author
Robert Rives La Monte
A once-prominent socialist essayist and polemicist, he is now best remembered for taking on H. L. Mencken in a sharp public debate over socialism and individualism. His writing blends political argument with a restless intellectual energy that still feels lively more than a century later.
1 Audiobook
Socialism: Positive and Negative
by Robert Rives La Monte
About the author
Robert Rives La Monte (1867–1950) was an American socialist writer. Surviving bibliographic and reference records consistently link him with works including Socialism: Positive and Negative and Men Versus the Man, the 1910 exchange he published with H. L. Mencken.
La Monte came from a wealthy family, a background later noted in accounts that described him as one of the era's "millionaire socialists." At the same time, he was closely involved with socialist journalism: records connected with The International Socialist Review list him among the magazine's associate editors, and later descriptions of his career say he also worked at the Baltimore News.
What makes him interesting now is the mix of conviction and contradiction in his life and work. He wrote as a committed advocate of socialism, but he also moved in elite circles and developed a reputation strong enough that contemporaries saw him as an important public intellectual, even if he is far less remembered today.