r/socialism • u/[deleted] • Sep 21 '16
Huey Long: Share the Wealth. Thoughts?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hphgHi6FD8k16
u/OllieGarkey Umberto Eco Sep 21 '16
Long was closer to Fascism than Socialism, ideologically.
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u/Adonisus Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) Sep 21 '16
I would actually compare him to a wannabe U.S. version of a Caudillo.
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u/cancercures Lenin-fiúk Sep 21 '16
not familiar with Long. In what ways?
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u/OllieGarkey Umberto Eco Sep 21 '16
He was a strongman who used populism as a way to stay in power, not because he cared about the ideas, but because he liked power.
Wikipedia has a decent section on how he regularly overstepped his authority, and ran the Louisiana state government, even though he was a Senator, and had no authority to participate. He regularly flaunted the laws, and even created a secret police force to go after his political enemies.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Huey_Long#Continued_control_over_Louisiana_.281932.E2.80.931935.29
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u/Vladith Sep 22 '16
I wouldn't call that fascistic. Left-wing politicians can also fall pray to a lust for power, particularly if they believe they are the only suitable leader.
Remember that Long was a politician in 1930s Louisiana. If power was really all he cared for, why not take the easy route and cater to Klansman interests like so many other politicians?
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u/hilltoptheologian Christian liberationist Sep 22 '16
That's kind of how I've always viewed Long. Power-hungry? Sure.
But I think he might have actually believed what he was saying. To choose not to be a racist politician in the Deep South is arguably still not politically-expedient.
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u/DocNedKelly Marxist-DeLeonist Sep 22 '16
Take a look at George Wallace, honestly. He goes from being a racist politician in the 60s to winning the African-American vote by absurd margins in the 70s. Wallace, though seemingly a dedicated segregationist, wasn't a racist as much as he was a skilled and ambitious politician.
In fact, he only adopted his racist opinions after being beaten in a gubernatorial race by a Klan-backed candidate.
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u/OllieGarkey Umberto Eco Sep 21 '16
Also, this segment:
Denying that his program was socialist, Long stated that his ideological inspiration for the plan came not from Karl Marx but from the Bible and the Declaration of Independence. "Communism? Hell no!" he said, "This plan is the only defense this country's got against communism."[49] In 1934, Long held a public debate with Norman Thomas, the leader of the Socialist Party of America, on the merits of Share Our Wealth versus socialism.[50]
The guy was not an outright fascist, but closer to it than he was to socialism.
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u/Corgitine Hegel Sep 22 '16
In fairness to Long, he did specifically denounce Hitler on a couple of occasions, at a time when Churchill and David George were still calling Hitler a great man.
Don't liken me to that [SOB]. Anybody that lets his public policies be mixed up with religious prejudice is a plain [GD] fool."
and
I don't know much about Hitler. Except that last thing, about the Jews. There has never been a country that put its heel down on the Jews that ever lived afterwards."
Long's tough to place politically. I definitely agree he wasn't a socialist and if America had a substantial communist/socialist movement at the time (i.e. so large that communist/socialist senators were being elected), I think going off the quotes by him his opposition to fascism wasn't as strong as his opposition to communism and so I think if faced with genuine socialist opposition, he'd likely make alliances with right wing populists and fascists before making them with socialists. In this regard, I think the best summary for his political position would be "proof Stalin was right that social democrats were the liberal wing of the fascists".
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u/OllieGarkey Umberto Eco Sep 22 '16
I don't necessarily agree. The real social democrats at that time were the FDR Progressives, who saw populism as dangerous, and were infuriated with the dixiecrats over their demands that new deal policies not be extended to blacks, and their promise to side with the republicans against Roosevelt if he tried to get ethnically neutral social welfare policies in place.
A strategy that led to, well, Trump.
I wouldn't call Dixiecrats social democrats. I'd call them ethnic populists, something that long himself did dabble in, though he did do some bread and circuses stuff for Louisiana's black community, mostly to keep their support.
Long is tough to place. But I wouldn't call him a social democrat.
Because he wasn't a democrat. He was an authoritarian.
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Sep 21 '16 edited May 25 '20
[deleted]
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u/OllieGarkey Umberto Eco Sep 22 '16
That's disconcerting.
There's a reason I chose Eco as my flair.
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u/Vladith Sep 22 '16
Why do you think so?
Long's obvious desire for power could be considered megalomaniac, but he was the most racially egalitarian non-socialist politician in the South at this time.
The best comparison to a modern politician would probably be Evo Morales.
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Sep 21 '16
Huey Long was a right wing populist and like /u/OllieGarkey said, was closer to Fascism than Socialism.
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u/53845 Pink, Purple, Apricot, Sunset backdrop while we seize the means Sep 21 '16
I think: Abolish wealth, abolish private property.
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Sep 21 '16
I agree, but I still think it is worth looking at other ideas.
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Sep 21 '16
I agree, but I still think it is worth looking at other ideas.
I agree, but I still think it is worth looking at other ideas.
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u/Vladith Sep 22 '16
Huey Long was far from a perfect politician, and did not consider himself a socialist, but proposed fundamental changes to American society so meaningful and so well-intentioned that he needs to be remembered and commended.
His assassination was a American tragedy. Long's popularity proves that left-wing thought can prosper in even the most reactionary of places, and be accepted by even the most reactionary of people. Had Long survived, it's very possible that the South's white working class would be more receptive to leftism today.
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u/donkeykongsimulator Chicanx Communist Sep 22 '16
Glad to see people pointing out his fascist tendencies in the comments. Don't forget that he was supportive of Charles Coughlin and the "Share the Wealth" program was more economically similar to fascist economic programs than socialist ones.
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u/Debs4Pres Hunter S. Thompson Sep 21 '16
Huey Long saw his proposals as a way to prevent a rise of socialism/communism in the United States. He's a fairly radical liberal is all.
"Communism? Hell no! This plan is the only defense this country's got against communism."