History 351: American Radicalism
Winter 2012

Class meets 12:00-1:20 Tuesdays and Thursdays in 240C McKenzie.

Instructor: Daniel Pope, 331 McKenzie, 346-4015, dapope@uoregon.edu
Office Hours: Wed. 9:00-11:00 and Thurs. 2:00-3:30, or by appointment

GTF: Feather Crawford, 340E McKenzie, 346-6170, ffreed@uoregon.edu
Office Hours: Tues. 10:30-11:30 and Thurs. 11:00-12:00

Note: This syllabus is on line at http://www.uoregon.edu/~dapope/351syllabus.htm. I strongly suggest you bookmark it. You will also be able to reach it on Blackboard. Before each class session, the syllabus will contain a link to the outline or PowerPoint presentation for that day.

History 351 is the second term of a two-term sequence on the history of American radical movement and ideas. This term we will deal with topics in American radicalism since about 1900. History 350 is not a prerequisite and is not offered in 2011-12.

 I do not assume that students in this class have any previous course work in American history. If at some point you find yourself unfamiliar with terminology, events, people, etc. mentioned in class or in the reading, don't hesitate to check with me. I should be able to explain it to you or refer you to some brief background reading.

 Discussion of the topics we cover this term is an important part of the course. The political, social and ethical implications of the material will, I hope, be of personal as well as intellectual interest to you. Because the class is large, I'll be lecturing a good deal of the time, but I encourage you to ask questions and make comments. Discussion will be most fruitful for all if people keep up with the reading assignments as much as possible.

Course Requirements:
1. NEW: REVISED: A brief review of a movie about radicalism in the early twentieth century. This is now an OPTIONAL, EXTRA CREDIT ASSIGNMENT. Revised instructions here. Now due Feb. 9.

2. Midterm examination Tuesday, February 14: One essay plus short identifications. Worth about 25% of course grade. NEW: Instructions and possible essay prompts for the midterm are here.

3. A short paper (4 to 7 pages typed double-spaced): Due Tuesday, March 6, at class time. Paper is worth about 25% of course grade. NEW: Instructions and options for the short paper are now online!

4. Final exam: Two essays plus short identifications. Final is worth about 50% of course grade. The final is scheduled for Monday, March 19, 8:00-10:00 a.m. About a week before the final, I’ll distribute possible essay questions. At the time of the test, I’ll restrict your choices among those questions.

Books: I’ve ordered the following at the UO Bookstore. These are all required reading. You may be able to find used copies on line or at local used bookstores:

                Emma Goldman, Anarchism and Other Essays (Note: this book also is available online at http://dwardmac.pitzer.edu/anarchist_archives/goldman/GoldmanCW.html.)

                John Steinbeck, In Dubious Battle

                Danielle L. McGuire, At the Dark End of the Street: Black Women, Rape, and Resistance- a New History of the Civil Rights Movement from Rosa Parks to the Rise of Black Power

                Michael Shellenberger and Ted Nordhaus, Break Through: Why We Can’t Leave Saving the Planet to the Environmentalists [Note: There’s an earlier edition of this book with a different subtitle: Break Through: From the Death of Environmentalism to the Politics of Possibility. It’s an acceptable substitute for the later edition, so get it if it saves you a little money.]

January 10: Introduction: Defining Radicalism
Our discussion of a definition will be improved if you come prepared to offer your own ideas of what “radicalism” does (and doesn’t) mean.

Part One: The Radical Left in the Early 20^th Century: Socialism, Anarchism, Feminism and Militant Labor:
A complex of radical movements flourished in the years before World War I. Although we will focus on the life and ideas of Emma Goldman, America 's leading advocate of anarchism, we will also consider the most dramatic example of radicalism within the labor movement, the Industrial Workers of the World, and the Socialist Party of America, which reached its height of political influence in these years. In particular, Goldman's life provides an opportunity to discuss the relationship between personal life and social change.

January 12: Early 20^th Century Socialism and the American Experience
                Optional reading: "The Nature and Significance of American Radicalism," on line here. This is a slightly-revised version of an essay I wrote for a book I edited.

January 17: Varieties of Anti-Capitalist Movements: Socialism, the IWW, American Anarchism
                By this date, read three very short pieces by Socialist Party leader Eugene V. Debs (all online): “Socialist Party Appeal 1912”;  “The Negro in the Class Struggle”;  “Jesus the Supreme Leader”. Also read three pieces about the Industrial Workers of the World (the “Wobblies”): These are all on the same webpage, here: “The Revolutionary IWW”; “How Scabs Are Bred”; “The Constructive Program of the IWW.”              

January 19: Emma Goldman--PBS “American Experience” series video

January 24: Goldman, Anarchism and Revolution
                By this date, read “Anarchism: What It Really Stands For”; “Minorities vs. Majorities” and “The Psychology of Political Violence” in Anarchism and Other Essays.

January 26: Goldman and Cultural Radicalism    
               By this date (Jan. 26), read “The Traffic in Women”; “Women Suffrage”; “The Tragedy of Women’s Emancipation”; “Marriage and Love” in Anarchism and Other Essays.

Part Two: Radicalism and the Great Depression: Whatever Happened to the Revolution?
If, as many have claimed, prosperity has doomed radicalism in the United States, why wasn't there a revolution in the Great Depression of the 1930s, when the economy was in shambles for a decade? What did radical movements accomplish in the 1930s? Is it possible that their strategies ultimately strengthened the system they were trying to overthrow? Reading John Steinbeck's vivid novel In Dubious Battle will allow us to discuss both the effectiveness and the morality of left-wing strategies and tactics.

January 31: From the “Lyrical Left” to the “Old Left”
               By this date start reading  John Steinbeck, In Dubious Battle, and Robin Kelley, "We Are Not What We Seem: Rethinking Black Working Class Opposition in the Jim Crow South," Journal of American History, vol. 80, no. 1 (1993): 75-112, online.  NOTE: If you are accessing this from off-campus, try this link: http://libproxy.uoregon.edu/login?url=http://www.jstor.org/stable/pdfplus/2079698.pdf. This should take you to a login page. Use your duckID and password as if you were logging on to Blackboard. If you don’t have a duckID for some reason, try the alternative method of logging in at the bottom of your screen. After you’re logged in, you should be taken to the PDF of the article.

February 2: Depression Conditions and Radical Responses NEW: Some study questions to consider about Steinbeck and Kelley readings.

February 7: A New Labor Movement and Communism in the 1930s     

February 9: Farm Workers: California Dreams and Nightmares
                By this date, finish Steinbeck, In Dubious Battle, and Kelley, “We Are Not What We Seem”. [From off-campus, use this link: http://libproxy.uoregon.edu/login?url=http://www.jstor.org/stable/pdfplus/2079698.pdf and login with your duckID and password.]

Optional movie review due at class time, Feb. 9.

February 14: MIDTERM EXAM

Part Three: Movements of the 1960s: The Civil Rights Movement, The “New Left” and Beyond:
The eruption of protest in the 1960s was one of the more remarkable surprises in American history. In the movement for African American freedom, in opposition to the war in Vietnam and in a host of other struggles, a "New Left" made its mark. But the decade was also notable for a proliferation of radical social movements--struggles of peoples of color, of women, of gay men and lesbians, and many others intersected, often uneasily, with the predominantly white, college-based New Left. Our major reading in this section offers a new perspective on the civil rights movement of the 1940s-60s, looking at organizing to combat white men’s sexual violence against black women.

February 16: Movements of the 1960s: Revolution without the Proletariat?
                By this date, read Students for a Democratic Society (SDS), “Port Huron Statement” (1962). Start reading Daniele McGuire, At the Dark End of the Street (chapters 3, 6 and 8 are optional).

February 21: Phases of New Left Development    

February 23: Phases of New Left Development (continued)

February 28: Race, Sex, Violence and movements of the Sixties
                By this date, finish McGuire, At the Dark End of the Street.

March 1: Berkeley in the Sixties
                Start reading Nordhaus and Shellenberger, Break Through: Why We Can’t Leave Saving the Planet to the Environmentalists. Introduction and Part One (pp.1-154)  and pp.256-273 are required. The rest of Part Two is recommended but not required.

Part Four: New Social Movements in Contemporary America:
Despite claims that radicalism is dead, social movements early in the twenty-first century have posed important challenges to the status quo. The reading will focus on environmentalism but we'll also discuss movements ranging from anti-globalization activism to demands for respect and recognition from groups that have faced marginalization and stigmatization. What is the relationship between the new sociological and cultural patterns of our era and the movements that seek to alter those patterns?

March 6: What are “New Social Movements”?
                PAPERS DUE AT CLASSTIME.

March 8: Radical Environmentalism as a New Social Movement
                By this date, finish Break Through, Introduction and Part I.

March 13: Occupy Wall Street and the Tea Party: Separated at Birth?

March 15: New Social Movements and Some Guesses about the Future
                By this date, read commentaries on Nordhaus and Shellenberger’s original essay (“The Death of Environmentalism”): 1) Comments by four environmental group leaders; 2) Comment by an environmental justice movement activist.

Final Exam: Monday, March 19, 8:00-10:00.