The Forging of American Socialism: Origins of the Modern Movement by Howard H. QuintReview by: Harry W. LaidlerThe American Historical Review, Vol. 59, No. 4 (Jul., 1954), pp. 955-956Published by: Oxford University Press on behalf of the American Historical AssociationStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1845168 .

Accessed: 28/06/2014 11:35

Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at .http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp

.JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range ofcontent in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new formsof scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.

.

Oxford University Press and American Historical Association are collaborating with JSTOR to digitize,preserve and extend access to The American Historical Review.

http://www.jstor.org

This content downloaded from 46.243.173.151 on Sat, 28 Jun 2014 11:35:57 AMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

Quint: The Forging of American Socialism 955

societies. For a long time the immigrants felt they belonged to a British-American community, a sort of half-way point on the road to ultimate assimilation.

This monograph is based upon a wide variety of source materials, most notable of which are the immigrant press, trade-union newspapers, trade journals, and other special periodicals. It is earnestly to be hoped that other immigrant groups in this country may ultimately have histories as thorough, as free from national bias, and as revealing as this one of the British.

Brown University JAMES B. HEDGES

THE FORGING OF AMERICAN SOCIALISM: ORIGINS OF THE MOD- ERN MOVEMENT. By Howard H. Quint. (Columbia: University of South Carolina Press. I953. PP. ix, 409. $6.oo.)

IN this volume, Dr. Quint, associate professor of history in the University of South Carolina, presents a clear and scholarly account of the history of the Ameri- can Socialist movement from the seventies until the turn of the present century. The book gives particular attention to the impact of Socialism on American thought and action during the fifteen-year period from I886 to I90I. It devotes separate chapters to the coming of Marxism to America with the immigration of German Socialists; the unsuccessful attempt of Socialists during the eighties and nineties to mold the policies of organized labor; the message and influence of the great utopian writer, Edward Bellamy; the forces back of the Christian Socialist crusade of the nineties; the iron discipline imposed by Daniel DeLeon on the Socialist Labor party, and the revolt against the DeLeon leadership; the rise of the Socialist movement in the Middle West, led by Eugene Victor Debs, Victor L. Berger, J. A. Wayland, the "One Hoss Editor," and others, and the union between these western leaders and the Socialist forces in the East led by Morris Hillquit, Abraham Cahan, and others. The book concludes with a de- scription of the Debs presidential campaign in I900 and the unity convention of I90I which gave birth to the Socialist party, U.S.A.

The volume is well documented and contains the most comprehensive picture that has yet been given of the varying schools of thought and action in the Ameri- can Socialist movement at the end of the last century. Its objectivity is in sharp contrast with the bias shown by Dr. Ira Kipnis, in his The American Socialist Movement, I897-I912 (I952).

In his preface, Dr. Quint observes that the upsurge of Socialism in the late nineteenth century was not inspired mainly by the classic doctrines of the Euro- pean Socialists but came primarily as "a protest against the social inequities re- sulting from the tremendous economic concentration taking shape in these hectic years of industrial growth." He believes that this upsurge "owes more for its in- spiration to Edward Bellamy's Looting Backtvard than it did to Karl Marx's Das Capital."

This content downloaded from 46.243.173.151 on Sat, 28 Jun 2014 11:35:57 AMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

956 Reviews of Books

While there is much to say for this point of view (particularly since few in America during those days thoroughly read and understood Marx's massive work)

the author fails to supply sufficient data to convince the reader of the correctness of his conclusion. He gives little information regarding the way in which spe-

cific social evils led to the development of the various groupings in the move- ment. Nor does he present to the reader any clear analysis of the essential prin- ciples of Marxian Socialism in Europe and its constantly evolving tactics adjusted to changing economic and political conditions. Many leaders and members of the

American Socialist movement called themselves Marxists during this period, but the Marxism of such leaders as Morris Hillquit was a far cry from that of Marx and Engels when they wrote the Communist Manifesto. A chapter on the Euro-

pean backgrounds of the American movement, with a clear explanation of the

varying interpretations of Marx which, on the one hand, led to the evolutionary, democratic Marxism of Kautsky, and, on the other hand, to the Bolshevik Marx- ism of Lenin, would have given the reader of Dr. Quint's book a better concep- tion of how to classify American Socialists; what they meant when they preached the class struggle; what goal they were aiming to attain and the means they proposed for attaining it.

The volume, however, despite its defects, is a welcome and valuable addition

to the literature on this subject, and it is hoped that Professor Quint will continue his studies and publications on the development of this significant social move-

ment during the present century.

New York, N. Y. HARRY W. LAIDLER

FORD: THE TIMES, THE MAN, THE COMPANY. By Allan Nevins, with

the Collaboration of Frank Ernest Hill. (New York: Charles Scribner's Sons.

I954. Pp. xvi, 688. $6-75-)

MANY efforts have been made to interpret Henry Ford and his career, but

little has been done on the history of the Ford Motor Company. The Nevins

volume is not only the first full-length history of the company but the first in

which Ford, the company, the early development of automobiles in Europe and

America, and the economic background of the industry has been interwoven.

Such a study was long overdue, and it supersedes any and all work on the sub-

ject. It was made possible by the opening of the company archives, the most com-

plete of any such industrial collection available. It is fortunate that the work was

done by a historian of experience, skill, and ability, aided by a staff of able re-

search workers. Since efforts to interpret Ford have been continuous for over

thirty years, it is probable that the most useful parts of the book are the history of

the Ford Motor Company and the two chapters on the battle over the Selden

patent. But any effort to understand Ford would be incomplete without reading

the final chapter.

This content downloaded from 46.243.173.151 on Sat, 28 Jun 2014 11:35:57 AMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions