A. J. Muste Was a Prophet of the 20th-Century US Left
This Easter, we should remember the rich tradition of Christian socialism in the US. And one of that tradition’s most important figures is the radical leader A. J. Muste, whose religious faith animated his commitment to socialism and nonviolence.
Christian socialist A. J. Muste was a leader in the most important US movements of the twentieth century. (Bernard Gotfryd / Library of Congress)
The dominant historical narrative of the twentieth-century US left is overwhelmingly secular, neglecting the role of religion. Nowhere is that more evident than the virtual absence of A. J. Muste from American historical memory. When Muste appears in history books, it is often solely in reference to his influence on civil rights leaders Bayard Rustin and Martin Luther King Jr.
Yet Muste was a leader in the most important social movements of the twentieth century — not only civil rights but socialism, labor, civil liberties, pacifism, and the antiwar movements. He was a beloved figure on the US left, known for his unique ability to “transcend bitter sectarian conflicts and build coalitions which advanced common purposes,” as Michael Kazin has observed. When Muste died in 1967, newspapers in the United States, India, and around the globe proclaimed that the world had lost “the American Gandhi.”
To understand the twentieth-century US left, then, one must understand A. J. Muste and the religious faith that animated his commitment to socialism and nonviolence.
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