Joshua Kluever
Joshua Kluever is a PhD candidate in American history at Binghamton University of the New York University system. This article first appeared in TheConversation.com.
American Socialism Ascendant?
The Socialist Party began losing members to the growing Communist Party in the 1930s. By the mid-20th century, it had responded to Americans’ growing anticommunism with a rightward turn. In 1972, party leaders actually renamed the party the Social Democrats, USA because so many people associated the word “socialist” with America’s great antagonist, the Soviet Union.