Wasserman writes: "Despite the corporate hype, Democratic Socialism and Social Democracy are deeply rooted in the mainstream of our nation's history."
Democratic socialists of America. (photo: Getty)
What Really Happened to American Socialism?
10 October 19
espite the corporate hype, Democratic Socialism and Social Democracy are deeply rooted in the mainstream of our nation�s history.
The lie that they�re �foreign ideologies� starts with the fascist assault Woodrow Wilson waged against them during and after World War 1. �
Their marginalization today by corporate Democrats and Trump Republicans is itself profoundly un-American.
Here�s the reality (as explained in greater length in my new People�s Spiral of US History):
In the decades after the Civil War, Robber Baron corporations captured the core of the American economy. Led by J.P. Morgan and John Rockefeller, they pushed family farmers and urban workers deep into the depths of poverty.�
In the West and South, agrarian activists formed the People�s (Populist) Party to demand public control over the monopoly capitalist forces that were destroying their lives. Their socialistic platforms demanded democratic rule over the money supply, banks, railroads, telecommunications, and much more. They wanted female suffrage, direct election of senators, referendum and recall.
But in 1896, the Populists were sabotaged by wimp Democrat William Jennings Bryan, who begged their support, then back-stabbed them in a presidential election he lost (of course) to the corporate Republican, William McKinley.
Soon thereafter, the great labor leader Eugene V. Debs became an outspoken socialist. Debs had formed the American Railway Union and led a great 1895 national rail strike that shut the nation. He was jailed by President Grover Cleveland, a Democrat he�d previously supported. �
While imprisoned in Woodstock, Illinois, Debs renounced corporate capitalism. He called instead for an economic system owned and operated by America�s working people. The means of production would be socialized for the good of the public, he said. All citizens would be guaranteed a decent living, including food, housing, education, medical care and more. �I am for Socialism,� he said, �because I am for humanity.�
Amiable, charismatic and incorruptible, the tall, slim, Indiana-born Debs gathered a huge national following. Tens of millions of Americans accepted Debsian Socialism as a legitimate part of the national dialogue. The party elected hundreds of local officials throughout the country, including many mayors and two US Representatives. Millions � including many conservatives � assumed (especially while Gene was around) the US might someday have a Socialist president. �
Thousands flocked to Debs�s speeches on a moment�s notice. Dubbed �the American Saint,� he demanded an egalitarian grassroots democracy that extended deep into the realm of material wellbeing. Gene�s American Socialist Party renounced dictatorship of any kind and sustained a far deeper commitment to the Bill of Rights than either the Republicans or the Democrats. �
The American Socialist Party strongly opposed American Empire. It fought all-out against Woodrow Wilson�s plunge into World War 1. In 1916 Wilson had run for re-election as a �peace candidate.� Then he jumped in to save the British and French, who owed Morgan and Rockefeller huge sums of money.
To defend his hugely unpopular imperial war, Wilson shredded the Constitution. He jailed thousands of Socialists and peace activists merely for speaking out. He imprisoned Debs for demanding peace in a legendary speech at Canton, Ohio. �
Wilson�s attorney general, A. Mitchell Palmer, then ran Gestapo-style Red Scare raids that killed, maimed, and jailed the leadership of the Socialist and radical labor movements. Federal marshals trashed Socialist headquarters, burned union offices, broke warrantless into private homes, and terrorized, beat, and imprisoned anyone suspected of a trace of leftism. Not until Mussolini and Hitler�s storm troopers took Italy and Germany was there a more brutal putsch anywhere in the West.
Wilson�s assault thrilled Samuel Gompers, head of the American Federation of Labor. Gompers saw Debs as his chief rival for leadership of the union movement. His AFofL embraced capitalism and empire, and banned blacks, women, immigrants, and the unskilled. �
In concert with Gompers and the Robber Barons, Wilson destroyed the American Socialist Party and what had been the mainstream acceptance of sharing the wealth as a legitimate alternative to corporate domination. His ruling elite chose instead a form of what Theodore Roosevelt called �national socialism.� Dominant corporations claimed to love a capitalist free market but were always on the take for public handouts and massive bailouts. Conquering an empire came with the �patriotic� territory. �
Through the next century, Socialist ideals were kept alive by the likes of Norman Thomas, Dorothy Day, and Michael Harrington. Imperial Democrat/Republicans (and the corporate media) still relentlessly brand as �unAmerican� the view that our human community should be guaranteed the basics of life, and that our nation should not be conquering other countries. With an iron fist, the two parties and their talking heads have smeared democratic socialism and social democracy to keep it out of the mainstream dialogue.
Bernie Sanders has revived much of Debs�s ideology and excitement. He generally stops short of calling for public ownership of the means of production. But Bernie embraces Gene�s deep commitment to Social Democracy and a system based on human justice, grassroots equality, and No Nukes ecological harmony. �
In the 2016 primaries, despite underhanded sabotage from the corporate Democrat elite, Bernie got more than a dozen times as many votes as the (severely undercounted) million Gene officially got during his peak runs in 1912 and 1920 (when he ran from federal prison).
In the face of outright fascism and corporate corruption, it�s time to reclaim the legitimate mainstream acceptance of American Socialism. The idea that our citizenry is entitled to ownership of our nation�s core economic institutions is as American as apple pie. So is opposition to empire and a deep, abiding commitment to real grassroots social democracy.
Both Democratic Socialism and Social Democracy are American made. Accept no substitutes.
Write Harvey Wasserman for THE PEOPLE�S SPIRAL OF US HISTORY: FROM DEGANAWIDAH TO SOLARTOPIA via solartopia@gmail.com. His California Solartopia Show airs at KPFK/Pacific 90.7 fm in Los Angeles; Green Power & Wellness is podcast at prn.fm.� �
Reader Supported News is the Publication of Origin for this work. Permission to republish is freely granted with credit and a link back to Reader Supported News.
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Should the postal service be eliminated or totally privatized, see what your delivery costs do. And, if you live in a rural area, you will really be in for "sticker shock".
We must stand together, get rid of onerous laws and return our postal service to future viability.
DPM is not exaggerating at all when he says that absent the USPS there will be serious sticker shock. It costs $40 to send an overnight shipment from South Texas to Washington, D.C. by FedEx. The same thing can happen with the USPS for a fraction of that.
The only reason I even think of using an inept outfit like FedEx is that the people I send to require it and are paying for it. And FedEx won't even deliver to your house! You have to go to their station if you want to get your package.
http://usgovinfo.about.com/od/consumerawareness/a/Postal-Service-Bonuses-End.htm
So, where are you getting your information that contradicts this information?
Frankly, I think you just assumed it.
This is just more smoke and mirrors. Just google "post office executive bonuses" to get to the truth. MSM, your listening to too much Rush Linbaugh!!
"The U.S. Postal Service suspended bonuses and other incentives for its top managers and executives in summer 2011. The Postal Service said it took the action as a result of its "dire financial situation," the loss of $8.5 billion in fiscal year 2010 and expected deficit of $8 billion more in 2011.
"We must continue to identify opportunities to reduce spending where possible, and eliminate costs which are not deemed essential for the continuation of our operations," Anthony J. Vegliante, the Postal Service's chief human resources officer, said in a memo distributed in summer 2011. Vegliante earned a salary of $240,000 in 2011."
See also: Highest Paying Postal Jobs
The suspension of bonuses and other incentives for top Postal Service managers and executives was described as a "temporary policy change" that was to remain in place "until further notice," the Postal Service said. It did not effect Postal Service clerks, mail handlers and union workers.
This link gives at the very end postal salaries of upper management.I worked for the post office and while I was aware of bonuses I wasn't aware of how much postal management's salaries were until I wandered into this video.
Instead, since most of us hate the big private banks, with good reason, why not create public non-profit banks, at either the state or county level and let them operate mini-branches out of the existing post offices? That would provie more than enough revenue to balance the U.S. Postal Service budget.
There might even be enough money left over to gift those damn lobbyists with a free, one-way ticket to Mars. Perhaps that is not far enough away, but it would be a good start.
Clearly, UPS and FedEx have been
bribing/lobbyin g/pressuring etc. congressmen and Senators in order to take away business from the Post Office.
Thanks!
Unless you do X. Y is going to happen for these reasons and then why, ought to be the format- not bassakwards.
Thanks for the info Matt, but you should have been asked to do it over before it was published.
Instead, since most of us hate the big private banks, with good reason, why not create public non-profit banks, at either the state or county level and let them operate mini-branches out of the existing post offices? That would provie more than enough revenue to balance the U.S. Postal Service budget.
There might even be enough money left over to gift those damn lobbyists with a free, one-way ticket to Mars. Perhaps that is not far enough away, but it would be a good start.
The United States Postal Savings System was established in 1911 but was discontinued on March 28, 1966. Google
postal savings system for websites with more details.
Republicans get next day service.
Democrats get next week service
Liberals get next month, if any, delivery. :-)
Has anyone really considered why the founders wanted to guarantee a postal service's existence by mandating it in the US Constitution? I would like to see the US Postal Service become a more central part of the government's structure. Its budget should be independent of revenue and the department take on responsibility for any broad based mass communications. At the time the Constitution was written the mail was the only mass media available. Could the intent of naming the USPS in the Constitution was to assure that mass media would be available to everyone? By outsourcing this critical function we diminish our democracy. Closing down local post offices puts millions of rural and poor Americans at a greater of being under the control of the Corporations that by their networked connected nature cannot be impartial when deciding delivery routes, times, and office locations.
"UNPROFITABLE. So what? When has the Pentagon ever made a profit? Never, nor does anyone suggest it should. Neither has the FBI, Centers for Disease Control, FDA, State Department, FEMA, Park Service, etc. Producing a profit is not the purpose of government-- its purpose is service."
I only know this because an old friend is a postmaster. I printed out and gave that office the Jim Hightower article. The employees were grateful to read something that supports their efforts. There is way too much propaganda out there, as you know. Your comments are pertinent and I plan to quote you when speaking with my old friend.
He might even be technically correct, and this is the reason we should worry.
Have we lost all sense of logic in the face of unmitigated greed?
No, I'm sure the Republicans didn't consider this when voting on it.
Finally, as for the comment of the post office being the only meeting place in town, why not have the post office take up lodge at the local Wal-Mart?
Nowadays all we get are the crumbs that spill from the tables of the very rich--those who profit from the misfortunes of others and laugh all the way to the bank
The only way open to us at present is to turn out the vote as we turn out the scum who do the bidding of the corporatists. Turn out Scott Walker; turn out Rick Perry, and Rick Scott; turn out Christy and Kasich. When the 99% awaken to the colossal scam that they have been subjected to, the 1% had better hide under their beds. They'd better get out of the country before they're found by those carrying torches and pitchforks.
Just a note: Fedex is non-union while UPS is unionized.
Another question: the Postal Service is in the Constitution? Wouldn't an amendment be needed to privatize it?
They can decide under one of their felonious laws to not allow you to have mail. IRS will be direct depositing...so me ways good but then again Big Brother is in your business. I believe one should set up separate account for such transactions and go to Credit Unions or out of Country. Canada gives a crap about their people...USA doesn't
Republicans want no min wage. Want us working for food..pink slime and monsanto poison. GOP been destroying Unions since ReaGun, and you are the ones that must change it
You can argue the fairness or whether such payments are or are not deserved, but it's there, in black and white on a Postal Service UNION site.