Comment by pixl97
15 hours ago
How does the saying go?
>Socialism never took root in America because the poor see themselves not as an exploited proletariat, but as temporarily embarrassed millionaires.
15 hours ago
How does the saying go?
>Socialism never took root in America because the poor see themselves not as an exploited proletariat, but as temporarily embarrassed millionaires.
"America Added 1000 Millionaires A Day In 2025, 40% Of World’s Millionaires Now In U.S." from https://www.forbes.com/sites/dougmelville/2026/01/05/america...
"Altogether, according to an estimate by UBS Wealth Management, the United States is home to ~22m millionaire households — roughly one of every six households." from https://thehustle.co/originals/the-insane-growth-of-americas...
Looks like the Americans have the right idea and Steinbeck ultimately didn't.
Offtopic but, the funny part about that statement is that the only place the socialist ever got the poor's support was in China during its civil war and then only because Mao was directly giving (bribing) them with land in exchange for their support. Everywhere else the main population of socialists were government bureaucrats. Ironically, all authoritarian ideologies (fascism too) happen this way, with low level government officials being the most zealous and the core supporters. The whole "revolution of the people" narrative is just propaganda, like your quote.