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→Early Socialism in the United States
Edward Bellamy, a relatively unknown author, wrote what would become perhaps the second highest selling book in the United States in the 19th century, surpassed only by <i>Uncle Tom's Cabin</i>. The book (<i>Looking Backward: 2000–1887</i>) describes a socialist United State in the year 2000. The book was still part of the Utopian Socialism ideals but now began to tackle what would become core aspects of socialism as it discussed labor and production, including equal distribution of goods across the United States. The hero of the novel wakes up in 2000 to see a United States that is in a socialist Utopian state where everyone retires at 45.
After 1848, many socialists from Germany had migrated to the United States due to political fallout from the 1848 revolutions that swept Europe. This led to the first Marxist socialists to migrate to the United States and also followers of Ferdinand Lassalle, a prominent German philosopher who believed the state was critical in establishing justice in a socialist society. In Germany, this influenced what would become the Social Democratic Party (SPD), which is still one of the main political parties in that country. In the United States, several socialist parties formed, including the Socialist Labor Party of America (SLP) and others, with the SLP still in existence. Many of those involved in the SLP also formed the American Federation of Labor (AFL), which exists today as part of AFL-CIO, a prominent labor organization and union. Other movements began to emerge, including Eugene Debs and others who founded the Socialist Party of America in 1901. The party would nominate Debbs for president between the 1904-1920 elections, where they were able to get about 3% of the vote and often finished third. Debs would go one to influence some left-wing politicians in the United States eventhough his own movement failed to develop. His speaking style and compassion have been cited as being influential in American politics of the early 20th century.
==The US and Socialism in Europe==
