Courtesy of Brad DeLong
http://delong.typepad.com/sdj/2010/05/elena-kagans-undergraduate-thesis.html
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And from the conclusion:
In our own times, a coherent socialist movement is nowhere to be
found in the United States. Americans are more likely to speak of a
golden past than of a golden future, of capitalism's glories rather
than of socialisms greatness. Conformity overrides dissent; the desire
to conserve has overwhelmed the urge to alter. Such a state of affairs
cries out for explanation. Why, in a society by no means perfect, has
a radical party never attained the status of a major political force?
Why, in particular did the socialist movement never become an
alternative to the nation's established parties?
In answering this question, historians have often called attention
to various charcteristics of American society... an ethnically-divided
working class, a relatively fluid class structure, an economy which
allowed at least some workers to enjoy what Sombart termed "reefs of
roast beef and apple pie"--prevented the early twentieth century
socialists from attracting an immediate mass following. Such
conditions did not, however, completely checkmate American
socialism.... Yet in the years after World War I, this expanding and
confident movement almost entirely collapsed.... [T]he experience of
New York.... From the New York socialist movement's birth,
sectarianism and dissension ate away at its core. Substantial numbers
of SP members expressed deep and abiding dissatisfaction with the
brand of reform socialism advocated by the party's leadership. To
these left-wingers, constructive socialism seemed to stress
insignificant reforms at the expense of ultimate goals. How, these
revolutionaries angrily demanded, could the SP hope to attract workers
if it did not distinguish itself from the many progressive parties, if
it did not proffer an enduring and radiant ideal? How, the
constructivists angrily replied, could the SP hope to attract workers
if it did not promise them immediate benefits, if it did not concern
itself with their present burdens?...
Through its own internal feuding, then, the SP exhausted itself.
forever.... The story is a sad but also a chastening one for those
who, more than half a century after socialism's decline, still wish to
change America. Radicals have often succumbed to the devastating bane
of sectarianism; it is easier, after all, to fight one's fellows than
it is to battle an entrenched and powerful foe. Yet if 'the history of
Local New York shows anything, it is that American radicals cannot
afford to become their own worst enemies. In unity lies their only
hope.
-raghu.
--
"I used to do drugs. I still do drugs. But I used to, too."
- Mitch Hedberg
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