History
The term "yellow socialism" was coined by a former member of the French Socialist Party, Pierre Biétry, in 1904 when he founded the Fédération nationale des Jaunes de France ("National Federation of Yellows of France"). Later, affiliated Swiss and German "yellow" groups formed. This movement was strongly opposed to Marxism.
In the United States, yellow socialism was associated with the business unionism of Samuel Gompers (and thus described as "yellow unionism"). Business unionism was centered on the belief that the workers' best option was to form a labour cartel within a capitalist society.
Yellow socialists and yellow unionists were criticized by Marxists for their nationalism and perceived occasional engagement in chauvinism such as opposition to immigration (for flooding the labour market and reducing wages or denying jobs to native-born citizens), and sometimes even racism including anti-Semitism.
In Europe, during World War I, Marxists associated the social democratic parties with yellow socialism, as they supported their own states in the war rather than taking an internationalist position against the conflict. However, such parties had no connection to Biétry's thinking.
The "Berne International", formed in Zimmerwald in 1915, was similarly described as "yellow socialist" by Lenin for its rejection of revolutionary socialism, despite its opposition to the war.
After World War I the term "yellow socialism" fell into disuse.
Read more about this topic: Yellow Socialism
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“The history of reform is always identical; it is the comparison of the idea with the fact. Our modes of living are not agreeable to our imagination. We suspect they are unworthy. We arraign our daily employments.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“No event in American history is more misunderstood than the Vietnam War. It was misreported then, and it is misremembered now.”
—Richard M. Nixon (b. 1913)
“Racism is an ism to which everyone in the world today is exposed; for or against, we must take sides. And the history of the future will differ according to the decision which we make.”
—Ruth Benedict (1887–1948)