Sewer socialism refers to theAmerican socialist movement that centered inMilwaukee, Wisconsin, from around 1892 to 1960.[1] The moniker was coined byMorris Hillquit at the 1932 Milwaukee convention of theSocialist Party of America as a commentary on the Milwaukee socialists and their perpetual boasting about the excellent publicsewer system in the city.[2]
With the creation of theSocialist Party of America, this group formed the core of an element that favored reformism rather than revolution, de-emphasizingsocial theory and revolutionary rhetoric in favor of honest government and efforts to improvepublic health. The sewer socialists fought to clean up what they saw as "the dirty and polluted legacy of theIndustrial Revolution",[3] cleaning up neighborhoods and factories with newsanitation systems, city-owned water and power systems and improved education. This approach is sometimes called "constructive socialism".[4] The movement has its origins in the organization of theSocial Democratic Party, a precursor to the Socialist Party of America. Even before the creation of the Social Democratic Party, Milwaukee had elected socialist millwrightHenry Smith (who had been elected to the legislature under the "Socialist" label) to Congress on theUnion Labor ticket in 1886.
Victor L. Berger was one of the prime movers of sewer socialism,[3] often compared toRobert La Follette and his representation ofprogressivism. He was anAustrian Jewish immigrant who publishedEnglish andGerman dailynewspapers, distributing free copies to every household in Milwaukee before elections. He was the best-known local leader of this tendency. His wife,Meta Berger, was also a prominent socialist activist. In 1910, he became the first of two 20th-century Socialists elected to theHouse of Representatives, representingWisconsin's 5th congressional district (the second wasMeyer London ofNew York). Berger was reelected in 1918, but he was barred from his seat in the House because of his trial and conviction under the1917 Espionage Act for his public remarks opposing intervention inWorld War I. A special election was called in which Berger again emerged victorious, but he was denied the seat and it was declared vacant. Berger served the 5th district again from 1923 until 1929 and during his tenure introduced proposals for numerous programs that were subsequently adopted, such asold age pensions,unemployment insurance andpublic housing. Positions advanced byMeta Berger which proved successful included "penny lunches", medical exams for children, and improved working conditions and wages for teachers.
In 1910, the Socialists won most of the seats in the Milwaukee city council and county board. This included the first Socialist mayor in the United States,Emil Seidel, who also received the nomination forVice President on theSocialist Party of America ticket in the1912 election when the Socialists netted 6% of the vote, their highest-ever percentage. Seidel and Berger both lost their campaigns in 1912, but in 1916 a new socialist mayor was elected,Daniel Hoan, who remained in office until 1940. Socialists never regained total control over the local government as they did in 1910, but they continued to show major influence until the defeat of Daniel Hoan in 1940. The sewer socialists elected one more mayor in Milwaukee,Frank Zeidler, who served for three terms (1948–1960). Following Zeidler's tenure, socialist parties had limited success in mayoral elections in major American cities. Independent democratic socialistBernie Sanders was elected mayor ofBurlington, Vermont in 1981. In theDemocratic Party primary for the2021 Buffalo mayoral election, self-identified socialistIndia Walton scored an upset victory over incumbentByron Brown.[5] However, Brown went on to defeat Walton in the general election as awrite-in candidate.[6] In November 2025,Zohran Mamdani, a member of both theDemocratic Socialists of America and theDemocratic Party (United States) was elected mayor of New York City,[7] becoming the first member of a socialist political organization to be elected mayor of a major American city since Zeidler.
In 2022, Milwaukee elected two democratic socialists to theWisconsin State Assembly,Darrin Madison andRyan Clancy. Madison and Clancy, who are both members of the Democratic Party, announced they would form an informal Socialist Caucus, the first of its kind in Wisconsin since 1931.[8]
Although the Socialists had many ideas and policies similar to those of theWisconsin Progressives, tensions still existed between the two groups because of their differing ideologies. Socialist AssemblymanGeorge L. Tews, during a 1932 debate onunemployment compensation and how to fund it, argued for the Socialist bill and against the Progressive substitute, stating that a Progressive was "a Socialist with the brains knocked out".[9] Although, as a rule, the Progressives and Socialists did not run candidates against each other in Milwaukee, they rarely co-operated on elections. One notable exception was the1924 presidential campaign ofRobert La Follette, who was endorsed by theSocialist Party of America. A factor that affected this lack of collaboration was the relationship of each party to theRepublican Party. Socialists were outright opposed to the party, while the Progressives sometimes worked with their parent party.
After the death of Congressman Victor Berger in 1929, State SenatorThomas Duncan was considered his successor as leader of the Wisconsin socialists.[10] In a controversial move, Republican GovernorPhilip La Follette appointed Duncan hisexecutive secretary in 1931,[11] and he quickly became a member of La Follette's inner circle.[12] Duncan was seen as less doctrinaire than Berger, and in 1932 was asserted to have (unsuccessfully) led efforts to lure the Socialists into the La Follette camp.[13] Three years later, however, Duncan was able to orchestrate the formation of the Wisconsin Farmer-Labor Progressive Federation, a coalition made up of the Progressive Party, the Socialist Party, theFarmer-Labor Progressive League, theWisconsin State Federation of Labor, and several other labor and farmers' groups.[11] Duncan was able to convince the socialists to give up their ballot access in exchange for reserving certain seats for socialists running under the Progressive ticket.[12]
In 1961, Progressive editorWilliam Evjue wrote of the Wisconsin Socialist legislators he had known by saying: "They never were approached by the lobbyists, because the lobbyists knew it was not possible to influence these men. They were incorruptible."[14]
In 2022, when union organizer Juan Miguel Martinez was elected to join incumbent Ryan Clancy as the second self-proclaimed socialist member of the eighteen-member Milwaukee County board of supervisors (both had been endorsed by the Milwaukee chapter of theDemocratic Socialists of America), Martinez and Clancy both cited the sewer socialists as part of the heritage on which they seek to build.[15]
