Upstate Socialism: a Story of Homegrown Movements

Authors: Zachary Dean, Antonio Melian, Jack Manning

Field of Study: Social Sciences

Program Affiliation: Source Project Research Program

Faculty Mentors: Wendy Wall

Easel: 19

Timeslot: Midday

Abstract: In 1912 a Socialist was elected mayor of Schenectady. George R. Lunn, a local pastor and reformist leader, rallied the city’s growing working class and rose to power by arguing that the city government could be used to help its citizens. Lunn’s success displayed the rising trend of Socialists being elected to municipal and state governments across the country. However, many Socialist movements in New York, including those in Binghamton and Utica, faced internal pressures and criticism from their local communities, resulting in electoral losses. Drawing on local newspapers from the 1910s alongside census records and archives, this project explores the factors that contributed to the success or failure of the Socialist movement in each of these cities. The resulting podcast strives to improve current understandings of how left-wing movements can succeed, and demonstrate how these lessons could apply to the contemporary progressive movement in the United States.