"The Party Referendum," by E.E. Carr [Jan. 1, 1909] This article by Rev. E.E. Carr, editor of The Christian Socialist, demonstrates that there was a tradition of inner-party factional campaigning within the Socialist Party years before the abrogated National Executive Committee election of 1919 -- which was set aside by the outgoing NEC on the various pretexts of factional membership organization within the party, existence of slates and bloc voting, and purported election fraud. Carr endorses the re-election of Victor Berger, Carl Thompson, Graham Phelps-Stokes, and John Work -- considering the re-election of Morris Hillquit, Algie Simons, and A.H. Floaten assured. Carr also lends his support to the re-election campaign of J. Mahlon Barnes as Executive Secretary of the party, noting that "he has been faithful, fair, and efficient in that office..." Seemingly without noting the contradiction of his own factional organization in order to defeat factional organization, Carr notes that "a freer and more general comment in all our papers concerning the fitness of candidates would be decidedly helpful to the party, and it is the only way to prevent dangerous cliques. Some who oppose an open discussion of these matters are the very ones who are most incessant at star-chamber scheming -- and open discussions are likely to upset their secret plans!"

 

MAY

"Fred Warren Convicted by a Packed Jury," by Eugene V. Debs [May 15, 1909] Radical journalism by Socialist publicist Eugene Debs of the Appeal to Reason editorial staff. In 1907, Appeal to Reason Editor Fred D. Warren sent out a mailer offering to pay a $1,000 reward for anyone capturing and returning fugitive ex-Governor Taylor to Kentucky, where he was under indictment for murder -- an attempt to ironically play upon the fact that the Supreme Court of the United States had earlier refused to rule on the legality of the kidnapping and transportation to Idaho of William D. Haywood, Charles Moyer, and George Pettibone of the Western Federation of Miners in a sensational and thoroughly politicized murder trial. Some two years later, in 1909,.a new Republican Governor of Kentucky had pardoned his predecessor freeing the federal government's hand to move against Editor Warren, charging him with violation of federal postal regulations. Debs charges that the federal marshal had packed the jury pool and that the post office inspector serving as the chief prosecution witness had lied under oath to influence the jury. In addition, Debs charges that the name of the recipient of the single letter which purportedly triggered the proceeding was a fictional creation of the authorities -- that no one had ever heard of "Pierson" of California, nor did any such name appeal on the mailing roles of The Appeal. "The fact is the prosecution had no evidence at all, or anything worthy to be called by that name. It was the flimsiest case ever tried outside of a mock court," Debs states. Despite the packed jury, division resulted in a 22 hour deliberation before a guilty verdict was returned, Debs notes.

 

"Trial and Conviction of Fred D. Warren: Summary of the Celebrated Case -- Liberty of the Press the Issue -- Two Years in the Federal Courts and the Motive Behind It," by Eugene V. Debs [May 22, 1909] This follow-up article on the sensational May 1909 trial of Appeal to Reason editor Fred Warren emphasizes the central issue of the affair -- freedom of the press. "The specific charge in the indictment was that Warren had violated the federal statute prohibiting the mailing of 'scurrilous, defamatory, and threatening matter.'" By no stretch of the imagination can the matter complained of be construed as having any such meaning," Debs states. Debs charges that the entire affair was little more than a premeditated political hit against the Appeal, noting that several costly continuances had been granted the prosecution and quoting an unnamed federal official who stated that "if The Appeal could be reached in no other way it could be kept in court indefinitely and loaded with fees and costs until 'the damned reptile was bled to death.'" Debs is emphatic that "Without The Appeal to Reason this case would never have been heard of. Warren might have deposited the same envelope in the post office every day to the end of his life and no grand jury would ever have dreamed of indicting him."

 

"Constitution of the Christian Socialist Fellowship: Adopted at the 4th General Conference, Toledo, OH -- May 29, 1909." The controversial 4th General Conference of the Christian Socialist Fellowship attempted to ameliorate a growing factional controversy between its feuding New York and Chicago affiliates. It also enacted this new constitution for the organization, which at this time had approximately 525 members. The new constitution once again depicted the class struggle as a problem to be rectified rather than an immutable part of capitalism, expressing the object of the CSF as follows: "To proclaim Socialism to churches and other religious organizations; to show the necessity of Socialism to the complete triumph of Christianity; to end the class struggle by establishing industrial and political democracy; and to hasten the reign of justice and brotherhood -- the Kingdom of God on earth." Under the new constitution, dues were raised and made payable monthly and the structure and role of local, district, and state organizations were defined for the first time. The size of the governing General Executive Committee was additionally cut in half, from 50 to 25 members.

 

JUNE

"Letter to Fred D. Warren in Girard, KS from Eugene V. Debs in Terre Haute, IN, circa June 8, 1909." This letter from Debs to Appeal to Reason Editor Fred Warren (not published in the 3 volume collection of Debs' letters) offers Debs' views on the sensational assertion made in the paper the previous week that federal authorities were planning a lawsuit against Debs and publisher Julius Wayland for libel for charging that the jury pool in the Warren trial had been hand-picked by the federal marshal to include all Republicans. Debs writes: "As for having libeled the marshal that is uproariously funny. If he brings that action I will give him his money's worth. I already know a good deal about him and his record and I have it very straight. I will make it my business to get the rest if he opens fire. My only concern in the case is The Appeal. For myself I do not care. I know they can send me to the pen if they want to, but that will matter very little. We are in this fight and it is just beginning and some of us will have to go and it might as well be myself as anybody else. But I am thinking about what effect it will have on The Appeal?" However, Debs believes that the government's backdoor effort to silence the country's biggest and most influential Socialist newspaper through trumped up legal actions will be unsuccessful. "The only consideration with the administration and its corporation supporters is the breaking of The Appeal and I'll stake anything I have that they can not do it. If the government brings these suits The Appeal will gain more than it will lose," Debs declares.

"What is the Matter with the Socialist Party?" by Charles H. Kerr [Nov. 1909] The Communist movement did not magically materialize from thin air in 1919; it had deep roots in American radicalism older than the Socialist Party of America from whence it emerged. One might reasonably argue that the historic trend which lead to the 1919 split began with the disappointing performance of the SPA in the 1908 electoral campaign. This editorial by Charles H. Kerr in The International Socialist Review gives voice to the proto-communist revolutionary socialist wing inside the Socialist Party: "Long enough we have cringed before the aristocracy of labor begging for votes that we did not get. Long enough we have experimented with 'immediate demands' that might swell our apparent strength by winning the votes of people opposed to revolution. The time has come for the proletarians of the party and those who believe the party should be proletarian in its tactics to bring about a revolution in the party. Let us not withdraw...but take possession. Let us put wage-workers on the National Executive Committee. Let us cut the "immediate demands" out of our platform and leave reformers to wrangle over reforms. Let us make our chief task to spread the propaganda of revolution and of the new industrial unionism, and when we elect members of our own class to office, let us instruct them that their most important work is to hamper the ruling class in the war it will be waging on the revolutionary unions."

 

"1909 Average Paid Membership by States, Socialist Party of America." Alphabetical listing of official state-by-state totals of average paid membership in the SPA. Data for all 41 organized states is included. Top five state memberships included New York (4,333), Illinois (3,517), Pennsylvania (3,266), Massachusetts (2,526), and Ohio (2,512). Other states with over 1,000 members included: California, Minnesota, Oklahoma, Wisconsin, New Jersey, Texas, Michigan, Kansas, and Missouri. A total of 41 states were organized by the SPA. Weakest of the organized states was Vermont, with an average paid monthly membership of 82.

 

"Hoboed Over 8,000 Miles," by Thomas J. Mooney [May 1910] An article weird and wonderful from the pages of The International Socialist Review. In 1910-11, the P.T. Barnum of American Socialism, Gaylord Wilshire, conducted an 11 month long subscription-selling contest with the lucky winner to receive a trip around the world. The battle of the socialist salesmen shook down to a head to head competition between SP National Organizer George Goebel and an unknown young man from San Francisco named Thomas J. Mooney -- this well prior to his de facto martyrdom as America's most famous class-war prisoner in 1916. Mooney describes his more than six month investment, riding the rails throughout the west from town to town selling newspaper subscriptions, "over the deserts of Utah, California, and Nevada in scorching suns of July and August; through October and November rains in Oregon and Washington; and worst of all the ice and snow and sometimes zero weather of December and January in Montana, Idaho, Utah, and Nevada." He contrasts this life of privation to that of his competitor, Goebel, who traveled the country on the Socialist Party's dime as part of his paid employment, bending the contest rules. As a desperation measure, Mooney wrote this letter to ISR in an effort to garner Wilshire's subscriptions on his behalf. An interesting sidebar to the political biography of Tom Mooney... Includes a photograph of the young Mr. Mooney and a "To Whom It May Concern" testimonial letter written by Gene Debs on his behalf.

"Accident Insurance and Political Action," by Charles Ruthenberg. [Aug. 1910] A very early example (from his second year of SPA membership) of the writing of Cleveland Socialist C.E. Ruthenberg, later the head of the Workers (Communist) Party. "The industries of the United States kill, injure, and maim twice as many workers in proportion to the number at work as any other civilized country.... The capitalist class knows no other law than the law of profits... The workers have the power to place on the statute books a compulsory insurance law, but they cannot secure such a law by voting for the candidates nominated by parties owned and controlled by their employers."

 

SEPTEMBER

"Working Class Politics: Extracts of a Campaign Speech for Local Cook Co. SPA at Riverview Park, Chicago, Sept. 18, 1910," by Eugene V. Debs Debs launches the 1910 fall campaign for Local Cook County, Socialist Party with a rousing speech to the faithful. Debs declares that the millions of wage workers have common economic interests, regardless of nationality, race, or sex, and that it is only the "ignorance" of the working class majority which enables the ruling capitalist minority to keep them in subjugation. "The primary need of the workers is industrial unity and by this I mean their organization in the industries in which they are employed as a whole instead of being separated into more or less impotent unions according to their crafts," Debs argues. This move from the hundreds of competing craft unions to large industrial unions is seen by Debs as essential: "So long as the workers are content with conditions as they are, so long as they are satisfied to belong to a craft union under the leadership of those who are far more interested in drawing their own salaries and feathering their own nests with graft than in the welfare of their followers, so long, in a word, as the workers are meek and submissive followers, mere sheep, they will be fleeced..." Emancipation is in the hands of the working class, Debs believes: "The workers themselves must take the initiative in uniting their forces for effective economic and political action; the leaders will never do it for them." While the Socialist Party is declared to be the political arm of labor, "the new order can never be established by mere votes alone," says Debs. Instead, "this must be the result of industrial development and intelligent economic and political organization, necessitating both the industrial union and the political party of the workers to achieve their emancipation."

 

OCTOBER

"Conference of the Polish Socialist Organizations: National Headquarters, Socialist Party of America: Chicago -- Oct. 29, 1910: Minutes by Mabel H. Hudson, Secretary." The year 1910 saw a move for admittance to the Socialist Party by the Polish Socialist Alliance [Zwiazek Socjalisów Polskich -- ZSP], which sought to join the Polish Socialist Section [Zwiazek Polskiej Partii Socjalistyczne -- ZPPS] in the ranks of the Socialist Party of America. A conference of the two organizations and NEC member George Goebel was held in Chicago on Oct. 29, 1910 to discuss possible obstacles to the ZSP's joining the Socialist Party. Chief among ZSP concerns was the prospect of an excessive rate of dues (it needing to support its own official organ and propaganda efforts) as well as to an overly complex set of requirements for payment of dues to state and county organizations. There seems to have been little if any turf-related controversy between the ZSP and the ZPPS and ZSP delegate L. Banka seems to have been satisfied by the SPA's dues policy towards federations (of which he had not been previously aware, apparently adopted in 1909). The ZSP and ZPPS agreed to exchange fraternal delegates to each others' organizational conventions, scheduled to be held in the 4th quarter of 1910.

 

NOVEMBER

"Operating a Socialist Sunday School," by Kenneth Thompson [November 1910] Rare participant's account of the structure and operations of a Socialist Sunday School written by a Bay Area Young People's Socialist League activist. The SSS in Oakland was established by the YPSL Study Class in February of 1909, Thompson says, with an elected instructor coordinating the lesson and leading singing in conjunction with a YPSL standing committee of 3, of which Thompson was a part. The SSS elected its own officers and conducted its own formal meetings, a form of practical training "not taught in any other school for children," Thompson indicates. Suggestions about lesson content were made by the children themselves. "The lessons are carefully worked out so that the class struggle is always before the children as the basis of the Socialist philosophy, and without the class struggle we would have no Socialist movement; always careful not to blind their young minds with any false conceptions of 'justice, right,' etc., other than class justice," Thompson states. Picnics were held, group singing and "red flag drill" conducted in association with entertainments of the regular SP, and newspaper advertising sales contests held in conjunction with The Oakland World. "The Socialist work among children is one of the most important branches of the party work, and should be encouraged in all cities and towns where there is a party organization," Thompson states.

 

"Patriotism," by Ralph Korngold [June 1911] This short essay, really a prose poem, by Socialist Party activist Ralph Korngold was published in the monthly magazine of the Young People's Socialist Federation and Socialist Sunday Schools. "The capitalist class, by making the workers propertyless, has made them fatherlandsless. The workers have no country. This is no more your country than the shop you work in is your shop or the factory you work in is your factory. You are simply employed there, that is all.... I can imagine Morgan being patriotic, or Rockefeller, or Weyerhauser, but why a workingman, no matter to what country he belongs, should be patriotic is more than I can see.... Let Rockefeller and Morgan fight their own battles. The workingmen of the world have but one common enemy -- the capitalist class of the world."

"The Secret of Efficient Expression," by Eugene V. Debs [July 8, 1911] Asked by the Education Department of the University of Wisconsin to participate in a study of oratorical "fertility and efficiency of expression," Socialist Party agitator Eugene V. Debs responds with an autobiographical essay on the men who shaped his conception of an orator -- Patrick Henry, John Brown, Wendell Phillips, and Robert Ingersoll -- and his path of self-education. Debs contends that "There is no inspiration in evil and no power except for its own destruction. He who aspires to master the art of expression must first of all consecrate himself completely to some great cause, and the greatest cause of all is the cause of humanity. He must learn to feel deeply and think clearly to express himself eloquently. He must be absolutely true to the best there is in him, if he has to stand alone."

"The New Review: A Socialist Weekly, (A Prospectus)." [Sept. 1911] One of the most important American Socialist periodicals of the decade of the 1910s was a small theoretical journal published in New York City called The New Review. First published in 1913, the magazine brought together various stands of international socialist thought, including revolutionary industrial unionism and the general strike and anti-militarism. The journal was an intellectual bridge between the so-called syndicalist movement on the one hand and the anti-imperialist movement on the other, and included contributions by such individuals as Henry Slobodin, W.E.B. DuBois, Louis Boudin, Moses Oppenheimer, and Louis Fraina, among others. This trend would emerge in 1918-19 as the Left Wing Section, Socialist Party, the core anglophonic constituency of the American Communist movement. This prospectus notes the obsessive preoccupation of other Socialist periodicals with converting the unconverted with "so-called popular agitation," proposing instead to fill a glaring need for "serious discussion of the theoretical and practical problems of the labor movement" in a manner designed "for the education of the Socialists themselves." Includes a list of 22 sponsoring "members of the Socialist Party."

 

"The Young People's Socialist Federation," by Louis Weitz [Sept. 1911] This short article from the monthly Young Socialists' Magazine published by the New Yorker Volkszeitung was written by the director of the Young People's Socialist Federation. It provides a brief outline of that organization's history -- short on specific detail but nevertheless providing important clues about the origins of the youth section of the Socialist Party of America which eventually emerged as the Young People's Socialist League. The Young People's Socialist Federation is said to have begun in New York City in 1907, apparently started in an effort to "erase the false teachings of both our public and private institutions of learning," to develop interrelationships between young socialists and instilling training and discipline among them, and thus preparing these youth for active and productive participation in the socialist movement in the future. Beginning with "high hopes and enthusiasm," this project seems to have become something of a debacle, with falling membership, financial difficulties, and a failure of the Socialist Party to treat the matter with sufficient seriousness. Nevertheless, a small core of activists persevered, and a reorganization was made at a June 1911 gathering of Young Socialist clubs, which adopted a new constitution and elected a new set of organizational officers. Little work had taken place in the slow summer months of 1911, Weitz confessed, but he held high hopes for renewed activity in the coming fall months.

 

"Work Among Women: A Progressive Woman Leaflet." [circa 1912] Short leaflet soliciting subscriptions to The Progressive Woman, a publication from J.A. Wayland's Girard, Kansas Appeal to Reason Socialist stable. The leaflet lists reasons why Socialist propaganda work among women is important, including: "Woman is disfranchised. The Socialist Party demands equal suffrage for all, regardless of sex, color, or race. Woman's disfranchisement is a great factor in holding here in economic slavery. Woman's position in industry is of a much lower status than man's. She seldom receives equal wages for the same grade of work. Woman has become a very large part of the industrial world. She is the most formidable competitor man has in the industries."

"How I Became a Socialist: An Episode of My Boyhood," by Alexander Jonas [published March 1912] Alexander Jonas was the most important figure in the history of the 19th Century German-American Socialist movement -- a fact somehow missed by historical encyclopedia editors of left (Buhle, Buhle & Georgakas) and right (Johnpoll & Klehr) alike. Co-founder and editor of one of the longest-lived and most influential periodicals of the American left (the New Yorker Volkszeitung), Jonas played an important role in educating German-speaking American Socialists for a generation. In addition to his literary contributions, Jonas also played an important role as a political actor in all three of the great factional wars of the 19th Century Socialist Labor Party -- the battle with the anarchist and Social Revolutionary groups of 1883-86, the recall of W.L. Rosenberg of 1889, and the pitched battle with the DeLeon-Kuhn faction for the soul of the party in 1899. Jonas and those around the Volkszeitung went 2-for-3 in these struggles, winding up outside the SLP and founding members of the Socialist Party of America in 1901. This article was translated from the German for the magazine of the Young People's Socialist Federation in memorium of Jonas, who died on January 30, 1912. In it, Jonas grippingly describes the revolutionary events of March 1848 in his native Berlin, and how he, the young son of a petty bourgeois bookseller of democratic sympathies, came to understand the existence of an inevitable division between the bourgeoisie and the working class even within the revolutionary forces and how he thus gained consciousness of the Socialist mission. Includes a brief biography and photo.

"'Nigger' Equality," by Kate Richards O'Hare. [March 1912] One of the Socialist Party's dirty little secrets was the presence in its ranks of a significant number of individuals with frankly racist perspectives. This 1912 pamphlet by Kate Richards O'Hare appealing to Southern voters is the epitome -- the most racist document ever issued on the Socialist Party's behalf. The Socialists do not seek social, physical, or mental equality, O'Hare states, but rather "Equality of Opportunity." "Just as long as a 'nigger' can be robbed of the product of his labor by the capitalist class by being shut out from access to the means of life, just that long he can be made the club and chain that will drag and beat the white workers down into the mire of poverty," O'Hare states. The only answer to the race question is segregation, O'Hare declares: "Let us give the blacks one section in the country where every condition is best fitted for them.... If the negro rises to such an opportunity, and develops his own civilization, well and good; if not, and he prefers to hunt and fish and live idly, no one will be injured but him and that will be his business."

 

OCTOBER

"The Socialist Party's Appeal," by Eugene V. Debs [Oct. 24, 1912] This 1912 campaign statement by Socialist Party Presidential nominee Gene Debs appeared in the pages of The Independent -- a mainstream news weekly. Debs declares that for the first time since the abolition of slavery "a great moral question cleaves the political atmosphere of this nation." The choice is stark, Debs indicates: "Either capitalism, with its gorgeous wealth and power for its successful devotees and owners, and its brutal, degrading struggle for existence for its workers, will write "esto perpetua" upon the scroll of Time and this civilization will enter eclipse and decline, as have the civilizations of every previous age, or else capitalism will surrender the scepter of power to socialism and the race will progress to heights undreamed and establish a civilization as far in advance of capitalism in its beneficence to mankind as capitalism is in advance of savagery." Debs' analysis is Lassallean in essence, nary a word being uttered about trade unionism (in marked contrast to Debs' orientation in the first decade of the century), while salvation is held to lie in the transference of political power."The Socialist calls upon his brother worker to join him in the overthrow of capitalism through capturing the powers of government and legally transferring the ownership of the world from capitalism to socialism.... It invites them to seize political power in the name of the working class, and to legally write their own economic emancipation proclamation," Debs declares.

 

NOVEMBER

"Last Conversation with My Father," by Jon G. Wayland [event of Nov. 5, 1912] On the evening of Nov. 10/11, 1912, publisher of America's largest Socialist newspaper, J.A. Wayland, took his life by his own hand. He was due to appear in federal district court in nearby Fort Scott the next day to face trial for a trumped-up mail-obscenity charge brought by zealous federal prosecutors with a rumored additional indictment to follow for perjury committed at a previous proceeding. This brief account published in the Appeal to Reason by Wayland's 2nd son, Jon, recounts his last meeting with his father and sheds light upon the older Wayland's motivation for his suicide. " "My boy, I am going to end it all; I cannot longer stand this persecution, mental oppression, and misunderstanding. I have done my work living and worn myself out, and perhaps my death will further the interests of the cause," the younger Wayland quotes his father as telling him at their parting. "Not once during this talk did he exhibit any feeling of malice or hatred toward even those government officials who are directly responsible for his death. He felt it was all a part of the order of life and unavoidable," Jon Wayland adds.

 

"Story of the Tragedy," by Fred D. Warren [Nov. 11, 1912] News account of the suicide of the 58 year old publisher of the Appeal to Reason, J.A. Wayland, by that paper's editor, Fred D. Warren. "Wayland, at the last term of court testified he had no connection with the management of the paper. Government officials claim they were prepared at this term to prove Wayland's responsibility as publisher and that an indictment may have been asked on a charge of perjury," Warren noted, adding that Wayland had been periodically depressed over the death of his wife in an automobile accident the previous year. Warren adds that a suicide note was found offering Wayland's bleak last words to the movement: "The struggle under the competitive system is not worth the effort; let it pass."

 

"Telegram Read at the Funeral of Julius Augustus Wayland: Girard, Kansas -- Nov. 13, 1912," by Eugene V. Debs Scheduled to speak at the funeral of his close friend and former employer, J.A. Wayland of the Appeal to Reason, Eugene Debs was distraught and found himself unable to make the trip. Instead this short telegram was dispatched and read at the grave site: "Today you will give back to mother earth the mortal remains of our fellow warrior. The hearts of a million loving and loyal comrades will beat his funeral march. He fought the good fight without flinching to the end. He gave to the cause of the oppressed all the strength of his body and soul and future generations will reap the harvest he has sown and pay his memory the homage of their love and gratitude." Includes photo of J.A. Wayland.

 

"The Results of the 1912 Election: A Statement," by Eugene V. Debs [Nov. 16, 1912] In this statement published in the Appeal to Reason in the aftermath of the 1912 election, Socialist Party Presidential candidate Gene Debs attempts to depict the SP's rather disappointing vote total (about 1 million votes, when about twice that number was predicted and expected) in the best possible light. Emphasizing quality over quantity, Debs declares that "the million votes cast this year, be it understood, are Socialist votes. The possible vote that could have been taken from us was taken by the so-called Progressive Party, and the vote which remains is a solid Socialist vote upon which we can count in the future without fear of disappointment." Debs believes that intra-party warfare is about to split the Democratic Party in the same way that it divided and weakened the Republican Party, opening up the way for future Socialist victory. "Soon after the Democrats go in power they will demonstrate their utter impotency and helplessness and thousands who voted their ticket will turn from them in disgust," Debs wishfully predicts, adding that Socialists should be prepared for an economic panic "to be precipitated" during the Democratic administration.

 

DECEMBER

"The Red Flag and the Stars & Stripes," by Morris Hillquit [Dec. 1912] In this short article from The Young Socialists' Magazine, Socialist Party leader Morris Hillquit asserts the "open and honest" allegiance of the Socialists to the Red Flag as a symbol of "worldwide peace, harmony, and brotherhood" in the "great international fight against corruption, exploitation, and oppression." Right Wing detractors are eager to flaunt the Stars & Stripes in provocative opposition to the Red Flag. But Hillquit demands: "What claim do you have to the emblem of American independence, democracy, and justice? You have ruthlessly destroyed the ideal of social equality, which was fondly woven into the texture of the American flag by the revolutionary founders of the republic, and have delivered the country and its people to a gang of financial freebooters. You have reared a purse-proud aristocracy more unbearable than ever was the rule of George III. You have driven millions of American men, women, and children into industrial slavery, misery, and destitution. You have banished the American ideals of civic righteousness, and have poisoned the public life of the nation by wholesale fraud, bribery, and corruption." The Red Flag is complementary to the Stars & Strips, Hillquit asserts. "When Socialism will win its battles, both emblems will flutter together from all huts and palaces, gaily proclaiming in their multiform colors that mankind is free."

 

JANUARY

"Direct Action and Sabotage," by Moses Oppenheimer. [Jan. 25, 1913] There has been a tendency in the literature to dismiss the Socialist Party's "Anti-Sabotage" faction fight of 1912-13 as a historical event having little relationship to the Communist/Socialist split of 1919. In reality, both of these episodes were chapters in the same long-running saga, heated political events linked to an ideological division within the SPA dating back to the 1901 establishment of the party and before. This January 1913 discussion of the newly-installed "Anti-Sabotage" section of the SPA constitution by New York activist Moses Oppenheimer helps to demonstrate this connection. Oppenheimer -- a major figure in the Left Wing Section, Socialist Party six years hence -- is sharply critical of the new "Anti-Sabotage" section, arguing that the two ideological concepts anathematized by the May 1912 Convention were either untested as to efficacy (in the case of Direct Action and the General Strike) or were merely a new name for a long-established defensive tactic of the labor movement (in the case of Sabotage). Oppenheimer considers the decision to rely on the political groundrules established by the reactionary and biased capitalist courts to be ridiculous. He further notes that the majority of the party had not spoken out on the matter, with only 20% voting on the referenda in question and both the contradictory majority and minority reports being approved by majorities of those voting. Oppenheimer sees Direct Action and Sabotage as being distinct from Anarchism due to their coordinated, mass nature, in contradistinction to Anarchist philosophy and practice.

 

"Debs on Syndicalism: A Letter to H.M. Hyndman in London from Eugene V. Debs in Terre Haute, Indiana, January 30, 1913." This letter to British Socialist H.M. Hyndman was widely published in the American Socialist press as a means of propagating Debs' views on the bitter conflict over "syndicalism" which divided the Socialist Party. Debs wrote: "Syndicalism has swooped down upon us, and the capitalist papers and magazines are giving it unlimited space, but the Socialist Party is in no danger on account of it. Just at present there are some sharp divisions and some bitter controversies on account of it, but the Socialist Party will emerge all the stronger after syndicalism has had its fling. The Anarchists are all jubilant over the prospect that syndicalism may disrupt the Socialist Party, but they will again be disappointed. There are many of our Socialists who favor syndicalism and sabotage, or think they do, but the party is overwhelmingly opposed to both, and will stick to the main track to the end."

 

FEBRUARY

"Sound Socialist Tactics," by Eugene V. Debs [Feb. 1913] Popular Socialist leader Gene Debs weighs in on the controversy over syndicalism and sabotage that was sweeping the Socialist Party in this lengthy article from the pages of the Left Wing theoretical journal The International Socialist Review. Debs declares that "the disagreements and dissensions among Socialists relate almost wholly to tactics. The party splits which have occurred in the past have been due to the same cause, and if the party should ever divide again, which it is to be hoped it will not, it will be on the rock of tactics." Echoing a controversial passage in a pamphlet by Haywood and Bohn, Debs declares that "As a revolutionist I can have no respect for capitalist property laws, nor the least scruple about violating them." However, the response to such injustices must be collective and not individualistic, Debs believes: "If I had the force to overthrow these despotic laws I would use it without an instant's hesitation or delay, but I haven't got it, and so I am law-abiding under protest -- not from scruple -- and bide my time." So, too, with the principles of "sabotage" and "direct action" -- concepts which Debs opposes. He indicates that "I have not a bit of use for the 'propaganda of the deed.' These are the tactics of anarchist individualists and not of Socialist collectivists." While there may be "acute situations arising and grave emergencies occurring, with perhaps life at stake, when recourse to violence might be justified," Debs states that the socialist movement "cannot predicate its tactical procedure upon such exceptional instances." Advocacy of sabotage and direct action by the SPA would not only alienate the law-abiding American working class, in Debs' view, but it would essentially be an open invitation to agent provocateurs to infiltrate and destroy the party, as "the Socialist Party would stand responsible for the deed of every spy or madman." Debs declares that "I am opposed to any tactics which involve stealth, secrecy, intrigue, and necessitate acts of individual violence for their execution. The work of the Socialist movement must all be done out in the broad open light of day. Nothing can be done by stealth that can be of any advantage to it in this country."

 

MARCH

"Debs on IWW: A Letter to William English Walling from Eugene V. Debs in Terre Haute, Indiana, March 5, 1913." This letter to William English Walling was widely reprinted in the Socialist Party press as a means of making known SPA leader Eugene V. Debs' view of the party's "Anit-Sabotage" provision and the recent recall of Bill Haywood from the SPA's National Executive Committee. "I regret to see Haywood's recall, but it was inevitable. He brought it on himself. I should not have put Section 6 in the constitution, but it is there, and put there by the party, and Haywood deliberately violated it. Is not this a fact?" Debs declared. He added that "The IWW for which Haywood stands and speaks is an anarchist organization in all except in name, and this is the cause of all the trouble. Anarchism and Socialism have never mixed and never will. The IWW has treated the Socialist Party most indecently, to put it very mildly. When it gets into trouble it frantically appeals to the Socialist Party for aid, which has always been freely rendered, and after it's all over, the IWW kicks the Socialist Party in the face. That is the case put in plain words, and the Socialist Party has had enough of that sort of business, and I don't blame them a bit."

 

"The Psychology of Syndicalism (An Editorial)," by Gaylord Wilshire. [March 1913] During the first years of the 1910s, a new radicalism blossomed both inside and outside the ranks of the Socialist Party of America. This left wing moment, centered its orientation around building revolutionary industrial trade unions and winning power through use of the tactic of the general strike. This movement, while in some sense a mere continuation of the dichotomy between "Lassallean-political action" and "Marxian-trade unionism" that had divided the modern radical movement for its entire history, nevertheless gained momentum on an international basis and self-consciousness as something entirely new -- "Syndicalism." The "new" radical industrial unionist movement gained important adherents in the American Socialist movement -- the monthly magazine of the Charles H. Kerr Publishing Co. The International Socialist Review; the upstart New York theoretical journal The New Review; and, as this editorial demonstrates, the well-established (albeit ethically sketchy) Wilshire's Magazine. This editorial by Gaylord Wilshire notes that "the revolutionary union is the product of the automatic machine and the trustification of capital. It is the only form of organization which can meet the present juncture, for the knell of craft unions was rung by the automatism of the machine." Socialism, or "Revolution by voting," is an anachronistic and futile enterprise, Wilshire indicates, colorfully stating that "voting is merely praying in a ballot box."

 

APRIL

"A National Organization is On Its Way!" by J. Louis Engdahl [April 1913] Powered by the success of the Los Angeles Young People's Socialist League, with 1200 members, and the support of State Secretary of the Socialist Party of California T.W. Williams, movement was for the establishment of the national YPSL organization had finally begun, according to this report by Chicago Socialist Louis Engdahl. An estimated 200 autonomous and "practically independent" Socialist youth organizations had sprung up in American, needing "only a centralized movement to put them in active operation," Engdahl indicated. In accordance with this objective, information was being gathered about the strength and resources of each for presentation to the forthcoming annual meeting of the Party's National Committee (essentially a convention with representatives present from each state organization). A debate was underway over the structure of such an organization, with some favoring a sovereign but associated organization electing its own National Secretary and 3 of 5 of the member s of its National Committee, while others favored creation of a subordinate youth department of the Socialist Party, akin to the structure already extant for women.

 

MAY

"The Finnish Young Socialists of the United States" by J. Louis Engdahl [May 1913] With a decision by the Socialist Party's National Committee on the organization of a national young people's section looming, Louis Engdahl analyzes the division of the youth sections on language lines, the most important section of which was the Finnish Gymnastic Societies organized by the various Socialist Party branches. There were some 53 of these societies at the end of 1911, Engdahl states: 22 in the Finnish Federation's Eastern District, 17 in the Middle District, and 14 in the Western District. A total of 1,156 young men and women were affiliated with these societies, which paid no dues to the Socialist Party but were funded by Party branches. In addition to these gymnastic societies, the Finns had choral societies, dramatic societies, dancing clubs, and other organized group activities -- projects that were advanced by the fact that many Finnish branches possessed their own halls. Engdahl notes that the Finnish and English language Socialist organizations had long remained segregated and that the task of integrating these sections of the party to work on matters of common concern remained largely unresolved.

 

JUNE

"To Work with Young People," by James M. Reilly [June 1913] Short article in The Young Socialists' Magazine by a Socialist Party National Committee member from New Jersey announcing the May 1913 decision of the NC to establish a Youth Department attached to the National Office, effective October 1, 1913. Reilly states that "It is not the intention of the Party to interfere with any of the young people's Socialist organizations now in existence. The aim is rather to lend assistance and cooperation.....The department will also be a sort of clearing house for Socialist literature especially suitable for the young." He notes that "We Socialists do not believe in forcing our faith -- so to speak -- on anyone. We do not wish our children to be Socialists because we are. The true Socialist wants his children to do their own thinking, and of course form their own conclusions." However, the SPA had been negligent in providing even rudimentary information about itself to young people in any systematic way. Through this new department it was hoped that first steps would soon be taken in this regard.

 

OCTOBER

"Socialism and the Municipalities," by Henry L. Slobodin. [Oct. 1913] A short defense of the strategy of Socialist engagement in civic electoral politics en route to the social revolution. Not only would an educated, well-housed, and well-fed working class do more to advance the Socialist cause than an ignorant and impoverished working class, Slobodin argues, social revolutions historically always had been urban events. In such a scenario, victory would belong to those who controlled the city governments -- with the number of Socialist politicians sitting in Congress a comparatively unimportant detail. Slobodin was the Executive Secretary of the SLP Right (the so-called "Kangaroos") during the 1899 party split before moving into the Socialist Party. First published in The New Review, October 1913.

 

"Lobbying and Class Rule" by Louis C. Fraina. [Oct. 1913] The relationship between financial power, corruption, and state control is explored in this article published in The New Review in October 1913. Fraina argues that lobbying and financial intervention in the political process are not class measures but rather "clique measures in the interest of one capitalist clique against another clique," specifically the needs of the plutocracy against the interests of petty capitalism. The legislative and judicial branches of government inevitably represented the most powerful capitalist interests, Fraina argues. Retrospectively interesting is the observation that corruption "is no more a necessary condition of class rule than violence is a necessary condition of proletarian struggle. Both, in a measure, may be unavoidable, but they are not inherently necessary."

 

MARCH

"Jesus, the Supreme Leader," by Eugene V. Debs. [March 1914] An underappreciated aspect of Eugene Debs' ideology was his interpretation of Christianity and conscious emulation of the central figure of that religion. For Debs, Jesus Christ was in no way a fictitious or allegorical personage but rather a thoroughly admirable historical figure advancing a truly sacred cause -- the class-conscious struggle of the downtrodden and oppressed against "Mammon." For Debs, Jesus was a radical political leader whose tradition ran down the ages to John Brown, Abraham Lincoln, and Karl Marx -- and served as a model for the way in which a righteous person should live. This firey article is probably Debs' fullest statement of his radical religious faith.

 

JUNE

"Länneltä." ("From the West") Magazine article from Säkeniä ("Sparks") -- IN FINNISH [June 1914] Non-machine readable pdf from the Finnish language theoretical-literary monthly published by Raivaaja Publishing Co. of Fitchburg, MA, and edited by Santeri Nuorteva. A description of the turbulent 1914 Special Convention of the Western District of the Finnish Socialist Federation at Astoria, Oregon, which "Santtu" Nuorteva attended in order to defend himself against charges of conservatism and to defend his actions as a former editor of the Federation newspaper Toveri. Likens the rowdy convention to the wild west, with an outstanding pen-and-ink drawing of delegates who do not play well with others. Includes sketches of three Finnish Federationists, A. Johnson, Santeri Nuorteva, and Alma Segerroos Friscosta, as well as a couple photographs that reproduce poorly in the current format. IF ANYONE WOULD BE WILLING TRANSLATE THIS ARTICLE INTO ENGLISH, PLEASE GET IN TOUCH -- thanks! Tim, MutantPop@aol.com

 

JULY

"American Socialist Forerunner of Powerful Revolutionary Press," by Eugene V. Debs [July 18, 1914] Socialist Party leader Gene Debs salutes the decision of the SP National Committee to break with tradition and establish the first mass circulation official organ in the history of the organization. "We who stand for collective ownership and democratic control cannot logically argue in favor of a privately owned press, and without detracting in the least from papers that are still so owned nor underestimating the service they have rendered, the very logic of our development will ultimately necessitate the party ownership and control of the Socialist press," Debs notes. While he acknowledges that while "there will likely be those who will argue that a party-owned paper will reflect the personal views of those in charge of it and tend to become oppressive and dominate the movement instead of representing it," such an objection does not outweigh the principle involved. Debs expresses a belief that The American Socialist "will be the forerunner of a revolutionary press (including daily as well as weekly papers, magazines, and other periodicals) which is more and more urgently needed and will have to be established as a part of the movement itself and which in fact constitutes its very life and existence."

 

AUGUST

"Proclamation of the Socialist Party of America on the Outbreak of War in Europe." [August 8, 1914] First statement by the Socialist Party of America on the eruption of hostilities in Europe, issued by the party's "Committee on Immediate Action" over the signature of National Executive Secretary Walter Lanfersiek. In the declaration, the SPA "hereby reiterates its opposition to this and all other wars, waged upon any pretext whatsoever; war being a crude, savage, and unsatisfactory method of settling real or imaginary differences between nations, and destructive of the ideals of brotherhood and humanity to which the international Socialist movement is dedicated." Blame is place firmly on the shoulders of the national capitalists of Europe: "points out to the world that by their action in this crisis they have conclusively proven that they are unfit to administer the affairs of nations in such a manner that the lives and happiness of the people may be safeguarded." Foreign-born workers in America are called upon to hold "joint mass meetings for the purpose of emphasizing the fraternity and solidarity of all working people, irrespective of color, creed, race, or nationality." Locals of the party are requested to lend every possible assistance to these events. A quasi-religious pacifist language is employed rather than the language of class war: "The Socialist Party of the United States hereby pledges its loyal support to the Socialist Parties of Europe in any measures they might think it necessary to undertake to advance the cause of peace and of goodwill among men."

 

SEPTEMBER

"The Real Fatherland," by Mary Marcy [Sept. 1914] Anti-patriotic editorial from the pages of The International Socialist Review written in response to the eruption of the European war in August 1914. Editor Mary Marcy addresses herself to the workers of the entire world, combatant nations and Americans alike, arguing that "Patriotism means the love of the land in which you were born - that and nothing more. And why should you love that land any more than any other?" The various nations of the world have done nothing whatsoever for the working class, she states -- neither protecting its children nor assuring food and shelter or employment or taking care of its sick and aged. Instead, all the national governments of the world exist to protect the wealth of their individual ruling classes. "If you are rich, 'your' country will open her arms to you and spread out her army, her laws, her police to protect your riches. If you are penniless, she will just as readily drive you from her furthermost provinces or send you to here vilest prisons," Marcy states. Therefore, "You have no country!" she declares, adding that "Every national flag in the world today means protection for the employing class, who appropriate the things produced by the workers. It has no message for those who toil. There is only one flag worth fighting for and that is the red flag, which means universal brotherhood of the workers of the world in their fight to abolish the profit system." The real fatherland of the working class is international Socialism, she concludes.

 

"The Gunmen and the Miners," by Eugene V. Debs [Sept. 1914] Probably the most militant article that Socialist leader Gene Debs ever wrote, published in the pages of Charles Kerr's International Socialist Review. Citing recurring violence by company-employed "mine guards" in strikes at Paint Creek, Calumet, and Ludlow, Debs demands that the United Mine Workers and Western Federation of Miners systematically arm their members to meet force with force in the class war. "Under government by gunmen you are literally shorn of the last vestige of liberty and you have absolutely no protection under the law. When you go out on strike, your master has his court issue the injunction that strips you of your power to resist his injustice, and then has his private army of gunmen invade your camp, open fire on your habitations, and harass you and your families until the strike is broken and you are starved back into the pits on your master's terms." Debs characterizes such private armies as "lawless aggregations" of "murderers at large" and states that "you have the same right to kill them when they attack you that you have to kill the burglar who breaks into your house at midnight or the highwayman who holds you up at the point of his pistol." Debs notes that "we stand for peace, and that we are unalterably opposed to violence and bloodshed if by any possible means, short of absolute degradation and self-abasement, these can be prevented. We believe in law, the law that applies equally to all and is impartially administered, and we prefer reason infinitely to brute force. But when the law fails, and in fact, becomes the bulwark of crime and oppression, then an appeal to force is not only morally justified, but becomes a patriotic duty." Therefore, he urges, "Let the unions...arm their members against the gunmen of the corporations, the gangs of criminals, cutthroats, woman-ravishers, and baby-burners that have absolutely no lawful right to existence!"

 

"Murderous War in Europe is the Inevitable Culmination of Murderous European Capitalism," by Morris Hillquit [Sept. 5, 1914] Analysis of the cause of the 1914 European bloodbath by a top leader of the Socialist Party of America. Hillquit firmly advances the Marxist position that the world war was a byproduct of imperialist rivalry and the standing armies of militaristic capitalist states. "The countries most prominently involved in the war are among those in which capitalism has reached the highest levels of development. Their industries have long been conducted for the private benefit of individual capitalists, thus leading to the enrichment of a small group and the impoverishment of the large masses.... Production became stagnant and business chronically depressed. Rumbles of revolt became audible among the workers and grew ever louder and more threatening. In this critical situation the shortsighted capitalists of Europe saw but one solution -- finding of new outlets for their goods by the expansion of the national territory and the conquest of colonies.... The capitalist nations of Europe, armed to the teeth, stood threatening each other for years. Each of them saw at least a temporary salvation in downing the other and robbing it of its colonies and markets. Each waited for an opening. Europe was an armed camp long before the present hostilities began. Its nations were at war long before the formal declarations. None of them was taken by surprise -- they were all prepared when the first pretext came." Only the elimination of barbarous capitalism and its associated barbarous wars for markets offered humanity hope in the future, Hillquit declares: "War will become a horrible memory of the past only with the termination of the system of wealth production for private gain -- with the advent of Socialism." Americans must take heed, he adds, since "Already we are developing a 'colonial policy,' fortifying our army and building up a strong navy with steady and fatal consistency. The ruling classes of the United States are even today steering the ship of state towards a devastating world war as surely and irresistibly as the ruling classes of Europe have been during the last generation."

 

NOVEMBER

"Strangle the Beast!" by A.M. Simons [Nov. 21, 1914] A red hot anti-militarist screed by Algie Simons, long time Chicago Socialist journalist, former member of the Socialist Labor Party, and founding member of the Socialist Party of America. Simons writes that "familiarity is breeding acquiescence. Some infection of the martial spirit has crossed the Atlantic. American jingoes are preaching the need of military preparations. Powerful newspapers, politicians, and paid agents of the armament trust, with the blood-lusting snobs of the army and navy clique are crying for more battleships and whispering of the need for a great standing army. That whisper will soon become a scream for the whole military mess." Less than 2 1/2 years later Simons would himself be one of Woodrow Wilson's chief cheerleaders for the purported "war to end all wars" and commitment of American lives and funds to the European bloodbath. Thus Simons' 1914 anti-militarist words ring ironically: "It is either capitalism and competitive military hell, or Socialism and cooperative peaceful enjoyment of the bounty of the earth. The time is here to choose. Militarism is, after all, but the bloody claw and gore-flecked fang of the beast of capitalism.Whoever defends any form of militarism, any arming for wholesale killing, defends the most damnable feature of capitalism and can have no part or parcel in the doctrine or movement of Socialism." Simons declares that "we must work quickly, for the beast is now within our gates."

 

"Socialism," [excerpt] by Barney Berlyn [Nov. 28/Dec. 5, 1914] First two parts of a serialized exposition of the basic principles of socialism written by a founding member of the Socialist Party of America. Berlyn notes that for all the various books interpreting socialism, "there is one Socialism, the Socialism which has its foundation in the worldwide International Socialist Movement." When the European war is over, Berlyn notes, "a new and more powerful international movement will present itself to the attention of the world. It will be the international workingmen who will understand more than ever that to emancipate themselves, they, the workingmen, rather than some swell heads literary wonders, must do the work themselves." Berlyn calls for "the discarding of superstitious belief and the challenge of all false authority." Although evolutionary and democratic in its essence, "let no one underestimate the element of force which is absolutely essential in the development of the Socialist movement," Berlyn states. "The working class must get together, gather force, seize power, and use such power when acquired in behalf of their class to relieve them of oppression. When sufficient force shall be gathered, the new and clean authority based upon the will of the people, mentally and socially free, will be obeyed without challenge."

 

DECEMBER

"Decision of the National Executive Committee on the Finnish Controversy." [Dec. 13, 1914] From 1913 through 1915 a severe factional struggle raged in the Finnish Federation of the Socialist Party, brought about when the constructive socialist leadership of the Eastern District won control of the Executive Committee of the Federation and editorial control of the radical organ of the Middle District, Työmies. The left wing of the federation withdrew their support of Työmies and established a new daily newspaper called Sosialisti. The Federation leadership responded with a series of expulsions and the left appealed to the NEC of the Socialist Party to intervene. After hearings at the September 1914 NEC session, a subcommittee was appointed to deal with the Finnish controversy. The subcommittee attended the special convention of the Finnish Federation (boycotted by the left), and held a hearing of the two factions, before making their report to the December 1914 session of the NEC. The NEC approved the resolution here, which gave a green light to the constructive socialist Finnish leadership to purge the revolutionary socialist "disrupters" affiliated with Sosialisti, resolving that "the decision of the Finnish Federation as to expulsion of locals or members shall be accepted by state, county, and local organizations as final."

 

"Disarmament and World Peace: Proposed Manifesto and Program of the Socialist Party of America." [December 26, 1914] The National Executive Committee of the Socialist Party of America determined at its Dec. 12-14, 1914, meeting to appoint a subcommittee to draft a manifesto and program to end the war in Europe and assure future peace. This group -- which included NEC members Lewis J. Duncan and J. Stitt Wilson, Executive Secretary Walter Lanfersiek, Carl D. Thompson (SPA Information Dept.), John C. Kennedy (Illinois State Secretary), and May Wood Simons (Women's National Committee) -- submitted this draft proposal shortly thereafter, it being published in The American Socialist on Dec. 26, 1914. Calling the European war "the supreme tragedy in human history," the SP manifesto noted that for 50 years Socialists had warned the world of impending catastrophe if capitalism was not halted from its inevitable path of development. Instead, Socialist predictions had come true. "If now this unspeakable tragedy shall serve to teach the world the real, the underlying and fundamental causes of the war, so that by removing these causes the world henceforth may live at peace, the war may be worth the cost," the manifesto declares. A program for peace and disarmament follows, based upon a peace without indemnities or transfer of territory; establishment of a world court, international congress, and international police force to maintain order; a freezing of existing arms levels, move of armament manufacture out of the realm of private enterprise, pending international disarmament; neutralization of the seas and internationalization of strategic waterways; abolition of secret diplomacy, removal of the power to declare war to direct vote of the people; implementation of universal suffrage and a program of economic democracy, including the elimination of unearned income and the "socialization of the national resources, public utilities, and fundamental equipment of industry of the nations." The Socialist movement of the world is called upon to implement this program, nation by nation.

 

JANUARY

"Socialist Neutrality," by Morris Hillquit [Jan. 9, 1915] Socialist Party of America leader Morris Hillquit cautions party members to maintain emotional neutrality in the ongoing European bloodbath. "If any people can afford to take a sober and dispassionate view of the European catastrophe, it is the people of this country, about 4,000 miles removed from the fields of battle; and if any section of our people should be free from hysteria in its attitude toward the war, it is the Socialists," he insists. "American Socialists should not take sides with the Allies as against the Germans. The assertion that the forces of the Allied armies are waging a war of democracy against militarism is a hollow catchphrase devoid of true sense and substance. The governments of France and England are not fighting for the liberation of the German people from the yoke of their reactionary and militaristic government.... Nor should American Socialists favor the German side of this war as against that of the Allies. The claim that the German sword has been drawn in the interests of 'culture' is just as false and hypocritical as the contention that the Allies are fighting for democracy." Both sides in the conflict included unsavory allies -- Tsarist Russia on the one hand, reactionary Turkey on the other -- that belied their propagandistic claims, Hillquit observed. Presciently, Hillquit argues that "a decisive victory of either side is likely to foster a spirit of military overbearing and pseudo-patriotic exultation on the part of the victorious countries, lasting resentment and increased military activity on the part of the defeated nations, and a general condition of pan-European irritation with a tendency to another, perhaps more pernicious war." He concludes that "from the true Socialist viewpoint the most satisfactory solution of the great sanguinary conflict of the nations lies in a draw, a cessation of hostilities from sheer exhaustion without determining anything. Only in that case, only if it will become apparent to all the world that the heavy rivers of human blood have flown for nothing; that hundreds of thousands of human lives have been extinguished in vain... Only then will this war remain forever accursed in the memory of men, only then will it lead the people of all nations to revolt against any repetition of the frightful experience and to revolt against the capitalist system which leads to such paroxysms of human madness."

 

"Peace on Earth," by Eugene V. Debs [Jan. 9, 1915] Short essay by Socialist Party orator Debs on a topic assigned to him by an American newspaper chain. Debs asserts that "there has never been "Peace on earth and goodwill toward men;" and we shall have to go forward and not backward to realize that ideal. Civilization is still in a primitive, rudimentary state. It has taken countless ages to bring us from the brute, the caveman, and the savage to where we are today. The development has been painfully slow, but steady, and will continue to the farthest stretches of time." Debs indicates that peace will come to earth only "when the brute and savage shall have died in us and we have become human. In a word, peace will come to earth when humanity has been humanized, civilization civilized, and Christianity christianized." He sees the carnage in Europe as a turning point, in which the people are coming to see the economic basis of war based in the capitalist system. But that war inevitably will play itself out, Debs believes: "We cannot stop the European war. We can and will intervene when the time comes and do all in our power to restore peace. To end the war prematurely, were that possible, would simply mean another and perhaps even a bloodier catastrophe. Let us show the people the true cause of war. Let us arouse a sentiment against war. Let us teach the children to abhor war."

 

"An Appeal to the Investigating Committee of the NEC." [Jan. 13, 1915] A very rare document, published as part of a special English language edition by the Duluth Finnish-language newspaper Sosialisti. This extremely lengthy article details the faction fight which raged in the Socialist Party's Finnish Language Federation from 1912-15, in which the constructive socialist Eastern District and those around its organ Raivaaja captured effective control of Executive Committee of the Federation the leftist organ of the Middle District, Työmies. In response, a new left wing daily newspaper was established in the Middle District, Sosialisti. Punative expulsions of individuals and locals supporting the new periodical were begun by the Finnish Federation, which drew an appeal from the left wing to the National Executive Committee of the Socialist Party of America, since under the party constitution only the state organizations were granted the right of suspension and expulsion. The NEC of the SPA instructed the right wing majority group to reinstate the expelled left wingers and to settle the issue at a special convention of the Federation; this instruction was ignored by the Finnish Federation however, in an attempt to stack the forthcoming election of convention delegates. As a result, the left wing boycotted the election and renewed their appeal to the NEC. "The disruption within the Finnish Federation is very clearly and positively a result of a very fierce opposition in the main, of the officers in the organization against any criticism of their erroneous ideas, errors, or plain miscarriages in the offices," this appeal document argues.

 

FEBRUARY

"Executive Committee Rule," by T.E. Latimer. [Feb. 1915] In 1913-14 a serious factional struggle erupted in the Finnish Federation of the Socialist Party of America between a Right faction based in the Eastern US and a Left faction based in the Upper Midwest. Accusing its opponents of favoring sabotage, in contradiction to the SPA Constitution, the Right faction attempted to seize the daily newspaper and assets of the Left faction and engaged in a series of expulsions as part of this process, which centered on Local Negaunee, Michigan. The SPA's National Executive Committee was drawn into the controversy. This contemporary article reviews the issues behind the fight from a perspective sympathetic to the Finnish Left faction and hostile to the SPA NEC. Originally published in the Feb. 1915 issue of The International Socialist Review.

 

"Open Letter to President Wilson," by Kate Richards O'Hare [Feb. 1915] Socialist Party orator Kate Richards O'Hare delivers a stinging rebuke to the pious hypocrite in the White House with this open letter published in the radical monthly, The National Rip-Saw. With Europe reduced to a "vast charnel house" with its fields "trampled into quagmires soaked with human blood and polluted with rotting human flesh," Wilson had allowed American capitalism to cash in on the slaughter. O'Hare storms: "With millions of Americans shivering, unclad and unshod, the stored up labor of cotton farmers, fabric weavers, and shoemakers are being hurried across the water to clothe hostile armies while they kill. Iron mills are busy turning out shrapnel, factories are beating plows into bayonets and reapers into rifles. Shrapnel and dum-dum bullets that strew all Europe with dead men are the creation of the workers of the United States, and the inventive faculties of American people have been turned from the works of peace to the creation of the machines for murder." O'Hare declares that "the manly, Christian, statesmanlike thing would have been for you to have called the Congress of the United States into session and said, 'GO TO YOUR LEGISLATIVE HALLS, FRAME THERE A LAW THAT NOT ONE POUND OF FOOD, NOT ONE YARD OF CLOTH, NOT ONE PIECE OF AMMUNITION SHALL BE EXPORTED TO ANY EUROPEAN COUNTRY UNTIL PEACE IS DECLARED.'" Instead, Wilson had hypocritically sponsored "the neutrality of HELL, the Money Changer's pact with the War Demon, the Profit Monger's bargain with DEATH, Peace with DAMNATION, that the profits of a few capitalists may be enhanced!"

 

"The Socialist Party in Oklahoma," by J.O. Welday [Feb. 1915] This brief general introduction to the Socialist Party of Oklahoma was written for a general, politically-oriented readership. "The Socialist Party did not create class lines or class distinctions in this new commonwealth. The fact that 180,000 mortgaged and tenant farmers are producing wealth, the bulk of which is finally gotten hold of by a small group of non-producers, cannot be charged to socialist activity," Welday declares. The old parties had both delivered policy in defense of the interests of this small exploiting elite, in Welday's view. "The exploiting group has paid the bills of these parties and has in the main molded and directed their policies. Legislation has been both consciously and unconsciously shaped to the end that these propertied interests might be protected and secured." In opposition to both of the old parties, "the Socialist Party, with its clear cut and understandable discussion of the class struggle and its application of the same to conditions in Oklahoma, is rapidly becoming the political expression of the dispossessed class," Welday declares. Those who view the Socialist Party of Oklahoma as a milquetoast of agrarian ameliorative reform will be interested to note Welday's insistence that "no Bismarckian policy of partial restitution will satisfy those who have done and are now doing the hard and necessary work of the state," that things like "workmen's compensation acts, minimum wage laws, stringent usury statutes, actually enforced, loaning of state money for long periods at low rates of interest, statutes regulating the construction of dwellings on rented farms, state or county gins and elevators...will merely postpone the final result." This ideological perspective was reflective of the SP's Center or Left current rather than the Right Wing orientation stereotypically associated with the Oklahoma party.

 

MARCH

"I Denounce," by Kate Richards O'Hare [March 1915] "Never in all the history of the United States has the thoughtful intelligent citizenship of our nation had such cause to blush for the petty, sordid, groveling character of our so-called statesmen," declares Socialist Party agitator Kate O'Hare. She is sickened at the failure of American politicians to tackle the pivotal issues of war in Europe or unemployment in America. Hunger, crime, prostitution, suicide, and despair are said to be sweeping America, while in Europe millions had been slain, millions more would be slain, homes were destroyed, production ruined, and womanhood ravaged by invading armies. "The Congress of the United States has the power to stop the war in Europe almost instantly by forbidding the exportation of food and ammunition. Only gross ignorance, brutal stupidity, or hellish cupidity can explain the inaction of our President and Congress in this hour of world travail," O'Hare asserts, adding "BEFORE GOD AND MAN I DENOUNCE THEM AND DECLARE THEIR GUILT AND I CHALLENGE THEM TO ANSWER."

 

MAY

"The 'Collapse' of the International," by Morris Hillquit [May 1, 1915] Morris Hillquit, arguably the top theoretician of the Debsian Socialist Party of America, takes aim at "the peculiar brand of Socialists who rejoice in Socialist mistakes, fatten on Socialist defeats, and are enthusiastic only when they can point out some alleged faults of the Socialist movement," individuals who had lately been regaling themselves and their readers with the assertion that "the Socialist International has utterly collapsed in the face of the world war." Hillquit begs to differ. Capitalism's evolution has made it an international system, Hillquit observes, this process in turn giving birth to a parallel international labor movement. Socialists continued to share a common economic vision across national boundaries. While the eruption of nationalism and fratricidal war was a setback to the cause of international socialism, the economic basis underlying the Socialists' ideological system remained unchanged. Indeed, "the war will not check the growing internationalism of either capital or labor. Rather will it stimulate and accelerate the developments of both," Hillquit asserts. Therefore, "the soul of the Socialist International is thus bound to emerge from the ashes of the war strengthened and purified." "So far the Socialists engaged in the war have shown a most remarkable spirit of mutual understanding and forbearance. It is impossible to predict what situation may be produced if the war should continue much longer. The sense of irritation may become acute, and on the other hand a new turn of the war may alienate the Socialists from their governments and bring them together in common opposition to the continuance of the war," says Hillquit, adding his believe that the latter outcome is most likely. "Whether the Socialist International will maintain or change its form of organization after the war is at this time still uncertain. It is also quite immaterial," Hillquit states, arguing that International Socialism itself is imperishable.

 

"The 1915 National Committee Meeting: Reports of National Committeemen L.E. Katterfeld and James P. Reid." [held May 9-14, 1915] Report of the annual meeting of the Socialist Party's National Committee, held in Chicago May 9-14, 1915 by two Left Wing members of the NC, Washington State Secretary L.E. Katterfeld and Rhode Islander James P. Reid. Katterfeld sees the 1915 NC meeting as seminal, a "complete reversal of the policies that have dominated the party for the past three years." The process of centralization begun in 1912, which took the election of the governing National Executive Committee out of the hands of the membership and vested it in the National Committee, was undone. Rules for the initiation of referenda were also liberalized, with the number of required seconds reduced so that locals could once again initiate the process with some hope of success. The power of affirmative action between its annual physical gatherings was also restored to the National Committee, severely reducing the authority of the 5 member NEC, which reigned supreme under the model of 1912. All these things, once ratified by the party membership in referendum, meant "an absolute reversal of this autocratic policy and a return to democracy in the party's control," in Katterfeld's view. In his shorter assessment, James Reid adds that "The 'Finnish controversy' took up much time in the meeting and bodes danger to the party. It will be with us for some time to come." Reid notes that "the rank and file of the English-speaking comrades will have to become conversant with the element of danger to our movement which the structural connection of the foreign federation with our party means." Under the current system of attachment of the federations "ambitious persons in those federations can keep the whole party busy trying to settle their rows, and all to the detriment and delay of the work of organizing the American wing of the International Socialist movement," Reid observes.

 

JULY

"Restoring Confidence: A Letter to the Editor of The American Socialist, July 3, 1915," by John M. Work After peaking in size in 1912, the Socialist Party entered a period of significant membership decline, with the organization losing nearly a third of its numbers by 1915. This substantial setback caused the National Committee at its May 1915 annual meeting to initiate a set of constitutional changes aimed at enhancing rank and file control over the organization in the hopes of rebuilding the spirit of participation. SPA founding member John Work wrote this letter to the editor of the SPA's official organ supporting these changes and attempting to focus attention on the need for structural reform of the organization. Work sees two great obstacles impeding the SPA's efforts -- "scatterization" (a myriad of privately owned publications and individualistic initiatives) and "want of confidence" (the rank and files growing unease with a bureaucratic and centralized party apparatus). In Work's view, the "want of confidence" crisis began in 1912 with a rightward turn of the party and the implementation of a set of constitutional changes lessening democratic control of the organization by the rank and file. This trend was continued by the National Committee at its 1914 annual meeting, Work indicates. The 1915 meeting of the National Committee attempted to reverse this trend, however, with initiatives intended to make it easier for the rank and file to propose constitutional changes and party referenda as well as to provide for direct election of the Executive Committee and the Executive Secretary of the Party by the membership. Work characterizes these changes as commendable, albeit imperfect.

 

AUGUST

"Party Membership Endorses Constitutional Amendments Proposed by National Committee: Report on Referendum A, 1915." [Aug. 28, 1915] The year 1915 saw a significant overhaul of the constitution of the Socialist Party of America. Aiming to stave off the attrition of the organization's membership, a set of changes were proposed to the membership aiming at streamlining the party organization and bringing elected officials under party discipline on the issue of spending on the military. The nominations for President and Vice President were to be made by referendum vote, the Executive Committee and Executive Secretary were to be elected by the direct vote of the rank and file for 2 year terms, and Language Federations were to be held to a higher standard of 1,000 paid members in order to receive office space and salary for a Translator-Secretary. The relationship between units of the various Federations and the Young People's Socialist League on the one hand and the regular party apparatus of locals, county, and state organizations on the other, was spelled out. All 17 changes proposed by the National Committee were ratified seriatim by the rank and file in a referendum vote by wide margins. This article from the SPA's official organ announces the vote tallies for each.

 

SEPTEMBER

"Why Hold a National Convention?" Letter to the Editor of The American Socialist, by Otto Pauls [Sept. 11, 1915] St. Louis rank-and-filer Otto Pauls points out to the membership of the Socialist Party of America that since the organization had recently changed its constitution to provide for nomination of the party's Presidential and Vice Presidential candidates by referendum vote, there was now no significant function for the next quadrennial convention of the party, slated for June 1916. Pauls notes that unless action is taken by the SP to set aside the provision of its constitution calling for such a gathering "we will be compelled to hold a national convention next year, consisting of 300 delegates and costing about $25,000, for the sole purpose of adopting a platform." Instead, Pauls suggests this money would be better spent on the campaign itself, and that the "fairly representative" NEC consisting of George Goebel, James Maurer, Adolph Germer, Emil Seidel, and Arthur LeSueur could solicit suggestions for slightly adapting the existing "excellent" platform and "splendid" statement of principles from the 1912 campaign, and submitting that for approval by the SPA membership by referendum. "It will be just as satisfactory as any convention platform and will save the party about $25,000 -- the difference between a rousing campaign and no campaign at all," Pauls asserts.

 

"The School for the Masses: The People's College of Fort Scott, Kansas," by Eugene V. Debs [Sept. 18, 1915] The People's College was a private venture closely associated with the Socialist Party -- an attempt to create a working class institution of higher education. Eugene Debs was Chancellor of this institution, located just up the road from Girard (home of The Appeal to Reason) in Southeastern Kansas. President and Dean of the Law Department was SP NEC member Arthur LeSueur; Vice President and Director of the English Department was Alva George. Sitting on the 10 member Advisory Board included such SP worthies as Debs, Charles Edward Russell, John Work, Charles Steinmetz, George Kirkpatrick, Frank P. Walsh, and Kate Richards O'Hare. The article here was published in the official organ of the Socialist Party as a means of publicizing the People's College venture, which was begun in the fall of 1914. Debs writes that " colleges and universities are without exception "endowed" by the rich with funds taken from the poor for the purpose of controlling educational influences in a way to keep the rich and poor respectively where they are, and to impress the public with the wonderful work the philanthropists are doing in spreading the light when all the time their cunning ingenuity is being taxed behind the curtains to keep the people in darkness." This Debs contrasts with the People's College, "the greatest school for the education of the masses ever instituted among men," founded and funded and democratically administered in the interests of the working class.

 

OCTOBER

"Organization," by Dan Hogan [October 18, 1915] High rates of membership turnover were by no means limited to the Communist Party of later days -- all political organizations show similar sorts of rapid membership turnover. In this article leading Arkansas Socialist Dan Hogan shares for the first time his "most serious doubts" about the ability of the American Socialist movement to "democratically direct and control our movement when it shall have reached its high tide of popular manifestation." The Socialist Party is racked by low levels of participation, Hogan observes -- fewer than 100,000 of a population of American socialists which he estimates at approximately 2 million, based on vote returns and so forth. Of this limited percentage of the whole, only a tiny fraction actually participates in the active direction of the socialist movement through participation in party affairs. "Not 1 in each 100 locals organized 'stick,'" Hogan asserts -- instead, they typically gather, elect a secretary and appoint committees, meet for 2 or 3 months, and disappear. The cause of this enormous turnover of membership revolves around the fact that "we have come to regard the Socialist movement as a pure and simple political party and appealing to mankind upon purely political grounds," Hogan believes. The same people who drop out of the Socialist Party ostensibly claiming lack of time and funds loyally support various fraternal and benevolent organizations, Hogan notes, freely giving them time and money. The explanation for this behavior lies in the realm of material self-interest, Hogan thinks: "the lodges and fraternal orders serve their immediate economic interests. Their lodges and fraternal orders supply and offer a necessary function and fulfillment of their economic and social desires." Hogan does not say how the Socialist Party might alter its nature to make it similarly fill this sort of necessary functions and social desires.

 

"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.

 

"Comrades of the Revolution: Letter to the Editor of The American Socialist from the State Executive Committee of the Socialist Party of Washington, Oct. 23, 1915." This letter to the Socialists of Washington state reprinted in the official organ of the Socialist Party of America illustrates the very limited tactical vision of the unorganized Left Wing of the Socialist Party in 1915. State Secretary L.E. Katterfeld and the radical Washington State Executive Committee declare that "The time has come for ACTION instead of talking. Never in the history of our movement were the conditions so favorable for carrying on our propaganda. Let us too begin a Great Drive, not irregularly and spasmodically here and there with no unity of action, but with a hearty cooperation along the whole line of front. Let us pierce the enemy's line and capture his trenches at every point." Peeling away this aggressive bluster, for the Washingtonians it is only the "systematic and statewide distribution of leaflets" that is "the secret" and "the Comrades of Oklahoma" ("organized so that they can reach every home in their state with Socialist propaganda") which serves as the model. A series of 12 monthly leaflets to be distributed statewide in Washington state is announced, including among the first set of four rather pedestrian and previously released material by John Work, Fred Warren, and Daniel K. Young.

 

"Letter to C.W. Fitzgerald in Beverly, Massachusetts from N. Lenin [V.I. Ul'ianov] in Berne, Switzerland. [Written between Nov. 13 and Nov. 22, 1915.] Text of a letter from Lenin to the head of the fledgling "Socialist Propaganda League" approving of a recent letter which had been sent and outlining the position faced by the revolutionary socialist movement in the current international political environment. "We say and we prove that all bourgeois parties, all parties except the working-class revolutionary Party, are liars and hypocrites when they speak about reforms. We try to help the working class to get the smallest possible but real improvement (economic and political) in their situation and we add always that no reform can be durable, sincere, serious if not seconded by revolutionary methods of struggle of the masses," Lenin states, adding "We do not preach unity in the present (prevailing in the Second International) socialist parties. On the contrary we preach secession with the opportunists. The war is the best object-lesson. In all countries the opportunists, their leaders, their most influential dailies and reviews are for the war, in other words, they have in reality united with "their" national bourgeoisie (middle class, capitalists) against the proletarian masses.... And we are for secession with nationalistic opportunists and unity with international revolutionary Marxists and working-class parties." Lenin sends his best wishes for the success of the new organization.

 

"The War Censor Arrives in America: United States Postal Officials Deny Mails to Jack London's Article 'The Good Soldier,'"by J. Louis Engdahl [Nov. 20, 1915] The Woodrow Wilson regime did not begin its offensive on freedom of speech and freedom of the press in 1917 after American entry into the European war, but rather in 1915, during the first days of the "preparedness" campaign. Postmaster General Albert S. Burleson's first move was a ban of a short anti-militarist article by renowned Socialist author Jack London from the mails. This banning of London's piece, "The Good Soldier," prompted editor of the Socialist Party's official organ Louis Engdahl to publish this article under banner headlines -- complete with London's article in bold type, on page 1 above the fold. Military censorship is characterized by Engdahl as a "great power of darkness that stops up the human brain, while the human body goes ignorant to the slaughter," an institution of the most reactionary militarist regimes of Europe. "The War Censor is out of place in a republic. He has no place or function in a democracy," Engdahl declares. Engdahl cites a recent poll showing an overwhelming majority of Democrats and Republicans in Congress in agreement with Wilson's program for the militarization of America. "Does the Democratic administration intend to maintain this majority by gagging the utterances of the American people? We hope not," says Engdahl. London's original article, basically a prose poem, declares: "The lowest aim in your life is to become a soldier. The good soldier never tries to distinguish right from wrong. He never thinks; never reasons; he only obeys... A good soldier is a blind, heartless, soulless, murderous machine. He is not a man. He is not a brute, for brutes only kill in self-defense. All that is human in him, all that is divine in him, all that constitutes the man has been sworn away when he took the enlistment oath.... Down with the army and the navy. We don't need killing institutions. We need life-giving institutions."

 

"Eugene V. Debs Declines Presidential Nomination," by J. Louis Engdahl [Nov. 27, 1915] Short news article from The American Socialist announcing that 4-time Socialist Party Presidential standard bearer Eugene V. Debs had sent in a form to the national office of the SPA declining the party's nomination for President in the 1916 campaign. In a telegram to Engdahl, Debs stated "I do not think I ought to make a public statement, for I really have nothing to say that would be of any interest to anyone, and it would likely seem presumptuous in me to offer an explanation not asked for and not expected. I have no special reason for declining other than that there are thousands of comrades who are at least as well qualified as I am for the nomination." Debs ultimately ran an unsuccessful race for the US House of Representatives in Indiana in the 1916 campaign.

 

"The Zimmerwald Conference and its Endorsement by the Party NEC," by Arthur LeSueur [Nov. 27, 1915] Member of the Socialist Party's governing National Executive Committee Arthur LeSueur offers this explanation to the party for the NEC's recent endorsement of the manifesto of the Zimmerwald Conference. Despite the conference's unofficial status, its manifesto "contains a clear-cut, definite statement of the principles which should guide us in the future," LeSueur writes, adding that such an endorsement was "all the more necessary because of the fact that many of the members high in the councils of the party had expressed themselves in sympathy with the attitude of the officials of the party in Germany, France, Belgium, etc., in their abandonment of the theory of the class struggle, and the class character of the state, and their adoption of a nationalism that placed their necks beneath the feet of their masters." LeSueur ponders the reason that the European workers were led to the slaughter so easily, theorizing that it was an overemphasis of the socialist movement on economics rather than internationalist idealism that left the rank and file intellectually disarmed. LeSueur states that the NEC cannot bind the party to any certain manifesto, nor would it try, but that the NEC had endorsed the Zimmerwald declaration in order to start the debate in the party over the matter of internationalism. He seeks to change the traditional hesitancy of the international socialist movement to "go on record unequivocally for labor and against war, with a pledge as binding as can be made not to assist or in any way further the war of nations, and never to bear arms against each other, and to bear arms against those who order murder in order to prevent the greater cataclysm, and to do this each in his own country at no matter what cost to themselves..."

 

DECEMBER

"Duty of the Working Class Today," by Adolph Germer [Dec. 4, 1915] Socialist Party National Executive Committee member Adolph Germer declares that "the paramount duty of the American working class today is to counteract the pernicious doctrine of pro-Militarism that is spread throughout the land." He makes note of an ideological offensive on all sides by the forces of reaction, making use of schools, churches, fraternal organizations, theater, and cinema (Germer specifically names the films "The Battle Cry of Peace," "Neill of the Navy," and "Guarding Old Glory" as examples of "preparedness" propaganda movies). "Every atom of our energy should be put forth to frustrate the use of hundreds of