1919
"Resolution of Micrometer
Lodge 460, IAM, to Secretary of Labor William B. Wilson and His
Reply." [Feb. 14 & 18, 1919] After the collapse of the Seattle General Strike
in early February, 1919, IWW and other radical prisoners were
gathered from jails throughout the West (including some arrested
during the Seattle events) and transported under guard by train
across the country for deportation. Some 58 prisoners were held
in all, the names of 54 of which were published in the New York
Times as part of the press coverage of the operation. On Feb.
14, 1919, a radical Brooklyn local of the International Association
of Machinists passed a resolution condemning the "shameful
act," and called upon Secretary of Labor William B. Wilson
to "remember the time" when he was a miner and reverse
the action. "Organized labor will not tolerate this act,"
the radical machinists warned. Secretary of Labor Wilson responded
with a letter, released to the press on Feb. 18, which stated
in no uncertain terms that "any foreigner who comes to this
country and advocates the overthrow of our form of government
by force is an invading enemy, who is treated with great leniency
when he is simply deported to the land from which he came."
The charge that those gathered for deportation had been denied
due process of law was rejected by the Secretary, who noted that
"those you refer to as radicals are being sent out of this
country because they have been found advocating the overthrow
of our Government by force." The head of the IAM local responded
that his group would "continue to fight such injustice as
Secretary Wilson practices. We believe the men now at Ellis Island
are there solely because they belong to the IWW, and we also
have evidence that very few of them are Russians. They are for
the most part British and Canadian subjects."
"The Russian Workingmen's
Association, sometimes called the Union of Russian Workers (What
It Is and How It Operates)," by Edgar B. Speer [April 8,
1919] This internal
document of the Department's of Justice's Bureau of Investigation
(BoI -- forerunner of the modern FBI), prepared in the Pittsburgh
office, analyzes the nature and composition of the Union of Russian
Workers, an anarchist political organization of Russian emigres
in the United States. The URW dominated the Convention of Russian
Colonies held in New York in January 1919, with its leader, Peter
Bianki, declaring on the floor of the gathering that "the
Union of Russian Workers deny any form of power and Government
because where Government begins, Revolution ends and where there
is Revolution there is no place for Government." Speer's
report dates the origin of the organized Russian radical movement
back to 1907 (i.e., the aftermath of the 1905 revolution), and
the formation of an anarchist newspaper, Golos Truda (The
Voice of Labor). Conventions were held of the emerging organized
anarchists behind this publication in 1912 and 1914, with the
Detroit convention of July 1914 particularly influential in establishing
the formal Union of Russian Workers. The preamble and statutes
of the organization are included here, with Speer's estimate
of organizational strength at the time of writing in the 10,000
to 15,000 range. After defining various ideological terms for
his readers, Speer declares that "the Russian Workingmen's
Association as it exists today is divided between the advocates
of Anarchist-Syndicalism and Anarchist-Communism."
"1919 May Day Manifesto of
the Socialist Party of America," by Morris Hillquit &
Adolph Germer [May 1, 1919] This official May Day proclamation of the Socialist
Party appeared over the signatures of International Secretary
Morris Hillquit and Executive Secretary Adolph Germer. "The
formal termination of the war finds the ruling classes and their
governments in all capitalist countries discredited and distrusted,
judged and convicted. In the fierce impact of their conflicting
greeds they have brutally slaughtered millions of workers and
mutilated, crippled, and invalidated many more millions. They
have destroyed human habitations, workshops, and fields without
number, and have devastated whole countries. They have disrupted
the lives of the nations and surrendered the peoples to hunger
and disease, suffering and despair." The European workers'
movement is saluted, with "fraternal greetings and vows
of wholehearted sympathy" offered to Soviet Russia and "congratulations
and fraternal good wishes" sent to the revolutionary workers
of Hungary as well as "the hand of comradeship and solidarity"
to the revolutionary Socialists of Germany and Austria. "With
the dismal failure of the ruling class League of Nations, the
hope of the world lies in the irresistible League of the Communistic
Commonwealth of the workers. We call upon the workers of the
United States to join in the onward march of the international
proletariat towards the conquest of liberty," the Socialist
Party of America declares.
"Special Report on the Growth
of Bolshevism in the United States," by "B.H.T."
and circulated by the British Home Secretary [May 16, 1919] During the post-war period, the
British government watched the growth of revolutionary sentiment
in the United States with a wary eye. This report on Bolshevism
in America was produced for the Directorate of Intelligence in
London. The report remarks upon the growth of size and influence
of the various foreign language federations of the Socialist
Party of America, the total membership of which is accurately
pegged in the vicinity of 50,000. "The revolution in Russia
naturally created great excitement in the Russian Federation
of the American Socialist Party. It absorbed Bolshevik doctrines,
its prestige was greatly enhanced, and it was the first body
in America to proclaim its adherence to the Russian Communist
program. Its leaders combined with the leaders of other foreign
federations, and with extreme Radicals of the type of Jim Larkin,
in a concerted effort to spread Bolshevik propaganda. They had
very soon made certain of the support of the great bulk of the
Russian and kindred groups; other foreign federations followed
suit, and finally many of the English-speaking members of the
American Socialist Party were won over to the Left Wing and adopted
the Bolshevik program," the report indicates. The report
warns that "The leaders of the Left Wing are exerting themselves
to dominate the forthcoming election of the Executive Committee
of the Socialist Party, and there is a likelihood that they will
be in the majority and elect their Bolshevik candidates. If this
happens, then the entire party will adopt the program of the
Russian Communists and the members of the Right Wing will have
to secede or become an impotent minority. Such a change would
give to the Bolsheviks the control of the whole of the resources
of the party, which owns about 50 papers and magazines, and thousands
of dollars in its treasury. These resources would then be put
to a new use."
"Letter to Robert Minor in
Paris from Max Eastman in New York City, June 2, 1919."
This communication
from magazine editor Max Eastman to syndicalist cartoonist and
journalist Robert Minor was obtained by the US Department of
Justice's Bureau of Investigation. Eastman notes that The
Liberator's editorial staff had determined not to publish
a recent "fundamentally counterrevolutionary" report
of Minor from Germany critical of the Bolsheviks. While Eastman
acknowleges the brilliance of the journalism and the essential
nature of the report, he states that "the bourgeois ideology
of freedom carried to an absolute, constitutes the revolution
for you." Instead, Eastman opines, "The revolution
is an economic change, and ought to ignore bourgeois ideology
altogether in order to give to the working class, through a process
of state formation and state decay which is quite clearly conceived
by Lenin and by all the rest of the revolutionists, a real freedom
in the end." Eastman asks for a report on events in Germany
which "could inspire the workers in their struggle in this
country instead of supplying ammunition to the capitalists."
He expresses continued affection for Minor and wishes he were
home.
"Bloody Hands at Work: Bomb
Explosions in Many Cities of Our Country -- Who Has an Interest
in the Perpetration of Such Crimes?" unsigned article in
St. Louis Labor [June 7, 1919] This unsigned editorial from St. Louis Labor
raises the spectre of provocation for the spate of bombings which
swept America during the spring of 1919: "Somebody is producing
material to justify the gag-laws which we are told our rulers
intend to put in place of the Espionage Act. Who that somebody
is, we have no means of knowing, but if the work speaks for its
master it would certainly be no honor to know him." After
reciting the litany of recent events, the writer declares: "Every
sane person knows that nothing but evil can result from such
beastly deeds. But there is a possibility that crooks use fools
and weak-minded fanatics as tools for their criminal work. Let
us hope that the instigators of these explosions will be made
to pay the price for their dastardly crimes."
"The Socialist Party of the
United States -- Its Work in Past and Present: A Statement and
an Appeal to the Socialists and Class-Conscious Wage Workers
of America in this Most Serious Time in the History of the American
Proletarian Movement for Labor's Emancipation." [statement
of the Central Committee of Local St. Louis, SPA] [June 16, 1919]
This message to
the members of Local St. Louis, Socialist Party decries the factionalism
which was sweeping the party in the months after the armistice
was declared: "We are told there is a crisis in the Socialist
Party. We read about Left Wing and Right Wing. We are told that
a Left Wing had organized a "White Card Party" within
the Socialist Party in the East. If we are correctly informed,
the Left Wing organization in the Socialist Party started in
February 1919. This was 3 months after the armistice was signed.
While the World War was on we never heard of a Left Wing, nor
of a Right Wing." Local St. Louis begs to know: "What
is the turmoil about? What and who caused a Left Wing to come
into existence? What causes a Left Wing to insist on having a
Right Wing? In order that we might enjoy a disgraceful family
row in our own ranks? That we might assist the capitalist class
in its concerted efforts to break up the Socialist Party and
annihilate the American Socialist movement?" An extensive
review of Socialist Party history over the 1914-1919 period follows,
with Local St. Louis declaring that the Socialist Party of Michigan
had " automatically put itself outside of the Socialist
Party of the United States" by implementing anti-political
action measures and stating that the upcoming Emergency National
Convention of the SP would determine the merits or lack thereof
of the National Executive Committee's suspension of the Russian,
Lithuanian, Lettish, Ukrainian, Hungarian, and South Slavic Federations
of the party. "Let us eliminate the entire "Wing"
business - Left and Right - and put our shoulders to the wheel
in order that we may lead our movement to victory and success!"
the resolution pleads.
"The Practical Problems of
Russia," by Santeri Nuorteva [June 21, 1919] This article by the #2 man at
the Russian Soviet Government Bureau in New York City outlines
the situation in Soviet Russia, noting the importance of the
land question and the failure of the provisional government headed
by Alexander Kerensky to immediately solve the nation's economic
crisis. Nuorteva notes that the situation in Russia remains chaotic,
but that chaos is the norm across much of Europe in the months
after termination of the world war. He acknowledges the loss
of some 3,000 lives in the so-called "Red Terror,"
but asks his readers to compare these events with the magnitude
of the bloodbath conducted by the Whites in Finland, in which
the White Guard and their German allies "deliberately executed
10,000 men and women, and deliberately starved 10,000 more to
death within a period of a few months, and they admit it themselves."
Nuorteva also points to the draconian policies of the White forces
in Russia. Nuorteva asks his readers: "If your country were
attacked from all sides by forces invading your country for the
purpose of overthrowing the government, and if at the same time
there were considerable numbers of people within this country
doing all they could to help those invaders, don't you think
there would be some kind of a stern rule here?" Nuorteva
charges that American reportage of the Russian Revolution had
been censored by the conservative controllers of information
and that victory of the counterrevolution in Russia would mean
a bloodbath. He pleads for economic relations between Soviet
Russia and the West and common sense.
"Urgent Appeal to the Socialists
of America: The War Has Ended, but the Prosecution and Persecution
of Socialists Has Not," by Adolph Germer [July 10, 1919]
Executive Secretary
of the Socialist Party Adolph Germer sent out this appeal to
all units of the Socialist Party urging them to "lay aside
the Wings and look important facts in the face." Germer
emphatically declares that "The war has ended, but the prosecution
and persecution of Socialists has not." Germer notes that
contributions for the defense efforts of the Socialist Party
for the previous 17 months had totalled approximately $1.25 per
party member -- or about 7 cents per member per month. A list
of ongoing appeals and defense activities is provided. Germer
states that "At least $15,000 is needed in the next 30 days
to meet the most urgent demands. Anything short of that will
be deserting them in their most critical hour.... There is no
place or time for 'Left Wing' or 'Right Wing' in this crisis.
Capitalists have their quarrels, but when it is a class crash
they stand solid against labor. Will you be as class loyal as
they?"
"Circular Letter to Bureau
of Investigation Special Agents in Charge from J. Edgar Hoover,
in the name of Acting Chief J.T. Suter, July 11, 1919."
The end of the
war in Europe in no way marked an end to state repression of
the American radical movement, as this circular letter from Edgar
Hoover to the network of Bureau of Investigation offices demonstrates.
Radical leaders born outside of the United States were the particular
target of the Department of Justice. Hoover writes: "I desire
that you forward to me at once a list giving the names of the
leading alien radical leaders in your territory whom you believe
now or are likely in the future to become subject to deportation...
If the reports which you have rendered upon the individual do
not contain definite information concerning his place of birth,
his arrival in the United States, and his citizenship status
at the present time, you should immediately determine his citizenship
status and forward this information without delay." The
secret police apparatus is instructed to chronicle the political
statements of non-citizen radical leaders with a view to their
use in future deportation proceedings: "In all future instances
where alien radical leaders speak at meetings, I desire that
meetings at which they speak be thoroughly covered, not only
by undercover men but also by men who afterwards can be used
as witnesses, and further that stenographic or other accurate
notes of their statements be obtained. In cases where a subject
speaks in a foreign language the meeting should be covered by
an agent who is conversant in that language where feasible."
"Circular Letter to All Members
of the Russian Socialist Federation from Alexander Stoklitsky,
Translator-Secretary, in Chicago." [circa July 15, 1919]
This communique
from the Translator-Secretary of the Russian Socialist Federation,
Alexander Stoklitsky, to local units of the federation instructs
these groups to immediately proceed towards the formation of
the Communist Party of America: "Our local sections must
immediately begin get to work. Immediately summon representatives
of the other Bolshevik Federations standing upon our position.
Those sharing our position are the Lithuanian, Latvian, Ukrainian,
Polish, and South Slavic Federations. Organize at once Communist
Locals or Conferences in your communities. Elect and do not fail
to send delegates to the General Communist Convention September
1 [1919] in Chicago." The basis for representation at the
founding convention of the CPA is set at 1 delegate per state
plus an additional for each 500 members (for states already organized
into a "Communist Party") or 1 delegate per Communist
local or Communist conference plus an additional delegate per
500 members for these units. Stoklitsky emphasizes the importance
of sections of the Russian Federation sending delegates: "In
many cities there are no other Bolshevik sections outside of
the Russian section. Such a section, even if it only has 25 members,
has the right to a delegate. Such sections, in the name of Communism,
MUST MAKE USE OF THEIR RIGHTS!!!" Stoklitsky urges the sections
to "Select your delegates carefully, do not be embarrassed
if they do not know the language. Far better that one votes like
a Bolshevik than that one knows the English language but votes
like a Menshevik or a Centrist."
"Report on Radical Leaders
in Boston Submitted to J.T. Suter, Acting Chief, Bureau of Investigation,
Washington from George E. Kelleher, Division Superintendent,
Boston, July 19, 1919." This report by the head of the Boston office of
the Bureau of Investigation came in response to J. Edgar Hoover's
July 11, 1919 call for reports on the background and activities
of "alien radical leaders" with a view to their use
in future deportation proceedings against the same. Special Agent
in Charge George Kelleher includes report dates and thumbnail
sketches for Louis C. Fraina (Italian), Santeri Nuorteva (Finnish),
Frank Mack (English), Eadmonn MacAlpine (Irish), Angelo Faggi
(Italian), and Francisco Lopez (Spanish). Also mentioned are
Minnie Federmann, James Larkin, Sen Katayama, W.T. Colyer, Ime
Kaplan, P.P. Cosgrove, Lena Cacici, Frank Machinkas, and William
Blazonis.
"Memorandum to Frank Burke,
Assistant Director and Chief of the Bureau of Investigation in
Washington from J. Edgar Hoover, Special Assistant to the Attorney
General in Washington, July 29, 1919." Special Assistant to the Attorney
General specializing in anti-radical operations Edgar Hoover
apprises the new Director of the Bureau of the investigation
of the dates of the forthcoming convention of the Russian Federation
and founding convention of the Communist Party of America. "Special
Agent [Anatol L.] Rodau, who has been doing some confidential
work in Baltimore, will return to the Department the latter part
of the week and he has made arrangements for attending the Chicago
Convention if you deem the same advisable," Hoover notes.
[Rodau, fluent in the Russian language, had been previously used
to penetrate the Russian radical movement in America.]
"Resolution of the General
Executive Board of the Industrial Workers of the World on Affiliation
with the Third International, August 14, 1919." This Bureau of Investigation report
details the resolution of the governing General Executive Board
of the IWW, which determined that the "IWW shall create
a committee on International Relations, which shall at once establish
and maintain correspondence and fraternal relations with such
aforesaid revolutionary groups throughout the world and shall
provide for the presentation of the IWW as a constituent member
of the Third International." Thus the Industrial Workers
of the world moved towards membership in the Communist International
even before the formalization of the split of the Socialist Party
of America to form the Communist Party of America.
"Election of Standing Committee
Members at the Emergency National Convention of the Socialist
Party of America, Chicago -- Sept. 1-2, 1919." This is a significant section
of the stenographic record of the seminal 1919 Emergency National
Convention of the Socialist Party of America, dealing with the
election of delegates to the standing committees of the convention
on the 3rd and 4th days of the Chicago gathering. Left Wing delegate
Jacob Salutsky [J.B.S. Hardman] asks the convention under whose
authority a typewritten slate of committee members of the "Regular"
faction, distributed by Executive Secretary Adolph Germer, was
prepared. Algernon Lee states that before the convention met
a group of "about one hundred" people attended an "open
meeting" at which questions of the convention were discussed
and from which the slate was generated. Lee defends the formation
of caucuses as a normal part of convention life. Regular stalwart
Louis Waldman notes that the slate is "not official,"
but was rather the work of a "private group of comrades."
Waldman notes that at a certain point before the convention met
a slate for committee members appeared absolutely essential "if
the convention was to be saved for the Socialist Party,"
but given the current situation -- in which the convention was
clearly in control of the Regulars -- he felt that "a slate
is absolutely unnecessary and inimical to the interests of the
Socialist Party of America." Standing committees of the
convention were subsequently elected. A roll call taken the morning
of September 2 (also included here) was made to determine which
convention delegates were in attendance and which delegates had
bolted to other gatherings or returned home.
"Debate on the Actions of
the NEC at the Emergency National Convention of the Socialist
Party of America, Chicago -- Sept. 4, 1919." Following the delivery of the
report of the National Executive Committee on its actions during
the ongoing party controversy, delivered by NEC member James
Oneal of New York, the convention spent the whole of its sixth
day discussing the matter. By this time the convention was firmly
in the hands of the Germer-Oneal "Regulars," with many
of the Left Wing delegates denied their contested seats or having
bolted the Socialist Party convention. Dissident voices did remain,
however, centered in the New Jersey and Illinois delegations.
This extensive portion of the previously unpublished stenographic
report of the convention gives voice to these discussions for
the first time. Discussion was to be limited to 2 hours and to
concentrate on critiques of the NEC's actions, rather than support.
Rose Weiss of New Jersey declares that "through this whole
unfortunate controversy many mistakes have been made" and
that the NEC's actions were "absolutely unwarranted and
unconstitutional, and from the standpoint of politics one of
the most stupid things that could have been done." She states
that entire federations including many thousands of party members
were penalized and alienated from the party based upon the factional
activities of their Translator-Secretaries. She criticizes the
convention's decision to disallow elected delegates from states
which allowed the participation of members of federations controversially
suspended by the NEC. She upbraids the Regular majority, declaring
"You would have been perfectly safe...because these comrades
number no more than 25 or 30. The comrades sitting here who have
voted for the Left Wing, or for the opposition, many of them
have been forced into that position by what they regard as the
arbitrary action of the majority. Many of these would have voted
with the majority had the minority been allowed to come here
prepared to present their case." The hardline factionalism
of the regulars had deepened the split of the party, in Weiss'
opinion. Weiss is also harshly critical of the draconian suspensions
of the Massachusetts and Ohio state organizations. William Kruse
of Illinois states that the failure of the Regulars to allow
the emergency convention to have a frank discussion of the principles
of the "Left," the "Center," and the "extreme
Right" would have made for "a thoroughly worthwhile
convention in every way, and a split would not have occurred
the way it did." Instead, the shattered convention had taken
a form which "amounts more or less to a Right Wing caucus."
After heated debate throughout the day, the actions of the NEC
were ratified by a vote of 95 to 8.
"Proclamation to the Membership
of the Socialist Party: Issued by the National Convention in
Chicago, Friday, September 5, 1919." This proclamation to party members by the 1919
Socialist Party Convention outlined its reasoning for supporting
the actions of the outgoing National Executive Committee during
the faction fight of 1919 as well as its own factional activities
with respect to Left Wing delegates denied participation at the
gathering. The apologetic declares: "There is no doubt that
fraudulent methods were used in the disputed referendums. Whether
the National Executive Committee took the wisest course in suspending
the offending federations and refusing to tabulate the vote is
a matter that no one can decide now. It might have been better
to have permitted the matter to drift until the convention met,
but it is certain that if that course was taken the facts would
be the same regarding the disputed referendums." Rough details
are given about each of the contested delegations and the actions
of the convention in whether to permit or deny the participation
of these delegates. The proclamation optimistically insists that
"The Socialist Party has survived the attacks of the terrorists
within and the reaction without. It has not compromises, it has
not retreated a single inch. It is still the American section
of the International, the militant party of the working class...
Comrades: The Socialist Party will rise stronger than ever after
this cleansing. We will enter the struggle next year a militant
party of the workers, enthusiastic, united, and determined."
"Emergency Convention of
Socialist Party," by "A Staff Correspondent" [William
Brandt?] [events of Aug. 30-Sept. 5, 1919] The authorship of this lengthy account of the
1919 Emergency National Convention from the pages of St. Louis
Labor has been tentatively assigned to William Brandt. The
account notes the use of admission cards "to accredited
delegates only" as a means of "thwarting the plans
of the Left Wingers" to "capture" the gathering.
Of the 200 delegates scheduled to attend the 1919 convention,
the report notes there were 136 uncontested delegates and 31
contests at the conclave's opening. An account is provided of
the storming of the floor of the convention on the first day,
"lead by John Reed." The report notes that "Germer
entered the hall and requested them to leave, but they refused.
It was necessary to call an officer before they would retire."
Day 2 got "down to business" with "about 130 reliable
delegates," according to this account. Daily accounts are
provided of the convention's activity. The report notes that
"the regular Socialists have won victory after victory throughout
the entire convention" and sympathetically quotes NEC member
James Oneal of New York as stating the factional actions of that
committee had made its members feel "sick at heart at the
necessity of their action. " Nevertheless, Oneal is said
to have told the gathering, "We served the party at the
most trying time of its history and we had to be guided by the
constitution."
"Red Conventions in Chicago
Rank: Simons Shows Up Their Unrepresentative Character in Very
Graphic Style: Wild Groups Consisted of Persons with No Control
of Labor or Industry: Whole Country Laughs at Their Call for
a General Strike to Begin Oct. 8," by A.M. Simons [Sept.
26, 1919] In this
article for the Minnesota Union Advocate, Right Social
Democrat Algie Simons (later in his life a full-blown conservative)
upbraids all factions of the American Socialist movement for
their political activities in Chicago earlier that month. Simons
declares: "They dearly loved phrases. They had small relation
to facts. The speakers' lips were ever haunted by the forms of
dead and gone blessed words. As phrases and dreamers circled
in mental and physical whirls, they suggested the ghost dancing
and weird rites of savage medicine men, who chant the cries and
perform the gyrations of their ancestors to invoke rain or good
hunting." For all their piety about the revolutionary working
class, Simons charges that "There were fewer union men and
women of influence in these three conventions than in any Socialist
convention ever held. The unionists who are Socialists refuse
to take these ghostly gatherings seriously." Lumping all
three gatherings together and contending they advocated a soviet
system and the establishment of the dictatorship of the proletariat,
Simons laughing concludes that "Such topsy-turvy doctrines
are revolutionary only as the whirlings of a top are revolutionary.
They are dangerous only if reactionaries succeed in maintaining
an industrial autocracy and blocking progress through democracy."
"Report to the Members of
the Socialist Party of Missouri by the Missouri Delegates to
the Emergency National Convention." [events of Aug. 30-Sept.
5, 1919] Brief
report by W.M. Brandt, G.A. Hoehn, Caleb Lipscomb, Jacob Kassner,
Missouri delegates to the Socialist Party's Emergency National
Convention to the members of the Socialist Party of Missouri.
"We find that the action of the National Executive Committee
in holding up the referendum on the election of a new National
Executive Committee last May was not only fully justified, but
extremely proper. It saved the party from total destruction.
We examined the returns and heard the report of the special committee
elected to investigate the charge of fraud, which report was
adopted by unanimous vote of the delegates, and find beyond doubt
that the most shameful frauds were perpetrated, mostly by some
of the foreign language federations, and largely under the direction
of American citizens," the report declares. The report also
cites financial improprieties on the part of the suspended language
federations, but optimistically asserts "aside from the
financial condition of the party, we feel that it is in better
condition than ever before." As published in St. Louis
Labor.
"The Capitalists Challenge
You, Workingmen! Proclamation of the Communist Party of America."
[Leaflet of Oct. 1919] Propaganda
leaflet of the fledglin Communist Party of America.
"The German-Speaking Branches
in New York: Most of the German-Speaking Comrades True to the
Socialist Party are Reorganizing -- Others Divide Up Between
Communist and Communist Labor Parties," by G.A. Hoehn [Oct.
4, 1919] Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
"Confidential Circular Letter
of the CPA's "Proletarian Club" Minority to its Supporters."
[circa Oct. 15, 1919] Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
"Letter to Johnson H. Meek
in Yarrow, MO from William L. Garver, State Secretary of the
SP of Missouri in Springfield, MO, October 16, 1919." Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
"U.S. Senate Resolution No.
213. Introduced Oct. 14, 1919; Adopted Oct. 17, 1919." Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
"Letter to E.M. Wormley in
St. Joseph, MO from William L. Garver, State Secretary, Socialist
Party of Missouri in Springfield, Oct. 18, 1919." Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
"Confidential Letter to Anthony
Caminetti in Washington, DC from J. Edgar Hoover in Washington,
DC, Oct. 30, 1919." Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
"Telegram to Special Agents
in Charge of Offices of the Bureau of Investigation from J. Edgar
Hoover in Washington in the name of BoI Chief Frank Burke, Nov.
6, 1919." Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
"Statistics of the Nov. 7,
1919 Operation Against the Union of Russian Workers," by
J. Edgar Hoover Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
"Department of Justice Press
Release on the Mass Arrest Campaign Against the Union of Russian
Workers, Nov. 8, 1919." Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
"Statement of the Experience
of George A. Evans, a Former Teacher at the People's House, 133
East 15th Street, Telling of the Brutal Treatment of the Police
in the Raid Made There Nov. 8, 1919." Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
"Injunction Against IWW by
the State of Washington," by D.F. Costello [Jan. 3, 1920]
One of the little-known
aspects of the great Red Scare of 1919-1920 was an attempt in
Washington state to ban the Industrial Workers of the World outright.
On January 3, 1920, after four days of testimony, Superior Court
Justice R.M. Webster issued an injunction banning membership
in or activity on behalf of the IWW. This Bureau of Investigation
report filed by Special Agent D.F. Costello from Spokane relays
the judges words to his superiors in Washington, DC: "The
effort to differentiate between a political and an industrial
revolution ought not to befog an intelligent man. I might read
all their literature, but I should come to no different opinion,
for through it all runs clearly the intention to "expropriate,"
as they term it, the owners of property and put in possession
the members of the rank and file." The judge declares that
the fact that the IWW professes a desire to expropriate property
implies a commitment to the use of "bloodshed and violence,"
since "the average American is not so weak and spineless
that this is to be taken away from him without a struggle."
The judge proclaims "So far as the facts in this hearing
are concerned, it is clear enough that the organization plans
to overthrow the constitution of the United States, looking to
emulate the example of Russia. From what I can learn, Russia
was never so subject to tyranny and domination as today. Their
literature is solely material elevating the brute in man. It
takes away the solace of religion, from the sorrowing and the
dying. Never in their books to you find mention of a supreme
being. Through it all breathes hatred and malice and venom which
can only find outlet in bloodshed." Members of the organization
were to be charged with contempt of court for violating the judge's
permanent injunction -- "and I want it understood that this
is not to be an empty order and that the whole power of this
court will be used to enforce it," the judge insists.
"Communist Party Defense
Fund." An Advertisement in The Liberator. [Feb. 1920]
Machine-readable
pdf approximation of a half page ad which ran in the back of
the February 1920 issue of The Liberator, edited by Max
Eastman. The ad reads: "Wholesale raids and arrests all
over the country surpassing the exploits of the Czar's Black
Hundreds - have temporarily deprived the Communist Party of headquarters
and working staffs. During this emergency we must depend for
defense funds upon immediate donations from individuals and groups.
A committee of persons not connected with the Communist Party
has agreed to act as custodian of this fund." Donations
are to be sent by mail to the Treasurer of the fund, Roger N.
Baldwin in New York. The members of the Communist Party's 5 member
Defense Committee are listed as well: I.E. Ferguson (Secretary),
Charles Dirba, Rose Pastor Stokes, C.E. Ruthenberg, and Marion
Sproule. This advertisement seems to have run only in one single
issue of The Liberator.
"Letter to Walter H. Evans,
District Attorney of Multnomah County, Oregon, in Portland from
J. Edgar Hoover, Special Assistant to the Attorney General, in
Washington, March 24, 1920." Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
"Blast Wrecks Morgan Office:
27 Known Dead; Scores are Injured: Load of Explosive Being Hauled
Believed Cause -- Theories Vary." (International News Service
report) [Sept. 16, 1920] First-hand
wire report of the sensational bomb blast in front of the offices
of J.P. Morgan & Co., located at the corner of Wall and Broad
Streets in New York City. The reporter first notes that "Two
theories were held. One was that the explosion was an attempt
to wipe out the Morgan firm and assassinate J.P. Morgan by planting
a time bomb in a wagon in front of the Broad Street entrance
to the firm. Another was that an automobile, Licence No. 24246,
New Jersey, loaded with explosives, crashed into another automobile
at Broad and Wall Streets." When the blast erupted at noon,
panic and confusion swept the core of the city, causing the stock
exchange to shut down for the day. "All approaches leading
to Broad and Wall Streets were choked with people. The police
were powerless to open traffic lanes for ambulances until all
the downtown reserves were sent to the scene.... Pandemonium
reigned throughout lower New York. An immense crowd of tens of
thousands of persons jammed the narrow streets in the financial
zone.... A mountainous pile of debris was thrown up in front
of the wrecked Morgan building. Carcasses of horses and wrecks
of half a dozen automobiles cluttered the corner of Broad and
Wall Streets." An estimated $500,000 to $600,000 was caused
to the offices of J.P. Morgan & Co. and as many as 7 employees
were killed and many others injured by flying glass.
"38 Dead in Wall Street Blast,
Clock Alleged to Be Clue to 'Bomb': Police Try to Bolster Plot
Theory: 'Yellow Wagon' Said to Have Carried the Wall Street Explosive."
(International News Service report) [Sept. 17, 1920] In this follow-up report, an unnamed
Internet News Service reporter details the progress of the police
inquiry into the sensational September 16 bombing of the office
of J.P. Morgan & Co. in the heart of New York City's Wall
Street. Part of a clock had been found in the debris, the reporter
notes, leading credence to the theory that the blast was set
off by a timing device. The explosive had been in a single-horse
wagon of the "rack" type, painted yellow -- not in
a regulation red wagon used to carry explosives. The police detailed
two written warnings issued to the day prior to the bombing made
by an "Ed Fischer," a lawyer who had previously been
racked by mental illness. The day after the bombing, the death
toll had grown to 38, with 75 seriously wounded, about 150 less
seriously wounded, and an estimated $2,500,000 in property damage
done to the buildings in proximity of the blast. The US Secret
Service, headed by William J. Flynn, was said to be on the case
in an effort to identify the perpetrators of the bombing.
"Detectives Follow Many Clues
in Inquiry on Wall Street Blast: New Tips May Lay Tragedy to
Plotters: Anarchist Circulars Are Found in Mail Box, Says Flynn."
(International News Service report) [Sept. 18, 1920] Day 3 of the September 16 Wall
Street bombing inquiry saw the lowering of the official death
toll from 38 to 34, although several others remained in critical
condition in the hospital, according to this unsigned wire report
of the International News Service. Important clues were uncovered,
including union marks on new horse shoes on the horse that drew
the bombing wagon and five unwrapped leaflets in a nearby mailbox,
which read: "Remember, we will not tolerate any longer.
Free the political prisoners or it will be sure death for all
of you. - American Anarchist Fighters." Attorney General
Mitchell Palmer expressed his conviction that the bombing was
the work of a conspiracy, while Bureau of Investigation head
William J. Burns expressed the opinion that the bomb was not
intended for Morgan & Co. in particular but rather was to
send a message to the Wall Street financial district as a whole.
Burns also dismissed the importance of the arrest of Ed Fischer,
whom he dismissed as "a nut who happened to hit it off right"
when he sent a warning to the French High Commissioner in advance
of the blast.
"Albany's Action is Black
Spot in Nation's History," by P.A. Adler [Sept. 22, 1920]
Minneapolis Social
Democratic journalist P.A. Adler takes aim at the New York Assembly's
decision to unseat for a second time the 5 Socialist Party assemblymen
elected to that body. Adler emphasizes that changes to the Socialist
Party's constitution made between the April 1 initial vote to
exclude the quintet and the September 21 second vote removed
any legal pretext, no matter how flimsy, for denying a place
to the 5 for the purportedly "inimical" views of their
political party. Adler quotes the Republican Chairman of the
Assembly's own Judiciary Committee as saying: "They have
complied with all the provisions of the constitution and I am
going to take the opinion of the counsel who acted for the Judiciary
Committee. If you don't seat these men you violate the principles
upon which the American government has progressed." Adler
notes that the action of the conservative majorities of both
of the old parties was effectively playing into the hands of
the revolutionary Socialists of the Third International: "Lenin
and the Russian Bolsheviki think that the parliamentary practice
of the Socialists has been a failure. The Third International
advocates an open social revolution as opposed to the old practice
of political evolution. Parliamentarism is a political joke,
claims Lenin. It tends to demoralize the workingmen; when it
comes to a real social issue nothing can be gained through mere
participation in parliamentary discussion." He continues:
"The old truth that the stupidity and intolerance of conservative
politicians is the most influential factor in spreading Bolshevik
propaganda may soon find another proof in the act of the New
York Assembly."
"Russ Divide World Party,
Debs Avers: Campaign Committee Rejects "Fourth" International
Also," by William M. Feigenbaum [Oct. 8, 1920] In this article distributed around
the country via the Federated Press, Socialist journalist William
Feigenbaum relates the Socialist Party's position on international
affiliation with the Communist International, based upon discussions
of the party's 1920 Presidential Campaign Committee held at Atlanta
Federal Penitentiary with Presidential candidate Eugene Debs
in attendance. "The gist of the statement is that the party
will adhere to its policy of awaiting further development in
the international situation," Feigenbaum notes, neither
rushing to join the Moscow International nor to start another
international organization. Feigenbaum quotes Debs as being hostile
to the idea of unconditional affiliation of the Socialist Party
with the Comintern: "The Moscow program wants to commit
us to a program of armed insurrection; the Moscow comrades have
arrogated to themselves the right to dictate the tactics, the
program, the very conditions of propaganda in all countries.
It is ridiculous, arbitrary, autocratic; as ridiculous as if
we were to dictate to them how they should carry on their propaganda."
Debs blames Lenin for disruption of the International socialist
movement, saying: "If you were to commit the party in America
by the international program laid down by Lenin, you would absolutely
kill the party. The angry wrangling over the Moscow program is
what is disrupting parties all over the world."
"Prisoner No. 9653! -- Eugene
Debs Talks to Norman Hapgood," by Norman Hapgood [serialized
Oct. 11-13, 1920] Journalist
Norman Hapgood made the long trip by train to Atlanta Federal
Penitentiary to conduct an interview with Socialist Presidential
candidate Eugene Debs, the product of which appeared in serial
form in the Minneapolis progressive daily, the Minnesota Daily
Star. Hapgood first notes that he himself is not a Socialist;
but he is clearly swept up in the aura of the charismatic radical
leader: "How warm his grasp! How pure and sunny his smile!
How his face carries the record of his 40 years of service, of
forbearance, of hope of a great belief. I think little about
the theories of that pope of socialism, Karl Marx. I feel that
I am in the presence of this world's high spirits." Debs
attributes the hostility of Lenin and the government of Soviet
Russia to the western socialist movement as a case of "ignorance,"
and he dismisses the ultra radical rhetoric of the fledgling
American Communists: "Our Communist Party in this country,
with its doctrine of being prepared in advance to take control
by force when the opportunity comes, is not giving strength.
It is giving weakness. It is not by arming that strength comes,
it is by persuasion. To try to use force now is only to drive
away those who might be with us. When we have persuaded enough
persons, when thereby it is time for us to rule, when the occasion
comes, then the strength will be given to us." Debs repeats
his opposition to violence, his distaste for informers, and expresses
a belief that due to the number of spies in the world, any attempt
of the left to conduct its movements in secret is futile. While
Hapgood states that Debs wishes for his freedom, he is accepting
of his fate. Debs declares: "If it is a crime under the
American law, punishable by imprisonment, for being opposed to
human bloodshed, I am perfectly willing to be clothed in the
stripes of a convict and to end my days in a prison cell."
"In Re: Trade Union Educational
League, Chicago -- Radical Matter," by J.F. Loren [Dec.
18, 1920] On the
evening of December 18, 1920, radical trade union activist William
Z. Foster held a first organizational meeting to establish a
unit of the new Trade Union Educational Committee in New York
City. Among the 40 trade unionists in attendance was Bureau of
Investigation Special Agent J.F. Loren, who filed this brief
report on the evening's activities. Loren states that TUEl would
be open to "every member of every union which recognizes
the jurisdiction of other unions, that is to say, members of
all unions, whether affiliated with or independent from the American
Federation of Labor, excepting unions such as the IWW which claims
the sole right to represent the workers." This did not mean,
he emphasizes, that the organization would be in any way less
radical than the IWW, merely that "the IWW's aim of destroying
the old unions has proven a failure, and that the radicalization
of the old unions has proved to be a success in the case of the
Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America, the Western Federation
of Miners, and others, where the radicals, instead of deserting,
have put up a serious fight." An organization committee
was established, given the task of visiting local unions to build
the circulation of The Labor Herald, official organ of
the TUEL. A leaflet by Foster entitled "A Statement of the
Aims of the Trade Union Educational League" was circulated,
Loren notes.
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