Christian Socialist USA

[General Mung Beans]

Let's say William Jennings Bryan becomes more radical then OTL and the Glided Age is even worse. As a result Bryan organizes the secession of the Great Plains states and causes a revolution in the US. This chain reactions into a revolt among the urban working classes and the rebels take over the US with Bryan becoming President. How likely would this Christian Socialist USA be?

 

[The Kiat]

Isn't Christian and Socialism mutually exclusive?

 

[General Mung Beans]

Isn't Christian and Socialism mutually exclusive?

Uh no. Indeed William Jennings Bryan was a Christian fundamentalist and a Socialist.

 

[The Kiat]

Wow! How did that work?

Well, I can see a Socialist Party coming to majority in Congress back then. I don't know if revolutions are likely though.

Uh no. Indeed William Jennings Bryan was a Christian fundamentalist and a Socialist.

 

[General Mung Beans]

Here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Jennings_Bryan

 

[Hapsburg]

Isn't Christian and Socialism mutually exclusive?

No.

How likely would this Christian Socialist USA be?

Completely ASB. Not only does the US Constitution prevent that kind of theocratic measure, the method you suggested is completely ridiculous.

Uh no. Indeed William Jennings Bryan was a Christian fundamentalist and a Socialist.

Correction: he was a progressivist and supported some measures also supported by modern Social Democrats. But he wasn't a socialist.

 

[Orville_third]

I'm trying to get some ideas for a USA where the basic economic system could be Christian Socialism of a sort. Private property would be allowed, but there would be far more limits on it, enforced primarily through religious pressure. Bryan could be an influence on it, as would the Social Gospel, but earlier Christian communes (like the Shaker communities) and even the LDS United Order may help this occur as well...

 

[Wolfpaw]

I've actually toyed with the idea of a TL wherein Bryan wins in 1896 and his economic populism, mixed with fundamentalist moralism (many speculate he would have issued a variety of blue laws), leads to widespread riots in a lot of the major cities. Also the economy goes into the shitter because of his more radical economic reforms (he wanted to do like a 13 to 1 silver reform or something).

 

[moxieboy1876]

There is no way William Jennings Bryan would have supported an armed revolution. By the gilded age being worse, I assume you mean there would be more entrenched corporate power. In this scenario I could see WJB as an enforcer of massive trust busting and trials of corporate criminals. I could see Carnegie and Vanderbelt and Rockefeller jailed or even hung at the gallows. The New Deal would have arrived sooner (though without Keynsian deficit spending). WJB would have kept the more extreme socialists at bay. I think you are projecting modern Religious Right disregard for the separation of church and state back in time upon a true statesman who would have been appalled at Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson. Though influenced by fundamentalism and dispensationalism in his later days, WJB was a Presbyterian elder who had a clear respect for separation of church and state, as embodied in the American version of the Westminster Confession of Faith.

 

[Gwendolyn Ingolfsson]

Interesting idea, though the mechanism of having a revolution to put him in the White House is a bit much. If as you say the Gilded Age is worse then the reaction to it will be stronger; therefore the Democrats pick up more support than in OTL and voila! Bryan wins the 1896 election.

 

[Orville_third]

I could see Carnegie and Vanderbelt and Rockefeller jailed or even hung at the gallows.

Ironically, Carnegie was known for his building of churches, and Rockefeller was known for being a devout Baptist. (J.P. Morgan was a devout Episcopalian...) Perhaps, Bryan convinces or encourages them to donate to religious institutions to make up for their ill-gotten gains?

 

[Jord839]

Isn't Christian and Socialism mutually exclusive?

Christian and Marxian Socialism, yes. Christain and modern democratic socialist ideas, no.

In fact, one of the most common defenses I hear of socialism(or at least, non-violent democratic socialism) is that the ideas of helping the poor, keeping the rich in check, and decreasing materialism and such is more in line with the original teachings of Jesus. Which they then spin off as "Jesus Christ could be considered the first socialist".

Granted, it's not often a believing person that says this, but there's precedence for claiming that the two ideaologies have some theories in common. Although if this is "religion is the opium of the masses" socialism, then yes, it's mutually exclusive.