Nash, 18 - Becoming a World Power

Study Guide

Nash, 18 - Becoming a World Power

Nash, 19 - The Progressives Confront Industrial Capitalism

1. Wounded Knee Massacre: Ghost dance, Manifest destiny, American imperialism

1. Control of Southern labor force (Jim Crow, Lynch Law): racial segregation, enforced through terror. The labor force is color coded – “split-labor market”

1. Depressions of late 19th century: three major contraction phases with increasing levels of unemployment and misery

1. Control over domestic wage labor force (yellow dog contracts, guards, militias, injunctions, troops etc): repression of organized resistance

1. Twin drives of capitalism and nationalism: Imperialism = “empire building” – Rooted in the dynamic and expansive nature of capitalism and justified by appeals to nationalism (probably the most powerful ideology in the modern world)

1. Imperialism abroad (ease class tensions at home, find markets for surplus production, cheap raw materials, secure geo-strategic interests)

1. Continental imperialist expansion: For the first century after independence, the number one foreign policy goal of the United States was continental expansion -- gained by force or by fraud

1. Monroe Doctrine, 1823: James Monroe, a Virginia slave plantation owner, articulated and American foreign policy doctrine that was used to justify American interventions throughout Latin American for over a century

1. Asian trade: “opening” of Japan (1853-54), China (1859), Hawaii (1870s-1890s) --- etc.; Latin America and Caribbean

1. A.T. Mahan – By the 1890s, this man is a retired admiral in the American navy. He is also a historian who wrote an influential book titled “The Effect of Sea Power on World History”

1. Roosevelt, Mahan, Lodge, Beveridge – The Mahan doctrine – the so-called “large policy” became the foundation of American military buildup in the late 19th century (especially the navy) – One of the military naval ships that commissioned was named the U.S.S. Maine

1. Open door trade policies backed by force: Secretary of State John Hay negotiated a mutual agreement among the great powers of Asia called the Open Door Notes – The negotiations concerned sharing in the markets of China

1. Spanish American War, 1898 – The USS battleship Maine is anchored in Havana harbor (to protect American lives and property) – February, 1898 – The Maine explodes and sinks to the bottom of the harbor (hundreds of sailors killed) – The major newspapers blame the Spanish for the sinking of the Maine (“yellow journalism)

1. Jose Marti – Cuban nationalist and anti-colonialist who deeply admired the United States

1. The Appeal to Reason (Eugene Debs, editor) --- “[War is] a favorite method of rulers for keeping the people from redressing domestic wrongs”

1. Samuel Gompers (AFL) and the Spanish War -- “glorious and righteous”

1. Cuba --- United Fruit, American Tobacco Co., Bethlehem Steel – Before the war that brought American Marines to Cuba, American corporations were in control of about 6% of the Cuban economy – After the Spanish surrender, the American corporations cam to control about 90% of Cuba’s economy

1. Platt Amendment --- Cuban colonial vassalage – This gives the Americans the right to intervene (militarily) in Cuban affairs in order to “defend their interests”

1. Puerto Rico, Wake Island, Guam, Philippines: each of these former Spanish colonies became traditional American colonies

1. Rudyard Kipling and The White Man’s Burden ---

1. President McKinley on Philippines annexation (228)–

1. Emilio Aguinaldo & Filipino insurrectos: “Meet the new boss, same as the old boss” – This war, lasted officially for three years – unofficially for over a dozen years, eventually claimed the lived of over a quarter million Filipino citizens, most of whom were women and children.

1. Senator Albert Beveridge on Philippines annexation (229)

1. Anti-Imperialist League : The United States cannot be both a republic and an empire – the republic, as demonstrated by history, will give way to the empire and tyranny.

1. Mark Twain --- “We have pacified some thousands of the islanders and buried them; destroyed their fields; burned their villages, and turned their widows and orphans out of doors . . . And so, by these Providences of God --- and the phrase is the government’s, not mine --- we are a World Power.”

1. Henry McNeil Turner --- “An unholy war of conquest”
2. Open Door Policy in China – Secretary of State John Hay – Open Door Notes with regard to China. – Open door allowed the Americans to gain an economic beachhead in China – The Americans gained from China “unequal treaty” status – meaning, the American gained access key China – The right of “extraterritoriality”

1. Boxer Rebellion (1900): The Boxer’s had two enemies: the primary devils and secondary devils. Primary devils were foreigners (the imperialists); Chinese Christians – The Boxers were ultimately defeated and the plunder of China continued and sale addictive substance continued (opium)

1. Roosevelt and the Panama Canal: A French corporation has been hired by ____ top build a canal across the isthmus – The Americans received from the government of Panama the right of “extraterritoriality”

1. Roosevelt Corollary – The United States reserved the right to be the policeman of the Caribbean basin (and Latin America more generally)

1. Roosevelt as “big cop”

1. Banana Wars – What Roosevelt touched off was a series of American military interventions throughout the Caribbean and Central America that are collectively known as the “banana wars” – United Fruit Company

1. Smedley Butler on Interventionism (Excerpt from a speech delivered in 1933, by Major General Smedley Butler, USMC.

War is just a racket. A racket is best described, I believe, as something that is not what it seems to the majority of people. Only a small inside group knows what it is about. It is conducted for the benefit of the very few at the expense of the masses.

I believe in adequate defense at the coastline and nothing else. If a nation comes over here to fight, then we'll fight. The trouble with America is that when the dollar only earns 6 percent over here, then it gets restless and goes overseas to get 100 percent. Then the flag follows the dollar and the soldiers follow the flag.

I wouldn't go to war again as I have done to protect some lousy investment of the bankers. There are only two things we should fight for. One is the defense of our homes and the other is the Bill of Rights. War for any other reason is simply a racket.

There isn't a trick in the racketeering bag that the military gang is blind to. It has its "finger men" to point out enemies, its "muscle men" to destroy enemies, its "brain men" to plan war preparations, and a "Big Boss" Super-Nationalistic-Capitalism.

It may seem odd for me, a military man to adopt such a comparison. Truthfulness compels me to. I spent thirty- three years and four months in active military service as a member of this country's most agile military force, the Marine Corps. I served in all commissioned ranks from Second Lieutenant to Major-General. And during that period, I spent most of my time being a high class muscle- man for Big Business, for Wall Street and for the Bankers. In short, I was a racketeer, a gangster for capitalism.

I suspected I was just part of a racket at the time. Now I am sure of it. Like all the members of the military profession, I never had a thought of my own until I left the service. My mental faculties remained in suspended animation while I obeyed the orders of higher-ups. This is typical with everyone in the military service.

I helped make Mexico, especially Tampico, safe for American oil interests in 1914. I helped make Haiti and Cuba a decent place for the National City Bank boys to collect revenues in. I helped in the raping of half a dozen Central American republics for the benefits of Wall Street. The record of racketeering is long. I helped purify Nicaragua for the international banking house of Brown Brothers in 1909-1912 (where have I heard that name before?).

I brought light to the Dominican Republic for American sugar interests in 1916. In China I helped to see to it that Standard Oil went its way unmolested.

During those years, I had, as the boys in the back room would say, a swell racket. Looking back on it, I feel that I could have given Al Capone a few hints. The best he could do was to operate his racket in three districts. I operated on three continents.

American intervention in the Soviet Union

Nash, 19 -The Progressives Confront Industrial Capitalism

1.“Lynch Law” – the purpose is to maintain a cheap, pliable, docile black labor force.

2.Plessy vs. Ferguson – Supreme Court ruling 1896 – 8 to 1 – the majority ruled that segregation was constitutional – “separate but equal” – this is overturned in 1954 (the Cold War context) Brown v Board of Education

3.Nadir of black life – One historian has referred to the progressive era as the “nadir” of black life since the Civil War (nadir means “lowest point”)

4.Ida Wells: She opened up a press journal in Memphis, TN – She began to call out the lynch and to name names – her press was burned out and lynch mob came for her – she left Memphis and moved to Chicago were she continued the struggle until her death.

5.NAACP and anti-lynching legislation – Ida Well, Jane Addams, W.E.B. Dubois were among the black and white liberal who formed the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People --- In its original form this organization was staffed mostly by white lawyers who took up the cause of racial justice in the courts and by lobbying the congress for anti-lynching legislation – this legislation could never get a majority of the congress to vote for it

6.W.E.B. Dubois: Born around Boston, attended Harvard University took a PhD in sociology. Dubois is very much interested in democracy, racial justice and class equality – Co-founder of NAACP and first editor of its journal titled The Crisis

7.Temperance, education and “English only” – Most white progressives were middle class, arrogant toward immigrants and racist toward African Americans – What most progressives were interested in was moral reform movements/crusades. No alcohol – standardization of education including English only instruction – indoctrination into “Americanism”

8.Andrew Carnegie and the Gospel of Wealth – Carnegie argued that there was no contradiction between accumulating vast amounts of wealth and being good Christian. The devout wealthy Christian has moral responsibility to give his wealth back to the community, back to the society. The very essence of philanthropy (for the love of man) – Kind of a top-down Christianity

9.Settlement House Movement & Jane Addams – Chicago – Hull House – provided services for the poor that were otherwise not available – She also formed an employment bureau (to help people find work) – she also collected vital sociological date on working class communities that she and others could use to lobby congress

10.Social Gospel Movement & Walter Rauschenbusch – This is a bottom-up vision Christianity – this is grass-roots democracy – people’s movements – this is about transforming the social, economy and political structures of society – the belief that “sin” is not just personal but social

11.Bossism and Machine politics – political corruption in the major cities like New York – middle class progressive were about trying to “democratize” the machines – make them responsive to middle class voters

12.Struggle for Woman Suffrage – the right to vote – in the phase, during the progressive era, the woman suffrage movement has moved to the states – finally federal right to vote comes with the passage of the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution (Alice Paul, etc)

13.Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire, 1911 -- only one major new law came out of this in the immediate sense – no worker could be employed under the age of 14

14.Sweatshop labor (piece work, renting lofts etc)

15.ILGWU – International Ladies Garment Workers Union

16.Uprising of the 20,000 – Clara Lemlich is at meeting (16 years old)

17.Progressivism (diverse, complex, often contradictory trends)

18.Roosevelt and reform – TR – Roosevelt – backed several reforms in the progressive era regarding women’s rights, labor rights and the rights of the environment. Roosevelt was a big business, pro-capitalist politician who hated socialism --

19.Roosevelt and reform – Roosevelt supported the regulation of the meat packing industry and also for the regulation of the drug supply – Also, he was first president to support the establishment of a national parks system. Steps to regulate the exploitation of the environment

20.Roosevelt as “trustbuster”? (e.g., Standard Oil) – A trust is corporate combination – a monopoly – Roosevelt was the first president to actively enforce the Sherman Anti-Trust Act – putting big business on notice that the federal government can serve as arbiter in the marketplace (regulation)

21.Roosevelt mediates 1902 Anthracite Coal Strike (Pennsylvania): Roosevelt mediated the dispute, citing national security, brings the crisis to resolution by threatening to replace the workers with soldiers (nationalize the mines).

22.Tammany Machine and reform: Boss politics in New York City – much of the middle reform movement about “cleaning up” urban politics – the reformers tended to blame the immigrants – The reformers had limited success in big cities like New York but they did have a greater impact in medium and small cities through the “city manager” system.

23.U.S. as major global power – The United States has entered the great power arena and yet is still plagued by poverty, extensive use of child labor, and Jim Crow patterns of exploitation – what is defining “great power status” is productive capacity and military prowess. Most progressive reformers simply want a “kinder gentler” form of capitalist production and politics.

24.1912 Presidential Election (Wilson, Taft, Roosevelt, Debs): Wilson (D), Taft (R) (Taft was president 1908-1912); Roosevelt (P) (Roosevelt ran third party in 1912 as “Progressive Party” candidate – also known as the “Bull Moose Party”); Debs (SP)

25.Debs calls Roosevelt progressives “party of progressive capitalism” – Debs said openly that progressive politics were really about a kinder-gentler form of capitalism which he believed to be a contradiction in terms. – Debs polled a respectable but small fraction of the electorate – small but significant.

26.All candidates claim “progressive” banner – Each of the candidates in the Election of 1912 claimed to be a “progressive”

27.Corporations dodged most reform: A lot of the progressive agenda was in fact passed – including, for example, passage of the Interstate Commerce Commission (meant to regulate the American railroad industry) – But over time, the lobbyists for the corporations get their own favorites appointed to the commission

28.Rising tide of socialism (radical movements) sets the agenda – This is the “socialist challenge” – even though, for the most part, the socialist lost at the federal level (with a few exceptions), they were polling strong at the municipal and state levels (especially in the big cities like New York) – so the other candidates had to take notice and integrate some of the socialist agenda into their own platforms

29.Socialist Party of America (formed 1901): A party with membership across the nation (every state) – 150, 000 subscribers to the socialist party journal -- Debs runs for president five times

30.Debs bids for the Presidency: the last time he ran for president was 1920 from a jail cell

31.Core of SPA support (urban workers, immigrants)

32.AFL (“American Separation of Labor”): The American Federation of Labor (craft union – pragmatic unionism) – Refused to organize with Blacks or White women or the unskilled – the AFL organized mostly White (Anglo) native-born, skilled workers (the so-called “aristocracy of labor”) – Debs referred to the AFL as the American separation of labor

33.Anarchism as political philosophy: All anarchists distrust all institutions of hierarchical power (economic institutions like a corporation or political institutions as the state), they also subscribe to the “labor theory of value” (workers are the source of all value); what anarchists teach and preach is labor solidarity and class consciousness for working people

34.Emma Goldman: An immigrant Jewish girl from Russia who came to represent anarchism as a philosophy of action in the United States – She was involved in propaganda (agit-prop) but also direct action campaigns

35.IWW (1905 - Debs, Haywood, Goldman, Mother Jones) “One Big Union – “Big” Bill Haywood of the Western Federation of Miners chaired the opening conference of the Industrial Workers of the World which he called the “Continental Congress of the Industrial Working Class” – this is a union dedicated to the principles of anarcho-syndicalism -

36.Bread and Roses strike 1912 – Lawrence, Mass (mill town) over a dozen ethnic immigrant groups working for the textile industry – divide and rule – the exploitation reached the point the Marx said it always does and always will, i.e., subsistence (barely able to feed their families) – IWW comes to town and takes what was believed to the impossible task of organizing these workers -- -- One of the few but key examples of an IWW victory (which was part of what Roosevelt “the rising tide of socialism)