Talk:Vito Marcantonio/Archive 1

Archive 1

Popularity

There is talk of his immense popularity in his district, but he seems to have lost a number of elections and there are no cites supporting that claim. Can someone improve that section? (11/9/2015) — Preceding unsigned comment added by 72.69.219.230 (talk) 15:29, 9 November 2015 (UTC)

Democratic socialist?

Marcantonio is described in a number of studies of his life as a socialist, but I can't think of any that call him a "democratic socialist." In his lifetime the term was used by those who were firmly against working with Communists and generally supported US foreign policy (hence the Italian Democratic Socialist Party and the Democratic Socialist Party in Japan), which clearly doesn't apply to Marcantonio who openly worked with Communists, defended them in court and in Congress, and blasted US foreign policy. I can't see what other reason there is to specifically characterize him as a "democratic socialist," and therefore have edited the article accordingly. --Ismail (talk) 17:30, 17 June 2018 (UTC)

To add onto what I wrote, even the "socialist" label is debatable. He said "I believe in a strictly regulated form of capitalism in the United States." (LaGumina, Vito Marcantonio: The People's Politician, p. 125), and I can't find an instance where he actually described himself as a socialist. However, since there are sources that refer to him as such, I won't remove it from the article just yet. --Ismail (talk) 22:30, 17 June 2018 (UTC)

I'm going to remove the term "socialist" from the description of him. I have access to the most important published works on Marcantonio (the biographies by Schaffer, LaGumina, and Meyer) as well as the chapter on "New York's Leftist Laborite" in Luthin's American Demagogues and the 34-page introduction to I Vote My Conscience. None refer to him as a socialist. I think that's sufficient reason to remove the characterization. --Ismail (talk) 14:25, 20 January 2019 (UTC)