Radicalism in America

by Sidney Lens

"Radical", like "democracy," is a term all are constrained to define for themselves. If Lens--concentrating on what radicals actually accomplish, rather than what they propose-- chooses to see their role "as an antidote to privilege," that is his privilege. Certainly one cannot argue with his proposition that it has been radicals, above all, who have been the "motor force" of American history, or his reiterated opinion that persons as richly individual as Sam Adams, Fanny Wright, John Brown, Gene Debs, Big Bill Haywood & A.J. Muste have as many similarities as differences. This was an ambitious undertaking, amounting to little less than a retelling of the political story of our nation, & Sidney Lens has encompassed his project more successfully than could have been expected. In line with his consistent emphasis upon connective rather than distinctive features of each age & movement, he has been able to treat touchy subjects--the Communist Party, for instance--as comprehendingly as safe ones. He has also managed to provide broad guidelines & some focus for understanding the as-yet unfinished stories of the Civil Rights & Peace movements, & the New Left. A vigorous job.--Kirkus (edited)

Genres: History

398 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1966

Reviews

[Andrew Figueiredo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Radicalism in America is an enriching history of the American left, particularly its relationship with organized labor. Lens views radicals as "an antidote to privilege," fundamentally "a motor force of history" in combatting inequality and stagnation. (1-2) His favorable view of left-wing radicalism shines through, but doesn't stop him from nuanced appraisals of radicals across the the 350ish years from 1620 through the late 1960s.

Lens' broad scope does illuminate how difficult it is to deploy labels like "right" and "left" in the 1600s-1800s. For instance, Sidney Lens classifies Patrick Henry as left wing. Indeed, Henry was a staunch opponent of expanded government and all-around more of a libertarian than a lefty if we're going to use modern political terminology. Lens recognizes this, but I think he still tries to hard to shoehorn different political contexts into modern categories.

He addresses early Americans like Roger Williams who challenged conformity, and utopians like Robert Owen and Charles Fourier. This earlier section is subject to the issue I mentioned, but there are some really neat stories in here, like the history of anarchist-inspired co-op movements in the 1800s, or William Lloyd Garrison's anti-Constitution stance.

But Lens really shines when he hits the Gilded Age. I learned a ton from his description of early American labor unions. Moving into the 20th century, he made socialist factional battles entertaining, combining straightforward analysis with a certain emotional touch, for example: "De Leon was essentially a brain, Debs essentially a heart. Perhaps the two movements they fathered reflected this difference." Lens' history of American socialism had me googling fascinating crossovers--who knew Wendell Willkie, the 1940 GOP nominee, defended Communist Party official William Schneiderman pro bono at the Supreme Court?

[Thomas Ray]

Revised edition 1981. See the correct ISBNs here: https://search.library.wisc.edu/catal...

[Randall Wallace · Rating 5 out of 5]

In 1850 there were only six to seven million white people in the South – yet only 1,700 of them owned 100 or more slaves. Big slaveholders ruled the South. Virtually every radical in America voted for Lincoln in 1860. Yet soon, many of the biggest Wall Street names were made through corrupt government business deals selling crappy stuff like defective rifles at the people’s expense. This is the book that shows you how Rutherford B. Hayes makes a deal that sells out the already freed American slaves and forces the end of reconstruction just so he can assume power. If so Hayes seems to be the grandfather of Jim Crow. By 1866 mass lynchings were already common, but thanks to Rutherford B. Hayes they were now unstoppable. Page 154 is worth the price of the whole book as it beautifully explains Marx’s notion of capitalist nations always having to seek new markets and thus carrying the seeds of their own destruction when no foreign markets are left and they must fight each other and thus can no longer tell friend from foe in their final bids for power. Cool Sidney Lens thoughts: Historically, people only leap from their party or organization in desperation. How does one overthrow capitalism by casting a vote? The ballot box drains valuable energy. The end design of the Espionage Act was for it to be used against radicals (regular people who stated in public that they thought war was wrong, or that women should vote, workers needed fair pay, or maybe blacks shouldn’t get lynched). Best quote in the book for me hands down is Emma Goldman’s: “It is organized violence on top which creates individual violence at the bottom. It is the accumulated indignation against organized wrong, organized crime, organized injustice, which drives the political offender to his act”. The IWW basically went under because the leadership was imprisoned. Released papers show the government knew Sacco & Vanzetti were innocent. I love this one: in 1962 in the American Communist Party 1 in 5.7 members were informers! So, it’s not paranoid today to assume even non-political organizations (however mainstream) if large enough are probably going to be infiltrated by corporate as well as government sellouts (a.k.a. informants) –if it is “known” to be actively working on behalf of the American People rather than for continued consolidation of corporate or elite power.

Lens shows that A J Muste teaches us that civil disobedience shows others one’s “conscious” willingness to pay a penalty in order to stir the conscience of one’s fellows. The people in history who cause the greatest social change on behalf of the American People are the one’s who combine two or more grey area activist causes to create a super cause that blasts through the media firewall. Connecting civil rights to poverty as well as war created a jackpot for Muste and Bayard Rustin says Lens (and of course probably also caused the death of MLK who came to the city of his death in support of sanitation workers). Lens’s central question is how do you rouse the American conscience? My question is how do you rouse the American conscience when AT THE SAME TIME, any organization that does it’s job trying to do just that will soon be infiltrated and later sabotaged by remote command through professional agent provocateurs and informers as part of standard corporate and elite strategy? The Double Standard Gang always sucks the fun out of everything when they get involved, don’t they? ☺ And merely pining for a vaguely level playing field for your children brands you today as a radical in the eyes of power! Who knew? Great book, get it and read it…

[Erik Graff · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is rather like Howard Zinn's A People's History of the United States, but more focused on personalities and political themes. An editor of The Progressive and political activist, Lens was not an academic historian.