In honor of Labor Day, how about a documentary about the idea that led to labor unions? That late 19th century idea also sparked such things as taxpayer-funded fire departments, health and safety laws, rural electric cooperatives, the interstate highway system and Social Security. You know, that thing so many now find so scary: socialism, which is the subject of THE BIG SCARY “S” WORD, a documentary which focuses on the long history of American socialism.
Yeah, American socialism. While socialism inspired Karl Marx (although, as this informative documentary notes, socialism pre-dates Marx and communism), socialism is a broad idea that sparked many beneficial changes to society, including those labor unions and the early labor movement, changes that made life better and fairer for ordinary people. Actually, old Soviet Union-style communism was a pretty far journey from the grass-roots, democratic, fairness ideas socialism began with, something that can be seen from the facts presented in this thoughtful documentary. Socialism, and democratic socialism, has been part of the USA for a very long time – and it is that long history of American socialism that what this documentary essentially is about.
Among the facts this well-made documentary relates is that the pledge of alliance was written by a socialist, something that flies in the face of the image of it as foreign or fringe. Director/writer Yael Bridge’s documentary THE BIG SCARY “S” WORD takes a look at American socialism in particular, and its ideas for a fairer society for ordinary people, a concept that not only led to labor unions, but was promoted by the old trust-buster Teddy Roosevelt, and helped lift ordinary people and the country out of the Great Depression of the 1930s.
Still, the documentary’s tagline, “What’s more American than socialism,” might upset some on the far-right, those so busy fuzzing the line between socialism and communism. While those folks decry “socialism” and post photos of chaos in Venezuela, they carefully avoid mention of prosperous democratic socialist (and capitalist) nations like Norway. THE BIG SCARY “S” WORD has a little tongue-in-cheek fun with all the scary talk around an idea that largely means infrastructure and services for the common good, provided by government and paid for by tax payer dollars, rather than the end of capitalism.
This documentary has polished production values and a nice mix of famous names and ordinary people as its interviewees, interspersed with archival stills and footage in its wide-ranging examination of its topic. It makes the too-often overlooked point that Martin Luther King was working for the rights of poor people as well as Black people, sprinkling the documentary with such pithy sound bites as from King and other famous figures. Among the famous socialists mentioned in this documentary are Walt Whitman, James Baldwin and Albert Einstein, as it takes us on its tour of American socialism.
The documentary also shows some contemporary labor activists and politicians who identify as socialist but it steers clear of any political Democrats versus Republican commentary, restricting its comments to the influence of money in politics, a bi-partisan concern.
As the documentary highlights that, at one time, everybody thought ideas like Social Security and labor unions were good things, even into recent years, and socialism was once a popular, ordinary part of America. The image of socialism started to shift with the start of the Cold War and particularly with Joseph McCarthy and the “red scare.” Attitudes on it further eroded during the 1980s, and even after the fall of the Soviet Union, socialism has increasingly been confused with Soviet-style communism, ignoring the fact that many of the most prosperous capitalistic economies in the world have are democratic socialist governments. While the kind of democratic socialism practiced in capitalistic democracies, like those in most of Western Europe, does not look too scary – in fact it seems to be working pretty well, with both prosperity and less income inequality – this documentary sticks to American socialism.
THE BIG SCARY “S” WORD makes some good points, many that are particularly needed right now in the midst of media and social media hysteria over the word, as it recaps this forgotten slice of American history. It covers the nation’s past forays into areas of socialism and famous figures like Eugene Debs, who looks radical now but was more mainstream then, cooperating with elected officials and businesses. It looks at efforts in the present, including some by union members, to make the country more fair and democratic. One of the most interesting present-day segments takes us inside a successful for-profit business owned and run by its employees.
While it does make good points, the documentary could be better structured. It rambles around quite a bit, fails to directly address some issues that will be top of mind for many viewers including its differences from communism, and it takes awhile before the documentary gets started on detailing the history of socialism in America, the most central part of the film. Perhaps the editing needed to be more focused on what the documentary really wanted to say, about socialism’s history in this country and its role at this current moment in time, something that could certainly need some clarification with all the present social media noise.
Coming in at under 90 minutes, this is an interesting, involving, worthy documentary that revisits the important but nearly forgotten history of American socialism and ties that history to the present in an insightful, informative way. THE BIG SCARY “S” WORD opens Friday, Sept. 3, in theaters in selected cities and on demand on Apple TV, Amazon Prime and other on demand platforms.
RATING: 2 1/2 out of 4 stars
