ProQuest history vault. Socialist Party of America records

Available as

Online

Summary

Provides an historical overview of the Socialist Party of America as it struggled to gain support and realize its goals. Documents in the collection include correspondence, position papers, memoran...

Provides an historical overview of the Socialist Party of America as it struggled to gain support and realize its goals. Documents in the collection include correspondence, position papers, memoranda, financial records, pamphlets and broadsides, and leaflets. The records in the collection reflect the party's internal disputes, including the 1919 split, which resulted in the formation of the American Communist Party. An important segment of the material focuses on the 1950s and 1960s, when the party's momentum was aided by social unrest and the concomitant increase in civil rights activities. These were also the years when the Socialist Party of America finally received widespread attention from intellectuals and influential government leaders in President Johnson's War on Poverty. The files from 1963 to 1976 document the Socialist Party's new alignment with the Democratic Party as it worked to forge a labor-liberal coalition. These records will allow researchers to investigate the changes that occurred within the party during the 1960s and early 1970s: the formation of the Social Democrats, U.S.A., of the "Debs Caucus," and the Socialist Party, U.S.A.

Of the many socialist organizations born during the late 19th and 20th centuries, the Socialist Party of America was perhaps the most well-known. With the Socialist Party of America Papers, students will find valuable primary sources for the study of the labor movement, civil rights, anti-war activities and the history of the "American left." The Socialist Party of America Papers provide an exceptional historical overview of the Socialist Party of America as it struggled to gain support and realize its goals. Documents in the collection include correspondence, position papers, memoranda, financial records, pamphlets and broadsides, and leaflets. This outstanding collection is a must for historical research into American Socialism, labor and leftist thought in the 20th Century.

Show More