Socialism in the American West, 1830-1954

Mark Kruger has taught at several universities, including Saint Louis University, where he was the director of the Criminal Justice Organization program. He is the author of The St. Louis Commune of 1877: Communism in the Heartland (Bison Books, 2021).

"Socialism in the American West, 1830-1954 is an encyclopedic narrative of socialist, anarchist, communitarian, and communist movements in the United States, with extensive materials on the American West. It will be a core text for scholars and activists for at least two reasons. First, the book documents the plethora of these movements throughout U.S. history. And second, most of these movements did not achieve victories because of enormous state and civil society repression."--Harry Targ, professor of political science emeritus at Purdue University "A tour de force of synthetic history, further enriched by the author's archival labors. Kruger has compiled an extraordinary record of socialist action in the towns, cities, prairies, mines, and farms of an enormous territory over generations of organizing, electioneering, and sometimes violent struggle, and recounted his findings with a partisan verve that never ignores the historian's requirement for critical balance. It is both an indispensable reference source and a gripping read."--Matthew Mancini, author of Alexis de Tocqueville and American Intellectuals: From His Times to Ours "Historical myths occlude the importance of radical socialists, unionists, communists, and anarchists in the development of the American West. Mark Kruger's Socialism in the American West, 1830-1954 shows that radicals responded to the exigencies of Western expansion and corporate development and exploitation and were foundational to the West's settlement and growth. Kruger shows that radicalism was not an Eastern urban phenomenon but is deeply rooted in American political culture. Importantly, his text shows that socialism and communism are as American as those who have worked so hard to describe radicals as un-American threats to the social order."--Denise Lynn, author of Women March for Peace: Black Radical Women's Anti-Korean War Activism "If timing is everything, author and scholar Mark Kruger's timing is spot on. Publication of his impressive Socialism in the American West, 1830-1954 comes at a time when capitalism is slipping due to rising wealth disparities, social inequities, and urban poverty, while many concerned citizens consider socialism as a solution. Case in point, the election of a democratic socialist as mayor of New York City--the financial capital of the world. By providing an in-depth examination of the historical persistence of socialism, Kruger argues it remains relevant and part of the American experience. Clearly socialism is not a fad."--Michael Wallis, author of Route 66: The Mother Road "Nearly encyclopedic in its scope, Mark Kruger's Socialism in the American West, 1830-1954 presents a raw struggle for American democracy that is both hopeful and desperate. Kruger shows that the idea that working people can come together to build a more just and equitable society does not just play in New York City but rather is at the heart of U.S. history in places like Oklahoma, Idaho, Arizona, and beyond."--Dawson Barrett, author of The Defiant: Protest Movements in Post-Liberal America "There's so much more to the story of the conquest of the American West than cowboys and Indians. The West was both the resource base for the rise of the industrial Gilded Age of the nineteenth century and also a site of its resistance, organized labor struggle, social and racial solidarity, and ideological opposition. Mark Kruger's addition to the true history of the United States is incomparably valuable as we face the current crisis, the concentration of capital in this Second Gilded Age."--Mark Rudd, author of Underground: My Life in the SDS and the Weatherman "This book has the sweep, maybe we can say grandeur, of one of John Ford's movies, as it narrates and analyzes the many struggles that began when European socialism encountered the forces of nature, capitalist greed, and the varied experiences of the living population in the North American West. Don't be daunted by the length. Mark Kruger is a gifted writer, and one need not read this book serially, chapter by chapter. Either way, this book belongs on the shelf with other 'hidden histories' of the American experience."--Daniel C. Hellinger, professor emeritus of political science at Webster University "When Zohran Mamdani hailed Eugene v. Debs in his victory speech for his election as New York City's mayor, the most important municipal election in a century, the story of socialism returned with warmth and even laughter. Mark Kruger gives readers a fine overview and synthesis of what we know and need to know about socialism in the U.S. West."--Paul Buhle, coeditor of the Encyclopedia of the American Left