The Nationalist was an American socialist magazine established in Boston, Massachusetts in May 1889 by adherents of the utopian ideas of writer Edward Bellamy in his 1888 book, Looking Backward. Published by a "Nationalist Educational Association" closely associated with Nationalist Club No. 1 of Boston, the magazine served as the national organ of the Bellamyite movement in the United States until being supplanted by the weekly newspaper The New Nation in 1891.
The January 1888 publication of the utopian socialist economic novel Looking Backward: 2000-1887, by Edward Bellamy was greeted with acclaim in a small circle of intellectual society, primarily in Boston, home of the book's publisher, Tichenor and Company. Boston Globe journalist Cyrus Field Willard was among the first of those moved to political activity by the book's economic vision, and he wrote to the author, asking for Bellamy's blessings for the establishment of "an association to spread the ideas in your book." [1] Bellamy had responded to Willard's appeal positively, urging him in a July 4 letter:
"Go ahead by all means and do it if you can find anyone to associate with. No doubt eventually the formation of such Nationalist Clubs or associations among our sympathizers all over the country will be a proper measure and it is fitting that Boston should lead off in this movement." [2]
No formal organization immediately followed based upon Willard's efforts, however, and it was not until early September 1888 that an entity known as the "Boston Bellamy Club" independently emerged, with Charles E. Bowers and Civil War General Arthur F. Deveraux playing the decisive organizing role. [3] The following month Willard's small Nationalist circle joined forces with the Boston Bellamy Club, establishing "a permanent organization to further the Nationalization of industry." [4] The first regular meeting of this remade organization, the First Nationalist Club of Boston, was held on December 1, 1888, attended by 25 interested participants, with Charles E. Bowers elected chairman. [4] A committee of 5 was established to create a plan for a permanent organization, including Boston Herald editorial writer Sylvester Baxter, Willard, Devereaux, Bowers, and Christian socialist clergyman W.D.P. Bliss. [4]
The genteel First Club of Boston would have 107 members by the end of 1889, adding to its ranks author Edward Everett Hale, magazine editor William Dean Howells, and prominent socialist writer Laurence Gronlund. [5] The group would dominate the initial phase of the American Nationalist movement. [5] It would be this local group which, through a publishing arm known as the Nationalist Educational Association, would launch The Nationalist in May 1889 as a vehicle to extend Nationalist philosophy and political ideas to the general public. [6]
The first issue of The Nationalist bore a cover date of May 1889 and contained a Declaration of Principles inside its front cover that made the group's perfectionist goals, declaring:
"The principle of the Brotherhood of Humanity is one of the eternal truths that govern the world's progress on lines which distinguish human nature from brute nature. The principle of competition is simply the application of the brutal law of the survival of the strongest and most cunning. Therefore, so long as competition continues to be the ruling factor in our industrial system, the highest development of the individual cannot be reached, the loftiest aims of humanity cannot be realized." [7]
First Editor of the publication was Henry Willard Austin, a graduate of Harvard College, lawyer, poet, Theosophist — and alcoholic. [8] His tenure at the editorial helm would be brief, replaced by an English émigré, attorney John Storer Cobb. [9]
The publication never managed to achieve a mass circulation of paid subscribers, peaking at about 9,000. [9]
As expenses began to outpace revenues, effort was made to bolster the flagging publication by adding Edward Bellamy himself to the editorial staff. [9] Due to the author's ill health this effort came to naught, however, effectively sealing the erudite magazine's fate. [9]
Deeply in debt and with its potential readership undercut by the January 1891 appearance of Edward Bellamy's weekly newspaper The New Nation, the final issue of The Nationalist appeared under a cover date of "March–April 1891." [9] The publication's demise marked the end of the early "philosophical" phase of the Nationalist movement and the rise in influence of those seeking concrete political action to implement Bellamy's vision in the United States. [9]
Edward Bellamy was an American author, journalist, and political activist most famous for his utopian novel Looking Backward. Bellamy's vision of a harmonious future world inspired the formation of numerous "Nationalist Clubs" dedicated to the propagation of his political ideas.
Francis Julius Bellamy was an American Christian socialist Baptist minister and author. He is best known for writing the original version of the Pledge of Allegiance in 1892.
Looking Backward: 2000–1887 is a utopian science fiction novel by Edward Bellamy, a journalist and writer from Chicopee Falls, Massachusetts; it was first published in 1888.
Henry Demarest Lloyd was a 19th-century American progressive political activist and pioneer muckraking journalist. He is best remembered for his exposés of the Standard Oil Company, which were written before Ida M. Tarbell's series for McClure's Magazine.
The Edward Bellamy House is a National Historic Landmark at 91–93 Church Street in the Chicopee Falls section of the city of Chicopee, Massachusetts, United States. Its landmark designation was in honor of journalist and Utopian writer Edward Bellamy (1850–1898), whose home it was for most of his life.
Arena Publishing Company was an American book and magazine publishing firm of the late 19th century, founded by author and editor B. O. Flower.
Frederic Faries Heath (1864–1954) was an American socialist politician and journalist who was a founding member of the Social Democratic Party of America in 1897 and the Socialist Party of America in 1901. He was an elected official in Wisconsin for nearly half a century.
Marie Stevens Case Howland was an American feminist writer of the nineteenth century, who was closely associated with the utopian socialist movements of her era.
Sylvester Baxter (1850–1927) was an American newspaper writer, poet, and urban planner in the Boston area. In 1893 he became the first secretary of the Massachusetts Metropolitan Park Commission and along with Charles Eliot was a chief force in the development of the Metropolitan Park System of Greater Boston.
Wilhelm Ludwig "William" Rosenberg was a German-American teacher, poet, playwright, journalist, and socialist political activist. He is best remembered as the head of the Socialist Labor Party of America from 1884 to 1889.
James Edward Hall was a socialist trade union organizer and politician. He is best remembered as one of the organizers of the New York Central Labor Union and one of the first American socialists nominated for high political office, heading the New York state ticket of the Socialist Labor Party of America as its candidate for Governor in 1888.
Lucien Delabarre Sanial was a French-American newspaper editor, economist, and political activist. A pioneer member of the Socialist Labor Party of America, Sanial is best remembered as one of the earliest economic theorists to deal with the Marxian concept of imperialism.
Nationalist Clubs were an organized network of socialist political groups which emerged at the end of the 1880s in the United States of America in an effort to make real the ideas advanced by Edward Bellamy in his utopian novel Looking Backward. At least 165 Nationalist Clubs were formed by so-called "Bellamyites," who sought to remake the economy and society through the nationalization of industry. One of the last issues of The Nationalist noted that "over 500" had been formed. Owing to the growth of the Populist movement and the financial and physical difficulties suffered by Bellamy, the Bellamyite Nationalist Clubs began to dissipate in 1892, lost their national magazine in 1894, and vanished from the scene entirely circa 1896.
The Socialist Labor Party (SLP) is a political party in the United States. It was established in 1876, and was the first socialist party formed in the country.
The Alarm was an anarchist newspaper published in the American city of Chicago during the 1880s. The weekly was the most prominent English-language anarchist periodical of its day. The paper was famously edited by Albert Parsons, who was controversially tried and executed in response to the Haymarket affair of 1886.
Frederic O. MacCartney was an American Unitarian minister and socialist politician. MacCartney is best remembered for having been elected to four terms of office in the state legislature of Massachusetts under the banner of the Social Democratic Party of America and its organizational successor, the Socialist Party of America.
The International Working People's Association (IWPA), sometimes known as the "Black International," was an international anarchist political organization established in 1881 at a convention held in London, England. In America the group is best remembered as the political organization uniting Albert Parsons, August Spies, and other anarchist leaders prosecuted in the wake of the 1886 Haymarket bombing in Chicago.
Cyrus Field Willard was an American journalist, political activist, and theosophist. Deeply influenced by the writing of Edward Bellamy, Willard is best remembered as a principal in several utopian socialist enterprises, including the late 1890s colonization efforts of the Brotherhood of the Cooperative Commonwealth (BCC).
The New Nation was a weekly newspaper launched in Boston, Massachusetts in January 1891 by the American socialist writer Edward Bellamy. The paper served as a de facto national organ of the nationwide network of Nationalist Clubs and expounded upon their activities and political ideas, which derived from the best-selling 1888 novel Looking Backward.