The idea of democratic socialism in America and the decline of the Socialist Party: Eugene Debs, Norman Thomas and Michael Harrington. (Volumes I and II)

The American democratic socialist ideal has come forth through an apostolic succession of sorts: from Eugene Debs (1855-1926) to Norman Thomas (1884-1968) to Michael Harrington (1928-1989). This ideal serves as an indigenous expression of American democratic socialist thought that is neither a variant of American liberalism nor European social democracy. As such, it blends a uniquely American activistic pietism into a political ethos that merges Locke, Mill and Marx. When Marx's Eurocentric thought encountered the liberal tradition in America, democratic socialism emerged as a curious incarnation perhaps best described, not pejoratively, as some form of bourgeois socialism. This American hybrid thought contains discernible core values. It believes in both procedural and substantial democracy; it ultimately seeks to transcend capitalism, not to reform it; it manifests certain anti-statist impulses; it sees itself as a continuation of an earlier American peace and anti-imperialist legacy; it is righteously civil libertarian; lastly, it harbors a deeply Christian sentiment. In short, these are the tenets of, in Thomas's words, "a socialist faith" as opposed to axioms of an analytical theory or dictates of ideological dogma.;By tracing each leader's political evolution and linking their strategies and tactics to the public advancement or decline of American democratic socialist thought, an assessment of the history and projections for the future of democratic socialism is possible. Such an assessment suggests that American democratic socialists must radicalize their strategy following Michael Harrington's death or risk relegating him to the status of the last apostle as democratic socialism ceases to exist as an independent and influential political perspective. Without radical strategy, there is no radical faith; without faith, democratic socialism withers.;This study traces the history of that relationship and concludes that democratic socialism is peculiarly dependent upon its political activism and electoral crusades. The absence of this strategy alters the essence of the idea. While no significant permanent institutionalization of the democratic socialist persuasion exists within mainstream American political life today, the future of the idea when measured against its past history appears bleak at best.