A Radical Culture for Children of the Working Class: "The Young Socialists' Magazine, 19081920" Author(s): Florence Tager

Source: Curriculum Inquiry, Vol. 22, No. 3 (Autumn, 1992), pp. 271-290 Published by: Wiley on behalf of the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education/University of Toronto Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1179841 . Accessed: 04/06/2013 01:45
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A Radical Culture for Children of the Socialists' Working Class: TheYoung Magazine,1908-1920
FLORENCE TAGER Medgar Evers College City University of New York, New York

ABSTRACT
The Young Socialists'Magazine, published from 1908-1920 was the first radical working-class children's magazine in the United States. In its pages appeared the writings of prominent political figures such as Rosa Luxemburg and Eugene Debs and those of such noted authors as Leo Tolstoy and Maxim Gorky. The lively content of the magazine also included poetry, songs, folktales, essays, and cartoons as well as a revisionist history of the United States from the Revolutionary War through Reconstruction. These features of the 15-18 page newspaper-size magazine were used to construct a working-class cultural identification in children that was tied to radical socialist activity.The cultural articles created role models and an alternative value structure while the political articles forged an allegiance to socialist politics. The unique feature of using sophisticated reading materials for children to develop a cultural identification tied to radical politics provides one model for developing oppositional cultural forms. This model may prove useful to educators today who are redesigning curricular materials to include race, ethnicity, gender, and class perspectives that have been marginalized from mainstream texts.

INTRODUCTION
From 1908 to 1920, members of the American Socialist Party published The Young Socialists' Magazine, the first working-class children's magazine in the United States. Through its energetic discussions of current events and its lively folktales, essays, cartoons, and poetry, the magazine challenged young readers to rethink the myths and ideologies of capitalist America. Designed to "make young rebels who would put an end to the capitalist system, "The Young Socialists' Magazine tried to develop a critical perspective in its young readers while constructing a radical culture and politics for working-class children and youth.1 In directing such material to children, socialists acknowledged education as an important site of ideological confrontation and a place where power relationships can be defined and redefined. In the 1960s, this goal of overtly challenging mainstream culture and ideology, in the education of children, was taken up by Black Independent Schools, Mississippi
@1992 by The Ontario Institute for Studies in Education. Published by Blackwell Publishers Curriculum Inquiry22:3 (1992)

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Freedom Schools, Alternative Free Schools, and magazines such as This MagazineIs aboutSchools. By the 1990s, it was feminists, African Americans, and other ethnic or racial groups who were in the forefront of challenging the cultural hegemony of Eurocentric versions of "culturalliteracy."2 Aside from the most recent flood of articles on cultural literacy and a curriculum of inclusion, only a minimum number of education articles have appeared in the education literature on alternative children's curricular materials. Although a great deal has been written about the Free School Movement, there have been few attempts to analyze the curricula or pedagogical strategies of these schools. Even less attention has been directed to the Mississippi Freedom Schools, the Black Independent School Movement, or the content of alternative educational publications such as socialist and anarchist children's magazines.3 This article begins to fill this gap by examining the ways in which The YoungSocialists' Magazine, an alternative working-class children's publication, constructed a complex culture and politics distinct from the dominant culture and appropriate for working-class children and socialist politics. Through an analysis of the materials in this magazine, we can examine how marginalized groups generate new categories of thought, new cultural forms, and new imagery for children. We can also understand how cultural issues are tied to a politics committed to altering oppressive living conditions. In my research for this article, I carefully examined The YoungSocialists' Magazinefrom its inception in 1908 until its demise in 1920. I have also read extensively in the children's magazines of the period and on the history of anarchism and socialism. In presenting this research and analysis of the magazine, I divided the articles in The YoungSocialists' Magazineinto two categories: those materials that emphasized such cultural issues as history, values, and character development, and those articles and stories that overtly proselytized socialism as the only solution to working-class exploitation. I have done so because I am most interested in understanding the ways in which a children's press links cultural identification with a political assessment of power and domination so that children learn not only their history or how to dress in ethnic garb, but also to challenge domination through political movements designed to change society. The is a particularly useful vehicle for developing this YoungSocialists'Magazine understanding because it represents a historical model of a community in struggle against cultural and political domination. While the material in The YoungSocialists' Magazinemight at times seem dated, overly sentimental, or dogmatic, both its form and its content have important lessons for today's curricula. This is especially true in light of the furor surrounding the "Curriculumof Inclusion" mandated in 1990 by the New York State Board of Education and in light of current attempts to develop an African-centered approach to inclusion. One observer who has pointed out the relevance of earlier working-class institutions to present social and cultural movements is the British-Canadian educator, Harold Entwistle. Entwistle argues that black liberation demands institutions similar to those used by workers at the turn of the century: "Although 19th century working-class institutions may be obsolete and irrelevant to 20th

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century needs, it is not clear how disadvantaged groups could liberate themselves without similar if different socio-political institutions.'"4He suggests that liberatory institutions adopt organizational forms and cultural ideas used by workers at the turn of the century, while updating content to be more appropriate to the history and culture of marginalized groups today. From this perspective, an analysis of The Young Socialists' Magazine becomes particularly relevant today. The magazine presents a model for challenging domination through the reconstruction and recovery of the historical and cultural experiences of marginalized groups. In addition, it provides a critique of domination and a vision that includes alternative possibilities for a social democracy. THE YOUNGSOCIALISTS' MAGAZINE: PURPOSE, FORMAT,AND ORIENTATION The Young Socialists'Magazine began publication in 1908 and continued through 1920. This was a period of intense political activity and social change. There was mass immigration (20 million immigrants arrived between 1890 and 1920), the growth of slums in our cities, and intense radical political activity. Women such as Margaret Sanger and Emma Goldman crisscrossed the country advocating free speech and birth control. Strikes broke out throughout the United States, with major showdowns between labor and management at Homestead, Lawrence, Patterson, and in the Rockefeller-owned mines of Colorado. It was a time when radicals like Big Bill Haywood, Elizabeth Gurley Flynn, and Eugene Debs organized workers into the IWW or the Socialist Party. It was also a time when socialist mayors were elected in Milwaukee and Berkeley, and Eugene Debs received over a million votes as the Socialist Party candidate for president.5 The mainstream children's magazines and schools often ignored these events. The articles in St. Nicholas,one of the more popular children's magazines, emphasized the virtues of rural American family life and ignored the immigrant experience, labor strikes, and crowding in the cities' slums.6 The magazine put forth an ideology that diminished class differences and applauded individual achievement and the homogeneity of rural life. In fact, a child growing up in 1912 and reading St. Nicholas magazine could easily have concluded that in a period of tremendous immigration, class struggle, and urban crisis, America was Anglo-Saxon, Protestant, and pastoral. When poverty or working-class people became the central focus of a story in a mainstream children's magazine, they were most often romanticized. In these stories the strong and honorable always rose above the hardships of their class through hard work, honesty, and thrift, or through the benevolence of a concerned boss. In one such story found in St. Nicholas,the benevolence of the boss was made apparent when a miner was rescued from the mine. A co-worker stated, '"Threethousand dollars! I told the boss jokingly after it was all over, that you weren't worth it; but he got mad at that and said money had nothing to do with it and that he'd save our lives even if it busted the company."7 Another story, "A Fortune in a

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Flower,"promoted the popular Horatio Alger myth, by portraying a young girl diligently selling flower seeds to make sufficient funds to obtain the proper medical care for her ill father."8 The messages presented to Americans claimed that capitalist benefactors looked out for workers, and that if they were honest, diligent, and virtuous, they too could succeed and leave the working class. These messages, which were also commonplace in the other four or five children's magazines of the period, were antithetical to the socialists' ideal. Socialists argued that the "masterclass"was using the printing press with its books and papers for its own class interest and "feeding dope to the young, day and night, so as to keep them in subjugation by means of funny papers, baseball and other forms of ball, motion pictures and the tango craze... The young have no time and no energy and no thought for vital things.'9 If their children were to become involved in "vital things," socialists believed they needed to wage war against the imagery, ideology, and history found in mainstream texts or popular magazines by creating their own alternative structure consisting of Sunday Schools, children's magazines, and youth groups. In 1908 members of the Socialist Party began to
publish a small 15-18 page newspaper called The Little Socialist Magazine for

Boys and Girls.10The magazine defined itself as an organ of the Socialist Sunday School movement and the Young People's Federation. Both groups were affiliated with the Socialist Partyand were established in order to bring socialist ideas to the youth. The Socialistic Cooperative Publishing Company located in New York published the magazine, and it was sold for 5 cents a copy or 50 cents for an annual subscription. The purpose of this newly created magazine, though stated differently in different periods, was essentially to bring socialist politics to the consciousness of working-class children and to help them understand their class history and culture. In 1915 the magazine defined itself as "a magazine for the young socialist by the young socialist."11 In 1917 William Kruse, the editor, broadened this perspective when he defined the aims of a socialist education and implied they were the goals of the magazine. In his editorial Kruse stated, "The first aim is to get the children to think for themselves, to subject everything that is presented to them in the light of reason, to refuse to believe anything merely because it is said to be so and to fearlessly question . .. the second great aim is to get children to feel themselves a part of the great community of work folk that live and toil all over the world.'"12 Each issue of the magazine was composed of about 15-18 book-size pages and contained interesting graphics, pictures of party leaders, cartoons, photographs, essays, and stories. It was often very sophisticated, intellectually challenging, and international in scope. Stories and poetry of well-known writers like Leo Tolstoy, Maxim Gorky, and Eugene Debs were a regular feature, while socialist theorists like Morris Hillquit simplified complicated social and political ideas for the children. In its earliest years, the magazine was called The Little SocialistMagazine for Boysand Girls.Though it was geared to the younger reader, it included a column for the older students entitled "For Our High School Reader," which featured excerpts from such outstanding fiction and nonfiction as

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Call of the Wildby Jack London and TheJungle by Upton Sinclair. In these early editions, photographs or paintings were used to talk about moral values and the meaning of socialism. Pictures would be followed by a discussion of an issue such as laziness or drunkenness. Editorial pages addressed current political issues like Roosevelt's imperialist policies. The stories in the magazine covered a wide range of subjects and were often fanciful morality tales or realistic fiction by famous authors. The magazine's monthly columns reported on the activities of Socialist Sunday Schools in the United States and Europe. Throughout these early years, Fred Kraft's column "A History of Our Country for Boys and Girls" reinterpreted American history from a socialist prospective.13 In the back pages of the magazine, progressive reading material for both adults and children was advertised. As the targeted readership of the magazine changed, the format also shifted. In June 1911, when the magazine became known as The Young Socialists'Magazine and the material became oriented toward an older audience, the magazine began to include more information on the Young People's Socialist League (the youth group was the arm of the Socialist Party). A new page entitled "Your Own Page" provided space where children could publish their original essays and stories. In January 1918, when the magazine became the organ of the Young People's Socialist League, the number of articles on movement activities and political theory increased, although the column entitled '"TheLittle Comrade" was retained for the younger readers. The magazine seemed to be quite popular, reaching many children. In these early years the readers of the magazine were often encouraged to show the magazine to their friends and were told they would receive a handsome storybook when they sent in ten new yearly subscribers. In addition the magazine was part of the curriculum of over 100 Englishspeaking Socialist Sunday Schools that existed in over 64 cities of the United States from 1900 to 1920.14 In these early years it reached over 2,000 children in these schools and in other foreign language schools.15 By 1915 the magazine was available to a substantial number of youths in the Young Socialist League, and in 1918 its editor, William Kruse, asserted that the magazine was reaching over 5,000 young people.16 The editors of The Young Socialists' Magazine took seriously the task of creating an alternative world view for children. They argued that socialism not only transformed economic power from a system based in private property to one of state ownership, but also included an ideological construct and world view that could reshape the character of the young children. The intention was to create a "new person," one who embraced communal values, heroism, selflessness, and a genuine concern for the fate of working people and worked for the socialist transformation of society. In order to create this "new person," the magazine included two differing types of materials: those that fostered identification with working-class culture and those that explicitly advocated socialism. Materials that emphasized cultural identification focused on such areas as the history of working people, the contributions of workers to society's daily life, and character development. More political materials proselytized socialism as

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the only solution to working-classexploitation. Although such a distinction between the cultural and political materials of the magazine is not entirely clear-cut, it provides a useful framework for examining the magazine's form and content and for understanding the ways in which children's material can tie together cultural and political issues. IDENTIFICATION WITH WORKING-CLASSCULTURE Unlike mainstream children's publications, which advocated escape from working-class life through upward mobility, The YoungSocialists'Magazine promoted identification with the working-class through stories, poems, and articles that valued work and emphasized working class history and culture. In these materials, working-class culture was associated with workers' activities in and around the workplace, the home, and the community. Working people were presented as having a unique history and a distinct relationship to other social classes. It was believed that through the cultural articles, the magazine could create a common set of values and experiences that would help children identify with the working class as distinct from other classes whose ideas and interest were often different and in opposition to their own. The magazine constructed and reconstructed this working-class culture out of the historical experiences of working people and the commonly told stories or articles that never appeared in the mainstream texts and magazines. Through short stories, parables, poetry, songs, illustrations, and historical pieces, the magazine tried to persuade children of the value and importance of their class history and background. In a sense, it tried to create a mental map or "worldview" that would guide socialist children as they grew and related to the surrounding world. A central theme of these cultural materials was the dignity of work and of the worker. Manual labor was not presented as alienating or degrading; on the contrary, manual laborers were applauded for their contributions to furthering the progress of society. Work that was frequently invisible to the children of an industrial society was made visible through the stories of the magazine. Some stories highlighted simple products that children used in their daily life, describing the labor required to produce them. For example, one such article emphasized the labor involved in producing a bar of chocolate and traced the history of the chocolate bar from its beginnings on a cocoa tree in the Caribbean. This essay focused on the hard work required to pick the beans, ship the beans, and transform them into the delicious candy bar that children would buy at the corner store.17 In a parable, 'The Story the Needle Told," a needle talked to a thread about how she was manufactured, polished, and used until she arrived at her present sewing machine. The thread complimented the needle, "And you are getting lovelier every day through the work you are doing here."18 At the same time, articles dealing with manual labor often emphasized that, despite enormous contributions, workers remained exploited and their bosses became rich off their hard labor. In a series on international labor, the activities of longshoremen were described and the owners of the

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steamship lines criticized. The author, in talking about the bosses, stated, "Why, they even say they work harder than the longshoremen and yet if you look at their hands and their faces you will notice that they are white and clean. The longshoremen's look like alligator skin, all crusty and cracked."19Another article on the shipbuilders asked children to look at the huge ships these men had built and realize the significance of their work when they thought about how these ships carry people, machinery, and coal. This article went on to say, "they never stop to think of all these wonderful things they see made by the men in overalls, the sturdy shipbuilders and other mechanics who swing the heavy sledgehammers all day and who get very little pay for building such wonders."20In these articles, workers were neither daring nor exotic, as they were productive, hardworking people who never received ajust reward for their labor. Similar work themes were the focus of the fiction and folktales in The YoungSocialists'Magazine.In one story, "The Triumph of Labor," Maxim Gorky described the perseverance, heroism, and exploitation of the laboring man when one of the laborers who worked his way through the side of the mountain died before the project was completed.21 In another piece of realistic fiction about a dying young girl, Fred Powers described the extreme suffering of the poor. Powers makes it clear that life in this bleak setting is a result of the uncaring employers. When the hodcarrier's daughter is dying, he cannot stay home to comfort her for fear of losing his job; so he is forced to come home after she has passed away. The story closes with the following statement: "Her father and mother said they will tell everyone to change the world so that no people need be so poor and suffer so much."22 In 'The Working Girl and the Judge," one of the few stories where the heroine was a female worker, a young girl loses her finger because of a faulty machine. The court refuses to award her compensation, and the story ends with an iconoclastic comment, "And the worst of it all is that God does not punish the rich man nor help the poor." This story, with atheistic overtones, implied that the poor must struggle to secure justice for themselves.23 Sometimes religious symbolism was used to highlight specific working-class issues. In the parable, "The Passing of Judas," the destructive role of a scab in labor strikes is highlighted. The author described a scab who crossed the picket line as Judas, and the working class as Christ. The story stated, "And if he was Judas, the Christ he sold for thirty pieces of silver was the cause of the working class."24 In the fine arts, the French sculptor Meunier was praised for the way he captured the dignity of labor, and the work of the French painter Millet was reviewed and praised for highlighting the daily life and work of ordinary peasants. The cover story of one issue honored Meunier because his sculptures-"The Miners," 'The Sowers,"and 'The Fishermen"-made the dignity of the worker a central focus. Meunier was valued as a workingclass artist who "finally came to think and see all things in terms of labor."25 In its middle years, The YoungSocialists'Magazineused poetry to depict the life of the working poor. The front page of each edition had a drawing of a worker and a poem about work. In one such poem, "Slaves of the

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North," the author compared the life of a worker to that of a slave. In another poem, "The Worker,"the author stated, I havebrokenmyhandson yourgranite I havebrokenmy strengthon yoursteel I havesweatedfor yourpleasure... And whatis the wayyou havepaid me? Youmastersand drivers of men.26 A common orientation and set of assumptions underlay the essays, articles, parables, fiction, and poetry that promoted cultural identification. Instead of the rags-to-riches motif found in mainstream children's magazines, these articles emphasized the dignity of work and the heroism of working people. Their plots and themes suggested ways to transform working-class life rather than ways to make it out of the working class. Characters who attempted to rise out of the class were often portrayed as class traitors who sought to advance their own interest at the expense of their fellow workers. Another technique, to foster working-class identification in young readers, was to bring them vivid reports of workers' struggles throughout the United States. A series of articles on the history of labor included material on strikes won and lost, the fight for the eight-hour day, and accounts of such struggles as those of miners in Ludlow, Colorado, of silk workers in Patterson, NewJersey, and of textile workers in Lawrence, Massachusetts. One article on the Ludlow Massacre (1914), as the strike in Colorado came to be known, reported from the workers' perspective the murder of striking workers in Rockefeller-owned mines. The article, written by a senator from the state of Colorado, was radically different from reports presented in the mainstream press. This article described the violence of the bosses and the suppression of the workers by the economic interests of the country and concluded by saying, "Allevidence shows the gunmen and, mine guards in the pay of the operators with headquarters in Wall Street, New York."27While the article at times seemed rhetorical, it critically dissected the perspective of mainstream news that blamed workers for the troubles in the mines. An article on the Lawrence strike extolled the virtues of class solidarity by describing how the children of the Lawrence strikes were housed, fed, and cared for by workers in other cities when their parents were out on strike. The article went on to say that the workers were "infused with a boundless faith in the love and comradeship of the working class."28This series of articles designed to reinforce the children's allegiance to their class presented positive perspectives on working-class solidarity and strike activities. Class identification was also reinforced through the creation of new holidays and the revitalization of traditional working-class holidays. The holiday of May Day usually received a huge spread on the front page of the magazine. In the May 1910 edition of the magazine, an article about May Day introduced the holiday to the children by saying, "Manyof you say you never heard of the holiday and that schools are not closed on that day. True. Because the working people do not make official holidays."29

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In the December issue of The YoungSocialists'Magazinea new holiday, Children's Day, was created to spread the spirit of socialism in youth and replace Christmas. On Children's Day, movement leaders spoke directly to children in the socialist Sunday schools who celebrated the day with cakes, candles, dancing, and songs.30 The Socialist Party newspaper also published a children's edition in honor of the day. Other articles in the magazine debunked patriotism and poked fun at traditional American holidays like July 4. These articles questioned America's commitment to freedom and liberty on a day when it was shooting and arresting striking workers.31 Through a revision of the American history told in school texts The YoungSocialists'Magazinetried to recreate a past that reflected the ideas and experiences of working people. These articles debunked political heroes who reflected ruling-class interests. In the early editions of the magazine, Fred Kraft wrote a monthly column called "The History of Our Country for Boys and Girls."Kraftproceeded to demystify historical heroes when he argued, '"Themore we study history the so-called great patriots and statesmen alwaysbecome great either by deception, brutality or some evil propensity."32 Kraft went on to describe President Washington as someone who was not quite the hero he had been made out to be. He described Washington's relationship to Native Americans by saying, "Sly and tricky as any other white man he saw his opportunity to gain their friendship."33 On the other hand John Brown, who had often been portrayed as a madman in mainstream texts, was recreated as a hero who was a genuine friend of the black man. The installments of Kraft's revision of American history spanned the pre-Revolutionary War period through Reconstruction. While these revisions sometimes seemed simplistic, they alwaysprovided a critical vantage point from which to examine traditional historical writing. Historical data was also found in a monthly column of important dates to remember. In the column "December Events,"John Brown's birthday, William Lloyd Garrison's birthday, and the day the Czar was assassinated were highlighted, while the May events included the uprising of workers in Barcelona, Spain, and Robert Owen's birthday.34These columns emphasized dates, people, and events significant to working people but omitted from traditional school texts. CHARACTERFORMATION Another type of cultural article found in The Young Socialists'Magazine sought to develop the character and personality traits appropriate to the new individual who would transform society. Articles of this nature demonstrated a socialist awareness that the transformation and creation of a new social order required more than a restructuring of economic and political power relationships. As they argued in the pages of the magazine, Let us not forget:Socialismis not merelythe adoptionof a systemof government, based on common ownershipof the means of productionand distribution of the necessitiesof life. Politicalsocialism,in orderto be a success,mustbe precededby

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psychologicalsocialism.In other words, the human family must learn to think as it now does.35 sociallyinsteadof individually While these socialists spoke of psychological socialism, the language of their discourse remained rooted in cognitive and rational terms, and ignored the emotional and irrational dimensions of the subconscious. Their use of the terms "personality," "psychology," and "character"reflected a model of character training common to textbooks of the late nineteenth century. In these books, personality and character traitswere believed to be consciously developed through controlling the child's environment and finding role models that helped children emulate desired behaviors. Socialists labeled these traits "psychological," when they really reflected a cultural orientation concerned with shaping values and beliefs through role models and value clarification. Biographies of movement heroes and heroines, artists, and historical figures were the most popular method used by The Young Socialists' Magazine to generate role models for its young readers. Through these biographies, the magazine set examples of industriousness, idealism, and positive action. For example, a biography of the sculptor Rodin focused on Rodin as a rebel and hard worker. The article quoted and suggested to "everyyoung socialist" that "nothing will take the place of persevering in study and understanding."36A short biography of John Brown described his rebel spirit and indomitable courage: "He was as firm as a rock in his convictions and his principles and his tactics were in complete accord with his innermost nature."37Biographies of famous socialist leaders also highlighted desired character traits. For instance August Bebel, a French socialist, was described as a man of intelligence and self-restraint who embodied a spirit of revolt even under oppressive conditions. Bebel served as one type of role model for the children to emulate. Role models were also presented through the magazine's fiction and, in a column for younger readers entitled "Little Comrade," through a series of folktales, advocating values appropriate to the new world view. One such folktale, '"The Selfish Little Woodpecker," emphasized the importance of communal efforts over individual accumulation. It ended with the moral that those who do not work shall not share in the products of labor.38 In another parable, a king and a bootblack argued over who would enter heaven first. In the end the bootblack entered first because he was judged to have sacrificed the most in the face of great suffering. The reader was led to conclude that self-sacrifice was an important trait for the new society.39 One story, 'The Only Hero," was unique in the way it pointed out that character formation was a function of social environment. In this story, the young "fighter hero" tried to find a place for his aggressive instincts in a world where aggression was obsolete. Having found no men interested in a hero, he searched for a woman, claiming that all women love heroes. However, in the new society, the women asked him what he could do or make rather than how strong he was. He replied that he could not do or make anything, but only fight wars. The women answered that since there

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were no more wars and everyone lived in peace and harmony, there was no need for a hero. She implied that "the only hero" was an anachronism.40 Through this story, the magazine showed how a changed social order might induce children to grow up without the aggressive, combative, or destructive traits characteristic of our present world. The story ended by saying, "You are the only hero. Go to the museum with the other specimens."41The stories delineated those traits needed to bring about the new society such as rebelliousness, diligence, hard work, and leadership, as well as those traits that would ensure the continued existence of a cooperative commonwealth based on cooperation, communal activity, and a sense of social justice. Beside providing role models, the magazine published lists of books whose main characters exhibited the values prized by the socialists. Clearly parents welcomed the stories and the book lists, which countered the "pernicious influence" of mainstream texts whose heroes and heroines embodied the competitive, aggressive individualism they despised. Letters of praise from parents were often published. One such letter stated, "I am glad I subscribe to The Little SocialistMagazine. It is instructive for young and old and I hope it will help to kill the poisonous American literature for young folk."42 THE LINK TO SOCIALIST POLITICALACTIVITY Identification with working-classlife and history, celebration of the dignity of labor, understanding of the hardships and exploitation of workers, and development of character traits appropriate to the "new individual" were all important elements of the cultural agenda of The Young Socialists' Magazine.However, this magazine went beyond the scope of many other alternative publications by including articles that specifically linked class pride to socialist political activity. Underlying the political articles was a set of specific principles: that working-classliberation would come through socialism; that poverty was the result of the organization of work rather than a lack of individual initiative or skill; that workers must develop a healthy respect for the dignity of labor and the laboring classes; that workers must condemn those who leave their class rather than work for its liberation; and, most significantly, that capitalism created the poverty and social injustice that only socialism could transform. In these articles, socialism was advocated as the only way to alter the exploitative conditions of work in America. Overtly political, they utilized socialist code words and phrases like "cooperative commonwealth," "industrial democracy," "exploitation," "sharing,"and "workercontrol" to counter the code words and phrases of the capitalist press, which included "pulling one's self up by the bootstraps," "individuality,""thrift," and "workinghard to get ahead." These code words oriented the reader to the author's perspective and were often used as a call to action. One common technique for bringing socialist ideals to children was to embue fables, fairy tales, and allegories with socialist doctrine. In the allegory 'Two Steamers,"a capitalist and socialist steamship were described.

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Children were directed, "When you read the story and think about it, you must tell your mother and father which ship you think would be best for most people to travel in."43The capitalist ship was described as being made up of three classes. In the first class, there was room for 200 people, but only 68 passengers were accommodated. Meanwhile in the third class, over 400 people were forced to live in a space designed for 200. Illness and poor work conditions characterized the third-class section. In contrast, the owners of the socialist ship planned how to feed and accommodate a thousand people in a single class where no one had more than he needed. Here all the passengers were asked to make their own beds and help with tasks on the ship so that everyone could enjoy the trip equally. The steamship allegory depicted socialism as the more appealing ship, showing a sharp distinction between the capitalist and socialist waysof life.44 Another, more complex allegory with a socialist message was presented in 'The Common Man" by Walter Crane. In this story, donkeys roamed freely until two-legged men brought them hay and forced them to carry a load in return for some hay. As more men came into the area, the donkeys were forced to carry goods long distances, becoming "beasts of burden." When donkeys were forced to run in a drawing cart race, they began to feel a return of their old freedoms. Quickly they rushed forward to overthrow their masters and refused to be subjugated again. An addendum explicitly explained the socialist message of the story: "If one should read 'natural man', or 'workers' for donkey, 'land monopolist' for the first master, 'capitalist' for the second, we can easily find the details to fit 'commercial competition', 'the industrial system', the relationship of labor to employer, etc. into this homey fable."45 Through the use of such allegories, The YoungSocialists' Magazinepresented to its young readers not only the terminology and ideas involved in capitalist exploitation, but also complex ideas such as the rise of capitalism and the subjugation of the working class. In some instances, traditional religious figures were given socialist identities and language. For example, in one article Eugene Debs described Christ as a socialist hero who rose from poverty but remained faithful to his class. The article ended by describing the ways in which socialism would put an end to the suffering of the poor: '"Theworking class takes possession of the mills, mines, and shops."46Religious symbolism was also used, in the earliest issues of the magazine, in a monthly column called "Socialist School Commandments." Here religious commandments were replaced with commandments such as "the socialist is first of all a thinker and a reasoner."47Dialogues between father and son tried to foster socialist views and action in children. In one such dialogue, "InquisitiveTommy" by Ida Crouch Hazlett, a father and son discussed the fact that "Banker White" got the money to buy his beautiful new car by exploiting workers. The boy's father told him that the workers' plight could not be changed until there was socialism. The child responded, "Well,papa, I hope we will get socialism then," and was told by his father, "Then we must tell everyone to be a socialist." "Papa, I am going to do

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that," promised the son.48 In dialogues such as this one, socialism was presented as the panacea for working-class ills, and children were asked to make the commitment to tell workers about socialism. The YoungSocialists' Magazinemade socialist ideology more powerful to its readers by linking theory to movement activities. A column in the magazine explained ongoing socialist activities, international socialist events, and the activities of children in the Socialist Sunday Schools or in the Young People's Socialist League. Children were asked to participate in socialist projects like sending money or letters to jailed comrades. The pictures next to one such article defined a comrade's responsibilities to the movement. It showed a man in jail, and the heading underneath the picture stated, "Remember! We are in for you." The statement underneath the second picture, which was of a forlorn woman behind bars, said, "While you are out for us."49 Through these pictures children were reminded that the jailed comrades were serving them and that they were therefore expected to serve these comrades through their socialist activity in the community. Often, prominent leaders like Eugene Debs and Morris Hilquit addressed the children in a monthly magazine column. In this way, ideas were actively connected to an ongoing movement, and children were given the feeling that they were part of a larger sociopolitical community. LIMITATIONS:RACE, GENDER, AND CREATIVITY While The YoungSocialists'Magazine was far-reaching in its linkage between working-class cultural identification and explicit socialist political theory and action, it must be pointed out that its treatment of issues such as racism and sexism was limited. Though the pages of The YoungSocialists' Magazine made some attempt to confront the racism of the dominant society and to decry mistreatment of African Americans and Native Americans, these attempts were minimal. Sometimes issues of Jim Crowism, slavery, prejudice, and the annihilation of the Native Americans were discussed. Nevertheless, even in these discussions, the racism of the dominant society crept in through stereotypes of the stories' main characters. "BlackRosie," which appeared in the June 1912 issue, exemplified this limitation. Rosie, a young Black girl, was ostracized by white children in her neighborhood. She was befriended by a tough white girl who ultimately helped her win the friendship of the other whites in the community. While this story encouraged all races to play together, the details reinforced a number of racial stereotypes. For example, Rosie was described as having short woolly hair and teeth that contrasted with her dark skin, a portrayal that remained within the bounds of racist stereotyping. In another section, Rosie's mother, a former slave, decried the horrors of slavery, saying, "Youdear children, who look at me in wonder, can hardly understand today how such terrible things could have been true." At the same time the story took pains to point out that some whites were good masters and kept slaves only because everyone else did so. We

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are told that Rosie's mother refused to leave her wonderful mistress: "I don't want to be free. Let me stay with you!" In this way the story also perpetuated the stereotype of the loyal Black "Mammy,"faithful to her benevolent owner.50 In an article on "The Fate of the Indians" by Charles Sprague, the author empathized with the plight of the Indians and called on the reader to recognize their unhappy fate. Yet there was no active organizing by these socialists on behalf of the Indians. In fact, there seemed to be a fatalism about the inevitability of their demise and an acknowledgment and acceptance of this unjust situation.51 Only occasional stories and articles in the magazine focused on the contributions of women. In the well-known poem "Bread and Roses," by James Oppenheimer, a strong statement was made about the women involved in the Lawrence strike: Aswe come marching,marching,marching, We bringthe creationdays The risingof the womenmeans The risingof the race.52 A dialogue entitled "Mother Goes to Work" offered a clearly feminist analysis of housework. In this dialogue, a young boy described how he got up at 5:30 to go to work and ate the breakfast his mother had prepared for him. When he and his father returned from work, his mother fixed them dinner and tea, cleaned up, and then continued with her sewing. Asked about his mother's wages, the boy replied, "She don't do no work."53In this dialogue, the boy's statement was examined and the exploitation of women in the home was made visible. However, materials such as this were the exception. In general, there were few stories where women were the heroines and few articles about women leaders. Women's issues were ignored as the magazine remained geared to the white working-classmale. Not only did The YoungSocialists' Magazineexhibit a limited understanding of racial and sexual oppression, but it also offered only a limited model for developing an alternative, oppositional culture. The magazine oversimplified the complexity of generating an alternative consciousness by focusing only on the rational aspects of consciousness and personality formation, ignoring individual creativity and the psychosexual basis of personality development. In this respect it differed from anarchist publications of the period, in which concepts of freedom, self-exploration, and creativity in education became a significant part of the political and intellectual orientation. The socialists' limited definition of personality formation and child development had consequences for the form and content of the magazine. Rather than exploring new forms of creativity in poetry and fiction, the material in The Young Socialists'Magazine remained conventional in form if radical in content. Today the literature in the magazine might be termed socialist-realist and would be distinguished from the experimental poetry or stream-of-consciousness writing that characterized anarchist and alternative magazines of the period. The radical content of the magazine and the exploration of alternative culture and institutions were also limited. While family life and schooling

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were critically examined and infused with socialist content, the traditional structure of these institutions remained intact. Marriage was written about in egalitarian terms, and schooling in democratic rather than authoritarian terms. However, in neither case were the institutions themselves questioned as they were in anarchist publications devoted to free love and libertarian schooling. In this sense, The YoungSocialists' Magazineremained conventional even when the content expressed a limited radical ideal. IMPLICATIONS FOR CURRICULUM AND CHILDREN'S PUBLICATIONS IN THE 1990s In spite of its limitations, The YoungSocialists' Magazinemakes a significant contribution to education today. It remains one of the few children's publications that challenged the power and domination of the elite classes by creating an alternative voice for the marginalized poor. On the pages of the magazine, articles and stories captivated the children's imagination and strove to ensure their identification with working-classculture, history, and politics. Today, with the ethnic, racial, and class divisions that fragment society, children remain isolated in marginalized enclaves. The Young Socialists' Magazinewith its variety of materials--community news, essays by prominent community leaders, traditional folklore that had been reworked to impart a particular message, socially conscious poetry, articles and essays by the children, current events viewed from a critical perspective, as well as revisions of the traditional American history narrative-remains one important model for creating a community among children that reflects the multiple voices that make up America. An examination of the magazine suggests categories of materials and ways to order these materials that could help construct alternative cultural forms for children today. The Young Socialists' Magazine, unlike most children's publications, showed enormous breadth of scope. Its detailed historical and political essays, and the literary quality of much of the writing, could serve as a guide for developing a current children's magazine that includes a wide range of sophisticated historical and literary materials. An important feature of the magazine lay in the way it blurred the distinctions between materials appropriate for adults and those appropriate for adolescents and children. This was accomplished through the use of original stories written for children by such literary giants as Leo Tolstoy, Maxim Gorky, and Charlotte Perkins Gilman or by adapting stories from the original to suit the audience of The Young Socialists' Magazine. Stories that were adapted often retained a great deal of the complexity and creativity of the original adult works. Today, however, the gap between adult and children's reading material is enormous, and this often contributes to the bland and uninteresting quality of children's magazines like the Weekly Reader.One could conceive of a more original and exciting publication for children today that utilizes excerpts from the works of such writers as Richard Wright, Toni Morrison, and Amy Tan, as well as traditional stories from children's literature. Based on this type of reading material children could begin to have sophisticated discussions on community and family issues relevant to their lives and the multicultural

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world in which they live. The distinction between materials suitable for adults and those suitable for children was further blurred in The Young Socialists' Magazinewhen the articles by well-known movement leaders and historians examined poverty, labor strikes, imperialism, and revolutionissues commonly reserved for adult discussions. Focusing on these types of issues is particularly significant for educators today, because, at a time when children are surrounded with the brutality of city living, they seldom read meaningful literature about their concerns and interests. Seldom does children's reading material discuss violence, poverty, bias-related crimes, or homelessness, which are issues that surround their daily lives or historical information related to their ethnicity or race. A magazine in the 1990s could include a series of historical essays that discuss the controversy over Christopher Columbus, women in history, or Black cowboys, as well as essays that explore bias-related crimes, police brutality, or poverty. Such a magazine would engage children with the complexity of the world they live in and provide a forum for meaningful discourse on social issues. Growing up amid this violence our children also need "value clarification," a term commonly used by mainstream educators. For socialists at the turn of the century, value clarification meant providing children with the morals and ideals that would motivate them to transform an "unjust" used biographies of famous people to society. The YoungSocialists'Magazine In value clarification. these promote biographies they wrote about historical figures who embodied alternative ideals of cooperation, heroism, industriousness, and selflessness. One could envision a new magazine that uses biographies and autobiographies to critique today's dominant values of individualism, macho culture, and "making it." Such materials might inspire children to think about who they are (culturally, historically, and philosophically) and the ways in which they too can fight for social change. Biographies of men like the farm worker and organizer Cesar Chaivez,or the African American organizer and leader Malcolm X, could provide role models for today's children and become an important feature in a new monthly children's magazine. Another concern facing educators today is the development of critical thinking. Many mainstream educators often equate critical thinking with abstract "problem-solving"techniques that do not reflect the concerns of children living in increasingly difficult environments. These educators, by not rooting critical thinking in meaningful life experiences, lose an essential element of this method of analysis. On the other hand, The Young Socialists' Magazine,by asking children to examine their life experiences in relation to power and domination, rooted critical thinking in a class perspective. As such the magazine provides one interesting model for developing critical thought. In its critique of the Boy Scouts, the media, historical writing, and the creation of holidays that did not address the needs and concerns of working people, The Young Socialists'Magazine suggested an interesting analysis of working-class oppression. On its pages, complex social and political issues were translated into stories and songs appropriate for children. Instead of "watering down" or neutralizing issues, the magazine created a variety of poems, stories, and historical

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pieces through which mainstream cultural and political assumptions were challenged and critical thinking encouraged. In addition, social problems were addressed and news items discussed from an alternative perspective. Today a magazine concerned with critical thinking could represent the multiple voices of marginalized groups and move away from a highly abstract "problem-solving"approach to critical thought. It could ground critical thinking not only in a working-class perspective as The Young Socialists' Magazinehad, but in the voices of marginalized groups that speak to issues of race, gender, and ethnicity as well as class. A newly defined magazine could build, in 1992, on the dialogue first begun in 1912, in The Young Socialists' Magazine. It could build on the story that discussed women's invisible labor as well as the stories that began to address racial oppression. At the same time, this new magazine could develop materials on ethnicity, gender, and race in the 1990s. More specifically, it could expand the working-class perspective on power and domination advanced in 1908 through the addition of the multiethnic and multiracial voices that challenge that power today. In this way it broadens the concept of democracy central to the ideology of The Young Socialists'Magazine and central to recent curriculum debates. One could envision a new feminist, antiracist, multicultural children's publication where distinct voices speak to each other across cultural boundaries about the commonalities and differences of their experiences and about the power relationships that have to be transformed if a democratic society is to be realized. One could envision the ways in which this new children's magazine would challenge a Eurocentric, class- and gender-biased representation of American culture and history so as to begin to democratize it. More concretely, one could envision a publication with dialogues about racism on college campuses and the Gulf War as well as columns and articles by Jesse Jackson, Shirley Chisholm, or Bella Abzug. Through literature, biography, and the writings of political leaders, such a publication would seek to involve children in ongoing activities of the community that focus on literacy education, the criminal justice system, and our schools. A publication utilizing the many categories of materials found in The YoungSocialists' Magazinewould be a real addition to multicultural curriculum development. This type of magazine could clarify values and foster commitment rather than cynicism, and community rather that individualism among today's children. Through such material groups might come together to build a more democratic social order and learn to hear not only their own voices but also those of all other marginalized groups. While the notion of a children's newspaper or magazine is not new, the form and content of The YoungSocialists' Magazineprovides an model for an alternative voice and consciousness interesting constructing that could enhance curriculum in today's schools. NOTES 1. William Kruse, "AnotherMessage of the Magazine,"The YoungSocialists' XI (Nov. 1917): 1. Magazine

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2. The challenge to a Eurocentric curriculum escalated in the 1990s as states like New York and California mandated a curriculum of inclusion, for all elementary, junior high, and senior high schools, that explores the experiences of Asian, African, Latino, and Native Americans. How these experiences are to be included in the curriculum and their relationship to western culture is the current focus of the controversy. 3. A history of alternative education has yet to be written. In the mid-1800s Bronson Alcott started the Temple School in the United States. During slavery and Reconstruction, African Americans set up alternative schools and by the Progressive Era, 1900-1920, there were many alternative schools and magazines flourishing in the United States. Many of these institutions were linked to radical social movements and included the network of Socialist Sunday Schools and anarchist Modern Schools. By the 1960s, Free Schools and independent alternative black schools like the Mississippi Freedom Schools and Weusi Shule developed on a national scale. All of these schools have challenged the dominant cultural values and were linked to social movements concerned with democratizing American society. 4. Harold Entwistle, Class, Cultureand Education (London: Methuen and Co., 1978), 115. 5. For a more detailed history of radical political activity during this period see, for example, Donald Drew Egbert and Stowe Persons, eds., Socialismand American Life (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1952); Elizabeth Gurley Flynn, I Speak My Own Piece, Autobiography of "The Rebel Girl" (New York: Masses and Mainstream, 1956); Emma Goldman, Living My Life (New York:A. Knopf, 1931); James Weinstein, TheDeclineof Socialismin America,1912-1925 (New York:Vintage, 1969). 6. St. Nicholas magazine was considered the most successful and prestigious magazine of the period. See Jane Benardete and Phyllis More, Companies of Our Youth (New York: Frederick Ungar Publishing Co. Inc., 1980). St. Nicholas was founded in 1873 and published in New York City. Mary Mapes Dodge, who wrote the children's classic Hans Brinkerand His Silver Skates,was the editor of the magazine for over 30 years. 7. Caroline Stanley, "Imprisoned in a Mine," St. Nicholas 28 (May 1901-Oct. 1901): 708. 8. A Fortune in a Flower," St. Nicholas40 (May 1913-Oct. 1913): 592. 9. "Beginning at the Beginning," The YoungSocialists' MagazineVII (Feb. 1915): 8. 10. While the Socialist Party itself was only sporadically attentive to The Young Socialists'Magazine and the education of their youth, the network of educational institutions that grew up around the party and included The Rand School, The Socialist Sunday Schools, and the Young People's Socialist League was instrumental in keeping the magazine alive and well from 1908-1920. For more details on the relationship of the Socialist Party to the education of youth, see Patti McGill Patterson, "The Young Socialist Movement in America, 1905-1940: A Study of the Young People's Socialist League," (Ph.D. diss., University of Wisconsin, 1973) and Kenneth Tietlebaum, "Schooling for Good Rebels: Socialist Education for Children in the United States, 1900-1920," (Ph.D. diss., University of Wisconsin, 1985), 533. 11. "New Prosperity for the Young Socialists' Magazine," The Young Socialists' Magazine(April 1915): 8. 12. William F. Kruse, "Socialist Education for Children," The Young Socialists' MagazineXI (March 1917): 10. 13. Frederick Kraft's column "A History of Our Country for Boys and Girls" began with the founding of the magazine in 1908. The first article we have on

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record appeared in the Dec. 1909 issue of The Little SocialistMagazinefor Boys and Girls.This is chapter 10 of the series and deals with the life of the early settlers. The article focuses on daily life; the homes of the earliest settlers, what they ate, where they ate, etc. In this way it is more like the type of social history that is being done today rather than the traditional history about kings, rulers, and war that characterized the writing of the period. The article is critical of the U.S. government, and it tries to create alternative heroes like Thomas Paine, who the magazine claims wrote much of the Declaration of Independence. The history series continued for many years covering slavery and Reconstruction. See Frederick Kraft, "A History of Our Country for Boys and Girls," The Young Socialists' MagazineII (Dec. 1909). 14. Tietlebaum, "Schooling for Good Rebels," 547 and 554. Kenneth Tietlebaum shows that copies of The YoungSocialists'Magazinewere given out to children in various Socialist Sunday Schools for use in the classroom. 15. Patti Patterson, '"TheYoung Socialist Movement in America, 1905-1940," 25. 16. Kruse, "Editorial,"The YoungSocialists' MagazineXII (an. 1918): 49. 17. Mary Wainright, "Chocolate," The YoungSocialists'MagazineVI (May 1913): 25-27. 18. "The Story the Needle Told," The YoungSocialists' MagazineV (June 1912): 9. 19. "The Long Shoreman," The Little SocialistMagazinefor Boys and GirlsII (uly 1910): 6. 20.'The Shipbuilder," TheLittle SocialistMagazinefor Boysand GirlsII (Dec. 1909): 13. 21. Maxim Gorky, "The Triumph of Labor," The Young Socialists'MagazineVII (March 1914): 5. 22. Fred Powers, "The Hod Carriers' Child," The Little SocialistMagazinefor Boys and GirlsII (Dec. 1909): 6. 23. 'The Working Girl and the Judge," The Little SocialistMagazinefor Boys and GirlsIII (une 1910): 13. 24. "The Passing ofJudas," The YoungSocialists' MagazineVII (Nov. 1914): 7. 25. Constantine Meunier, 'The Sculptor of Modern Belgian Labor," The Young Socialists' MagazineXII (March 1918): 2-4. 26. Berton Braley, '"The Worker," The YoungSocialists' MagazineVI (April 1913): 1. 27. Helen Ring Robinson, "The War in Colorado," The YoungSocialists' Magazine VII (une 1914): 3. 28. "The Children of Lawrence,"The YoungSocialists'MagazineV (March 1912): 13. 29. "MayDay," TheLittleSocialistMagazine and III Girls (May 1910): 10. for Boys 30. "National Children's Day," The YoungSocialists' MagazineVI (Dec. 1913): 8. 31. "Independence Day," The YoungSocialists' MagazineV (July 1912): 5. 32. Kraft, "A History of Our Country for Boys and Girls," The Little Socialist Magazine for Boysand GirlsIII (Feb. 1910): 5. 33. Kraft, "AHistory of Our Country for Boys and Girls,"5. 34. "December Events," The Little Socialist Magazinefor Boys and Girls II (Dec. 1909): 2, and "MayEvents," The LittleSocialists' Magazinefor Boysand GirlsIII (May 1910): 13. 35. May Reinhard Schocken, "Our Sunday Schools," The YoungSocialists'Magazine XI (Dec. 1917): 8. 36. Kruse, "August Rodin Sculptor and Rebel," The YoungSocialists'Magazine XII (June 1918): 2.

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37. May Baginsky, '"JohnBrown, The Fighter," The YoungSocialists'Magazine XI (Dec. 1917): 5. 38. "The Selfish Woodpecker, A Made Overstory," The Young Socialist Magazine XIII (July 1919): 9. 39. Geo Ruseter, "The King and the Bootblack," The Little SocialistMagazinefor Boysand GirlsIII (Oct. 1910): 4. 40. "The Only Hero," The YoungSocialists' MagazineXI (Sept. 1917): 4-5. 41. "The Only Hero," 5. 42. "A Wise Mother," The Little Socialist Magazine for Boys and Girls II (Dec. 1915): 5. 43. Dora Montenore, "Two Steamers, " The Young Socialists'Magazine IX (Oct. 1915): 5. 44. Montenore, '"TwoSteamers," 5. 45. Walter Crene, "The Donkey and the Common Man," The Young Socialists' MagazineXIII (Jan. 1919): 15. 46. Eugene Debs, "Suffer Little Children," The YoungSocialists' MagazineVII (Jan. 1914): 3. 47. "Socialist School Commandments," The Little Socialist Magazinefor Boys and IV (July 1911): 4. Girls" 48. Ida Crouch Hazlett, "Inquisitive Tommy," The Little SocialistMagazinefor Boys and GirlsII (Dec. 1909): 11. 49. "Our Martyrs,"The YoungSocialists' MagazineXIII (Aug.-Sept. 1919): 4. 50. Meta Stern, "BlackRosie," The YoungSocialists' MagazineV (June 1912): 7. 51. Charles Spraque, "Fateof the Indians," TheLittleSocialistMagazine for Boysand GirlsIII (Aug. 1910): 9. 52. James Oppenheim, "Bread and Roses," The Young Socialists' Magazine VII (Feb. 1914): 1. 53. "Mother Does No Work," The YoungSocialists' MagazineV (Jan. 1912): 4.

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