used to refer to two periods in the history of the United States which ar ...


References


Bibliography

* ALB (2009–10) "The SLP of America: a premature obituary?" ''Socialist Standard''. Retrieved 2010-05-1

* Alexander, Robert J. ''International Trotskyism, 1929–1985: a documented analysis of the movement''. United States of America: Duke University Press, 1991. * Amster, Randall. ''Contemporary anarchist studies: an introductory anthology of anarchy in the academy''. Oxford, UK: Taylor & Francis, 2009 * Archer, Robin. ''Why Is There No Labor Party in the United States?''. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2007. * Bérubé, Michael. ''The Left at war''. New York: New York University Press, 2009 * Buhle, Mari Jo; Buhle, Paul and Georgakas, Dan. ''Encyclopedia of the American left'' (Second edition). Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998. * Busky, Donald F. ''Democratic Socialism: A Global Survey''. Westport: Praeger Publishers, 2000. * Coleman, Stephen. ''Daniel De Leon''. Manchester, UK: Manchester University Press, 1990 * Draper, Theodore. ''The roots of American Communism''. New York: Viking Press, 1957. * * George, John and Wilcox, Laird. ''American Extremists: Militias, Supremacists, Klansmen, Communists & Others''. Amherst: Prometheus Books, 1996. * Graeber, David. "The rebirth of anarchism in North America, 1957–2007" in ''Contemporary history online'', No. 21, (Winter, 2010) * * Isserman, Maurice. ''The other American: the life of Michael Harrington''. New York: Public Affairs, 2000. * Klehr, Harvey. ''Far Left of Center: The American Radical Left Today''. New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Publishers, 1988. * Liebman, Arthur. ''Jews and the Left''. New York: John Wiley and Sons, 1979. * Lingeman, Richard. ''The Nation Guide to the Nation''. New York: Vintage Books, 2009. * Lipset, Seymour Martin and Marks, Gary. ''It didn't happen here: why socialism failed in the United States''. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, Inc. 2001. * Reuters. "U.S. protests shrink while antiwar sentiment grows". Oct 3, 2007 12:30:17 GMT Retrieved September 20, 201
Humanitarian , Thomson Reuters Foundation News
* Ryan, James G. ''Earl Browder: the failure of American Communism''. Tuscaloosa and London: The University of Alabama Press, 1997. * Sherman, Amy. "Demonstrators to gather in Fort Lauderdale to rail against oil giant BP", the ''Miami Herald''. May 12, 2010 Retrieved from SunSentinel.com September 22, 201
Demonstrators to gather in Fort Lauderdale to rail against oil giant BP
* Stedman, Susan W. and Stedman Jr. Murray Salisbury. ''Discontent at the polls: a study of farmer and labor parties, 1827–1948''. New York: Columbia University Press. 1950. * Woodcock, George, ''Anarchism: a history of libertarian ideas and movements''. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2004.


External links


"The Socialist Trade and Labor Alliance versus the 'pure and simple trade union'"
1900 debate, Daniel De Leon and
Job Harriman Job Harriman (January 15, 1861 – October 26, 1925) was an ordained minister who later became an agnostic and a socialist. In 1900, he ran for vice president of the United States along with Eugene Debs on the ticket of the Socialist Party of ...

"Is Russia a socialist Community?"
1950 debate,
Earl Browder Earl Russell Browder (May 20, 1891 – June 27, 1973) was an American politician, communist activist and leader of the Communist Party USA (CPUSA). Browder was the General Secretary of the CPUSA during the 1930s and first half of the 1940s. Duri ...
, C. Wright Mills and
Max Shachtman Max Shachtman (; September 10, 1904 – November 4, 1972) was an American Marxist theorist. He went from being an associate of Leon Trotsky to a social democrat and mentor of senior assistants to AFL–CIO President George Meany. Beginnings S ...
* "Why No Revolution? A Short History of American Left Movements"
Part 1: early 1800s to 1945Part 2: 1945–2012
2012, featuring Joe Uris *"Second Thought" https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJm2TgUqtK1_NLBrjNQ1P-w {{Portal bar, Socialism, Liberalism Political movements in the United States Progressivism in the United States Reform movements