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Politics : Politics for Pros- moderated
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To: Lane3 who wrote (48824)6/5/2004 2:22:37 PM
From: JohnM  Read Replies (2) of 793896
 
I'm not aware of anything that predates the Great Depression. What did you have in mind?

The name which leaps immediately to mind for the 19th Century is Henry George. Also, there were clearly socialist elements in the American labor movement before the turn of that century,as well as into the 20th. I think one of the Reuthers was a self declared socialist. The Wobblies, in the twentieth century, were a wierd mix of populism and socialism. Eugene Debs is, of course, the most famous. And I agree that the American socialist movement certainly gains a great deal of social prominence in the 30s.

How large a net one casts for this obviously depends on which definition of socialism one picks. In the above, I'm simply taking self designated labels.

They had the state taking from some according to their means and giving it to others according to their needs. What more would be needed to qualify?

Socialism generally means state control of the economy, not the sort of mixed economy one sees in the 60s. Nor was the philosophy behind LBJs halfway measures the one you've outlined. It was that of the safety net in which the rationale is more self serving. Something like the whole social order needs, let's say good affordable health care, funded by the state, in order to limit the growth of highly contagious diseases.

Another illustration. Some of LBJs advisers argued for better poverty programs not on amelioristic grounds but on social order grounds--the best way to head off social turmoil.
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