Date

3-2025

Department

History

Abstract

Socialism reached a prominence as a movement in the United States during the early 20th century. Fueled by the machinations of industrial capitalism and labor reform, many workers, immigrants, and other individuals would arrive to the precepts of socialism, a political movement avowing to shirk the constraints of capitalism on the proletariat. Specifically, the question of why and how labor unions should function in a socialist society was a central tenet of debate within the faction of the American Socialist Party. The central question of this article is to examine why anarcho-syndicalists argued against traditional socialist reformist arguments in the ASP and advocated for revolutionary actions to rectify the plights of workers. An analysis of the writings of local figures of the anarcho-syndicalist factions, such as William Risto, provide a humanizing perspective into the socialist movement, deriving individual motives, contexts, and attitudes that individuals undertook. Specifically, examining the relationship between the individual writings and actions of the anarcho-syndicalists of the Negaunee Branch and the ASP allows introspection into how these figures wished to utilize their historical agency. This split in the FSA exemplifies the dichotomy of how individuals will utilize their individual agency in reformist and revolutionary forms to mobilize change.

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