The "S" Word: A Short History of an American Tradition...Socialism

By John Nichols

During the Cold War it became a dirty word in the United States, but "socialism" runs like a red thread through the nation's history, an integral part of its political consciousness since the founding of the republic. In this unapologetic corrective to today's collective amnesia, John Nichols calls for the proud return of socialism in American life. He recalls the reforms lauded by Founding Father Tom Paine; the presence of Karl Marx's journalism in American letters; the left leanings of founders of the Republican Party; the socialist politics of Helen Keller; the progressive legacy of figures like Chaplin and Einstein. Now in an updated edition, The "S" Word makes a case for socialist ideas as an indispensable part of American heritage. A new final chapter considers the recent signs of a leftward sea change in American politics in the face of increasing and historic levels of inequality.

Today, corporations-like other rich "individuals"-pay fewer taxes than they did in the 1950s, while our infrastructure crumbles and the seas rise. The "S" Wordaddresses a nation that can no longer afford to put capital before people.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Verso US
• Release date: Mar 21, 2011
• ISBN: 9781781683781

John Nichols

John Nichols (1940–2023) was the acclaimed author of the New Mexico trilogy. Beginning with the publication of The Milagro Beanfield War, which was adapted into a film by Robert Redford, the series of novels grew from regional stature to national appeal, from literary radicals to cult classics. Beloved for his compassionate, richly comic vision and admired for his insight into the cancer that accompanies unbridled progress, Nichols was also the author of a dozen novels and several works of nonfiction. He lived in northern New Mexico.

Reviews for The "S" Word

[kcshankd · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Important corrective to 20th Century US History, the link from the Railroad Porters Union fight to MLK especially so - I had no idea. The chapters tend to run on, as the author seems to cram every bit instead of allowing the narrative to flow.

[krisr-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Nichols, a journalist who has written for The Nation and The Wisconsin State Journal as well as for other progressive publications, has several goals in writing The "S" Word. One is to blow off some steam regarding his frustration with the state of public discourse in the US (which he describes as being at its lowest point ever), with right-wing commentators who have used their bully pulpit to drag the term "socialist" through the mud and with the left-wing politicians and media who have let them, as well as with Obama and the other high-profile Democrats who continued to move the party further and further to the right over the past few decades. As a reader who shares many of the same points of frustration, I was not turned off by Nichols' goal. He doesn't purport to be unbiased.

On the other hand, Nichols' main goal in writing The "S" Word is to present a counter history of the US, one which shines a light on the myriad ways that American writers (Thomas Paine and Walt Whitman), US Presidents (particularly Lincoln and FDR, but also JFK and others), and local politicians, especially in Milwaukee, presaged or incorporated some of the tenets of socialism in their writings, platforms, and political initiatives. Nichols' main argument and frustration with 21st-century politicians is that, by buying into the idea that socialism is an evil, un-American ideology, these political leaders have weakened their effectiveness by limiting the political stances from which they could draw solutions for current problems.

The book read as a series of long articles in The Nation. Nichols has done his research, providing supporting passages from letters, speeches, newspaper columns, and interviews, some of which he conducted himself. Academics and others wanting to delve deep into political history should view this book as a platform for further research.

My rating is probably closer to a 3.5, but I bumped it up to a 4 largely on the strength of new-to-me information that Nichols presented in a few chapters: the chapter on Abraham Lincoln, Horace Greeley, and Marx; the chapter on free speech fights conducted by newspaper editor and elected Congressman Victor Berger during the Red Scare of 1917 and after; and the chapter on the sewer socialists in Milwaukee and other municipalities in the US. I also found interesting Nichols' discussion of the role of socialism in fighting segregation in trade unions, and in helping to lay the groundwork for the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom in 1963. At times, I got frustrated by some of Nichols' digressions, and I wanted more detailed information about some particularly interesting events and people. However, Nichols has shone a light on aspects of American history that are not taught in high school history classes or referenced in our public discourse. For this reason, reading The "S" Word seems like a small but significant contribution to trying to effect change in the current state of US politics.

[michael_taylo_704295 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

An interesting look at how socialist ideas have informed and shaped the American experience from both sides of the political aisle; and a chronicle of the popular perception of the word from it's initial noble ideals to it's current usage as a debate-stopping epithet.

[tlcrawford · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

John Nichols’ “The “S” Word: A short History of an American Tradition … Socialism” gives a quick outline of socialist thinking in American political life. He begins with Thomas Payne a radically democratic Founding Father who was quickly ostracized by his fellow revolutionaries, like John Adams, who were seduced into the plutocracy. Payne’s ideas, which can be boiled down to the simple statement people matter more than property, caused Adams to dismiss him as “a mongrel between pig and puppy, begotten by a wild boar on a bitch wolf”. Only Jefferson remained on friendly terms with the man that wrote “Common Sense” and energized the American Revolution. Nichols leads us through American history and the domestic development of socialist ideals. From Payne and Jefferson to Fannie Wright, an activist who as a young woman was friends with the elderly Jefferson, to Abraham Lincoln, and on to a young Michael Harrington working with the elderly A. Philip Randolph on anti-poverty programs in the 1970s. I found Nichols’ book to be fascinating. His writing is engaging and I learned a great deal about a subject I thought I knew. Even about people I thought I knew, Payne, Lincoln, Marx, and Randolph. Much of the book, Fannie Wright, Walt Whitman, Victor Berger and Milwaukee’s Socialist mayors were entirely new to me. However Nichols book has one weakness. In addressing the red baiting surrounding Obama’s election and the push for health care reform Nichols manages to sound shrill and bitter, feelings that I can identify with and understand given the topic and what has recently passed as political discourse, but it seemed misplaced, an emotional outburst in an otherwise factual and objective examination of one aspect of American history. I am afraid that the few pages of this so early in the book will put off some people who would otherwise read the book.The book’s afterword is much less emotional. Nichols examines the Democratic Party’s drift back to its pre-FDR values, property over people. And the Republican Party’s continued drift, rush, away from the values of the Party of Lincoln and toward property trumping people. The profound way that this book discredits the most recent round of political red baiting was surprising but the most surprising revelation is that the anti-socialist rants have, according to several recent polls, caused more Americans, especially young Americans, to view Socialism less negatively and capitalism less favorably. After a series of stock market crashes going back to 1987, years of high unemployment, decades of wage stagnation, and corporate welfare bankrupting our social safety net why wouldn’t they?