"The Third International," by Alexandra Kollontai [Oct. 23, 1915] Prominent Russian Bolshevik Alexandra Kollontai made her way to the United States in the Fall of 1915, where she conducted a brief lecture tour under the auspices of the German Federation of the Socialist Party of America. This article by Kollontai, published in the official organ of the SPA, is believed to be the first exposition published in the American English language radical press advocating the establishment of a new revolutionary International to replace the failed Second International. The old International had floundered on the principle of "Defense of the Fatherland," Kollontai states -- a progressive principle in a bygone epoch when the danger was one of the republic being attacked by the last vestiges of feudalism, but a reactionary principle in a time of imperialism. This slogan of the "great" and "old" men must be cast aside in favor of the higher principle of the international solidarity of labor, Kollontai argues. It would be primarily the radical youth who could be counted upon to put an end to the false ideas of bygone years, she believed. In Germany, Russia, England, Italy, and France there were emerging a new "left" movement in opposition to militarism and "civil peace" -- the kernel of a new, third International. (Kollontai interestingly includes the Independent Labour Party -- the British sister of the Socialist Party of America -- among the short list of the worthy.) This Third International must be established on 3 fundamental principles, Kollontai states: (1) organic, organized unity of the movement rather than superficial alliance of member parties; (2) commitment to revolutionary tactics; (3) decisive and relentless battle against war and militarism and the "civil peace" with which it is linked.

 

"Report of the Delegate of the Lithuanian Socialist Federation to the Conference of the Russian Immigrant Revolutionary Socialist Federations," by I.J. Kravcevic [held Feb. 9, 1919] Due to the high survival rate of periodicals and documents of the Anglophonic Left Wing movement of 1919 (and the ability of scholars to make use of them), we know a great deal more about the ideas and actions of the small band of English-speakers in New York than we do about a larger parallel movement in the ranks of the Socialist Party among those who spoke Russian, Lithuanian, Yiddish, Latvian, Croatian, Ukrainian, Finnish, Polish, or any other of about a half dozen languages. This translated document from the Lithuanian press helps enrich our understanding. On Feb. 9, 1919, a conference was held in New York City by delegates of the "Revolutionary Socialist Federations of the Socialist Party of America." It is not at this time known who planned this gathering or when the call for it went out -- planning certainly predated the first session of the Left Wing Section of Greater New York, which held its organizational meeting on Feb. 2, 1919. The Conference of "Russian Immigrant Revolutionary Socialist Federations" included delegates from the Russian, Latvian, Ukrainian, and Estonian language sections of the Socialist Party, this report by Lithuanian delegate I.J. Kravcevic notes. Radical discontent with "opportunist" policies of the Socialist Party leadership had been brewing, and the decision was made "there is need for organized and disciplined revolutionary action within the party now" -- a formal organization of revolutionary socialists within the SPA. "We have to combine all of these federations and separate groups within the party into a Left Wing of the SP, to start and organize a bitter fight with the opportunists within the party in order to establish a program of the principles that would fit the present revolutionary movement of the working class," Kravcevic noted, adding that "in order to discourage the opportunists from distorting these principles, there should be a party discipline and those not complying with it should be ejected from the party without further ado." Additional goals of the gathering were to make contact with the Russian Soviet government and to establish an information bureau on its behalf to make the real situation in Russia known to Americans.

 

"Minutes of the Central Executive Committee, Communist Party of America, Chicago -- Nov. 15-17, 1919." ** REVISED AND EXPANDED SECOND EDITION ** The plot thickens... Minutes of this second physical meeting of the Central Executive Committee housed in the Comintern Archive in Moscow are incomplete, omitting two very hot topics -- discussion about bringing Ludwig Martens' Soviet Russian Government Bureau in New York under CPA control and the expulsion of two branches for supporting the alternative program of the Michigan group, making participation in or support of the Proletarian University and the magazine The Proletarian expellable offenses. Whether the Moscow minutes were purposely shaved remains an open question. Old description: The second physical meeting of the Central Executive Committee of the old CPA reaffirmed the organization's opposition to unity with the Communist Labor Party "on account of fundamental differences of principle." It decided to send International Secretary Louis Fraina as soon as possible to establish contacts with the European communist movement and elected Nicholas Hourwich and C.E. Ruthenberg delegates to the forthcoming 2nd Congress of the Communist International (ultimately attended by alternate Alexander Stoklitsky in lieu of Ruthenberg). Charles Dirba was elected alternate National Secretary, should Ruthenberg be absent; Ruthenberg was named alternate Editor of Party Publications, should Ferguson and Fraina both be unable to serve; Jay Lovestone and Max Cohen were appointed Associate Editors, to fill editorial vacancies in that order. Ruthenberg was instructed to draft a letter to the Scandinavian and Finnish Federations calling upon them to join the Communist Party. Fraina, Hourwich, and Fred Friedman of the German Federation were named a committee of 3 to draft a statement on unity to the CLP. Executive Secretary Ruthenberg was also unanimously authorized to purchase a printing plant for party publications.

 

"What Communism Means! Proclamation by the Central Executive Committee of the Communist Party of America. [circa February 1920] Propaganda leaflet of the Communist Party America issued in the immediate aftermath of the infamous "Palmer Raids" of January 1920. American government reaction against the Communist movement "has outdone the blackest acts of the Tsar in the days of Darkest Russia," the leaflet claims. This reaction came about due to government fear of the Communist Party "because it points out that the 'democratic' parliamentary government is an instrument of the capitalists to deceive and delude the workers," instead arguing that the Dictatorship of the Proletariat ("a working class government") cannot be achieved through the parliamentary process. "The dice are loaded against the workers in the game of electing representatives to Congress and the legislatures to achieve the overthrow of the capitalist system. The capitalists know that, therefore they urge you to rely upon 'constitutional means,'" the leaftlet asserts, noting that in Cleveland and New York when push came to shove elected working class officials were simply denied their seats. The capitalist state backs up its authority with force and violence, as the history of a series of bloody strikes or the carnage of the European war demonstrated, while at the same time demonizing the Communists for advocating the use of the same. "The Communist Party does not advocate the use of what the capitalists call 'force and violence' at present. It advocates the organization of the working class to use its mass power against the existing capitalist government and to establish a working class government in its place. If in the final struggle for power force is necessary to achieve the victory of the working class - as history tells us has always been the case in the hour of revolution -- the Communists will not hesitate to use it, even as the capitalists now use it against the working class."

 

"Down With the Betrayers of the Workers Proclamation to the Striking Railwaymen by the Central Executive Committee of the Communist Party of America." [1920] Newsprint agitational leaflet issued by the Communist Party of America in New York on behalf of the ongoing wildcat strike of railway employees. Firmly dual unionist in tone, the leaflet encourages the workers to "Sweep aside the traitors to the working class in your organization. Throw them out of your organization, making your organization the militant expressing of the workers. Keep it out of the reactionary American Federation of Labor." After purging their union of comfort-loving officials intent on aiding the capitalist class by proclaiming the strike "illegal," the railwaymen are encouraged to fight "AGAINST THE CAPITALISTS AND THE WHOLE CAPITALIST SYSTEM." The railway workers are urged to transform their organization into "ONE BIG UNION OF RAILWAYMEN FIGHTING FOR THE WORKERS."

 

"Outline for a History of the Communist Party in America," by Alexander Bittelman [circa 1923] One of the more obscure general histories of the early American Communist movement, these seem to have been extensive notes for a book-length treatment, somehow obtained and appended to the record of 1930 Congressional hearings on the American Communist movement. Date of writing is unclear -- last date mentioned is September 1922, use of the word "Leninism" at one point might be indicative of authorship in 1924, the lack of discussion of the Farmer-Labor Party controversy of 1923-24 would seem to favor the earlier rather than the later of these dates. Although terse and shorn of illustrative quotations, Bittelman's main narrative thread is surprisingly comprehensive, beginning from origins in the Socialist Party Left Wing of 1910-12. Of particular interest is his analysis of the National Conference of the Left Wing of June 1919, the ideology of the Michigan Proletarian University group, and discussion of events in the Jewish Federations -- observing that the Jewish Federation featured a Socialist-Communist split which predated the shattering of the SPA itself. Bittelman depicts the organizational development of his factional ally William Z. Foster in overly rosy hues. Also important is the first mention of a September 1922 (i.e. post-Bridgman) convention of irreconcilable members of the Central Caucus faction which was addressed by a representative of the Comintern and convinced to rejoin the unified CPA and legal WPA in exchange for representation on the leading party bodies.

 

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