4.
Socialism was a rising force across the globe in the early twentieth century. How successful was the movement in the United States? During its hay-day, the Socialist Party grew to around 150,000 members. The goals of the party were to initiate free college education, legislation to improve the conditions of laborers, and democratic control over the economy. Overall, the socialist party was able to help improve conditions and laborers rights in the factories and farms, as well as help the people have public ownership of the railroads and banking systems. In the election of 1912, the socialist candidate, Eugene Debs received six percent of votes for presidency. Although this does not seem like much, this number was un-heard of for non-majority
parties.