The Intercollegiate Socialist Society—prototype of the modern American student movement and the ancestor of Students for a Democratic Society (SDS)—was the first nationally organized student group that had a distinct political and ideological orientation. Its social and economic concerns, among them the labor and women’s suffrage movements, encompassed most of the issues agitating a rapidly changing society during the first two decades of this century. The ISS started a tradition of student political awareness and protest that has persisted to our day. For more than 15 years, it provided a forum for a group of gifted young men and women who, then and later, exercised influence far out of proportion to their numbers. This first full-scale study of the ISS follows the society from its birth in 1905 to its decline during World War I and the postwar period. Relying largely on original sources, Horn examines the structure, ideology, program, and tactics of the ISS and assesses its impact on students, faculty, and college administrators.

The Intercollegiate Socialist Society—prototype of the modern American student movement and the ancestor of Students for a Democratic Society (SDS)—was the first nationally organized student group that had a distinct political and ideological orientation. Its social and economic concerns, among them the labor and women’s suffrage movements, encompassed most of the issues agitating a rapidly changing society during the first two decades of this century. The ISS started a tradition of student political awareness and protest that has persisted to our day. For more than 15 years, it provided a forum for a group of gifted young men and women who, then and later, exercised influence far out of proportion to their numbers. This first full-scale study of the ISS follows the society from its birth in 1905 to its decline during World War I and the postwar period. Relying largely on original sources, Horn examines the structure, ideology, program, and tactics of the ISS and assesses its impact on students, faculty, and college administrators.