The Nationalist (United States)

The Nationalist was an American socialist magazine established in Boston, Massachusetts in May 1889 by adherents of the utopian ideas of writer Edward Bellamy in his 1888 book, Looking Backward. Published by a "Nationalist Educational Association" closely associated with Nationalist Club No. 1 of Boston, the magazine served as the national organ of the Bellamyite movement in the United States until being supplanted by the weekly newspaper The New Nation in 1891.

Publication history

Background

The January 1888 publication of the utopian socialist economic novel Looking Backward: 2000-1887, by Edward Bellamy was greeted with acclaim in a small circle of intellectual society, primarily in Boston, home of the book's publisher, Tichenor and Company. Boston Globe journalist Cyrus Field Willard was among the first of those moved to political activity by the book's economic vision, and he wrote to the author, asking for Bellamy's blessings for the establishment of "an association to spread the ideas in your book." Bellamy had responded to Willard's appeal positively, urging him in a July 4 letter:

"Go ahead by all means and do it if you can find anyone to associate with. No doubt eventually the formation of such Nationalist Clubs or associations among our sympathizers all over the country will be a proper measure and it is fitting that Boston should lead off in this movement."

No formal organization immediately followed based upon Willard's efforts, however, and it was not until early September 1888 that an entity known as the "Boston Bellamy Club" independently emerged, with Charles E. Bowers and Civil War General Arthur F. Deveraux playing the decisive organizing role. The following month Willard's small Nationalist circle joined forces with the Boston Bellamy Club, establishing "a permanent organization to further the Nationalization of industry." The first regular meeting of this remade organization, the First Nationalist Club of Boston, was held on December 1, 1888, attended by 25 interested participants, with Charles E. Bowers elected chairman. A committee of 5 was established to create a plan for a permanent organization, including Boston Herald editorial writer Sylvester Baxter, Willard, Devereaux, Bowers, and Christian socialist clergyman W.D.P. Bliss.

The genteel First Club of Boston would have 107 members by the end of 1889, adding to its ranks author Edward Everett Hale, magazine editor William Dean Howells, and prominent socialist writer Laurence Gronlund. The group would dominate the initial phase of the American Nationalist movement.