"A Message From Debs: Letter to the NEC of the Socialist Party of America, October 9, 1919," by William Henry On the morning of Oct. 5, 1919, Socialist Party NEC member William Henry of Indianapolis visited fellow Hoosier Gene Debs in Atlanta Federal Penitentiary. Henry wrote this letter to the other members of the NEC about his visit. With regard to the 1919 split of the Socialist Party, Debs is quoted as saying, ""I have seen this coming for some time and am not at all surprised. Everything will come out all right; the rank and file are all right. The principle is the big thing." Debs is said to have been cut off from all Socialist and radical publication and Henry further alludes that "IWW and Bolshevik prisoners" were held in another building at the penitentiary -- although Debs is known to have been in close contact with fellow prisoner Joseph Coldwell of the Communist Labor Party, at a minimum. Debs is said to have been in good spirits but to have lost weight during his incarceration. Debs emphasized his refusal to accept any conditions placed upon his early release: "If I should agree to say nothing, and crawl through a small hole, sacrificing principle and my conscience, then I could get out; but if I should crawl out through a small hole, then I would be only the size of the hole when I did get out. I am coming out of here all right. Tell the comrades to be in good cheer, and work for the cause. Tell them I love them all. Tell them I feel good, and the authorities of the prison are treating me as well as the rules will permit."

 

"In Defense of Representative Government: Speech to Congress," by Victor L. Berger [Oct. 17, 1919] This is a lengthy defense speech made by Congressman Victor Berger before the House of Representatives, which was in the midst of proceedings to unseat him from the seat to which he had been elected. Berger asserts that it is not his personal case but the principle of representative government itself which is to be decided. His trial before Judge Kennesaw Mountain Landis and a handpicked jury had been inherently unconstitutional and a travesty of justice, the likes of which were not to be equaled by either Tsarist Russia or the Kaiser's Germany, Berger asserts. Worse yet, Berger had been right in his analysis of the European War as an imperialist adventure. Berger cites various statements made by Woodrow Wilson against American entry into the European bloodbath in 1916 and observes that "Mr. Wilson was re-elected President of the United States in November 1916 with the slogan that 'He kept us out of war'; and after all this, he pushed us into the war a few months later." The war had cost America billions of dollars, 326,177 killed and wounded, and gained America nothing. The world was not "made safe for democracy" as Wilson had cravenly sloganized, but rather an imperialist peace had been imposed by Britain and France, Berger notes. "What has America gained except billions of debts and a hundred thousand cripples? And we have lost most of our political democracy. Can anybody think of a single thing, worthwhile, that we have gained through this war?" Berger asks. For his consistent opposition to the conflict, Berger was to be denied his seat in Congress. He states: "I believe it is foolish to expect any results from riots and dynamite, from murderous attacks and conspiracies, in a country where we have the ballot, as long as the ballot has not been given a full and fair trial. We want to convince the majority of the people.... And we know that one can kill tyrants and scare individuals with dynamite and bullets, but one can not develop a system in that way. Lenin and Trotsky are finding this out to their dismay. Therefore, no true Socialist ever dreams of a sudden change of society. We may have revolutions, if neither the capitalists nor the workmen make good use of their brains, but greater than all revolutions is evolution. We know perfectly well that force serves only those who have it; that a sudden overthrow invariably breeds dictators; that dictatorship can promote only subjugation, never freedom." Berger asserts that "The future belongs to some form of Socialism." The actions of Congress to unseat an elected representative ran the risk of discrediting the democratic option in the eyes of the working class, Berger states, bolstering those who believed that "direct action" was required to usher in socialist society. "It will depend on our rulers whether we shall have an orderly evolution, which I have always preached and propagated, or a violent revolution, which we Socialists have always tried to avoid," he says.

 

"Rethinking the Labor Party," by John M. Work [Oct. 20, 1919] Thinking in the Socialist Party about the possibility of active cooperation with the fledgling Labor Party movement began in 1919, as this column by former SPA National Executive Committee member John Work demonstrates. Work directly quotes the letter he wrote to the 1919 Emergency National Convention of the SPA, calling on the organization to "make it legal for a Socialist Party member to belong to the Labor Party or the National Non-Partisan League, without forfeiting his membership in the Socialist Party." These were organizations that "are headed straight for Socialism, and will duly arrive if we assist them," Work asserted -- but no delegate to the 1919 Convention followed up on his suggestion. This article was written by Work for publication in the Milwaukee Leader to further advance this idea. "Fundamental changes in the social system are going to be made one of these times. If we want to imprint our ideas upon these changes, we must place ourselves in a position where we can do so. Otherwise we shall look on while others do it. Splendid isolation doesn't suit me a little bit. I want to help build the new social order. To do so, I am willing to work with all other organizations that are willing to federate for working class purposes," Work states.

 

"An Interview with Hillquit." (article from the Reading Labor Advocate) [October 1919] This is said to have been the first interview granted by Socialist Party leader Morris Hillquit in more than 14 months (Hillquit being stricken with tuberculosis and to have stepped back from vigorous political activity for the duration of his stay at a sanitarium in upstate New York). Hillquit asserts the existence of three basic forms of Socialism in the world: "the Russian, the German, and the English. The Russian form is what has come to be known, quite unscientifically, as Bolshevism. The German form is largely parliamentary, while the English form, while it is political to a degree, is largely industrial." These three basic forms of Socialism emerged under differing historical circumstances but were gradually converging. With regard to the Russian Revolution, Hillquit observes that "The revolution came when it did because of the circumstances of the case, and it took form, not as the revolution had been dreamed for years by the Russian revolutionists, but in an entirely different form. Kerensky could not succeed. He was miserably weak. But Lenin is a great man; in a very real and a very important sense, he is an opportunist, and he met things as he found them." There was but one choice for Socialists in Russia, Hillquit asserts -- the support of the Bolshevik Revolution. "That is why the Socialists who do not belong to the Bolshevik faction are rallying around the Soviet government with all their hearts to fight off the forces that threaten it. That is why Martov is trying to bring about a unity between all Socialist groups, to work out a Socialist regime supported by all the Socialists in Russia," Hillquit states. As for the United States, Hillquit declares that "we are, as usual, the rear guard of the revolutionary workers' movement. But things are speeded up these days. Fifty years of evolution is encompassed in a year these days. We may expect anything."

 

"Only 74 Out of 1,100 Arrested in Raids Held: James Larkin Detained on Criminal Anarchy Charge." (news report from Milwaukee Leader) [Nov. 10, 1919] The first round of mass arrests of political radicals began on the evening of Friday, Nov. 7, 1919, this brief news report from the pages of the Milwaukee Leader indicates. These initial raids were conducted in New York City by state and federal law enforcement authorities at the direction of State Senator Lusk, the news report states. A wide net was cast for a limited number of targeted individuals, the report seems to indicate: "Federal raids Friday night [Nov. 7] and early Saturday [Nov. 8] produced 150 prisoners, of whom 113 were eventually discharged. Police raids Saturday night and Sunday morning [Nov. 9] on 71 meeting places resulted in the arrest of more than 1,000 persons, of whom only 37 were detained." Only two of these held were charged with violation of the New York state "Criminal Anarchy" law, including Irish leader "Big Jim" Larkin, with the remainder held for alleged violation of an unspecified Federal statute, the report states.

 

"Raids, Deportations, and Palmerism," by Swinburne Hale [written circa October 1921] This article provides a useful short summary of the abuses of Attorney General Mitchell Palmer during 1920. Hale, a civil libertarian lawyer from New York City, dates the repression from an August 12, 1919, directive of the head of the Department of Justice's Bureau of Investigation to its field agents to begin vigorously investigating "anarchistic and similar classes, Bolshevism and kindred agitations." Then in November 1919 came the first systematic wave of persecution, targeting the Federation of Unions of Russian Workers of the United States and Canada. On December 27, 1919, came the order for the mass dragnet of January 2/3, 1920, targeting the Communist and Communist Labor Parties and the IWW, among other radical groups. Hale indicates that approximately 10,000 persons were arrested in this campaign. On January 24, 1920, Sec. of Labor Wilson declared membership in the Communist Party of America to be a deportable offense. The tide had begun to turn, however, on Jan. 22 and 23, when hearings concerning a peacetime sedition act proposed by Right Wingers in Congress met with organized liberal and labor opposition, which stopped it. Another landmark came on April 10, 1920, when Assistant Sec. of Labor Post handed down an important decision that raised the bar for the prosecution in deportation hearings and began releasing prisoners held from the Palmer raids for whom there was no sufficient evidence of guilt. The Right Wing in Congress responded by beginning impeachment hearings of Assistant Sec. Post. Another major turning point came on May 5, 1920, when it was held that mere membership in the Communist Labor Party was insufficient grounds for deportation. " It is a matter of opinion that the distinction between the two parties rested on pretty thin reasoning, and that the principal difference between them lay in the fact that the Communist Party case was argued at the height of the "Red" hysteria in January [1920] and the Communist Labor Party case 3 months later," Hale notes. Then on May 28, 1920 came the "Twelve Lawyers' Report" published as a pamphlet by the National Popular Government League, which further turned the tide against the illegality and "white terror" of the Palmerites and their allies. Congress adjourned on June 5, 1920, without taking action on the Post impeachment and Mitchell Palmer was defeated in his bid to win the Democratic Presidential nomination that summer, Hale noted, effectively terminating the Red Scare of 1919-20.

 

"Constitution of the Young Communist League of America: Adopted by the First National Convention, early May 1922." Basic document of organizational law of the underground Communist youth section. The underground Young Communist League was a parallel organization to the "legal" Young Workers League -- theoretically sitting in a position to control the activity of the latter organization, which was originally intended to attract a larger and broader membership. Initiation fee in the YCL was 50 cents and monthly dues were 25 cents per month. Dues were receipted with dues stamps issued by the National Office. The basic unit of organization was the "Group" consisting of (in ideal circumstances) from 5 to 10 members and meeting at least every other week. Groups elected their own "Group Captains" to coordinate with the center. Multiple groups in a locale were parts of a "Section" of up to 5 groups; multiple Sections in a locality combined to form a "Sub-District," which was in turn part of a "District" organization with boundaries following those of the underground CPA. The NEC elected the District and Sub-District Organizers. Each level of the YCL organization had its own governing Committee, which supervised and disciplined lower levels of organization. In between annual conventions the YCL was to be governed by a 5 member National Executive Committee, which was to publish a monthly bulletin for the membership and an issue of the group's official organ every third month.

 

"Program of the Young Communist League of America: Adopted by the First National Convention, early May 1922." Fundamental statement of organizational policy issued by the underground youth section of the Communist Party of America. "Centralized leadership is an essential factor for the success of the proletarian revolution, nationally as well as internationally. Therefore, the YCL of A places itself under the political leadership of the recognized Section of the Communist International, the Communist Party of America," the document states. "The YCL of A shall at all times endeavor to attain an open mass movement of the revolutionary youth.... When sufficient strength has been achieved openly to function as a Communist organization, the open organization, merging with the YCL of A, becomes the YCL of A; but until the proletariat has obtained political supremacy -- the dictatorship of the proletariat -- capitalist society compels the maintenance of an illegal apparatus."

 

"Relation Between the "Y" [underground YCL] and the "L" [overground YWL]: Resolution adopted by the First National Convention of the Young Communist League of America, early May 1922." Set of extraconstitutional guidelines governing the activities of underground Young Communist League members within the Branches of the Young Workers League -- which was initially conceived of as being a less doctrinally pure, mass-oriented organization. Every YCL member was required to play an active part in the YWL and to establish itself as a nucleus within that organization. "All questions of importance" regarding the YWL were to first be decided within these YCL nuclei, which, contrary to sound underground practice, were to include members of multiple underground YCL Groups. These nuclei were to elect steering committees and the policy decisions of these nuclei or their steering committees were to be binding upon all members of the nucleus. Although this was the first convention of the YCL, scholars should be advised that the organization was established by decision of the Kingston Convention of the United Communist Party in late 1920 and had existed with a provisional leadership from January 1921.

 

"The American Socialist Party and the Farmers," by Alexander Trachtenberg [second half of 1922] This is a short analysis of recent changes of Socialist Party of America tactics written for President of the Communist International Grigorii Zinoviev. Trachtenberg states that the 1921 and 1922 SPA conventions had given the right to state and local units of the party to engage in the formerly prohibited tactic of "fusionism" by working directly with other non-socialist progressive organizations in the electoral realm. "Altogether the Socialist Party has during the past few years made strenuous attempts to secure cooperation among the farmers' organizations of the Western states. In the East it is joining in political compacts with all sorts of progressive political groups, some of which are of distinct bourgeois origin," Trachtenberg declares, adding that "the political orientation of the SP is now on the one hand toward securing close contact with the reactionary leadership of the labor unions -- its only contact with labor -- and on the other, with various political and economic groupings of farmers and various middle class reform organizations." Trachtenberg sees the defeat of anti-fusionism as a victory for the revisionist Marxist Victor Berger over the orthodox Marxist Morris Hillquit -- a policy which won due to the practical results achieved in Milwaukee as well as the greatly attenuated size of the Socialist Party itself.

 

"Letter to the Executive Committee of the Communist International Regarding the Proletarian Party of America from Abram Jakira, Executive Secretary of the Communist Party of America, Dec. 12, 1922." This letter from the head of the underground Communist Party of America to ECCI illustrates the way in which the center-periphery relationship between the early Comintern and its member national Communist Parties was not a one-way street with Moscow arbitrarily "commanding" and the national parties silently and compliantly "obeying." In this case, the CPA requests of Moscow that a political letter be written by the Comintern to the Proletarian Party of America, instructing PPA members who wish to participate in the international communist movement to immediately join the Communist Party of American and Workers Party of America. An outline history of the Proletarian Party and its split from the CPA is provided to the ECCI as background information for the writing of the letter. An extensive set of points for inclusion in the letter is also provided, including a statement that the Comintern should tell the PPA that it considers the members of the Proletarian Party "to be good Communists," that the decision to exclude the PPA from the preparations of the Workers Party of America be admitted as a "tactical mistake," that the PPA's educational work "must be applied to organizing large masses of workers under the banner of a revolutionary party," and so on. Jakira states to ECCI that the CPA seeks the infusion of the small Proletarian Party due to the fact that "they are mostly English-speaking, good speakers, several good writers and active union men. There is such a scarcity of such material in our own ranks that the addition of the several hundred members in their ranks will be of tremendous importance for our immediate activities." Jakira's request for a Comintern letter to the PPA was met by ECCI Secretary-General Otto Kuusinen on Feb. 19, 1923, when he wrote an open letter to the members and CEC of the Proletarian Party (also available as a downloadable file).

 

"Circular Letter to All Units of the WPA from C.E. Ruthenberg, Executive Secretary, circa May 1, 1924." This circular letter to all units of the Workers Party of America emphasizes an unpublished ECCI cable -- the content of which may well have originated from the WPA itself and been dispatched as a mechanism for building support of a controversial policy. The cable reads: "Communist International considers June 17th Convention momentous importance for Workers Party. Urges CEC not to slacken activities preparation June 17th. Utilize every available force to make Saint Paul Convention great representative gathering labor and left wing." Thus, Ruthenberg concludes, "the Communist International has spoken" and "the party must respond to this appeal of the Communist International." In the 6 remaining weeks before the St. Paul Convention Ruthenberg urges party members to (1) Distribute the June 17th Convention leaflet in all workers' organizations; (2) Have every member who is a member of a trade union, labor fraternal organization, cooperative, or farmers' organization bring the June 17th call before his organization and have a delegate elected to the convention; (3) Support the call for the formation of state party in support of June 17th; and (4) Raise the unit's quota of the "Farmer-Labor Campaign fund" and send it immediately to the national office of the WPA.

 

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