Great Vocal Majority Podcast

THE EARLY 20TH CENTURY: FROM WILSON TO MARX By the late 19th and early 20th centuries, American society was undergoing transformational change, ushered in by the Industrial Revolution. The changes were profoundly affecting the way ordinary people lived and worked. Industrialization, the growth of cities, European immigration the emergence of captains of industry and monopolistic corporate power demanded a reaction. Whenever profound changes occur such as those experienced at the turn of the 20th century, it isn't altogether surprising that those with unchecked power will tend to act in their own interest at the expense of others. In America, the unchecked power of business over labor led to labor organizing as a countervailing check on that power. This was a natural consequence of the rapid development experienced at the time, but it was not painless. By 1900, and for about the previous 50 years, new political and economic philosophies were becoming popularized. Two of the most prominent were Progressivism an