America has been a country which has undergone many changes some which have brought political, social and economic changes. Notably, the progressive party, which came to be in 1912, due to the ordeals that the American was undergoing, was one of the bodies that championed for these changes. Subsequently, the progressive aimed at restoring social order which was lacking, promoting social justice and improve the well-being of the people. Thus, the progressive party constituted of many people who all opposed the way America was governed at the time. Due to the diversity that excited in the party, the progressive often used the radical means to bring changes in the American Society, government, and economy.
To begin with, the progressive crusaded to receive social just which was absent at the time. Evidently, this can be denoted from Eugene Debs who claimed that the government was propagating a lie that the people were free and lived in a democratic world (Clark, 2008) . Echoing from his statements, it was clear that the means through which the government had taken to reform the nation was certainly that which enslaved many people in the pretence of democracy. Clearly, evidence shows that the suffering of the people while the changes were occurring had increased rapidly and people were mainly surviving with hardships. According to Eugene Debs, (Clark, 2008), he is not terrified by the fact that his statements would lead him to jail. Contrary to this, he claims that he would rather be “a free soul in jail” (Clark, 2008) . Thus, this shows the extent to which the transformation had pushed the common man to the point of not being afraid to be imprisoned. The rights of people to speak of what they were going through had been taken away which is something that progressive aimed at achieving.
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Notably, in the 1920’s there was a great economic shift which though aimed at improving America, it did so at the expense of other people. As such, the progressive party was adamant that the government adopt ways through which there could be economic transformation. Consequently, Business was seen as the key venture that would lead to American Internationalism. Consequently, many American companies scrambled to build factories in many places so that they would take advantage of the free labour and the unexploited markets (Clark, Hewitt, & Rosenzweig, 2000) . No sooner had the American companies started these ventures than they found holding majors shares globally, for instances, the electric company. As a result thus brought about a change in the living conditions of people and at the same time, it perpetuated economic growth.
Nonetheless, the proceeds of this growth were not distributed evenly. For example, the companies dealing with automobile succeeded while those which dealt with substances such as textile declined. Consequently, this also saw the profits of corporate companies which were now booming, increased by a large percentage. However, this was at the expense of the common man, as the “working-class wages grew slowly” (Clark, 2008) . Moreover, there was litter disposed of everywhere in the city, which angered individuals in the progressive party that saw this as a health menace. Thus they began attacking the municipal authority as well as challenging power and wealth.
Subsequently, the reduction in the working class wages and the decline of the local companies dealing with products such as textile affected the farmers largely. Basically, farmers would have to acquire huge debts due to the overexpansion while the rich, as well as the middle class, were the once who benefited. The latter would enjoy a variety of new consumer goods at the expense of the farmers suffering. Moreover, the unions that had been formulated to take tackle the welfare of farmers lost many members who decided to pull out. At the same time, the unions also lost their influence. Nonetheless, this could also have been perpetuated by the fact that there was a great rise in the number of immigrants that were shifting to the urban cities to be employed in the companies that were an uprising. Additionally, there was a drastic increase in the number of household leading to more production of the household item. After a short while, however, the companies were able to adopt new technologies which replaced human labour. Thus many people lost most of their employment opportunities at these times. The housing status was poor which lead to many people in the progressive party campaigning to acquire better shelters and housing.
Consequently, this era was termed an era of new capitalism which was aimed at ensuring that the different classes of people would now be equal according to Banker Charles and E Mitchell (Clark, 2008). On the contrary, the new capitalism only increased the margins between the poor and the rich. Those who were providing skilled labour and those undertaking blue-collar jobs were paid higher than those undertaking domestic work. Thus the shift from the industries systems that the people were used to, to the new industries, disrupted a majority of the people. Regardless of this, the living standard of people improved significantly as well as the life expectancy of people.
Furthermore, this concept is also propagated in the political sphere whereby people were promised social order and as well as a social democracy but what they received was not the same. However, many women in the progressive parties begun to seek legislative actions in a number of fronts (Rosenzweig et.al, 2008). For instance, they participate through private charities, churches, and volunteers opportunities. A number of women also rose as an activist and formed strong alliances with powerful men. They were campaigning for the right of women to vote. Women undertook new strategies as well as allegiances and formed highly organized groups which had a constitution and bylaws. Some of this women’s movement during the Progressive era were meant to address issues of civic rights and their overall well-being. Notably, they had been propelled by the instances of women treatment during the World War 1. In this time, many women were employed in the jobs which mainly done by men. For instance, many Mexican women were seen providing labour to build the railway as well as street care conductors (Rosenzweig et.al, 2008). As soon as the war came to an end, a significant number of these women were thrown to the street.
Moreover, the Progressive wanted reforms in the economic sector as economic democracy had been tampered with which led to “Unions staged massive strikes”. The African American and other immigrants were vehement in advocating for democracy in the country which superseded the way the current president, Wilson, had intended. However, this caused more chaos as many assertive African-American men and women were brutally tortured and killed by the white during the race riots. The African American wanted a gratification of the most awaited civic rights as stated by Rosenzweig et.al, ( 2008). A majority of the African Americans were forced to provide hard labour to ensure that the whites, who immersed most of the wealth, continued to be wealthy. As such, the African Americans provided hard, labour to the whites in their industries and farm which contributed to growth but without considering their rights.
Furthermore, during this period, in America, the rich sent out the poor to go and fight and claimed that they would not participate in war. They stated that they would not fight for any other purpose apart from which was aimed at the realization of industrial freedom (Rosenzweig et.al, 2008). Notably, a majority of the American had had strong ties to commercial interests and banking hence backed Britain and France. Subsequently, they saw the war as an opportunity where they would make more profits as compared to other times when the trade was neutral. Additionally, the right for forming unions had been lifted, and this led to many strikes from the employers. Without the Unions, the employee would not have an avenue whereby their grievances would be aired, and thus members of the progressive were against this.
It is noted that a majority of people were in support of the radical ideas to bring fundamental changes to America. Thus, this leads to the formation of a new worker organization which was abbreviated as IWW or at times referred to as the Wobblies. In this, they were seeking to abolish the popular wage system and develop an environment in which the workers would be able to control their won factories (Clark, Hewitt, & Rosenzweig, 2000). Thus they believed in creating a union which in turn would lead to a massive strike that would overthrow capitalism and ensure industries are run in a decentralized manner. Moreover, the progressive supported women who wanted to streamline governance to ensure their issues were considered.
Conclusion
In summary, it is evident that the current state of America during the Progressive era required serious radicalizations to bring about changes. For instances, there was no social justice and order, there was no economic democracy, and people’s living conditions were deteriorating at the expense of the new capitalism. Thus the progressive took the radical approach to ensure that most of these changes were addressed with the urgency they deserved. Moreover, it brought about changes that favoured many Americans.
References
Clark, C. (2008). Who built America? Working People and Nation’s History. (3rd ed.). Boston: Bedford/St. Martins.
Clark, C., Hewitt, N., & Rosenzweig, R. (2000). Who built America? (1st ed.). New York: Worth.
Rosenzweig, R., Lichtenstein, N., Brown, J., Jaffee, D., & Brier, S. (2008). Who built America? Working People and Nation’s History. (2nd ed.). Boston: Beford/St. Martin's.
