A History of Utah Radicalism

Startling, Socialistic, and Decidedly Revolutionary

John S. McCormick, John R Sillito

• Publisher: Utah State University Press
• Year: 2011
• Print ISBN: 9781646424115, 9780874218145
• eBook ISBN: 9780874218152
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: North American History
• Index: History

Utah, now one of the most conservative states, has a long tradition of left-wing radicalism. Early Mormon settlers set a precedent with the United Order and other experiments with a socialistic economy. The tradition continued into the more recent past with New Left, anti-apartheid, and other radicals. Throughout, Utah radicalism usually reflected national and international developments. Recounting its long history, McCormick and Sillito focus especially on the Socialist Party of America, which reached a peak of political influence in the first two decades of the twentieth century—in Utah and across the nation.

At least 115 Socialists in over two dozen Utah towns and cities were elected to office in that period, and on seven occasions they controlled governments of five different municipalities. This is a little-known story worth a closer look. Histories of Socialism in the United States have tended to forsake attention to specific, local cases and situations in favor of broader overviews of the movement. By looking closely at Utah's experience, this book helps unravel how American Socialism briefly flowered before rapidly withering in the early twentieth century. It also broadens the conventional understanding of Utah history.

Table of contents

• Contents
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction
• Chapter 1: “The Better Land of Socialism”: Utah’s Radical Roots—Mormons, Godbeites, Liberals, Knights of Labor, and Populists
• Chapter 2: “Everyone Is Invited to Come and Hear about the New Gospel”: An Overview of Socialism in Utah
• Chapter 3: “The Destruction of Love Is the Very Genius of the Competitive System”: The Rhetoric of Utah Socialism
• Chapter 4: A Future “Living in the Light of a Better Day”: The Membership of Utah’s Socialist Party
• Chapter 5: “The Gospel of Jesus and the Gospel of Marx”: Christian Socialism in Utah
• Chapter 6: “Abolishing the Capitalist System through the Ballot”: Respectable Reformers—Utah Socialistsin Power, 1900–1925
• Chapter 7: “The House Was Full, and the Band Was Out, and a Lively Time Prevailed”: Utah’s Socialist Culture
• Chapter 8: “Socialists, with Their Tireless Activity, Distributed Thousands of Copies of Their Papers”: Utah’s Socialist Press
• Chapter 9: “The Socialist Department of the Morning Examiner—Conducted by the Socialist Party of Ogden”
• Chapter 10: “I Listened to Your Lecture and Have Been an Agitatorfor Socialism Ever Since”: Socialist Speaking in the Public Sphere
• Chapter 11: “Chase Socialism and the Expression of Socialist Ideas from the Streets”: The Right of Socialists to Speak and the Politics of Public Space
• Chapter 12: “Our Constant Effort Is to Keep Our People from Joining Such Organizations”: The Mormon Church’s Campaign against Socialism—Part I
• Chapter 13: The Mormon Church’s Campaign against Socialism—Part II: The Defense of Capital and the Construction of a Capitalist Ideology
• Afterword: “It Was All Wrong. It All Had to Change. It All Had to Stop”: Radicalism in Utah since 1920
• Index