Why is the American labour movement so weak?
Why is union density now so low (15%) and why has no workers’ party developed in the US? Does this mean socialism has failed, given the Marxist argument that economic development constitutes the basis of politics? The latest issue of Historical Materialism journal contains illuminating material on these questions, providing valuable historical context to discussions on working class representation in the run up to the US elections in November. Alan Johnson, a contributor to Solidarity, pulled together this issue of the journal. His introduction explains that the starting point for Marxists on this question is the letters of Frederick Engels on American conditions. In a letter to his comrade Friedrich Sorge (2 December 1893), Engels wrote that: “American conditions involve very great and peculiar difficulties for a continuous development of a workers’ party.” Engels set out three particular difficulties: “First, the Constitution, based as in England upon party government, which causes e
