The Protean Character of American Liberalism

Abstract

The protean character of American liberalism, so puzzling to European commentators, is in part traceable to its role as a surrogate socialism. In the 1920s and 1930s, the liberal community was strongest in the industrial and commercial centers of the Northeast and Midwest. It had cohered in the 1910s among European immigrants and their children, progressive trade unionists such as those who belonged to the International Ladies Garment Workers Union and Amalgamated Clothing Workers, settlement house workers, social workers, and others involved with urban reform. Campaigning against the "Interests" and the "Trusts," some liberals began elaborating an American theory of corporatism that called for a strong state both to regulate the corporations and to help workers and farmers organize themselves and press their demands. Other liberals were attracted to the English theory of guild socialism, which held the promise of group empowerment while keeping the state small.

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