I've been thinking.  Around the 1920's, authors started taking a swing to the Left; Marxist and Communist ideologies. Around the 50's, with the Beat Generation and all, that's when literature really started getting overtly political and Leftist. Do you think they influenced society's turning towards the Left (remember, many authors were also journalists), or were the writers responding to what society already was?

Marxism and Socialism inherently attract the elites and intelligentsia ironically.  Why?  I guess because it is a forceful ideology driven for economic and social “justice.”  The attractiveness of Marxism lies in its promises to level the playing field, which of course, taps into the emotional appeal of those who have issues with the establishment and the concentration of wealth.  For some reason, the uber educated set themselves against the uber rich either because of envy or resentment…both strong motivations for adopting revolutionary ideologies.  The common man usually refrains from such ideologies, except in times of economic turmoil and social distress…during such times he will look to the intelligentsia to lead him out his problems.  So, in turn, the intelligentsia begin to look for and to promote a “champion” of their cause to fulfill this outcrying, which gives us the rise of demagogues like Lenin and Obama.  Nothing ever good comes of it, and I'm afraid we are going to have to re-learn this lesson again. 🙁

Still leaves open the question:  Did the writers/journalists influence Leftism in society, or was it already there and they were plugging into the market?  I hypothesize that they influenced and encouraged it.

I imagine you're correct, since the philosophical foundations for ideologies don't necessarily come to people naturally.  They need to be told about it, whether it be from Marx, Camus, Sartre, and so forth.  I think that ideologies get filtered into social consciousness in fragments, and many of these fragments can eventually influence decisions on a mass scale and change culture.

I see this as a natural progression in thinking and going from a world of empires and hegemony, to  condemnation of nations ruling through force.These times may provide the leveler, for overreaching. Do socialist ideas threaten the USA? They do if you credit the constitution, articles of conf., with the success of the nation.I think of E.L. Doctorow and “Billy Bathgate” the entire novel is fixated on societal ills forcing good people to make bad choices and the goodness is greatly rewarded to the innocent. It's Dickens in NYC, of course the conditions do/did exsist, poverty, sickness and crime, the causes are speculative except in all out war.Says I