Download Free The German American Radical Press Book in PDF and EPUB Free Download. You can read online The German American Radical Press and write the review.

Wilhelm Weitling, one of the many German radicals who fled into exile after 1848, noted in the New York newspaper he founded that "everyone wants to put out a little paper". The 48ers and those who came after them strengthened their immigrant culture with a seemingly endless stream of newspapers, magazines, and calendars. In these Kampfblatter, or newspapers of the struggle, German immigrant journalists preached socialism, organized labor, and free thought. These "little papers" were the forerunners of a press that would remain influential for nearly a century. From the several perspectives of the new labor history, this volume emphasizes the importance of the German-American radical press to an understanding of American social history in the age of industrialism and illuminates the complexities of the interaction of immigrant radicalism and American culture. Chicago's German-language socialist weekly, Der Vorbote, claimed in 1880 that "the history of the workers' movement in the United States is at the same time the history of the workers' press". Hyperbolic perhaps, but to judge by the energy and resources German-American radicals devoted to their press, many immigrants agreed. The radical movement in the United States met with problems as well as support. Language and culture frequently divided the radicals, and class considerations splintered the German-American community. Cultural radicals like Robert Reitzel and Ludwig Lore ran afoul of rank-and-file taste or party discipline; attempts by the New Yorker Volkszeitung to coach women on proper socialist positions resulted in bitter arguments over the importance of woman suffrage and pacifism. At the same time, social movements thatcut across ethnic lines weakened the power of a foreign-language press within the community, as immigrants began to identify with a movement rather than a language. Contributors to this volume explore these and other issues, while correcting the bias in histories of radicalism which rely on English-language sources and thus ignore the competing visions of immigrant radicals.
Agrarian radicalism's challenge to capitalism played a central role in working-class ideology while making third parties and protest movements a potent force in politics. Thomas Alter II follows three generations of German immigrants in Texas to examine the evolution of agrarian radicalism and the American and transnational ideas that influenced it. Otto Meitzen left Prussia for Texas in the wake of the failed 1848 Revolution. His son and grandson took part in decades-long activism with organizations from the Greenback Labor Party and the Grange to the Populist movement and Texas Socialist Party. As Alter tells their stories, he analyzes the southern wing of the era's farmer-labor bloc and the parallel history of African American political struggle in Texas. Alliances with Mexican revolutionaries, Irish militants, and others shaped an international legacy of working-class radicalism that moved U.S. politics to the left. That legacy, in turn, pushed forward economic reform during the Progressive and New Deal eras. A rare look at the German roots of radicalism in Texas, Toward a Cooperative Commonwealth illuminates the labor movements and populist ideas that changed the nation’s course at a pivotal time in its history.
An overview of the social and economic forces at work in the US and Europe that are promoting the formation of the Euro-American radical right is followed by a more detailed examination of the Euro-American right wing movement from Sweden to New York City. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR
Although Joe Klein's Woody Guthrie and Ed Cray's Ramblin' Man capture Woody Guthrie's freewheeling personality and his empathy for the poor and downtrodden, Kaufman is the first to portray in detail Guthrie's commitment to political radicalism, especially communism. Drawing on previously unseen letters, song lyrics, essays, and interviews with family and friends, Kaufman traces Guthrie's involvement in the workers' movement and his development of protest songs. He portrays Guthrie as a committed and flawed human immersed in political complexity and harrowing personal struggle. Since most of the stories in Kaufman's appreciative portrait will be familiar to readers interested in Guthrie, it is best for those who know little about the singer to read first his autobiography, Bound for Glory, or as a next read after American Radical.