Episcopal bishop Spalding was the most notable Utah Christian socialist, widely known in both Utah and in labor and news circle nationwide. Spalding came to Utah in 1905 committed to socialist principles due to his experiences with harsh working conditions in
Erie,
Pennsylvania. Like many other socialists in the Mountain West, Spalding's commitment was reinforced and strengthened by his work with the miners who made up much of the region's industrial workforce. Spalding forcefully stated that "the Christian Church exists for the sole purpose of saving the human race." He added: "So far she has failed, but I think that Socialism shows her how she may succeed. It insists that men cannot be made right until material conditions be made right. Although man cannot live by bread alone, he must have bread. Therefore the Church must destroy a system of society which inevitably creates and perpetuates unequal and unfair conditions of life. These unequal and unfair conditions have been created by competition. Therefore competition must cease and cooperation take its place." Spalding's views and analysis of class issues and American materialism would become well known and reported on. While he never joined the Socialist Party himself, he publicly urged others to vote for the Socialist Party in elections. In the beginning of the
First World War, Spalding spoke publicly and forcefully in favor in peace. Before Spalding could fully develop his pacifist message, he was killed crossing a Salt Lake City street. Spalding was succeeded as Utah's Episcopal bishop by his student and friend, Paul Jones. Jones came from a similar background as Spalding and had little exposure or inclination towards socialism in his early life. Jones conversion to socialism came through study of the English Christian socialists
F. D. Maurice and
Charles Kingsley in seminary and through the
Social Gospel tenets making their way through the Episcopal Church during his theological training. This foundation along with the influence, mentorship, and teaching of Spalding committed Jones to the Christian socialist cause and these views deepened and strengthened due to his work in Utah. Unlike Spalding, Jones joined the Socialist Party, citing his desire to make clear his political opinions, along with giving himself an anchor to prevent his new position of bishop from leading him into "the easy acceptance of things as they are". Jones never shied away from talking about socialism within the church; it was Jones's absolute pacifism that would ultimately cause his demise in the church, not his socialism. Jones's pacifism was more influenced by his Christian beliefs than the suffering worker based arguments against war that was more prevalent in socialism. Jones's pacifism was of a more radical bent, demonstrated by Jones's pointed speeches urging Americans to be loyal citizens through war resistance and living up to their, and the nation's, best ideals. Just days before the United States entered World War I, Jones gave an anti-war speech at a meeting sponsored by the Socialist Party of Utah, in which he strongly denounced Utahns who were speaking out in favor of the war effort, calling them "hot-headed pseudo-patriots". This kind of outspokenness on the war issue, and the press it generated, forced Jones to resign his bishopric in December 1917. From November 1906 until June 1910, William Thurston Brown served as a minister in Utah, preaching the message of Christian socialism. Active in radical circles his entire adult life, Brown's politics ran further and further leftward during the first two decades of the 20th century. Described by fellow radical and friend
Emma Goldman as a revolutionary socialist, Brown spent his life opposing the
status quo and advocating for change. Brown was educated at
Yale University and
Yale Divinity School before taking his first ministry at the First Congregational Church of
Madison, Connecticut, where his radical politics deeply divided the congregation. Brown bounced around the east coast before settling in Utah; he ran for
lieutenant governor of New York on the Socialist Party ticket, and preached at the Unitarian Church of Our Father in Boston. Brown set up a Unitarian church in
Ogden, Utah, in 1906 and then assumed the ministry at Salt Lake City's First Unitarian Church in December 1907, a position he held until he retired from the pulpit in June 1910. Brown's message had three central tenets: that churches could not ignore social problems and must be agents for social justice; that while capitalism was the root of social problems, socialism had the power to fix them; and that the Gospel of
Jesus and Gospel of
Marx were one and the same. A prolific article and pamphlet writer his entire life, Brown laid out his message in the pamphlet
Socialism and Primitive Christianity published by
Charles H. Kerr and Company, a leading radical publisher. The pamphlet argued that socialism was not just aligned with Christian teachings but was also a powerful religious movement of its own, or in his own words, "the logical and historical successor to primitive Christianity ... the only thing in our world today that bears any moral or spiritual resemblance to the religion of Jesus." In addition to writing, Brown preached the same message from the pulpit and from the political stump, always maintaining that Christianity and socialism were identical. Believing that capitalism was an ever-present, all consuming system for those who lived within it, Brown felt that churches must do all that they could to combat this influence. Eventually, he decided that churches were not willing or able to do the work necessary to enact social change and resigned his ministry to devote all of his time to socialism and change. After his resignation he spent a year in Utah working with the Socialist Party and drafting the Utah State Socialist Party platform in 1910. Touring a large part of the state that year, Brown spoke in many mining and working-class communities to help advocate in the interests of workers. Before leaving Utah, Brown helped to establish the Salt Lake City
Modern School in 1910, a private school founded on the educational teachings of Spanish anarchist
Francisco Ferrer. Brown left Salt Lake City a year later and spent another thirteen years working as part of the Modern School movement, becoming the leading Modern School founder in the United States by eventually establishing five schools. Brown went on to teach at the Menlo School and Junior College in
Atherton, California, for eleven years. == References ==