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“Socialism never took root in America because the poor see themselves not as an exploited proletariat but as temporarily embarrassed millionaires.” ― Ronald Wr
by stevens32 10y ago
“Socialism never took root in America because the poor see themselves not as an exploited proletariat but as temporarily embarrassed millionaires.”
― Ronald Wright, A Short History of Progress
Kind of seems like the inevitable conclusion of the hard-sell of the American Dream
- danharaj 10y agoSocialism was very popular at the turn of the 20th century. Workers movements were strong, labor had power. A socialist ran for president, even. The real reason why it never took root was because it was brutally opposed at every turn by government and business.
- ArkyBeagle 10y agoEven Henry Ford adopted some Progressive/Socialist principles. For every Henry Frick there were thousands of much less severe people in positions of power. But in America, wages were usually quite a bit higher than in Europe, so the need was less obvious.
- mc32 10y agoI'm not sure about that. One thing which I think tends to skew things is that we get so many immigrants who are intent on seeking better opportunities than they had in their home countries. For most of them, things are by default better than what they had back home [as paupers or even as middlings back home], else they would not have come and the movement to migrate _here_ would run out of momentum. Second gen + may be more receptive to more progressive ideas about security, mobility etc.