The Long Detour: The History and Future of the American Left

Over the last half century Socialism has taken enough beatings that you can scarcely find a self identified Socialist living in the United States yet many of the ideas of Socialism are now embedded in the fabric of America. Socialists (along with progressives) were instrumental in enacting the 40 hour work week, minimum wage, civil rights, unemployment insurance, child labor laws and countless other benefits we take for granted. So why has Socialism been so viciously maligned? Perhaps it was the amount of atheists within the Socialist movement or perhaps it was seen as a legitimate threat to the two party system or perhaps it just rubbed the wealthy the wrong way. The most devastating blow came when Marxist Socialism was adopted by Lenin as the ideology of the Soviet Union. As a test of Socialism the Soviet Union was a dramatic failure. The question the author asks is whether or not the Soviet Union even qualified as Socialist. Socialism is about workers rights, pure democracy and a decentralization of power (or at least restructuring). As the author puts it the Soviet version turned Socialism on its head. Another question would be to ask whether the Soviet Union was the inevitable end result of Socialism regardless of initial intent. Marx saw Socialism as the natural evolutionary stage beyond Capitalism. He also believed that Socialism required a significant amount of initial capital to be successful. The Soviet Union had neither the Capitalistic history to evolve from nor the monetary resources necessary to fund Socialism which is why Stalin was so obsessed with converting the West. He needed the capital. The Soviet Union was at least a century behind technologically and financially wrecked by WWI and the Bolshevik revolution when Stalin decided to compete with the West. It was Stalin's obsession with matching the West and his utter lack of respect for civil rights that created the dismal conditions in the Soviet Union. Few things could demonstrate Stalin poor leadership than his appointment of Trofim Lysenko to chief geneticist as Lysenko is perhaps the worst and most vile scientist in history. Since the writer is a self proclaimed Socialist and one time Communist you might expect this book to be a vigorous defense of Socialism but it's really a balanced history warts and all. In Socialisms heyday, figures like Gov. Huey Long were attempting to enact changes that would be mind blowing if attempted today such as a one million dollar cap on salaries, a five million dollar cap on personal net worth and a 30 hour workweek. These attempts were overly extreme, still, it's a shame that Socialists are now treated like persona non grates and maligned by history because many showed incredible bravery in the fight for worker and minority rights. The tragedy is that extremist groups like the Weatherman and Black Panthers gave the right all the ammo they needed to ruin liberal momentum to the point where the left has yet to recover its bearings. The fin

James Weinsteins new book "The Long Detour" situates the problems and potentialities of the American Left within a brief history. From the earliest years of the Left, we see some of the issues which American left-wing activists still address: purity of ideology vs pragmatism, relationship to nationalism, sectarian nit-picking, authoritarianism, foreign models vs a model truly adapted to American conditions, the problem of single issue movements vs. a broader movement against capitalism, centralism vs. decentralism, etc. By providing a panorama of these issues within a historical context, we can see that in general, each generation of U.S. leftists repeats similar mistakes as in the past and often fails to implement strategies that have worked.The U.S. Left in recent history has thrived on "negative" movements. This is apparent through the names of these movements: anti-war, anti-racism, etc. When these single, negative movements come to an end, so does the whole cycle of struggle. Often, as Weinstein shows, these movements get co-opted by liberal capitalists. At the end of the book, Weinstein attempts to put forward a "positive" program of his own. One might criticize Weinstein's program as one that could be co-opted by a liberal agenda as well: health care and education reform. Certainly these are reforms worth fighting for, but his positive program gives no clue as how to include this program within a broader strategy of moving to a socialist society...it only is a program that would try to revamp the deteriorating welfare system.Unfortunately Weinstein's history ends more or less at the demise of the New Left. He barely mentions the anti-globalization movement and that is unfortunate. The current anti-globalization movements face novel issues and it would be helpful if Weinstein brought his experience to bear on it. Capital has tended reconstitute itself into global networks. The nation-state is no longer the node in the capitalist nexus that it once was. Vast movements of capital cantake place in the click of a mouse. Weinstein correctly says that the terrain changed with the arrival of post-industrialism, but he does not seem to fully appreciate the novelty and challenges (for the US left) of the mature informational society and globalization . He suggests that the nation-state is still relevant in that the military- to be used as a stick against those who would revolt against the new global order- still reside within the nation-state. That is undoubtedly true, but Weinstein does not address the other forms of control and power-both blatant and insidious- that exist within the global order.Weinstein's postive program relies mostly on electoral politics; while we should not dismiss the ballot box as a locus of struggle, the author should address the potential pitfalls of restricting a movement to the voting booth. In any case, this books is well worth reading for its summary of problems and traps that the American Left has fal

James Weinstein, in covering the rise and fall (but not death) of socialism in the U.S., does an excellent job of recounting many momentous (and perhaps forgotten) events, expertly summarized in clear, comprehensible prose. (Reminded me of Howard Zinn in that respect.)Besides great clarity, he displays a heady mixture of humanitarianism and pragmatism: check out the penultimate chapter with its prescriptions for overcoming the shortcomings of a great nation.The Long Detour couldn't have come at a more propitious time, considering our disasterous foreign and domestic policies.One can learn more than a few things from this book. I know I did. (And I'm 75.)

James Weinstein has chosen the hopeful subtitle, "The History and FUTURE (capitals mine) of the American Left", which made my ears perk up when I heard him discussing his work on Cspan BookTalk. I'd like some of my friends on the right to read "The Long Detour" as it would educate them on how reforms like the eight-hour day, the laws banning child labor, the Pure Food and Drug laws, and unemployment insurance, which we all take for granted now, came to be enacted. Socialists at the turn of the 20th century pushed through this legislation, from which all Americans benefit. Contrary to the belief of some, the left in American politics has had formidable and continuing success, as many of its issues became incorporated into the two major party platforms, and then into law. Weinstein devotes a portion of the book to a discussion of how the "real existing socialism", which is what the Russians called their Soviet system, was not a fair trial of Karl Marx's socialist economy. Readers may be shocked to read that Marx was not as opposed to capitalism as many believe; he saw it as a phase, a necessary transition. In Russia this phase was lacking, as the Soviet Union struggled to go from pre-capitalist feudalism to industrialized socialism. Vital infrastructures were missing, and corruption and failure were inevitable. In the last portion of "The Long Detour" Weinstein gives us a clear-eyed vision of how such thorny issues as universal health care, full and meaningful employment, and a downsized military budget, can be implemented. His final sentence reads, "The next step is up to you."

The Long Detour: The History And Future Of The American Left by historian and journalist James Weinstein traces evolution of socialism and its principles and legacy in the United States, right up to the modern day and beyond! From the repercussions Russian Communism's fall had on socialist principles in use; to the challenge to adapt socialist ideals with the collapse of international socialism coinciding with the dominance of capitalism as reflected through political and economic international alliances and organizations; to socialism's varied functions in service to a mainstream post-industrial American public, The Long Detour is an involving "must-read" for political theory buffs and a highly recommended addition to Economic Studies collections.