the appeal of socialism

The Appeal of Socialism During the late 1800's and early
1900's hundreds of thousands ofEuropean immigrants migrated to the
United States of America. They hadaspirations of success, prosperity
and their own conception of the AmericanDream. The majority of the
immigrants believed that their lives wouldcompletely change for the better
and the new world would bring nothing buthappiness. Advertisements
that appeared in Europe offered a bright futureand economic stability to
these naive and hopeful people. Jobs withexcellent wages and working
conditions, prime safety, and other benefitsseemed like a chance in a
lifetime to these struggling foreigners. Littledid these people know that
what they would confront would be the completeantithesis of what they
dreamed of. The enormous rush of European immigrants
encountered a lack ofjobs. Those who were lucky enough to find
employment wound up infactories, steel mills, or in the meat packing
industry. Jurgis Rudkus wasone fo these dissapointed immigrants. A
sweeper in slaughter house, heexperienced the horrendous conditions
which laborers encountered Alongwith these nightmarish working
conditions, they worked for nominal wages,inflexible and long hours, in an
atmosphere where worker safety had nopersuasion. Early on, there was
no one for these immigrants to turn to, somany suffered immensely.
Jurgis would later learn of worker unions andother groups to support the
labor force, but the early years of hisAmericanized life were filled, with
sliced fingers, unemployment andoverall a depressing and painful "new
start". Sinclair, has shown in a dramatic style the hardships
andobastacles which Jurgis and fellow workers had to endure. He made
theworkers sound so helpless and the condtions so greusome, that the
readeralmost wants a way out for Jurgis. Sinclair's The Jungle is a
"subliminal"form of propaganda for Socialism. At a time in our nations
history wherethe rich were very wealthy, and the poor were peniless,
Sinclair'sportrayal of socialism in regards to the laborer is very appealing
to ajobless, hungry, indigent man. Sinclair's vision of socialism,

wasn't as flawless and beneficialas it seemed. Although it gave the
workers some motivation to work as wellas the could it was an attempt to
commonize the working class. The Marxisttheory of communism
stemmed from the ideologies displayed by socialism.The masses of the
population were controlled by a small elite. Sinclairwas a believer in
socialism, and Jurgis was a member of the party. Butfortunately for
today's working force, the concept and potential threat ofsocialism was
stifled before it could make a permanent mark of Americansociety.