Chester McArthur Destler (1904–1984)

Journal entry from October 11, 1993

This is the original "Populists as proto-Progressives" narrative to which Lasch refers. The topic addressed is the union of Populism and labor during the 1890s in Chicago, Illinois and in that state more generally. The major sticking point between urban workers and the Populist movement was a particular plank, "Plank 10, 'I which called for "the collective ownership by the people of all means of production and distribution" (p. 16970). It was difficult for the Populists to integrate urban labor because of "ideological differences" (170). Where the alliance worked it concentrated on the unity between the American republican tradition and non-Marxist socialism (p. 198). By presenting to the reader a document by Henry D. Lloyd which is normally left out of collections of his works, Destler shows how Henry D. Lloyd reconciled the Jeffersonian tradition with "the collectivist principle.1' In short Destler illuminates an American socialist past at a moment where populism and the labor movement attempted to unite.… (meer)