J. Stitt Wilson
Socialist, Christian, Mayor of Berkeley
J. Stitt Wilson
Description
Jackson Stitt Wilson (1868-1942) was one of America's most prominent socialist politicians. Barton's biography brings his extraordinary career vividly to life and illuminates the vitality and creativity of the socialist movement, from the Gilded Age to the New Deal. Ordained as a Methodist minister in Chicago during the great depression of 1893-1897, Wilson resigned to help start a Christian socialist movement which would be joined by hundreds of American ministers. He was a noted public speaker, drawing enthusiastic audiences of thousands in the U.S., Canada and Great Britain, where he worked with the newly formed Labour Party. After Wilson and his family moved to Berkeley, California, he ran for Governor and then was elected mayor, but declined to run for re-election after tragedy struck his family. He was a strong supporter of women's rights, and his two daughters both became socialists and stars of stage and screen during the silent movie era. During World War I, Wilson again ran for mayor, but was narrowly defeated after false accusations from a Berkeley-based "citizen secret service" organization, sponsored by the U.S. Army. The Great Depression of the 1930s brought renewed attention to Wilson's Christian socialism. He worked to revive the Socialist Party, then worked for his friend Upton Sinclair's EPIC campaign for governor in 1934. In the last years of his life he warned against the rise of fascism and supported the New Deal as the only credible alternative.
"Stephen Barton's fascinating biography of Jackson Stitt Wilson resurrects the life and times of this remarkable but almost-forgotten public figure. Wilson was part of a vibrant Christian socialist movement who put its principles into practice after he was elected mayor of Berkeley, California in 1911, a period when more than 1,200 Socialists won public offices across the country. Many of the then-radical ideas Wilson crusaded for-women's suffrage, a minimum wage, an end to child labor, old age insurance, and the right of workers to form unions-are things we now take for granted. Barton's well-written and comprehensive biography reminds us that today's progressives-in California and elsewhere-stand on Wilson's shoulders."
- Peter Dreier, E.P. Clapp Distinguished Professor of Politics, Occidental College, and author of The 100 Greatest Americans of the 20th Century: A Social Justice Hall of Fame and We Own the Future: Democratic Socialism, American Style
"A carefully researched account of the fascinating life and times of Berkeley's only Socialist Party mayor, Barton's book also includes important insights into the history of the early twentieth century socialist movement in the United States and Britain."
- Charles Wollenberg, former Professor of History and Chair of Social Sciences, Berkeley City College, and author of Berkeley, A City in History
"Barton's book is a masterfully researched and carefully written biography of Wilson. This book not only brings to life again an important yet understudied Berkeley citizen of the early twentieth century, it can also help dispel some popular misconceptions about socialism, religion, and their mutual role in fostering social change."
- Douglas Firth Anderson, Professor Emeritus of History, Northwestern College, and co-author of Pilgrim Progression: The Protestant Experience in California
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