Socialism in the United States
Socialism in the United States has encompassed various types of tendencies, including utopian socialists, anarchists, democratic socialists, social democrats, Marxist–Leninists, and Trotskyists. These movements trace their origins back to utopian communities that took root in the early 19th century, such as the Shakers, the activist visionary Josiah Warren, and intentional communities inspired by Charles Fourier. In the 1860s, immigration from Europe of radical labor activists, particularly of German, Jewish, and Scandinavian backgrounds, led to the establishment of the International Workingmen's Association in 1864 and the Socialist Labor Party of America in 1877.
During the 1870s, socialists of various tendencies actively participated in early American labor organizations and workers' demands to improve working conditions, as well as to officially recognize and practically implement the basic labor rights. These grievances culminated in the 1886 Haymarket massacre in Chicago, which resulted in the death of eleven people. One of the consequences of this tragic event was the establishment of International Workers' Day, which was proclaimed as a fundamental labor holiday. Apart from that, workers' organizations and socialist parties worldwide made the establishment of an eight-hour workday their primary objective.
In 1901, multiple socialist parties merged to create the Socialist Party of America. In 1905, anarchists created the Industrial Workers of the World. The Socialist Party of America, led by its national chairman Eugene V. Debs, played a crucial role in igniting a widespread socialist opposition to World War I, which eventually led to the nationwide governmental repression collectively known as the First Red Scare. The Socialist Party declined in the 1920s, but the party nonetheless often ran Norman Thomas for president. In the 1930s, the Communist Party of the United States of America played a significant role in the labor and racial struggles of that time. In the 1950s, socialism was affected by McCarthyism, and in the 1960s, it was revived by the widespread radicalization brought by the New Left and similar movements' social struggles and revolts. In the 1960s, Michael Harrington and other socialists were called to assist the Kennedy administration and then the Johnson administration's war on poverty and Great Society, while socialists also played important roles in the civil rights movement.
In the 1990s, interest in socialism slowly began to rise again, particularly among Millennials. The anarchist-associated alter-globalization movement led numerous protests against the World Trade Organization. In 2011, Occupy Wall Street further spurred the growth of socialist organizations. In 2015, Bernie Sanders's presidential campaign led to an explosion of socialist organizing, with the associated Democratic Socialists of America reaching membership levels similar to those of the 1900s.
Unlike in Western Europe, Australia, and New Zealand, a major socialist party has never materialized in the United States, whose socialist movement was relatively weak in comparison. The legacy of slavery entrenched deep racial divisions within the American working class, in stark contrast to the more cohesive labor movements in countries without such a history. These divisions created a two-tiered labor force with differing political priorities along racial lines, ultimately undermining class solidarity. Many white working-class Americans were reluctant to support progressive policies they perceived as disproportionately benefiting Black Americans, fearing these changes would come at the expense of their own economic well-being. As a result, many white voters gravitated toward conservative, anti-socialist ideologies, which promised to protect their economic interests and social status. In the United States, socialism can be stigmatized because it is commonly associated with authoritarian socialism, the Soviet Union, and other authoritarian Marxist–Leninist regimes. Writing for The Economist, Samuel Jackson argued that socialism has been used as a pejorative term, without any clear definition, by conservatives and right-libertarians to taint liberal and progressive policies, proposals, and public figures. The term socialization has been mistakenly used to refer to any state or government-operated industry or service. The term has also been used to mean any tax-funded programs, whether privately run or government-run. The term socialism has been used to argue against economic interventionism, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, Medicare, the New Deal, Social Security, and universal single-payer health care, among others.
Milwaukee has had several socialist mayors, such as Emil Seidel, Daniel Hoan, and Frank Zeidler, whilst Socialist Party presidential candidate Eugene V. Debs won nearly one million votes in the 1920 U.S. presidential election. Moreover, self-declared democratic socialist Bernie Sanders won 13 million votes in the 2016 Democratic Party presidential primary, gaining considerable popular support, particularly among the younger generation and the working class. A September 2025 Gallup poll reported 39% of American adults had a positive view of socialism and 54% had a positive view of capitalism, down from 60% in 2021. In 2025, democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani defeated independent candidate Andrew Cuomo to win the mayorality of New York City, the United States' most populous city.
19th century
Utopian socialism and communities
was the first American socialist movement. Utopians attempted to develop model socialist societies to demonstrate the virtues of their brand of beliefs. Most utopian socialist ideas originated in Europe, but the United States was most often the site for the experiments themselves. Many utopian experiments occurred in the 19th century as part of this movement, including Brook Farm, New Harmony, the Shakers, the Amana Colonies, the Oneida Community, The Icarians, Bishop Hill Commune, Aurora, Oregon, and Bethel, Missouri.Robert Owen, a wealthy Welsh industrialist, turned to social reform and socialism and in 1825 founded a communitarian colony called New Harmony in southwestern Indiana. The group fell apart in 1829, mostly due to conflict between utopian ideologues and non-ideological pioneers. In 1841, transcendentalist utopians founded Brook Farm, a community based on Frenchman Charles Fourier's brand of socialism. Nathaniel Hawthorne was a member of this short-lived community, and Ralph Waldo Emerson had declined invitations to join. The group had trouble reaching financial stability, and many members left as their leader, George Ripley, turned more and more to Fourier's doctrine. All hope for its survival was lost when the expensive, Fourier-inspired main building burnt down while under construction. The community dissolved in 1847.
Fourierists also attempted to establish a community in Monmouth County, New Jersey. The North American Phalanx community constructed a Phalanstère—Fourier's concept of a communal living structure—out of two farmhouses and an addition that linked the two. The community lasted from 1844 to 1856, when a fire destroyed the community's flour and saw mills, alongside several workshops. The community had already begun to decline after an ideological schism in 1853. French socialist Étienne Cabet, frustrated in Europe, sought to use his Icarian movement to replace capitalist production with workers cooperatives. He became the most popular socialist advocate of his day, with a special appeal to English artisans who were being undercut by factories. In the 1840s, Cabet led groups of emigrants to found utopian communities in Texas and Illinois. However, his work was undercut by his many feuds with his own followers.
Utopian socialism reached the national level fictionally in Edward Bellamy's 1888 novel Looking Backward, a utopian depiction of a socialist United States in the year 2000. The book sold millions of copies and became one of the best-selling American books of the nineteenth century. By one estimation, only Uncle Tom's Cabin surpassed it in sales. The book sparked a following of Bellamy Clubs and influenced socialist and labor leaders, including Eugene V. Debs. Likewise, Upton Sinclair's The Jungle was first published in the socialist newspaper Appeal to Reason, criticizing capitalism as being oppressive and exploitative to meatpacking workers in the industrial food system. The book is still widely referred to today as one of the most influential works of literature in modern history.
Josiah Warren is widely regarded as the first American anarchist, and the four-page weekly paper he edited during 1833, The Peaceful Revolutionist, was the first anarchist periodical published. Warren, a follower of Robert Owen, joined Owen's community at New Harmony, Indiana. He coined the phrase "Cost the limit of price," with "cost" here referring not to the monetary price paid but the labor one exerted to produce an item. Therefore, "e proposed a system to pay people with certificates indicating how many hours of work they did. They could exchange the notes at local time stores for goods that took the same amount of time to produce." He put his theories to the test by establishing an experimental "labor for labor store" called the Cincinnati Time Store where trade was facilitated by notes backed by a promise to perform labor. The store proved successful and operated for three years, after which it was closed so that Warren could pursue establishing colonies based on mutualism. These included "Utopia" and "Modern Times." Warren said that Stephen Pearl Andrews' The Science of Society, published in 1852, was the most lucid and complete exposition of Warren's own theories. For American anarchist historian Eunice Minette Schuster: "It is apparent... that Proudhonian Anarchism was to be found in the United States at least as early as 1848 and that it was not conscious of its affinity to the Individualist Anarchism of Josiah Warren and Stephen Pearl Andrews... William B. Greene presented this Proudhonian Mutualism in its purest and most systematic form."
American anarchist Benjamin Tucker wrote in Individual Liberty: