A postcard for Wilshire Blvd, ca. 1930-1945

Gaylord Wilshire’s Boulevard of Marxist Dreams

One of the first American socialists to run for office, Wilshire was born rich and got richer before losing it all by self-publishing a socialist magazine.
Red House

Red House: The Perfect Home for a Victorian Socialist

Subject to myriad interpretations over the last 150 years, William Morris’s Gothic-inspired home has been an enduring influence on Anglo-American architecture.
Eugene Debs in prison at the Atlanta Federal Penitentiary, overlaid with his 1920 presidential campaign button

A Million Americans Once Voted for an Incarcerated Socialist

Eugene Debs campaigned for both president and prison reform from a federal penitentiary. His critiques of the prison system still resonate.
Group of strawberry pickers in a strawberry field in Bell, California, ca.1910

Internationalism and Racism in the Labor Movement

A commitment to internationalism helped build multi-ethnic campaigns within the more radical and anti-authoritarian side of the US labor movement.
Eugene Debs speaking at Canton, Ohio, 1918

In The Debs Archive

The papers of American labor activist and socialist Eugene V. Debs (1855–1926) offer a snapshot of early twentieth-century politics.
Alexander Berkman speaks at Socialist meeting in Union Square, New York, on May Day, 1908

The NYC –> RUS Yiddish Socialist Pipeline

At the turn of the twentieth century, Yiddish became the language of political organizing for Russian Jews, thanks to the flow of literature from New York.
Frank P. Zeidler

Race-baiting the Last Big City Socialist

When business interests tried to use red-baiting to take down a socialist mayor of Milwaukee in the Fifties, it didn't work, so they used race-baiting instead.
Adolph Reed Jr.

Adolph Reed Jr.: The Perils of Race Reductionism

The political scientist Adolph Reed Jr. on the Black Lives Matter movement, the “rich peoples’ wealth gap,” and his Marxism.
Photograph: Thousands march through the streets near City Hall during the 11th day of an ongoing teachers strike on October 31, 2019 in Chicago, Illinois. 

Source: Getty

Socialism: Foundations and Key Concepts

What is the political, philosophic, and economic system known as socialism? Some starting points for further study.
Poster for Women's Day, March 8, 1914, demanding voting rights for women.

The Socialist Origins of International Women’s Day

Why is International Women's Day on March 8th? The answer is much more complicated than you might think.