Student Activism in the 1930s
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SLID Essays (Summer, 1935)

Autobiography of Marvin Halverson


South Dakota--Univ. of Nebraska

1. My interest in the socialist movement cannot be ascribed to the fact that I come of Scandinavian ancestry. Rather I have had the conservative end individualistic background of a poor peasantry which thinks only in terms of ownership of the soil that they till.

2. Born in the little town of Hills, Minnesota on September 29, 1913, I lived there until the age of six when my parents moved to California where we lived about a year. On our return to the Middle West we moved to a farm on which we lived until 1933.

3. To the best of my knowledge I cannot recall learning of socialism during the years up to my graduation from high school. Most of my teachers were ardent patriots who continually exalted the virtues of our Fords, our Sam Hills and our Pershings. Only one, a teacher in world history, sensed the dangers in which our civilization was enmeshed. She continually urged the students to work for the betterment of the country so that America might avoid a collapse similar to that of the Roman Empire.

4. In my freshman year at college I became interested in the Five Year Plan of the Soviet Union. To me it seemed such a challenging venture that I decided to write on that subject as the basis of my semester paper in World History. My work so interested the head of the history department that he decided to offer a course in the history of the Russian revolution the following year.

5. The study of Russian economic development did not bring to me a realization of the fact that America needed a reconstruction of her economic order, but my desire to delve into historical and sociological developments was intensified by this work. As a consequence I did as much reading along these lines as possible in the spare time that I had. Perhaps one of the most stimulating things that I read was Oswald Spengler's "Decline of the West". The fatalistic philosophy, the note of doom for our culture and our civilization challenged men and from the tine of reading that work my thinking was given over to socialistic lines.

6. During the summer of 1932 I worked in Lincoln, Nebraska, where I had been attending college for the past two years, and came to learn more of the Socialist Party through some local socialists. It was after listening to a Socialist Party meeting there that I definitely gave my support to the movement. The gathering which I witnessed was of the type which usually drive away sympathizers from the party. However, I came back to my home in South Dakota in a few days and from that time until the present I have been supporting the Socialist movement as best I can.

7. My family moved from a farm to Sioux Falls in January of 1933. That was the first time I had opportunity to contact people who were Socialist Sympathizers. I immediately plunged into propaganda work hoping to get a movement started there. My efforts have resulted in the formation of a local in Sioux Falls and our influence has extended to other towns in the state.

8. My first strike experience was obtained in March of this year when about 1000 workers at a local packing plant went out on strike. The job of writing handbills, radio talks, bulletins and advertisements was allotted to me. On the whole it was not only very good experience for me but aided in the establishment of better relations with and more sympathy to the Socialist Party. I have been, up till my departure for the summer school, the local secretary of the party, the state representative of the party and the Workers Alliance, literature agent and general handy man for the labor unions.

9. To me the Socialist movement and building of that movement is the most satisfying experience that life offers one today. It commands my loyalty and energy until the time the struggle for economic emancipation is ended. Perhaps even then we shall have new liberties toward which we shall strive. I surely hope that it will be thus for I do not look forward with pleasure to a state of perfect bliss.

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