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Xerox University Microfilms 300 North Zoeb Road Ann Arbor. Michigan 48100 7819372 COTKIN," GEORGE BERNARD #0RKIN0«CLA88 INTELLECTUALS AND EVOLUT ionary THOUGHT IN AMERICA* 1870-1915, THE OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY, PH .D ., 1970 © 1978 GEORGE BERNARD COTKIN ALL RIGHTS RESERVED WORKING-CLASS INTELLECTUALS AND « EVOLUTIONARY THOUGHT IN AMERICA, 1870-19 IS I DISSERTATION Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of The Ohio State University By George B. Cotkin, B.A., M.A. The Ohio State University 1978 Reading Committee Approved By Warren R. Van Tine Robert H. Bremner Adviser John C . Burnham Department of History ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Peter Kropotkin demonstrated that "Mutual Aid" was a law of nature; he proved that humanity advanced through cooperation rather than struggle. In writing a page of acknowledgments/ a historian becomes acutely aware that the task of writing history is a cooperative effort. Above all others, I want to express my gratitude to Warren R. Van Tine. As an adviser he maintained the proper balance between encouragement and criticism. He never denied me his time, and our frequent discussions allowed me to clarify key issues. I owe much of my historical training to him. John C. Burnham offered trenchant criticisms of the dissertation, and he forced me to rethink some of my basic assump- tions. Invariably his advice was sound. I should also like to thank Robert H. Bremner who through example and kindness helped this disser­ tation along. To Vicki A. Underwood I owe an obligation that cannot be repaid or even stated. Her support at all stages of this work was immense; she tirelessly worked to improve my writing style. The problems that remain are my own; their relative infrequency is a tribute to her. The help of archivists and librarians at the following institutions cannot be forgotten; the Wisconsin State Historical Society, the Penn­ sylvania State University Library, the New York Public Library, The Ohio State University Library, the Ohio Historical Society, the Harvard Uni- verstiy Archives, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Library, and the Tamiment Institute. As a final tribute to the cooperative nature of history, I would like to thank the following scholars, archivists, and friends for their criticisms, suggestions, and support: Karen Blair, Merton Dillon, Ronald Filippelli, Eric Foner, James Hansen, Robert Kohan, Nelson Lichtenstein, Michael McCormick, M. Roe Smith, Dorothy Swanson, Sam Walker, and Tom Williams. And, lastly, I want to thank my parents. iii VITA Bom: Bronx, New York, June 8, 1950 Education: Brooklyn College (CUNY), B.A., History, Cum Laude, 1972. The Ohio State University, M.A., History, 1974. The Ohio State University, Ph.D ./H istory, 1978. Teaching: Graduate Teaching Associate, Department of History, 1977-1978. Awards: William Green Memorial Fellowship, The Ohio State University. 1976-1977. Publications; Articles "The Spencerian and Comtian Nexus in Gompers' Labor Philosophy: The Impact of Non-Marxian Evolutionary Thought." Labor History, forthcoming. "Evictions, Strikebreakers and Violence; A Study of Industrial Conflict in the Hocking Valley Coal Strike of 1884-1885." Ohio History. 87 (Spring, 1978), 140-150. Book Reviews Review of Herbert Gutman, Work Culture and Society in Industrializing America. Ohio History 86 (Autumn, 1977), 292-295. Review of Irwin Yellowitz, Industrialization and the American Worker. Labor Studies Toumal 2 (Fall, 1977), 171-172. Review of James B. Gilbert, Work without Salvation: America* s Intellectuals and Industrial Alienation. 1880-1910. Labor History, forthcoming. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ACKNOWLEDGMENTS......................................................................... ii VITA...................................................................................................... Iv INTRODUCTION.................................................................................. 1 Chapter X. THE WORKING CLASS POPULARIZES EVOLUTION........... 14 II. FRANK K. FOSTER: SPENCERIAN TRADE UNIONIST....... 3S III. HUGH MCGREGOR AND POSITIVIST TRADE UNIONISM. 68 IV. GOMPERS'EVOLUTIONARY TRADE UNIONISM................ 93 V. THE SOCIALIST PARTY OF AMERICA AND THE CONTOURS OF EVOLUTIONARY SOCIALISM, 1900-191S...................... 124 VI. PRAGMATIC AND EVOLUTIONARY SOCIALISM...................146 VII. THE EVOLUTIONARY MARXISM OF ERNEST UNTERMANN . 172 VIII. JACK LONDON'S "CHAOTIC VISION".............................. 202 IX. CONCLUSION...................................................................... ... 229 BIBLIOGRAPHY..................................................................................... 241 v INTRODUCTION This study examines "working-class Intellectuals" and their interest in and interpretation of evolutionary thought. To most observers, the concept of a working-class intellectual is contradictory. Today, when Eric Hoffer is paraded as the last of the worker intellectuals, it is easy to forget how common they once were. In the period under study, 1870- 1915, the working-class intellectual was an accepted phenomenon with a long history. Among the artisans of colonial Philadelphia were literate and self- educated craftsmen whose interests ranged from political theory to science.^ Despite the rigors of Industrialization, this tradition of the worker as intellectual continued into the nineteenth century, highlighted in a figure like Ellhu Burritt, "the Learned Blacksmith," who sought 2 universal peace and an end to slavery. Margaret Sanger, the birth control advocate, remembered her father, stonecutter and trade unionist Michael Hennesey Higgins, as "a philosopher, a rebel, and an artist." In addition, Higgins was a man who "fought for free libraries, free education, free books in the public schools and freedom of the mind from 3 dogma and cant." The intellectual as worker should not appear as an alien concept. Actually the etymology of the term "intellectual" harkens back only to 1 2 the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. An intellectual, rather than being a professional brain worker or literary dilettante, was either a political radical (the Intelligentsia in Russia or the Dreyfusards in France) or, as sociologist Lewis Feuer states, "workingmen, or their 4 children, who felt themselves possessed of a vision." Therefore, in­ stead of giving a new definition to intellectual, this study returns to the term's original usage. Working-class Intellectuals have attained an important place in recent Western Marxist theory. "All men are intellectuals," proclaimed Italian Marxist theoretician Antonio Gramsci,". but not all men in 5 society have the function of Intellectuals." Gramsci made the important distinction between specific intellectual activity that served a social function and other kinds, such as reading a newspaper or writing out a shopping list. The working-class intellectuals appearing in this study performed as intellectuals, in such activities as editing union Journals, 0 writing novels, preparing scholarly monographs or guiding an organization. For the purposes of this study, I give the term "working-class intellectual" a specific meaning somewhat akin to Gramsci's functional definition. The working-class intellectuals who appear in the first part of this study, men like printer Frank K. Foster, Jeweler Hugh McGregor, and cigar maker Samuel Gompers, came from working-class backgrounds, were connected with the labor movement, and performed as intellectuals. 3 The class and functional definition of working-class intellectual becomes a bit trickier in the second half of this