They Are All Red Out Here - by Jeffrey A Johnson

About the Book

In this first book to fully examine the development of the American Socialist Party in the Northwest, Jeffrey A. Johnson draws a sharp picture of one of the most vigorous left-wing organizations of the early-twentieth-century. Relying on party newspapers, pamphlets, and correspondence, he allows socialists to reveal their own strategies as they pursued their agendas in Washington, Oregon, Idaho, and Montana. And he explores how the party gained sizable support in Butte, Spokane, and other cities seldom associated today with left-wing radicalism.

Book Synopsis

One of early-twentieth-century America's most fertile grounds for political radicalism, the Pacific Northwest produced some of the most dedicated and successful socialists the country has ever seen. As a radicalized labor force emerged in mining, logging, and other extractive industries, socialists employed intensive organizational and logistical skills to become an almost permanent third party that won elections and shook the confidence of establishment rivals. At the height of Socialist Party influence just before World War I, a Montana member declared, "They are all red out here."

In this first book to fully examine the development of the American Socialist Party in the Northwest, Jeffrey A. Johnson draws a sharp picture of one of the most vigorous left-wing organizations of this era. Relying on party newspapers, pamphlets, and correspondence, he allows socialists to reveal their own strategies as they pursued their agendas in Washington, Oregon, Idaho, and Montana. And he explores how the party gained sizable support in Butte, Spokane, and other cities seldom associated today with left-wing radicalism.

"They Are All Red Out Here" employs recent approaches to labor history by restoring rank-and-file workers and party organizers as active participants in shaping local history. The book marks a major contribution to the ongoing debate over why socialism never grew deep roots in American soil and no longer thrives here. It is a work of political and labor history that uncovers alternative social and political visions in the American West.

Review Quotes

"They Are All Red Out Here is concise and reflects the years Johnson researched state historical societies and archives, examining Socialist Party documents, pamphlets, and newspapers. Johnson has clearly established himself as an expert in his field with his first book, which is highly recommended to all students of labor and Pacific Northwest history."--Pacific Historical Review


"Jeff Johnson's They Are All Red Out Here is a masterful examination of democratic socialism when it was in its heyday in the Pacific Northwest. Johnson provides a well-researched, scholarly study that is a significant contribution to the history of the Pacific Northwest and to the history of socialism in the United States."--Greg Hall, author of Harvest Wobblies: The Industrial Workers of the World and Agricultural Laborers in the American West, 1905-1930


"Johnson has written a highly readable monograph that accomplishes its goal of providing an institutional history of the Socialist party in the Pacific Northwest. He has done a fine job of filling a void in the historiography."--Journal of American History


"Johnson makes a valuable contribution to an area and historical moment that has received too little attention. His institutional history of the regional chapters of the Socialist Party places the story of socialism within the context of western labor and political history."--Choice


"Johnson places northwestern socialists within a broad consideration of American political culture in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, paying attention to the distinctive regional features that made the Northwest one of the leading centers of American socialist growth in those years. This book is a solid contribution to both regional and U.S. Left history."--Maurice Isserman, author of If I Had a Hammer: The Death of the Old Left and the Birth of the New Left


"Johnson's treatment of the movement's factionalism is the book's most important interpretive achievement . . . an important contribution to the literature of the American socialist movement."--American Historical Review


"Simply put, one of the best books ever written on socialism in the West."--Erik Loomis, author of A History of American in Ten Strikes and Empire of Timber: Labor Unions and the Pacific Northwest Forests.