Socialism and the City

The fight is on for the future of cities and with it the future of democracy in the country.  The Trump administration’s ham-fisted deployment of federal troops and the National Guard to usurp local policing and bolster ICE roundups of “immigrant-looking” residents is being challenged by mayors and governors and by citizens outraged by the…

In the spring of 1910 newspapers around the country speculated about what was going to happen in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, as the result of the election of a Socialist mayor in that city.  The mayor, Emil Seidel, tried to calm the fears of those who predicted a dangerous revolution was about to take place. Still, after…