AUGUST 1919

"Aping Our Elders," by Oliver Carlson [Aug. 1919] The newly-elected 3rd National Secretary of the Young People's Socialist League here criticizes the tendency for the YPSL to mindlessly divide itself into "Right," "Center," "Left," and "Communist" factions. He finds that the fissure in the Socialist Party, which was "at first about Tactics" had "passed entirely out of sight by this time, so that the issue now is one of 'for or against the NEC.'" The real cause of the fight was lost, and it was unreasonable to expect young people, who had not studied socialism for any significant length of time, to make a decision on the matter. "What we must do is that which our League is organized for: To Train Ourselves in the Principles of International Socialism. We cannot hope to grasp the situation in a moment. We cannot become able fighters for the Cause in a day or week or month. Ours is not a creed or dogma which one can embrace at a moment's notice. Ours is a complete philosophy which we must learn." Carlson (later an important youth leader in the American Communist movement) concludes that "We must meet the new issues with a clear vision. We must take a stand for revolutionary socialism. But above all we must become free so that as an organization we can develop ourselves mentally to a level where we will not be followers, where we will not be led this way or that way, but as young men and women who UNDERSTAND Socialism we will decide for ourselves what our attitude is going to be."

 

"Left or Right?" by Ludwig Lore [August 1919] In this lead article from Ludwig Lore's theoretical quarterly, The Class Struggle, editor Lore states that it is "hardly accurate" to refer to the current controversy in the Socialist Party as a battle between "Left" and "Right," since "the small group of bona-fide social-patriots that our movement harbored have either left it voluntary or been expelled" already. The "political sins" of the so-called "Right Wing" in the current controversy were those "of omission rather than commission" -- failing to crystallize vast anti-war sentiment in America at the time of American entry into the War into a mass movement for economic and political liberation; failure to enforce party discipline on Congressman Meyer London on anti-war measures in Congress; failure to greet the Russian revolution with public demonstration and public declaration of allegiance." The policy of the NEC Regulars was in actual fact "the typical 'Centrist' position," Lore declares. The controversy in the SP itself is international in nature, between one set of views represented by State Socialism and gradual growth of socialism through "democratic cooperation" with capitalism and the other by the physical wresting of power from the capitalists by the class-conscious working class and the establishment of the "dictatorship of the proletariat." "Between these two points of view there can be no compromise. Between them the Socialist must choose -- and his choice must determine, once and for all, his course of action," Lore declares.

 

"Why the New Party?" by Oakley C. Johnson [Aug. 2, 1919] Elected State Secretary of the expelled Socialist Party of Michigan emphasizes the depth of the split that had developed within the Left Wing movement between the Majority "Left Wing" still working to win control of the Socialist Party and the Minority Federation-Michigan group intent on the immediate formation of a distinct Communist Party of America at the Sept. 1 convention which it had called in Chicago. Johnson writes that "these would-be revolutionists shout "All power to the Left Wing!" What a miserable paraphrase of the Russian slogan 'All power to the Soviets!' The comrades now organizing the Communist Party prefer to be something more than a mere 'wing.' At a time such as the present, when the most momentous turning point in the world's history is before us, we cannot dilly dally along as a mere faction within a party. We cannot longer handicap ourselves in such a way, but must build up NOW an organization which shall function efficiently as 'the most advanced and resolute section of the working class parties...'" Johnson lists a series of criticisms of the tactics of the Majority: (1) capture of the SPA by the Left would be practically impossible due to expulsions and suspensions made by the outgoing NEC; (2) even if possible, capture of the SPA was inadvisable due to the party's "reactionary" reputation; (3) there was no need to remain in the SPA to reach the rank and file, which had already heard the Left Wing's message; (4) the psychological moment for action had arrived, and a delay of 2 or 3 months would "vitally affect the progress of socialism for the next decade." In contrast, "What is needed is a revolutionary party, small if need be, but united upon Marxian principles, thus forming a nucleus around which the working class can unite. It is impossible efficiently to unite conflicting programs, to harmonize unharmonious principles. The only party that can function in a social crisis is one absolutely united on principle and method."

"Official Minutes of the General Committee of the Socialist Party of St. Louis, August 4, 1919."  As the Emergency National Convention of the Socialist Party approached, the factional controversy in St. Louis expanded. The regular August 4 meeting of the General Committee (City Central Committee) was dominated by the report of Secretary William Brandt (reprinted as a separate document). An effort to table Brandt's report and the charges it preferred against several Left Wing activists was narrowly defeated, 18-17. A resolution proposed by Brandt was passed 18 to 15, querying whether the delegates present were supporters of either of the two Left Wing movements (Batt-Chicago or Ferguson-NYC) and whether they had taken part in the organization of affiliates of the Left Wing Section in St. Louis. The vote on this question was Yes: 6, No: 29, Refused to Vote: 10. An effort by the Left Wing and its sympathizers to force a general membership meeting of Local St. Louis was defeated procedurally by a vote of 18-15. One may conclude from the similarity of the voting on this set of divisive issues that the Center-Right faction held a narrow majority over the Left Wing and its sympathizers on the General Committee of Local St. Louis. A committee of 5 was selected to hear the charges preferred by Brandt and the meeting carried over to August 11.


"Report of the Secretary to the General Committee of the Socialist Party of St. Louis," by W.M. Brandt [August 4, 1919]  Lengthy report by the Secretary of Local St. Louis, Socialist Party, detailing the eruption of the Left Wing controversy in the party organization and formally preferring charges against Melting Pot editor Henry Tichenor and three members of the Local Executive Committee. Brandt notes that the Executive Committee had formally banned the distribution of factional literature from a July 20, 1919, mass meeting held in support of the Russian and Hungarian socialist revolutions. Joseph Stutz, Steve Witkay, William Waddell (aka George Moser) and Joseph Norvell had nevertheless sold copies of the July 5 issue of the Left Wing organ The Revolutionary Age at the meeting, Brandt notes, adding that 14 of the 16 pages of the tabloid were "devoted to the controversy and was full of malicious attacks on the Socialist Party." Moreover, Tichenor's magazine had declared itself the official organ of the Left Wing Section in St. Louis. The magazine had made note of headquarters obtained for the Left Wing Section's office. Hence, Brandt declares, "a secret underground organization was formed, by and of some of our party members, for the avowed purpose of destroying the Socialist Party in St. Louis." Brandt demands the appointment of a 5 member investigating committee to assess the merit of his charges, with their results to be returned to a special session of the General Committee (City Central Committee) of Local St. Louis one week hence.

 

"Minutes of the National Council of the Left Wing Section: New York City -- August 4, 1919." The 7 member executive of the June 1919 National Conference of the Left Wing, the National Council, was initially intended to conduct its affairs by mail through use of executive motions. However, the proximity of a quorum of the group to New York City led to the convocation of several physical meetings. This document offers the minutes of the last of these physical sessions, held August 4, 1919. Three anti-Federationist New York members (Ben Gitlow, Jim Larkin, Max Cohen) dominated the proceedings, with Secretary I.E. Ferguson in a consistent minority position given the absence of his co-thinkers C.E. Ruthenberg, John Ballam, and Bert Wolfe. A motion by Larkin to publicly respond to the "untruthful statements" made by the Russian Socialist Federation against Ludwig Martens' Soviet Russian Government Bureau was passed 3-1. Ferguson was challenged by Larkin and ex-officio member Eadmonn MacAlpine over statements he purportedly made to a gathering of the Jewish Socialist Federation, in which Ferguson seems to have depicted the August 30 Emergency National Convention as no more than a tributary leading to the actual convention, to be held Sept. 1 to establish a Communist Party. A motion by Larkin to terminate the National Council for Ferguson having thus abrogated its mission died by a 2-2 vote, Cohen joining Ferguson in favor of continuing the institution. A motion providing that Gitlow and Larkin be provided with space in The Revolutionary Age to air their factional position was approved.

 

"Executive Motions of the Left Wing National Council: August 5, 1919." A day after having been raked over the coals by Jim Larkin and Ben Gitlow for his attempt to patch up the split in the Left Wing movement by supporting the Sept. 1 Communist Convention, Secretary of the Left Wing National Council Isaac Ferguson put forward three executive motions to the entire body: (1) Ending physical meetings of the National Council in New York by setting August 29 in Chicago as the date of the next gathering; (2) Constituting Ferguson, C.E. Ruthenberg, and Max Cohen a committee of 3 with the authority to assist in organization of a Sept. 1 convention to form a Communist Party; and (3) Ending all further appropriation of funds by the Left Wing National Council outside of payment of expenses already incurred until the time of the August 29 physical meeting. "The time has come for the majority of the Council to assert itself decisively against the dilatory tactics of a minority which insists on bringing within the Council meetings a rehash of every little New York squabble between the Federation politicians and those who are characterized by the Federationists as the Left Wing politicians. We must complete the convention arrangements at once," Ferguson declares. Ferguson is particularly bitter about the insistence of National Council members Larkin and Gitlow and their associate John Reed to "intrude controversy about the Martens office into the work of the National Left Wing Council." While acknowledging that a statement made by the Russian Socialist Federation against the Martens bureau is "scandalous," Ferguson asks whether the National Council must "abandon ourselves to the sport of Larkin in hunting down the lies of the Russian Federation." Ferguson declares: " If there is anything in this Martens issue, and this I think has been grotesquely exaggerated, it certainly is no legitimate affair of the National Council. Let anyone search the record of the Left Wing Conference to show how it comes within our mandate, and he will find absolutely nothing."

"Circular Letter 'To All Members of the Socialist Party' from Executive Secretary Adolph Germer, Aug. 8, 1919." Reply of National Secretary Germer to the provisional National Executive Committee who were denied their seats on the NEC when the outgoing NEC abrogated the 1919 party elections. Self-proclaimed "Executive Secretary pro tem" Alfred Wagenknecht and his cohorts are charged with being "professional schemers" engaged in a "frame-up to wreck the party by trying to force action in an irregular way before the Special National Convention." As for Wagenknecht, he is said to have had "a professional training in stirring up party controversies. His reputation dates back to his scholarship under the famous Dr. [Hermon] Titus of Seattle, and there is nothing new or surprising in the part played by him now." Wagenknecht & Co. are charged with sabotaging the party by calling for a withholding of dues payments and convention assessments from the current National Office. Germer declares: "The convention will clear the decks. The membership will then learn who it is that is wrecking the party. Don't let professional troublemakers and political schemers capture you with appealing phrases that they hypocritically use... Never was there such an opportunity to carry on our revolutionary propaganda. The country is seething with unrest. Dissatisfaction with the present economic order is prevalent everywhere. Our opportunity in this crisis is thrown to the winds by political intriguers, who put their personal ambitions above the party's interest. Any one, or any group, that will split us into "wings" or factions, when hundreds of our comrades are in prison, hundreds more on the way, commits little short of treason to the Socialist Party and to the case of working class internationalism, and merit our scorn and contempt. They serve no one but the capitalists."

 

"Letter to Adolph Germer in Chicago from Morris Hillquit at Saranac Lake, New York, August 9, 1919." This short and relatively mundane letter reveals that Socialist Party Executive Secretary Adolph Germer was in contact with staunch SP Regulars and attorneys Morris Hillquit and Seymour Stedman about technical issues surrounding the forthcoming Emergency National Convention in Chicago. Hillquit believes that Stedman does not follow the idea of the temporary and permanent convention. Hillquit writes: "A Credential Committee will of course have to be elected, but elected by whom? Not by the persons who happen to present themselves with alleged credentials, for such persons are not delegates until they have been seated preliminarily or permanently. It is quite likely that at our emergency convention double delegations will appear from several states or localities, each contesting the credentials of the rival delegations. Shall they all be permitted to take a part in the election of the Credentials Committee?" It is the task of the Executive Secretary to compile a preliminary listing of all unchallenged delegates, Hillquit notes, and it is these unchallenged delegates who shall constitute the temporary convention and elect the Credentials Committee that will settle issues of contested mandates. Hillquit's letter is factual, legalistic, and utterly devoid of factional plotting. He closes with a note that "I have not been able to do much work of late, but expect to take up the drafting of a tentative platform within a week or so."

 

"The Conference of Russian Branches of the American Socialist Party in Chicago: Organization, Representation, and Activities," by Jacob Spolansky [events of March 24 to Aug. 9, 1919] This Bureau of Investigation intelligence report by Special Agent Jacob Spolansky reviews the history of the awkwardly named creation of Alexander Stoklitsky, the "Conference of the Russian Branches of the American Socialist Party in Chicago who share the Program of the Communist Party" The Chicago Conference of Russian Branches was dominated by the Russian language branches, which contributed 36 of the 49 delegates, joined by 9 Latvian, 3 Ukrainian, and 1 Lithuanian delegate. The Chicago Conference of Russian Branches elected delegates to the Chicago Communist Propaganda League, which Spolansky states will join with various English comrades and "pave their way for a Communist Party of America." A constitution for the Chicago Conference of Russian Branches was adopted at a meeting held April 16, 1919. Elected Secretary of the organization was the Russian Federationist Berezhovsky. The meeting of May 21 elected 4 delegates to the June National Conference of the Left Wing (Alexander Stoklitsky, Joseph Stilson, Dr. Kopnagel, and William Bross Lloyd). Spolansky states that at the June 5 meeting "various committees to cover various propaganda lines were elected and instructions were given to those committees to pave the way for a Communist Party in America." "The following several meetings were organization meetings of the now existing Communist Party of America," writes Spolansky in this report, several weeks before the "founding convention" of the CPA on September 1 [emphasis mine, --T.D.]. Spolansky provides a list of 24 Russian branches from around the country "who have adopted the program of the Communist Party."

"The Party Situation: Editorial in The Oklahoma Leader." [August 9, 1919]  The primary Socialist newspaper in the state of Oklahoma does its best to get its readers ready for a coming split of the party in this short editorial. Noting scornfully that the organized Left Wing faction has a National Secretary and a National Executive Committee, the editor notes that the Left Wing has declared a split at the August 30 convention to be inevitable: the Left Wing states either the Left Wing will control the convention and force Regulars to bolt "by the implacability of our policy" or else the Regulars will control the convention and the Left Wing will bolt to "constitute its own convention and organize a new Communist Party." Quoting The Revolutionary Age, the Leader editor notes the Left Wing has pronounced that "there is no compromise conceivable."

 

"Proclamation Concerning the Race Riots by the Chicago Federation of Labor." [Aug. 9, 1919] Racist violence erupted in the summer of 1919 centered around Chicago's stockyards, pitting largely non-union black workers against the largely unionized whites whom they replaced during the war and after. This August 9 proclamation of the powerful Chicago Federation of Labor places blame for the crisis firmly upon the employers: "The profiteering meat packers of Chicago are responsible for the race riots that have disgraced the city. It is the outcome of their deliberate attempt to disrupt the union labor movement in the stockyards. Their responsibility is shared by the daily newspapers which are kept subsidized by the extravagant advertising contracts of the packers..." Non-union black workers had been imported to Chicago from the South in an effort to sabotage the unionization efforts of the stockyards workers, the proclamation states, adding that "organized labor has no quarrel with the colored worker. Workers, white and black, are fighting the same battle." Efforts were made to bring black workers under the umbrella of unionization. "At every opportunity the packers and their hirelings fanned the flames of race prejudice and the fires of prejudice between strikebreakers and organized workers, hoping for the day to arrive when union white men would refuse to work beside unorganized colored men, so that the union men, white and black, could be discharged and nonunion workers, white and black, put in their places, until the spark came that ignited the tinder piled by the packers and the race riots ensued," the proclamation declares.

 

"Letter to C.E. Ruthenberg in Cleveland from John Reed, et al. in New York, August 11, 1919." Archival letter attributed to the typewriter of John Reed attempting to bring Left Wing National Council member C.E. Ruthenberg of Cleveland up to speed as to the rapid developments of August 1919. Reed and his associates are extremely hostile to I.E. Ferguson, Secretary of the National Council, stating that Ferguson had "consistently sabotaged the position taken by the majority at the Conference, and who on several occasions stated that unless some basis for compromise with the Federations could be found, he would resign from the Council and accept the minority position." Thereafter Ferguson and Revolutionary Age editor Louis Fraina "entered into unauthorized negotiations with the Federation politicians" leading to the "surrender" to the Federations, who had structured the method of electing delegates in a manner designed to assure effective control of the new organization. Ruthenberg had been "manipulated by the tricky attorney [Ferguson] whose object has been from the first to surrender to the Federation-Michigan minority," Reed and his partners claimed, noting that one August 5 executive motion of Ferguson to end all physical meetings of the National Council had overridden the decision the previous day to bring out of town members of the National Council together to hash out their differences in person, while another naming a Convention Committee of three had the effect of expelling Gitlow and Larkin from decision-making authority, resulting in complete victory for the Federations' convention scheme.

"Official Minutes of the General Committee of the Socialist Party of St. Louis, August 11, 1919."  Continuation of the meeting of August 4, which named a 5 member committee to hear charges of party treason preferred by Secretary William Brandt against certain Left Wing activists of the Socialist Party of St. Louis (aka Local St. Louis). Surprisingly, the committee unanimously rejected all three of the specific charges levied by Brandt, indicating that since the General Committee of Local St. Louis had not condemned the Left Wing section, and since agitation for revision of the Socialist Party program was permissible, it followed that no violation of the party's organizational law had taken place. The convention to be held at the end of the month would decide the Left Wing question on the basis of evidence, the special investigative committee asserts. Secretary Brandt attempted to sink this report by proposing an alternative motion which would have dismissed the charges he had made against specific individuals, while "reorganizing" certain Left Wing party branches, effectively requiring party loyalty pledges for readmission. Brandt's aggressive alternative proposal was narrowly defeated, 26-24, before the original motion was positively concurred in by a vote of 23-18. These numbers again demonstrate a narrowly divided St. Louis organization on the eve of the 1919 Chicago split.

 

"Minutes of Executive Motions of the Left Wing National Council: August 5-12, 1919." Text of the various motions of the Left Wing National Council made by mail during the first half of August and the results of the balloting on the same. The minority faction consisting of Ben Gitlow and Jim Larkin declined to vote on any measure, indicative of a termination of their activity with the National Council -- a position reflected by Larkin's Aug. 4 motion to declare the work of the National Council terminated due to Secretary Ferguson's support of a Sept. 1 Communist Convention. Ferguson's 3 propositions made Aug. 5 -- including naming a convention committee to help arrange the Sept. 1 Convention -- were unanimously approved by the 5 other members of the National Council. An Aug. 9 motion by Max Cohen to accept the resignations of Gitlow, John Reed, and Eadmonn MacAlpine from The Revolutionary Age was approved by a majority of 4 (Ruthenberg not voting), and an Aug. 12 motion by Cohen to remove Reed and Gitlow from their positions in charge of the Left Wing National Conference's labor paper, The Voice of Labor, was approved by an identical vote.

 

"Letter to Alfred Wagenknecht in Cleveland from Julius Gerber in New York City, August 12, 1919." A blistering response by the Secretary of the Socialist Party of New York County to Alfred Wagenknecht's first circular letter to all branches, locals, and YPSL groups in the name of the "New National Executive Committee" -- those who would have emerged victorious if the 1919 party referendum had not been abrogated by the outgoing party NEC. Gerber states that both Wagenknecht and his associate Ludwig Katterfeld had been present at the meeting of the NEC at which an Emergency National Convention was scheduled for August 30, 1919. "If you and the people behind you, including your so-called NEC, do not trust the rank and file of the party, and are afraid that you will not be able to control the Emergency Convention...then why should the rank and file trust or have confidence in you or the people back of you?" asks Gerber. Wagenknecht is accused of (1) holding multiple paid positions in the Socialist Party simultaneously, national and state; (2) having created the Organization and Propaganda Department and occupied the position of director of that department in the National Office as a pretext for obtaining the party's mailing list; (3) having obtained this mailing list without authorization, and used it for the purpose of splitting the party; (4) having planned to split the SPA at least as far back as January 1919; (5) forfeited any claim to moral or financial support by practicing ballot box stuffing and manipulation of membership lists. Wagenknecht's comrades are accused of having misrepresented themselves (Edward Lindgren), lied and taken actions in contradiction to the instructions of their state committee (Fred Harwood), or called for the improper channeling of party funds (I.E. Ferguson). The Socialist Party of New York County would send delegates to the Chicago convention who "will do all in their power to clean the party and the Socialist movement of the United States of all self-seekers, all those who are in the movement for what personal gain or glory they can get out of it, and of all those who were or are in our party not to help build a working class political organization to educate and organize the workers of the country for their emancipation, but to obstruct the growth of such organization, and who, when they could not rule, are now trying to ruin the party," Gerber warns.

 

"National Council and NEC: An Open Letter to A. Wagenknecht in Cleveland from Louis C. Fraina in Boston, Aug. 13, 1919." An open letter published in the pages of The Revolutionary Age by its editor, Louis C. Fraina, addressed to the insurgent Temporary National Executive Secretary of the Socialist Party, Alfred Wagenknecht. Fraina resigns his place as a member of the newly elected (unofficial) National Executive Committee of the Socialist Party and is harshly critical of the failure of Wagenknecht and his compatriots to alter their strategy of fighting for control of the Aug. 30 Emergency National Convention of the SPA. Fraina charges that original plan implied that "the new NEC would assume complete control of the Convention" -- a gathering "other than the convention of the old NEC." Instead, "your decision, as Temporary Secretary of the new NEC, to old 'our' convention in the same hall as [SPA Executive Secretary] Germer's breaks the plan completely. Any Left Wing delegates who now go to the Emergency Convention are going to the convention of Germer & Co., packed by the moderates in order to secure control for counterrevolutionary socialism." With the Socialist Party of Ohio expelled from the SPA by the outgoing NEC, Wagenknecht would not even have access to the convention floor, Fraina stated. The solution was for the NEC to resign and endorse the call for a Sept. 1 convention to establish a Communist Party of America, in Fraina's view.

 

"Letter to the Labor Committee of the Left Wing National Conference from John Reed and Ben Gitlow in New York , August 13, 1919." Letter written by Reed with Gitlow sent out to the other 7 members of the Labor Committee established by the June 1919 National Conference of the Left Wing. Reed outlines the factional politics in the National Council of the Left Wing, pitting Secretary Isaac Ferguson, Revolutionary Age editor Louis Fraina, and their allies on the Council (John Ballam, Max Cohen, and Bertram Wolfe) against the National Council minority of Gitlow and Jim Larkin, along with their allies Reed and Eadmonn MacAlpine. At root is a battle over the strategy to be followed -- continued struggle within the Socialist Party for control of the August Emergency National Convention vs. the immediate formation of a Communist Party in accordance with a Joint Call which virtually guaranteed dominance of the Russian Federations due to the method of delegate selection prescribed. Reed and Gitlow feel the minority of the National Council had been unjustly excluded from participation and the labor publication approved by the National Conference, The Voice of Labor, had been abandoned. "We believe that if anything comes out of Chicago, it will be a Party or organization formed at the National Emergency Convention, or from the delegates to that Convention; and not to the Communist Party crazy-quilt gathering," Reed and Gitlow state.

 

"Letter to John Reed and Ben Gitlow in New York from James P. Cannon in Kansas City, MO, August 16, 1919." The reply of National Conference of the Left Wing Section Labor Committee member Jim Cannon to the letter of John Reed and Ben Gitlow of August 13 to the committee. Cannon offers his "complete endorsement" of the decision of Reed and Gitlow to begin producing The Voice of Labor despite the efforts of the majority of the National Council to halt the launch of the publication, calling the first issue of the publication "the biggest thing, in my opinion, that has come out of the national conference." Cannon states that the stands of Reed, Gitlow, and Larkin "in the whole controversy with the Federations...are so much in accord with my own opinion -- and with that of the great majority of the membership, without a doubt -- as to entitle you to the gratitude of those who look upon the socialist movement as an instrument for revolutionary propaganda to the working masses and not as a football of power-seeking bosses and fixers." Cannon writes that the decision of the majority of the National Council to endorse immediate formation of a Communist Party of America according to the terms of the Federation-Michigan alliance will be repudiated since it surrenders control of the Left Wing to "those who cannot lead an American movement anywhere but into the ditch."

"Official Minutes of the General Committee of the Socialist Party of St. Louis, August 18, 1919."  With the Socialist Party of St. Louis approximately split between Regulars and Left Wingers in the weeks preceding the 1919 Emergency National Convention, factional machinations were undertaken by both sides in an attempt to end a stalemate. On Aug. 13 the Regular-dominated Executive Committee of the city party unanimously voted to name itself a committee to draft a national platform and program, to be put forward at the forthcoming Emergency National Convention, and to hold a general membership meeting to deal with its discussion, amendment, and approval. The emerging Left Wing countered by seeking to hold this general meeting in association with a scheduled mass meeting featuring radical attorney Isaac Edward Ferguson, a leader of the national Left Wing movement. The nearly evenly divided St. Louis General Committee (i.e. City Central Committee) defeated the regulars and approved the Left Wing plan by a vote of 16 to 15. A formal split of the St. Louis organization would shortly follow, created by the unilateral action of the Executive Committee.

 

"Letter from Samuel F. Hankin in Chicago to Benjamin Gitlow in New York, Aug. 18, 1919." Communication from Chicago Left Wing leader Samuel Hankin to New York leader Ben Gitlow. Hankin assures Gitlow that the Chicago movement remains true to the previous strategy of continuing the struggle inside the Socialist Party, rather than throwing support over to the convention of the Communist Party of America. Hankin sarcastically notes that "We have been fortunate enough to have amongst us the 'brains' and 'big men' of the already officialled 'Communist' Party, and we know the kind of a revolutionary party they will organize." Hankin seeks information about the financial situation of the Left Wing Section and its organ, The Revolutionary Age, as well as details of the political dance between "the Lefts" and the "Communists." Hankin also notes the recent failure of Louis Fraina to speak in Chicago as scheduled: "One reason is because we did not allow a traitor to the Left Wing speak from a Left Wing platform, and the second reason is because when he heard that we would not allow him to speak, he sent in his declination as a speaker for the evening."

 

"National Labor Party is Born: Conference of Delegates Calls Convention at Chicago, November 22nd," by Robert M. Buck [event of Aug. 18, 1919] On Aug. 18, 1919, a national conference consisting of 30 representatives of Labor Party groups from 7 states met in Chicago and determined to establish a national Labor Party at a convention to be held Nov. 22, 1919. A temporary chairman (Max Hayes of Cleveland) and 7 members were named to to a temporary executive committee. The official organ of the Chicago Federation of Labor and the Labor Party of Illinois, The New Majority, was named the official organ of the forthcoming party (subject to confirmation by the founding convention). A basis for representation to the founding convention was decided.

"Nation’s Liberals on “Suspect” List: Six Administration Departments Conducting Systematic Espionage of Public and Private Activities." [Aug. 18, 1919]  First massive installment of a sensational four-part report in the Socialist daily New York Call on the espionage network of the "Bourbon Democratic" Wilson administration. Based upon the so-called "Postal Censorship Book" of the Post Office Department, listing "suspects" whose mail is to be opened and "privileged" persons to be exempt from any search, this 4800 word document does not even mention the largest and most sophisticated of America's internal surveillance networks, the Bureau of Investigation of the United States Department of Justice. Instead, the article details the six governmental entities mentioned in the "Postal Censorship Book" -- Military Intelligence Division, Office of Naval Intelligence, War Trade Board Intelligence Division, Office of the Chief Cable Censor, Customs Intelligence Bureau, and the Post Office Department. A considerable number of the subjects of official scrutiny are listed, including prominent liberal leaders and pacifist and political organizations. Particular emphasis seems to be placed upon those aiding the liberation struggles of Ireland and India, with the unnamed journalist charging collusion of American authorities with officials representing the interests of the British state. Also mentioned at some length for being featured on the "suspect" list is Santeri Nuorteva of the Russian Soviet Government Bureau, who is characterized as "a man who has openly championed the cause of the Soviet Republic of Russia from the very first, who has never done anything in secret; whose works are known of all men, and who has never allowed his activities to lag despite all the persecution to which he and his cause have been subjected."

"Liberty Lovers “Need Watching”: Mossback Democrats Fear Activity of Mind of the Forward-Looking." (New York Call) [Aug. 19, 1919]  In this second of four parts of the New York Call's expose on the Post Office Department's "suspects" list, the unnamed author lists a good number of individuals subject to scrutiny on the basis of their political beliefs, with an emphasis on non-Socialists. An array of civil libertarians and pacifists facing search of their mail due to their "suspect" status on the Post Office Department's Postal Censorship List are included here.

"Important to All Socialists! Purchase Convention Stamps." [Aug. 19, 1919]  While the decisions made by the governing National Executive Party to suspend and expel mass numbers of party members through actions tatken against left wing state organizations, language federations, and radical branches were quickly and easily made, it soon became evident that such factionalist aggression would have an unforeseen and dramatic consequence -- decimation of the Socialist Party's cash-flow. This short blurb in the New York Call reminds members of their obligation to purchase 50 cent special assessment stamps for their dues book to help offset extraordinary expenses associated with the forthcoming Emergency National Convention of the party. "No matter what position a member takes on party members, it is the height of disloyalty for him to fail to support the regularly called convention by refraining from giving it the necessary funds," the article pleads, adding that "outside organizations, falsely assuming the name of Socialist Party, are selling stamps of their own" as a means of shutting off funds. "Be sure that the stamps you buy are from the office of the National Secretary, Adolph Germer, and not from self-appointed custodians of the party’s welfare," the article declares.

"Letter to John Reed and Ben Gitlow in New York from Stankowitz in Pittsburgh, August 19, 1919." The reply of National Conference of the Left Wing Section Labor Committee member Stankowitz, an immigrant industrial worker from Pittsburgh, to the letter of John Reed and Ben Gitlow of August 13 to the committee. Stankowitz, expressing himself as well as he is able in broken English, takes a middle position between the Federations wanting immediate formation of a Communist Party and the position of Reed, Gitlow, and Larkin. "Comrades that are trying to unite [the] minority and the majority of the Left Wing may be wrong, because we instructed them to issue a call to the Emergency National Convention [of the Socialist Party], and then form the Communist Party on the floor of the Convention if it was captured, etc., but they may be right, because the more one studies this fight within the Party, the more he learns that we never will have a [chance] to capture it for everything is on the side of [the] 'Centrists' and 'Rights.'" On the other hand, "I don't blame you comrades for taking the stand you took, for you are trying to satisfy the will of [the] delegates that expressed their will to fight in [the] Party." Stankowitz is a great supporter of Reed and Gitlow's The Voice of Labor, calling it the "best labor paper that has ever been put before the working class in America" and noting that he had almost sold his initial order of 500 copies. "Whatever happens, our future propaganda should be in factories, mines, mills, etc., and if the Communist Party does not unite with radical Industrial Unions, she will be a failure," Stankowitz concludes.

 

"Letter to John Reed in New York City from L.E. Katterfeld in Dighton, KS, Aug. 19, 1919." An important letter detailing the thinking of the future Communist Labor Party element of the Left Wing Section heading into the August Emergency National Convention of the SPA. Katterfeld tells Reed that while the Left Wing National Council now felt the fight to win control of the Socialist Party was "futile," the struggle should be continued nonetheless. "Even if we were sure to lose there we should make an honest effort because that is the ONLY way that we can demonstrate to the great mass of the membership of the Party who ARE revolutionary that they can not realize their aspirations within the Socialist Party. If we split off before then there will be tens of thousands that should be with us but that will not follow us out," Katterfeld argues. Reed is to make sure that all elected New York Left Wingers attend the convention to challenge the right of the New York regulars' machine (the "Gerberites") to represent the "reorganized" locals. Katterfeld pegs the odds of success of seating every elected New York Left Wing delegate at 10-to-1, and that the Left still has a "very good chance to win" at Chicago.

 

"Circular Letter to 'All National Convention Delegates' from Alfred Wagenknecht in Cleveland, August 19, 1919." With the Emergency National Convention fast approaching, National Executive Secretary pro tem Alfred Wagenknecht sent this circular letter to elected delegates in an attempt to organize the Left Wing Section for action against the Center-Right alliance loyal to National Executive Secretary Adolph Germer and the outgoing NEC of the party. For this purpose offices were rented at Machinists' Hall in Chicago -- site of the August 30 convention -- and a caucus meeting was called for August 29, 1919, at 8 pm. This meeting was organized "so that all delegates that denounce the acts of the former National Executive Committee and who are in sympathy with the principles for which nearly half the party membership was suspended and expelled, may discuss the necessary steps to take" at the Emergency Convention, Wagenknecht indicated.

 

"Excerpt of a Letter to Morris Hillquit at Saranac Lake, NY from Victor L. Berger in Milwaukee, August 20, 1919." Two of the biggest bogeymen lurking in the CP's mythology of the 1919 Socialist Party split were Morris Hillquit and Victor L. Berger, held to be the grand chess masters who manipulated lesser players. This perspective is not in accord with objective reality. This is a valuable glimpse behind the scenes, correspondence from Wisconsin publisher and party leader Berger to the ailing Hillquit, recovering from tuberculosis at a sanitarium in upstate New York, written a mere 10 days before the start of the decisive Emergency National Convention of the Socialist Party. Berger blames the moderate wing of the party for the current discord: "We have always played too much with the revolutionary phrase. In this game of would-be radical phrases, the one who can play the game the hardest will naturally win. And the emptier the barrel the louder the sound. I am sick and tired of the business. If there is to be a revolution some day, I and my crowd will surely be there. But that continuous threat of a 'revolution' reminds me of a man who is continuously brandishing a revolver which is not loaded." Berger notes the difference between the young communist Marx and the mature socialist and remarks to Hillquit that "those who believe in communism, not in socialism, should be kind enough to start an organization of their own, which, by the way, the consistent fellows among them have already done." Berger wishes the Russian Bolsheviki well but does not believe that their experience is transferable to America. He believes neither in dictatorship, the Bolshevik concept of an International, nor the Berne International -- "cowed by the war patriots and completely dominated by English Laborites," whom he characterizes as "weak sisters" and "dull." As for the SPA Emergency Convention: "What the outcome of our convention in Chicago will be, I don't know and don't care -- because Wisconsin is in a good position to go it alone for awhile, and to for a new center for crystallization."

 

"Open Letter 'To All Party Members' from Alfred Wagenknecht, Socialist Party Executive Secretary pro tempore." [pub. Aug. 20, 1919] The Executive Secretary of the dissident Left Wing Section claiming victory in the 1919 SP election published this communique "to all party members" in the pages of the friendly Socialist press. Wagenknecht points out the constitutional July 1, 1919, date of termination for the outgoing NEC and reemphasizes that State Secretaries should not transmit special convention assessment funds to the outgoing NEC and its Executive Secretary, Adolph Germer, but should rather send these monies with the delegates themselves to the convention. For example, Wagenknecht notes, the outgoing NEC was even then in the midst of expelling the state organization of Ohio from the Socialist Party, adding that "had Ohio sent the proceeds from the sale of convention assessment stamps to Adolph Germer, it would have lost this money, for it would never have been paid to the Ohio delegates to defray their fare to the convention." Furthermore, the Left Wing had no denial to make with regards to the allegation that it made use of bloc voting, emphasizing that such tactics were not fraudulent and additionally had been the very mechanism by which Adolph Germer had been elected as Executive Secretary in the previous election. Germer "did not protest at that time because he won by it. He protests now because he and his fellow moderates lost by it," Wagenknecht states. Wagenknecht charges that the call of the outgoing NEC to "wait for the convention" to decide the party controversy is brazenly hypocritical, noting that although the Left Wing is supposed to wait, "in the meantime...the former National Executive Committee plus Germer, DO NOT WAIT until the national convention before carrying out their plans. They 'expel' right and left in an effort to make the national convention 'sure' for them."

 

"Former National Executive Committee Thinks It Rules by Divine Right: Sits Like a King Upon the Throne and Calmly Votes to Expel Ohio," by Elmer T. Allison [Aug. 20, 1919] Opinion piece from the pages of the Ohio Socialist attributed to co-editor Elmer Allison on the pending expulsion of the Socialist Party of Ohio from the Socialist Party of America. The Ohio party was charged with three transgressions, Allison notes, including recognizing suspended language federations as part of the organization, failing to send funds collected from sale of special convention assessment stamps directly to the National Office, and deciding in convention to affiliate with the Left Wing Section. "All of the above alleged "crimes" are acts of the recent state convention of the Ohio party. These acts have not yet been ratified by the state membership, and will not become acts of the state party until so ratified. Balloting upon these acts does not close until the last of August," Allison notes. Nevertheless, the outgoing NEC, who according to the SPA Constitution Article 3, Section 3, had their term terminate effective July 1, 1919, was rushing to expel the Socialist Party of Ohio ahead of the forthcoming Emergency National Convention. Regardless, the state's 16 delegates would be sent to Chicago to "pick up the pieces" of the party shattered by the suspension and expulsion happy former NEC, Allison notes.

 

"Communique to the NEC of the Socialist Party of America Announcing the Result of Committee Motion No. 56 from Executive Secretary Adolph Germer, Aug. 20, 1919." Executive Secretary of the outgoing NEC Adolph Germer announces the result of NEC member Fred Krafft's August 13 motion to expel the Socialist Party of Ohio from the Socialist Party of America (this immediately ahead of the August 30 Emergency National Convention of the SPA). The motion passed by a tally of 8 to 1, with committeeman Wagenknecht refusing to vote and 5 others not submitting ballots. Those voting for the Krafft motion included Victor Berger, Dan Hogan, Morris Hillquit, Krafft, James Oneal, Abraham Shiplacoff, Seymour Stedman, and John Work. Includes the verbatim explanations made by Berger, Hillquit, Krafft, Oneal, Stedman, and Wagenknecht appended at the time of the submission of their ballots.

“'Radicals Check List' Framed to Spy upon Bourbons’ Opponents." (New York Call) [Aug. 20, 1919]  Third installment of the New York Call's week-long exposé detailing the contents of the Post Office Department's mimeographed compendium of "privileged" saints and "suspect" radical sinners, the "Check List of Radicals." The paper reproduces its own entry in full, as well as excerpts from the reports on a number of Socialist worthies, including Nora Connolly (daughter of the executed Irish revolutionary leader), Victor L. Berger, and Louise Bryant. An exaggerated obsession of the Rand School of Social Science as some sort of directing center of the American revolutionary movement is evident in some of the reports. "That a list prepared by the Post Office censors should be a 'Check List of Radicals,' rather than a 'Guide to Pro-Germans,' is in itself an indication of this purpose," the Call writer notes.

"All Haberman Mail Pried Into: No Personal Writings Sacred from Snooping Eyes of Bourbon Agents." (New York Call) [Aug. 21, 1919]  Fourth installment of the New York Call's exposé of the Post Office Department's "Radical Check List," providing biographical details of prominent radical individuals and organizations for the edification of local postal censorship agents. The People's Council of America, former New York Socialist Assemblyman Charles Garfinkel, New York Call Managing Editor Charles Ervin, and Mexican cooperative store organizer Robert Haberman are the main subjects for exposition here. The full listing for Haberman is provided to demonstrate the length to which the government had been willing to go to compile biographical detail on those suspected of being its enemies.

 

"A Message from Convict No. 9653," by Joseph W. Sharts [Aug. 21, 1919] In August 1920, State Secretary of the Socialist Party of Ohio, Alfred Wagenknecht, dispatched Marguerite Prevey of Akron and Joseph Sharts of Dayton to Atlanta Federal Penitentiary to obtain imprisoned Socialist leader Gene Debs' signature on legal documents seeking his release on a writ of habeas corpus on the basis of his punitive transfer from Moundsville (WV) Federal Penitentiary to Atlanta. At his first meeting with the committee (including Debs' Atlanta lawyer) he hesitated, asking for time to think about the proposal. The next day, Debs again balked, asking for 30 more days to further consider the matter. With regards to the Left/Right factional war in the Socialist Party, Sharts quotes Debs as saying that "he had implicit faith in the intelligence of the rank and file of the movement and their ability to come to a common understanding without any compromise of revolutionary principles; and that their present differences can be reconciled." Debs finds fault with the position of both sides in the factional war, with Sharts indicating that Debs felt that "One side in the present controversy has overemphasized industrial action at the expense of political action. But the other side has overemphasized political action to the exclusion of industrial action and has temporized too much with craft unionism." The principle of state autonomy was supported by Debs as a possible means of determining whether each state adopted or failed to adopt a program including "immediate demands."

 

"Letter to Patrick S. Nagle in Kingfisher, OK from Adolph Germer in Chicago, Aug. 21, 1919." This letter from Socialist Party Executive Secretary Adolph Germer to his factional ally Patrick Nagel in Oklahoma demonstrates that there was very little mystery with regards to the probable strategy of the Left Wing Section at the forthcoming SPA Emergency National Convention in Chicago. "The 'Left Wingers' have rented halls in the same building, but on the first floor. Our convention is on the second floor. I don't know just what their program is, but I am inclined to think that they are going to survey the line-up of delegates and if they find themselves in the minority, which according to present calculations they will, they are going to withdraw to their hall and then decide what course to follow," Germer writes. "They have rented the downstairs hall for three days. In those three days they are going to try to influence as many delegates as they can reach to leave the Socialist Party convention and go with them to the Communists," he accurately predicted, although not envisioning that the Communist Party convention would block unity with the Socialist Party Left Wing group.

 

"Germer's Grand March," by Jack Carney [Aug. 22, 1919] In the last weeks before the Socialist Party's 1919 Emergency National Convention in Chicago both sides in the impending battle jockeyed for position, the outgoing NEC attempting to reorganize summarily various state organizations and the Left Wing attempting to elect solid delegate slates of their own. This article from the Left Wing Duluth, MN weekly Truth by editor Jack Carney details the attendance of meetings in Minnesota by the Executive Secretary of the Regulars, Adolph Germer. On Sunday, August 17, Carney states that a "secret meeting" of the State Executive Board was held with Germer in attendance, at which "all referendums of the party that have just been voted upon were declared illegal" -- including a referendum which recalled the State Executive Board and elected a solid Left Wing slate for Minnesota to the SP Convention. A follow up official meeting of the SEB on August 18 was "disbanded" by State Secretary Charles Dirba, who "was wise to their game," Carney states. "Germer endeavored to use strong arm tactics, but he was unable to do so because there were other comrades present that would have been able to settle matters somewhat unevenly," Carney adds. An appeal was issued for Left Wingers to attend an emergency Minnesota state convention to be held August 24 in Minneapolis, at which "the rank and file of the party must decide what it is going to do." Carney includes a complete vote count for the recently concluded Minnesota convention delegate election, showing a smashing victory for the candidates of the Left Wing, by an average margin of about 5 to 1.

 

"Report on the Minnesota Organization to the National Executive Committee of the Socialist Party of America from Adolph Germer, Executive Secretary, Aug. 22, 1919." Executive Secretary of the outgoing NEC of the Socialist Party relates his recent trip to Minneapolis at the behest of the Regulars on the State Executive Board of the Socialist Party of Minnesota. Germer states that on the evening of August 17 a "membership meeting" was held, at which "a number of the 'Left Wingers' were present and indulged in their usual tirade and misstatements, but the vast majority of the meeting was with us." The next evening, the State Executive Committee met and State Secretary Charles Dirba announced the result of a number of recently concluded party referendum in the state, including one which recalled the entire State Executive Board in question. The recalled committee refused to recognize the legality of this vote, however, citing the fact that Dirba allowed members of language federations suspended by the National Executive Committee of the SPA to vote. The recalled SEB and Germer thereupon bolted to meet in another office, at which they declared the position of State Secretary vacant and named S. Friedman as temporary State Secretary of Minnesota.

 

"The Left Wing Answers," by I.E. Ferguson [Aug. 22, 1919] National Left Wing Section leader I.E. Ferguson takes on 7 commonly leveled charges against adherents of the Left Wing. He states that the Left Wing does not seek to destroy Socialist Party unity -- rather that the organization has long existed on the basis of a "false unity." Rather the Left Wing seeks to build unity on a new set of principles. Thus, the Left Wing does not, as charged, play into the hands of the capitalists, but rather threatens the capitalists by building a united and focused revolutionary organization. With regard to the purported affection for revolutionary phrases, Ferguson replies that there is nothing wrong with this, that the phrase sometimes leads to action: "It is when the revolutionary phrases seize the mind of the masses and become translated into revolutionary action that the proletariat wins its triumphs." The charge that American workers are not ready for revolution is dismissed as a salve for the "nervous fears of the timid and cautious." The important thing, Ferguson declares, is that America needs a revolution and that objective conditions for this social revolution were ripening. The charge that the Left Wing advocated the use of violence is dismissed as a false argument; violence in the labor movement was the product either of " capitalistic provocation or by individual act unrelated to the organization propaganda or tactics." The allegation that the Left Wing had no constructive program was parried with the assertion that the "catalog of occupational and administrative reforms" of the reformist Socialists was "constructive of nothing, unless it be a more efficient Capitalism, a better-ordered slavery of the wage-worker." On the other hand, "The Left Wing declares that the first constructive step is the establishment of the Dictatorship of the Proletariat. Only after this step can there be proletarian democracy and socialization of industry," according to Ferguson. Finally, to the charge that the Left Wing was an emotional response to the Russian Revolution, Ferguson answers that while "there is a large element of emotionalism" in the response to the Russian Revolution, "such emotionalism is the very life of our movement. It must be tempered and tested. But without it we would not be a movement of flesh and blood, but a sectarian creed of abstract dogma."

 

"The Martens Affair: Report of CEC Representative Gurin to the 5th Regular Convention of the Federation of Russian Branches, Communist Party of America: Detroit, MI -- Aug. 22, 1919." The published historiographical literature indicates there was bad blood between the Russian Socialist Federation headed by Translator-Secretary Alexander Stoklitsky and Secretary Oscar Tyverovsky and the Soviet Russian Government Bureau in New York headed by Ludwig Martens. Little background has been provided, a crude grasp to expropriate Soviet funds has been intimated. This report by Russian Federation CEC member Gurin to the 5th Convention of the RF presents the full tale of the battle between the Russian Federation and the Martens Bureau for the first time. Rather than a grab for cash, the antagonism between Martens and the RF is depicted as the by-product of a struggle to submit the one-man managed RSGB to workers' control, the members of the RF seen as expatriate but fully vested members of the Russian working class abroad. Free of any external supervision and inspection, Martens had made a series of "errors," Gurin states. Particularly galling was the fact that for every staff position at the RSGB, "Martens has appointed either a Right Wing Socialist or an impartial person. You will find there an anti-Bolshevist Nuorteva, Lomonosov, and Mensheviki -- old man [Isaac] Hourwich [father of Novyi Mir editor Nicholas, incidentally], who sheds tears at the thought of the dispersal of the Constituent Assembly, and the well known [Morris] Hillquit." Gurin continues by noting "We are not against the inviting of bourgeois experts to these jobs. But at the very moment when any blind man could see that any day there might be a break in the Socialist Party, filling vacancies in the local Soviet mission by Right Wing Socialists would mean that the sympathy of the Soviet Bureau was with the Right Wing Socialists in their struggle with the Left. Just think! The representatives of Revolutionary Socialism in the US supports the Right Socialists in their struggle with the Revolutionary Socialists!" After a stream of orators spoke on the question, almost universally expressing condemnation of Martens for failing to submit to workers' control of the activities of his bureau, Martens had been given the last word in the debate, not subject to ordinary time limit. "Comrade Martens in his reply continued to state that he could not fulfill the demands of control over his activity... His opinion was that he as a representative of Soviet Russia had a right to present any demands to the Federation and the Federation must execute them." Martens asked the RF to renounce its demands for supervisory control over the activities of the RSGB. In the reply to debate, reporting CEC member Gurin unleashed a withering barrage at Martens: Martens had thrown representatives of the RF out of his office, had threatened to have his opponents blacklisted in Soviet Russia, had broken his promises, and had refused to submit to the reasonable authority of the Russian revolutionary socialist movement in America. A resolution was moved declaring that "all the activities of Comrade Martens as a local representative of the Russian worker-peasant government, as well as the activity of the Bureau and its clerks, must be under the complete control of the local Bolshevik (Communist) organizations." This resolution was approved in a massive landslide by the RF, 127 in favor, 8 opposed, and 15 abstaining.

"Slaveholders’ Party Rule Marks Labor Leaders as Men to Watch: Bourbon Democrats Snoop and Sneak and Open Private Letters." (New York Call) [Aug. 22, 1919]  Fifth installment of the New York Call's ongoing effort to "name names" of those subject to systematic investigation by Post Office Department inspectors, named in that organization's mimeographed "Radical Check List." Included in this piece are Socialist leaders Morris Hillquit, James Oneal, Algernon Lee, Walter Thomas Mills, Joseph Cannon, Rose Pastor Stokes, Norman Thomas, and Robert Minor, among others. Notable are the absence of any names prominent in the dissident Left Wing Section -- presumably editorially omitted for factional reasons. The effect is to make propaganda on behalf of the ruling factional group of the organization.

"US Spydom Praised by British Confreres for Rare Efficiency: List of Suspects Exchanged “In Spirit of Comradeship and Mutual Helpfulness” -- London Times of July 4 Lets Secret Leak Out." (NY Call) [Aug. 23, 1919]  Part of continuing coverage of American domestic spying operations that dominated the pages of the Socialist daily The New York Call during the middle of August 1919. This piece quotes a July 4 article in the Times of London by an unnamed British intelligence official [Robert Nathan?] lauding the cooperation between American and British intelligence officials engaged in anti-radical activities. Lt. Col. Nicolas Biddle, head of US Military Intelligence in New York, Cdr. Spencer Eddy, head of US Naval Intelligence, and Department of Justice officials Bruce Bielaski, William M. Offley, and Charles F. DeWoody are praised by name for their zeal and efficiency. "The British officers had access to the files of each and every department, and in like manner the British files were at the disposition of the American confreres," the British intelligence official notes.

"Editor of Tribune and Journal Owner in 'Hist' Book’s Coils: Steinmetz, Electrical Genius; Catholic Editor, and Minister Who Repeated 23rd Psalm are Also Put Down in Post Office’s Little Tabulation." (NY Call) [Aug. 23, 1919]  Another passel of names from the leaked mimeographed list of "Radical Suspects" produced by the Post Office Department to aid with mail censorship. The Call writer takes particular pleasure in the inclusion of newspaper magnate William Randolph Hearst and rival editor Garet Garrett of the New York Journal on the list, calling the accusation that Hearst was pro-German "a silly lie" and noting that Garrett -- despite conservative pro-German sympathies before the war -- had been brazen in slinging accusations of pro-Germanism against others during wartime. Also included in this installment are inventor Charles Steinmetz, several leading pacifists, Pittsburgh attorney Jacob Margolis, and Caleb Harrison of the Socialist Labor Party, among others.

 

"Call for a Convention for the Purpose of Establishing the Communist Party of America," signed by I.E. Ferguson and Dennis Batt. [Aug. 23, 1919] The National Council of the Left Wing Section of the Socialist Party of America, established in the summer of 1919 as a central organization for the organized Left Wing movement in the SPA, found itself deeply divided over tactics. One group -- predominantly anglophonic and tending to be individuals not yet suspended or expelled from the party by Executive Secretary Adolph Germer and the outgoing NEC -- sought to stay in the SPA through the Chicago Convention, attempting to win control of the party or winning as many party members to the cause as possible if the effort should prove a losing proposition. The other group -- consisting in large measure of the members of the 7 suspended Language Federations and the suspended state party of Michigan -- sought an immediate break with the SPA and formation of a new Communist Party. Ultimately, those favoring immediate action won the day on the Left Wing National Council, and this convention call for the formation of the Communist Party of America was issued and published in the press. The rapid pace of events is emphasized by the fact that this call, which outlined an organizational perspective and defined the basis for participation in the Founding Convention of the CPA, was published in the Revolutionary Age barely a week before the start of the Chicago convention.

 

"The Left Wing Unites," by Louis C. Fraina [Aug. 23, 1919] In this unsigned editorial from Revolutionary Age, Louis Fraina makes known the decision of a big majority of the Left Wing National Council to join the "Federation of Russian Federations" in calling a Sept. 1, 1919 convention to establish a Communist Party of America. In joining in the issuance of the call for the new party, Fraina states that the "split of the real Communist elements of the Left Wing" was effectively liquidated. "The agreement on a joint call for a convention to organize a Communist Party on September 1 unites the Communist elements in the Left Wing, gives each the opportunity of casting off their non-Communist adherents, and uniting all the Communists irresistibly for the conquest of power in the new party," Fraina asserts. This move towards immediate unity was made necessary by the failure of the Left Wing-dominated "new NEC" of the Socialist Party to issue a call for convention under their own auspices; thus, those Socialists coming to Chicago on August 30 would be attending a convention which had been called and effectively packed by the outgoing NEC, with certain defeat in the offing. Only 2 bitter anti-Federationists on the National Council (Jim Larkin and Ben Gitlow) out of the total of 7 remained committed to the old tactic of attempting to win at the Socialist Party Convention and refused to join in issuing the call. "Some of the problems in dispute are still unsolved, but they will be solved at the Communist Party Convention," Fraina notes, adding that "It is indisputable that the old party is not in accord with revolutionary Socialism. Deprived of the stimulus of the Left Wing agitation in the party, it must more and more rely upon counterrevolutionary moderates, more and more become a Labor Party in fact if not in name." Fraina declares that "the controversy within the Left Wing must now end; the few comrades on both sides who are disgruntled with the decision to unite are acting against the Communist Party."



"Debs Put on Bourbon Spies’ List: Snooper’s Displeasure Falls on Italian Poet and Socialist Official." (NY Call) [August 24, 1919]  The New York Call continues its propaganda campaign against the internal espionage activities of the Wilson administration with this further installment listing targets of the Post Office Department's "Radical Check List." Included in this piece are Socialist orator Gene Debs, poet Arturo Giovanitti, Japanese Socialist K. Aranata, journalist Paul Wallace Hanna, Crystal Eastman of The Liberator, and New York Socialist Party functionary Julius Gerber.

"Untermyer Rouses Bourbons’ Ire: Pacifist Clergyman Listed as Suspect by Administration Spies." (NY Call) [Aug. 25, 1919]  Final installment of the New York Call's serialized expose of the postal censorship list of the Woodrow Wilson Administration. Included here are several non-socialist public figures, including lawyer Samuel Untermyer (who had represented the Rand School of Social Science in its legal defense), anti-conscription Populist newspaper publisher and former Presidential candidate Thomas E. Watson, and mild mannered pacifist Reverend of the Church of the Holy Trinity Howard Mellish. The unnamed author optimistically declares that "the espionage system sounds the death-knell of the Democratic Party, just as the Alien and Sedition law sounded that of the Federalist Party, which fell, never to rise again."

"St. Louis, Missouri Local Completely Reorganized." (NY Call) [events of Aug. 13-25, 1919]  This short piece from the New York Call documents another example of the cavalier manner in which the dominant Regular faction of the Socialist Party violated party legality during the days leading up to the 1919 Emergency National Convention that formalized a split into rival Socialist and Communist organizations. With the Regulars outvoted 16-15 by the Left Wing at a meeting of the General Committee of Local St. Louis, a general membership meeting desired by the Regulars was moved to the same time and place as a public meeting featuring a prominent Left Wing speaker. The minority appealed the decision to the Regular-dominated State Committee, which declared this decision "in violation of our party constitution and contrary to all precedents in the Socialist Party." The State Committee then -- without notification or hearings -- rushed a decision to summarily dissolve Local St. Louis, appoint a committee to seize its property, and to dispatch National Secretary Adolph Germer to the city to supervise the "reorganization" the Local just ahead of the Aug. 30 National Convention, thus effectively expelling its Left Wing membership. William Brandt, Otto Pauls, and Gus Hoehn were appointed as a troika "to temporarily take possession of all the property of Local St. Louis, in the name of the Socialist Party of Missouri, until the Local was properly organized."

"Official Minutes of the General Committee of the Socialist Party of St. Louis, August 25, 1919."  Unable to win the day democratically in the General Committee of the Socialist Party of St. Louis, Secretary William Brandt went rogue via the regular-dominated Executive Committee, unilaterally instituting a new party loyalty pledge and establishing a "temporary General Committee" of loyal center-right faithful. This new entity met for the first time on August 25 and formally endorsed Brandt's plan for reorganization of 7 Left Wing branches, passing a resolution denying membership in Local St. Louis to any party member who refused to sign the Executive Committee's new pledge cards. Included among these running afoul of this new loyalty oath were two of the four delegates elected to the Emergency National Convention by the Socialist Party of Missouri -- Proske and Braun -- who had failed to sign the Executive Committee's cards. Proske attended this meeting, protesting the Executive Committee's reorganization actions and refused once again to sign the new party loyalty pledge.

 

"Ohio State Organization Expelled from Party." (NY Call) [Aug. 25, 1919] Short news tidbit buried on page 7 of the New York Call making note of the seemingly trivial detail that the National Executive Committee of the Socialist Party, slated to leave office on June 30, 1919, had expelled the entire Socialist Party of Ohio "for repeated and flagrant violations of the state and national platforms and constitutions of the party." This action conveniently took place about 1 week before the gathering of the SPA's Emergency National Convention in Chicago. "Under the guidance of a small, compact, and well-oiled political machine, headed by two individuals named Ruthenberg and Wagenknecht, the party has been repeatedly sabotaged and its work crippled. The violations have become so intolerable that, upon request of a large number of loyal Socialists of the Buckeye state, the charter of the state organization has been revoked and the Socialists who are loyal to the organization are reorganizing upon the basis of the Socialist platform and constitution," the unsigned article notes.

 

"Notification to the Socialist Party of America of Changes to the State Executive Board of the Socialist Party of Minnesota by Charles Dirba, Secretary." [Aug. 25, 1919] On Sunday, August 24, 1919, an Emergency Convention of the Socialist Party of Minnesota was held in Minneapolis at which it was decided to make the recent referendum vote recalling the State Executive Board (Regular faction) effective immediately. A new 7 member Left Wing SEB was elected including future Communist Party stalwart Clarence Hathaway. "Please take immediate notice of this," Left Wing State Secretary Charles Dirba writes.

 

Bylaws of the Federation of Russian Branches of the Communist Party of America [convention of August 20-28, 1919]. This is the complete text of the constitution approved by the Federation in August 1919 at its 5th Convention in Detroit. This document sheds light upon the organizational structure of the Russian Federation, one of the most important institutions in the Communist Party of America.

 

"The Communist Party of America," by Nicholas I. Hourwich [Gurevich] [Aug. 26, 1919]. This is the report delivered to the Federation of Russian Branches in August 1919 at its 5th Convention in Detroit. The son of a long-time Socialist Labor Party member, Isaac Hourwich, Nicholas Hourwich was formerly on the 3 member Editorial Board of the Russian Federation's newspaper, Novyi Mir, and was named responsible Editor by the 5th Convention. He was active in the Left Wing Movement and a founder and leading figure in the Communist Party of America from 1919.

 

"The Socialist Party Convention: An Editorial in the New York Call," by James Oneal [Aug. 27, 1919] Editorial from the New York Call by one of the primary leaders of the SPA's Regular faction in the 1919 factional war. "It is certain that the convention will simply be a formal recognition of a schism within the organization which has been developed by skilled propagandists," Oneal confidently predicts. "Just as at the beginning of the war a hysterical type developed and separated from the movement, so the end of the war brings with it a similar type determined on the same course," Oneal declares, emphasizing that this dissident Left Wing is "by no means harmonious" and is rent with internal divisions of its own. "A temporary truce has been formed upon the basis of organizing a party of their own without any further activity within the Socialist Party. This will again throw them together, and in the absence of the one tie that held the groups together, a common antagonism to the Socialist Party, it is fairly certain that they will not maintain unity for any long period. The reason for this is the multiplicity of views they must try to reconcile, and these views diverge so much that permanent reconciliation is practically hopeless," Oneal presciently asserts. Oneal foresees the party "adjusting itself" with respect to program and policies, due to changing conditions "in keeping with a militant, fighting organization of the working class."

 

"New Jersey Delegates to the Convention." [Aug. 1919] Short list of the candidates for delegate to the Emergency National Convention of the Socialist Party of America hailing from the state of New Jersey, including the vote count for each. A delegation (with the exception of Krafft) committed to radical reorientation of the party but opposing the tactics of the organized Left Wing Section was the result of the vote, the veracity of which was never challenged by the Regular faction (although leading vote-getter Fred Harwood was challenged at the convention for having sat with the "new" NEC at its sole physical gathering, July 26-27, 1919). Elected as delegates were: Valentine Bausch, Stephen Bircher, Fred Harwood, Frank Hubschmidt, Frederick Krafft, Henry Petzold, Patrick L. Quinlan, Rose Weiss, and Louis F. Wolff. A number of these ultimately bolted the SPA convention to the founding convention of the Communist Labor Party, while Fred Harwood, after being seated late in the SPA's proceedings, threw up his hands and went home in disgust, quitting the radical movement.

 

"Report to the National Executive Committee, Socialist Party of America," by Adolph Germer [August 27, 1919] Extensive "State of the Party" report by Executive Secretary Adolph Germer of the Socialist Party to the members of the outgoing NEC on the eve of the 1919 Emergency National Convention. Germer provides state-by-state assessments for Michigan, Massachusetts, Minnesota, and Ohio -- the critical regions of conflict between the Regular and the Left Wing factions. Germer recounts developments in the struggle of the provisional NEC to obtain control of party headquarters from Germer. He notes that the Left Wing had rented a hall and committee room in the same building being used by the SPA for its Emergency National Convention for three days, Sept. 1-3. "The reasons for renting a hall and rooms in the same building in which the National Convention is held, of course, are obvious and need no comment," Germer states. Germer makes specific recommendations about the party constitution, conventions, international relations, dues, and the place of the language federations. With regard to the latter, Germer indicates that "One of two things should be done, either the language federations should be made autonomous bodies and have a working relation with the Socialist Party, or the federations as such should be abolished and the propaganda and organization work should be conducted by language organizers employed directly by the party and under the control of the party." Germer provides a summary of financial affairs which shows the party over $20,000 in debt -- mostly owed for the recent purchase of party headquarters and to the party's women's propaganda fund, which had been raided to balance the budget. Of particular value is a state-by-state summary of actually paid dues by month for the period January to July 1919. These statistics indicate that with all the suspensions, expulsions, and a dues strike by the Left Wing, between April and July paid membership in the SPA had plummeted from well over 100,000 to just under 40,000.

 

"Preparations for the National Convention to Organize the Communist Party of America," by Louis Loebl [events of Aug. 27, 1919] This Bureau of Investigation report was written by Louis Loebl, a Special Agent who worked undercover in St. Louis, attending various meetings under the guise of a radical. Loebl went to Communist Party headquarters on Blue Island Avenue in Chicago with a view to meeting I.E. Ferguson, who he had heard speak in St. Louis the week previous. Ferguson was not there at CPA headquarters, but Loebl was able to talk at length with Michiganders Dennis Batt and Oakley Johnson, learning that they expected between 280 and 300 delegates to be in attendance at the founding convention, scheduled to open on Sept. 1. Loebl spotted Hungarian communist J. Frankel in another room at headquarters, whom he had played a part in arresting in 1914, and had felt himself compelled to leave the premises rather than risk having his cover blown.

 

"Party Delegates Ready to Meet Big Problems at National Convention," by Herman Michelson [Aug. 29, 1919] Initial coverage of the forthcoming Emergency National Convention of the Socialist Party of America by the correspondent of the New York Call. Michelson covers the report of Executive Secretary Adolph Germer to the outgoing National Executive Committee in Chicago on the eve of the convention. Starting 1919 with a paid membership of over 109,500, the Socialist Party had lost nearly 70,000 members through suspensions, expulsions, and disorganization accompanying the factional war. Germer portrayed the catastrophic decline in the most neutral light possible, stating that the reduced figure "cannot be taken as a legitimate showing, due to the internal controversy." Michelson likewise gave the Regular faction every benefit of the doubt, noting that while "the membership has been cut down almost two-thirds; the National Office is practically without funds; the forces of reaction are ever welding their ranks closer in their united assault on the party," nevertheless "the spirit manifest here tonight, on the eve of the convention, is one of energy, enthusiasm, and hopeful, vigorous work to rebuild a still greater party in 1920 than the one which polled nearly 1 million votes in 1912." Michelson contributes the information that the Regular faction had commenced the convention's work in advance of the opening of the actual gathering, observing that "in a dozen rooms at headquarters committees are at work preparing resolutions, reports, platforms, and a manifesto of the party's position" and adding that "all this will speed up the work of the convention tremendously."

 

"Call to the Convention to Organize a National Labor Party in the United States." [Aug. 30, 1919] This is the call for a convention to establish a national Labor Party, to begin Nov. 22, 1919, in Chicago. The basis of representation was announced as: "1 delegate from each state or local organization with a membership of 500 or less and 1 delegate for each 500 additional members or major fraction." The convention is said to be summoned for the "formation of a political party of hand and brain workers based upon political, industrial, and social democracy embodying the following: 1. Restoration of all civil liberties. 2. The national ownership and democratic management of the means of transportation and community mines, finance, and all other monopolies and natural resources. 3. The abolition of excessive land ownership and holding land out of use for speculative purposes." "All Labor Parties and bona fide labor organizations (including city central bodies) and cooperative societies" are called upon to send delegates to the gathering.

 

"Introductory Remarks to the 1919 Emergency National Convention of the Socialist Party of America: Chicago, IL -- August 30, 1919," by Adolph Germer The 1919 Emergency National Convention was a landmark in the history of American radicalism -- the event at which the split of the Socialist Party of America into "Socialist" and "Communist" organizations was finalized. The convention proved to be a one-sided battle, with the Regular faction in control of the National Executive Committee and key State Executive Committees and able by means of wholesale suspensions and expulsions to dominate the delegate roster and to further perpetuate itself by means of delegate challenges and tight control of the body's Credentials Committee. Here, for the first time, are the remarks made by Executive Secretary Adolph Germer, field general of the Regular faction, at the opening of the convention. "Tremendous changes in thought" had taken place in the 5 years since the outbreak of World War I, Germer states -- changes which had augmented the preexisting factional divisions of the party. The situation had made the convocation of a gathering to set party policy and program in the new world situation and to thus "unite the working classes of this country, that we might follow the splendid example set by our comrades in Russia," Germer states. Germer hastily adds that this is not to say that Russian tactics are to be emulated in the greatly different American political and economic conditions -- "our methods will have to be somewhat different in accomplishing our goal," Germer indicates. Germer declares that disagreement over tactics is only part of the ongoing factional controversy in the SPA, adding that this situation is not discouraging to him: "I always believed that this factional division leads to healthy methods, provided it is not carried to the extent where the organization is torn into parts and shreds, and leaves us an easy prey to our common enemy." Unfortunately, Germer continues, "personal slanders and conspiracies against individuals that have been engaged in for no other reason than to break down the confidence of the membership" in the party's elected leadership. These Left Wing critics offer "no specific statements, but general gossip, rumor, suggestion, innuendo," says Germer, adding that he welcomes an open investigation by the convention of the activities of its National Executive Committee in the previous months.

 

"Keynote Address to the Emergency National Convention of the Socialist Party of America: Chicago, IL -- August 30, 1919," by Seymour Stedman The first order of business of the seminal 1919 Emergency National Convention was the election of a chairman of the day, a post handily won by Regular Seymour Stedman over Left Winger Joseph Coldwell of Rhode Island, by a vote of 88-37. Upon his election, Stedman delivered the traditional keynote address to the gathering. Stedman recounts the history of the previous 5 years, in which the workers of Europe, "many of them drilled in economics by Marx and Engels." went to war against one another. The Socialist Party of America stood out by way of contrast, Stedman indicates, adopting the St. Louis Resolution against the war and standing true to its principles despite the "attacks of the mob on the streets, or rage from the [judicial] bench." Rather than be erased by the initial repression, despite losses of numerous locals in small town America, the membership of the Socialist Party soon began to grow. "This served to provoke more desperate measures against us," says Stedman. "Our National Office was raided again and again. Small papers of the workers were suppressed; foreign language papers were suppressed. The privilege of the mails was denied to our leading dailies. Our members were arrested, jailed, convicted and sentenced to long terms of imprisonment. The liberties which we were supposed to enjoy were throttled, and constitutional guarantees we found to be merely academic declarations." Stedman's tone is measured, mentioning the Left Wing insurgency almost as an aside, accusing this group of "misjudging entirely the psychology" of the American working class movement. This group "commenced an agitation in the party; not solely to bring before our national convention their propositions, but to declare that they alone held the secret of success and to impose it upon the party; and upon refusal of the membership to accept their proposition to launch a new political party. With many of them this has been carried our in the formation of the Communist Party." The split of the SPA is thus judged by Stedman to be an accomplished fact from the opening gavel of the 1919 convention.

 

"Socialists Open Convention After 'Lefts' Are Ousted: Police and Department of Justice Take Notes as Party's Proceedings are Opened in Chicago -- Important Committee is Selected," by Herman Michelson [Aug. 30, 1919] Coverage of the first day of activity at the Emergency National Convention of the Socialist Party of America by the correspondent of the New York Call. After witnessing a single day of activity on the convention floor, electing a chairman of the day, listening to opening remarks from Seymour Stedman and Executive Secretary Adolph Germer, and naming a Credentials Committee, reporter Michelson seems ready to declare victory and go home. He optimistically declares: "Very little remains of the Left Wing as a rival or even a disrupting force in the party. It is practically certain there will be no Left Wing convention. The convention will adopt a stand, expressed in a manifesto that is expected to satisfy all those in the Left Wing who are contending for what they believe to be revolutionary principles. The others probably will be gathered back into the folds of the various "progressive" wings of the old parties, from which they emerged to play a brief role as ultra-revolutionists." Michelson relates the tale of "clearing the hall" in advance of the convention's opening as follows: "John Reed, prominent in the councils of the Left, tried to brush past Julius Gerber of New York, who was aiding in the seating arrangements. Gerber demanded that Reed get an admission card, and they got into a brief tussle, in which several other Left Wingers thought they would aid Reed. This was the only disorder that occurred, despite the lurid stories sent out by the press associations. Gerber, seeing that an attempt was being made to rush the convention, determined to clear the hall. A squad of policemen had been detailed to the convention by headquarters, and he asked them to get everybody out, which they did, without difficulty or violence."

 

"'Left Wing' Attempt to Capture Convention Hall Proves Failure." (NY Call) [Aug. 30, 1919] This unsigned account of the first day of the convention of the Socialist Party of America (possibly contributed by Call editorial page editor James Oneal) offers an alternative account of the legendary "clearing the hall" incident. Rather than threatened fisticuffs between Reed and Gerber at the door, this rather less colorful version has the convention hall successfully infiltrated by "John Reed and a picked company of free-lances." The article states that "some 50 men and women occupied Machinists' Hall auditorium, disporting themselves in the delegates' seats without benefit of credentials. When, half an hour later, Adolph Germer, National Secretary of the Socialist Party, and his staff arrived to open the convention, they were confronted with the choice of either surrendering the hall to the Lefts or of insisting on their right to the auditorium." The onus of having to call in the armed forces of reaction to clear the hall is shifted from Executive Secretary Germer in this version of events, which maintains that "Germer felt that the problem rested with the management of the hall, and the management, recognizing the Socialist Party as entitled to what they had contracted for, asked the intruders to get out. The Lefts refused, whereupon the management obliged the Lefts by letting them pose as they planned and called in two corpulent policemen. With smiles of triumph wreathing their faces, the Lefts then went into caucus to capitalize their martyrdom." Text of a printed statement from the Left Wing subsequently distributed to convention delegates is included. The article baits a number of the Left Wing leaders for their fashion sense and social origins, including as targets of ridicule "John Reed, always picturesque in his Norfolk-cut suit and hatless; Rose Pastor Stokes, in neat tailor-made blue; Maximilian Cohen, crisp and cool in his Palm Beach suit of light tan; Louis C. Fraina, with his neatly trimmed Van Dyke beard; Max Eastman, sunburned and debonair in blue serge -- these are the leaders in this offshoot of the 'revolutionary proletariat' as against the 'bourgeois' Socialist Party."

 

"Debate on Seating the Minnesota Delegation at the Emergency National Convention of the Socialist Party of America: Chicago, IL -- August 31, 1919." From the opening gavel there was little, if any, drama about the outcome of the 1919 Emergency National Convention. The so-called "Right Wing" Regulars had maneuvered themselves into a position of clear control in the face of a Left Wing split over strategy towards to the convention. Despite its preordained outcome, there was drama and a defining movement at the Socialist Party convention, however, -- the extensive debate over the Credentials Committee's recommendation as to the seating of the Minnesota delegation. It was during this debate that the various philosophies and ethical orientations within the Regular wing of the party became clear, as the loyalists attempted to navigate a split without losing the party's democratic soul. Basing their case upon affidavits from 4 Minnesota locals that they had not received ballots for the election for convention delegates from State Secretary Charles Dirba and the acknowledgment that members of suspended language federations had participated in the vote, there were some who favored the adoption of the Credentials Committee report, setting aside the Minnesota election of a Left Wing delegation and instead seating the alternative slate hastily named in an extra-constitutional manner by the Regular State Executive Committee of Minnesota. Others loyal to the Regular faction stood strongly for the principle of rank and file democracy, defending the slate elected by the membership of the state in spite of the delegation's ideological coloration, the alleged and acknowledged electoral irregularities, and the decision of the Minnesota Left Wing delegation not to accept seats in any event (their spokesman Jack Carney having told Jacob Panken's Credentials Committee to "go to hell.") The Left Wing perspective was advanced by delegates from Illinois and New Jersey. Behind the debate lay the question of whether the Socialist Party's National Executive Committee had the ethical authority and legal right to arbitrarily suspend 7 language federations of the party in the first place. The stenographic report reveals a certain complexity and diversity of thought among adherents of the Regular faction which has been little appreciated in the literature. Includes an Art Young pen-and-ink caricature of the leading lights of the dominant New York delegation and a photo of iconoclastic Duluth editor Jack Carney.

 

"Report to the National Convention of the Socialist Party of America by the Special 1919 Election Investigating Committee: Chicago, IL -- Aug. 31, 1919." The May 24-30 meeting of the NEC which expelled the Socialist Party of Michigan and suspended 7 language federations from the Socialist Party of America also appointed a 4 member special committee to study the question of election fraud in the 1919 party election which it terminated, the committee to report back to the Emergency National Convention scheduled 3 months hence. This is the report of the committee to the assembled delegates in Chicago. While the report confirms the claim of the Left Wing that it had won a big majority of the 15 seats on the SPA's governing National Executive Committee "on the face of the returns," as well as sweeping the 4 International Delegate positions and voting to affiliate with the Communist International by a margin of more than 6-to-1, the special committee cites a litany of electoral irregularities said to have been systematically perpetrated by several of the suspended federations. This report was approved unanimously by the convention and used as a rationale for a complete restructuring of the party constitution and the election of a new 7 member "temporary" NEC by the convention itself. The margin in the resolution on international affiliation was so wide as to remove any question of the validity of its passage, and was declared adopted. This document includes explanatory footnotes by Tim Davenport which argue against several of the assertions made by the special investigating committee.

 

"Minnesota Group Seated But Denied Vote by Convention: Socialist Emergency Gathering in Chicago Sustains Action of National Executive Committee -- Telegrams of Greetings Sent to Debs, Mrs. O'Hare, and Hillquit: Big Vote Cast Favors Referendums B and D: Evidences of Widespread Frauds in Balloting are Charged in Investigation of Practices of Suspended Sections of Party -- Bloc Voting Said to Be Prevalent," by Herman Michelson [Aug. 31, 1919] The highlight of the 2nd day of the Emergency National Convention of the Socialist Party of America was the protracted debate on the seating of the Minnesota delegation, a controversy which brought into play most of the big issues about the authority of the National Executive Committee to impose its will upon state organizations. This report by the correspondent of the New York Call saw the result of the debate, seating with voice but no vote a substitute delegation appointed by a contested State Executive Committee over a delegation elected by party referendum of Minnesota Socialists as decisive. Reporter Michelson declares that this action effectively "puts the stamp of approval by the convention on the action of the National Executive Committee in expelling [sic.] the 7 foreign language federations from the Socialist Party." The tepid response which met Rhode Island Left Winger Joseph Coldwell's 2 pm declaration of a delegate bolt over the convention majority's decision to conduct business before all credentials challenges were resolved is the object of much mirth on the part of Michelson, who proclaims it "a very mild affair" prematurely conducted over a "perfectly trivial excuse." The unanimous report of the committee investigating the 1919 party referendums was read by Otto Branstetter, Michelson notes, alleging "serious frauds in balloting" but making no concrete recommendations.

 

"What'll Folks at Home Think of this '85-45' in Convention Wrangle?" by Eugene Wood [Aug. 31, 1919] Valuable first-hand account of the proceedings of the pivotal Credentials Committee (Committee on Contests) of the Emergency National Convention of the Socialist Party, headed by Judge Jacob Panken of New York. Wood contrasts the quite and understated style of the committee with the frequently boisterous pontification indulged in by the various spokesmen of challenged delegations -- "'thrillers' who swing their arms and talk about 'class-conscious revolutionary movements' and use a Madison Square Garden voice to carry four feet." The hearings were held in public in one of the rooms of the old Illinois club, attended by often cheering spectators. Wood notes that "These who cheer and handclap and rejoice when the smashing and shattering of the Socialist Party is proposed will form part of the membership of the Communist Party, if it doesn't split into too many divisions. It is calculated that there are at least 6 divisions already in sight. It is believed that this is not so much a split as a fringe, or a broom, or some other word expressive of a complete frazzle." Wood sees the impending split as an inevitability: "The moment the decision of the Committee on Contests is announced and it doesn't suit them, they blow the whistle and pull 'em all out, and go down to Blue Island Avenue or wherever the 'Communist' convention is to meet, and start in, and we shall have to teach ourselves to call 'em 'Mister.' 'What's the use, if you're 85 [delegates] and we're 45?' they ask. And that seems to end it with them. The only thing to consider is the folks at home, who have been Socialists when it cut deep to be a Socialist. The question is, what'll they think about it all?"

"Federation is Active Agent for Socialism: Presents Party Issues to Jewish-Speaking People Through Own Weekly Publication," by Joshua P. Landon [Aug. 31, 1919]  With seven of the foreign language federations of the Socialist Party abandoning the organization in favor of the Left Wing course the role of the these institutions in the SPA moving forward was a question of some debate. This short piece from the New York Call by a supporter of the Yiddish-language Jewish Socialist Federation details political developments in that group for a broader audience. Landon notes that after two days of debate the recently completed 1919 convention of the JSF had voted 74-35 to remain affiliated with the SPA rather than to cast their lot with the Left Wing Section. This decision had prompted a walkout by 29 delegates, led by Alexander Bittelman, who had established their own Left Wing federation. Those remaining retained close ties both to the Socialist Party and the Jewish labor movement, Landon indicates. The JSF maintained a steady stream of speakers in the field, Landon states, as well as publishing its own organ, Naye Welt, edited by J.B. Salutsky.

 

"Minutes of the Left Wing Section of the 1919 Convention of the Socialist Party of America." [Aug. 29-31, 1919]. The 1919 Chicago Convention of the SPA pitted two organized factions against one another, the group of "Regulars" around National Executive Secretary Adolph Germer and the outgoing NEC and the "Left Wing" faction around newly elected National Executive Secretary Alfred Wagenknecht and the incoming NEC -- a group whose legitimacy was bitterly challenged by their outgoing counterparts, who refused to recognize the results of the 1919 election and who launched a series of suspensions of "Left Wing" Federations and states in an effort to rid the party of what they perceived as an alien influence. These are the meeting minutes of the Left Wing section from the time of their first organized caucus in Chicago on Aug. 29 until the issuance of a convention call for establishment of a new Communist Party (specifically, the Communist Labor Party) on August 31.

  SEPTEMBER 1919

***PUBLICATION*** The Proletarian, vol. 2, no. "4" [Sept. 1919]  (Graphic pdf, large file, 2.3 megs.) Full issue of the official magazine of the Socialist Party of Michigan/Proletarian University faction headed by John Keracher. This issue contains: Cover art by Breit. "Spartacan Sparks." "Communist Party Convention," by Editorial Committee. Oakley C. Johnson: "Race Riots in America." Breit (Carl Berreiter): "Bolshevism is Dead -- Long Live Democracy." James Conlan: "Bourgeois Ideology vs. Revolutionary Action." "The Socialist Forum." John Keracher: "International Notes" (Hungary, Russia, Finland, England). John O'London (pseud.): "Revolutionary Political Action: The Road to Socialism" (Pt. 4). John Keracher: "The Proletarian University." John Keracher: "Money Talks." L.B.: "Book Review: 'The Gospel for a Working World,' by Harry F. Ward."

"The Struggle in the USA" by “A.K.” [Sept. 1919]  Detailed dissection of Socialist Party of America written by a committed partisan of the impossibilist Socialist Party of Great Britain for its party press. The commentator notes that the SPA's Right Wing supporters of the war had left the party or been expelled and were now writing for their own set of journals. Gene Debs is dismissed as an unprincipled wobbler and Morris Hillquit and his associates a pro-war worshiper of democracy in the abstract. The Left Wing Section is judged little better, declared to incorporate "every variety of fool and freak, just like the Right Wing." The June National Conference of the Left Wing section is dismissed as a "miserable farce" owing to its nature as a "sordid struggle for control." Louis Fraina is depicted as an opportunistic advocate of ill-defined non-Marxist concepts like Mass Action and Industrial Unionism and editor of a "parrot-like" paper which blindly reprinted Lenin and Trotsky. The Left Wing language federations are characterized as theoretically ignorant and similarly infatuated with the Russian model. Only the (impossibilist) Socialist Party of Michigan merits praise for its general ideology and willingness to immediately break with the "rotten" Socialist Party. This is offset by the Michiganders' alliance with the numerically-larger language federations and their subsequent adoption of a program emphasizing industrial unionism and mass action rather than patient Marxian education.

"America: The Foundation of a Communist Party," by "Y." [Sept. 1, 1919] This article from the Petrograd magazine The Communist International speaks of the formation of a Communist Party of America as an accomplished fact -- in an issue with the same publication date as the opening of the founding convention of the Communist Party of America! The author, signing only with the initial "Y.", declares that the SPA, "led by the notorious traitors to Socialism, Algernon Lee and Maurice Hillquit, has long been ripe for a split." The issuance of the Left Wing Manifesto is heralded and quoted extensively in this article. The June 1919 National Conference of the Left Wing Section, held in New York, is mentioned, although "Y." remarks that "unfortunately we have no information as to the decision adopted concerning adhesion to the Third International. All we know is that the question was on the agenda. Nor have we any information as to the numerical strength of the party. It is quite possible that the party has not yet assumed the character of an organization of the masses." Despite the grossly deficient state of communication, "Y." depicts the prospects of the revolutionary movement in America in glowing colors, noting that "in the epoch of universal history upon which we have now entered, every great movement of the toiling masses and the oppressed invariably assumes a Communist form and inevitably culminates in a struggle for the dictatorship of the proletariat. At this juncture, America may be described as an erupting volcano. Strikes follow one another ceaselessly. In many of the states there have been armed revolts among the Negroes, who demand equal rights. More than 100,000 fully armed Afro-Americans took part in what amounted to actual battles in the streets of Chicago. The revolt was led by colored ex-soldiers back from the front... We are confident that our American comrades will unite into a single stream the scattered torrents of the mass movement, that they will free it from foreign bodies, and will break the lava crust which has formed upon the surface. Then, from the rumbling volcano of the capitalist order there will escape a brilliant and mighty jet of flame which will consume all the obstacles in its path, and will crystallize, as it cools, to form a new society of labor."

 

"Circular Letter to Comintern-Affiliated Parties on Parliamentarism and the Soviets from Grigorii Zinoviev, President of ECCI, September 1, 1919." This communique from the President of the Executive Committee of the Communist International to affiliated Communist organizations around the world (received and published in the United States in February 1920) deals with the hot-button topic of parliamentarism. Communist elements were uniting across Europe and in America around the slogan of Soviet Power and "at all costs" needed to implement "uniform tactics," Zinoviev states in the September 1 letter. Zinoviev indicates that the "universal unifying program" of the revolutionary socialist Communists and those whom they left behind in the "official Social Democratic parties" was "at the present moment the recognition of the struggle for the dictatorship of the proletariat in the form of the Soviet power." Citing precedent in Russia, Sweden, Bulgaria, and Germany, Zinoviev forcefully argues for the "complete admissibility and usefulness" of parliamentary campaigns and use of the parliamentary tribune by socialist revolutionaries. He continues: "Such 'parliamentary work' demands peculiar daring and a special revolutionary spirit; the men there are occupying especially dangerous positions; they are laying mines under the enemy while in the enemy's camp; the enter parliament for the purpose of getting this machine in their hands in order to assist the masses behind the walls of the parliament in the work of blowing it up." Zinoviev emphasizes his position by asking and answering a rhetorical question: "Are we for the maintenance of the bourgeois 'democratic' parliaments as the form of the administration of the state? No, not in any case. We are for the Soviets." Noting that the Russian Bolsheviks variously boycotted and participated in Duma campaigns depending upon the situation which they faced, Zinoviev allows that concrete national conditions must be considered in the matter of electoral participation: "The matter of taking part in the election at a given time during a given electoral campaign, depends upon a whole string of concrete circumstances which, in each country, must be particularly considered at each given time."

 

"Election of Standing Committee Members at the Emergency National Convention of the Socialist Party of America, Chicago -- Sept. 1-2, 1919." This is a significant section of the stenographic record of the seminal 1919 Emergency National Convention of the Socialist Party of America, dealing with the election of delegates to the standing committees of the convention on the 3rd and 4th days of the Chicago gathering. Left Wing delegate Jacob Salutsky [J.B.S. Hardman] asks the convention under whose authority a typewritten slate of committee members of the "Regular" faction, distributed by Executive Secretary Adolph Germer, was prepared. Algernon Lee states that before the convention met a group of "about one hundred" people attended an "open meeting" at which questions of the convention were discussed and from which the slate was generated. Lee defends the formation of caucuses as a normal part of convention life. Regular stalwart Louis Waldman notes that the slate is "not official," but was rather the work of a "private group of comrades." Waldman notes that at a certain point before the convention met a slate for committee members appeared absolutely essential "if the convention was to be saved for the Socialist Party," but given the current situation -- in which the convention was clearly in control of the Regulars -- he felt that "a slate is absolutely unnecessary and inimical to the interests of the Socialist Party of America." Standing committees of the convention were subsequently elected. A roll call taken the morning of September 2 (also included here) was made to determine which convention delegates were in attendance and which delegates had bolted to other gatherings or returned home.

 

"Report of the National Executive Committee to the Emergency National Convention of the Socialist Party of America: Chicago, IL -- Sept. 1, 1919," by James Oneal Text of the report of the NEC to the Emergency National Convention, justifying the committee's action in abrogating the party's 1919 electoral referendums and launching a series of suspensions and expulsions which led to the loss of approximately 70,000 of the party's roughly 110,000 paid members between the first of the year and the date of the convention. NEC member Oneal, one of the leaders of the Regular faction in the intra-party conflict, recounts the days since the St. Louis Emergency National Convention of 1917, marked by the "desertion and betrayal" of the party by its "small Right Wing" and the launching of mass government repression in an attempt to crush the SPA and eradicate its press. A new period began with the collapse of the Central Alliance and the end of the war, in Oneal's estimation. In this period "a systematic campaign of falsehood" was waged against the Socialist Party and its leadership by a faction within the party, which falsely claimed that the party was allied with the Berne conference of pro-war Socialist Parties and insulted its officials as "Noskes" and "Scheidemanns" looking to drown the revolutionary workers in blood. "In no single instance has this faction attempted to buttress these attacks with any official declarations of the party," Oneal declares, noting the party's consistent support for the revolutionary movement in Germany and Russia. Oneal characterizes the Left Wing as "disrupters" who conducted "organized and systematic treachery" for the purpose of "capturing the party." They had shunted aside party veterans, sabotaged the party's efforts to hold an amnesty convention on behalf of its political prisoners, and made use of "vicious and corrupt practices in the recent referendum elections," Oneal charges. "We have no apologies to make to the Left Wing or any of its wings. The National Executive Committee has tried to make the best of the most trying situation the party has ever faced. It welcomes honest criticism and differences of opinion. But for those who have wrought ruin in their confessed attempts to 'rupture the party,' it voices the opinion of the honest members in saying that such conduct is a gross violation of Socialist ethics, Socialist solidarity, and Socialist principles."

 

"Statement Subscribed to the Delegates of the Emergency Convention by the Delegates of the State of California." [Sept. 1, 1919] A document from the CLP/UCP archive seized by the New York Bomb Squad and the Department of Justice's Bureau of Investigation in April 1921. This statement was apparently read or distributed to the 1919 Emergency National Committee by the California delegation, a Left Wing body denied the seats to which they were elected by the machine of outgoing National Executive Secretary Adolph Germer. Despite being elected by overwhelming majorities of uncontested locals in their states, and despite not being opposed in person by an opposition delegation, the California delegation was ejected from the convention floor by the Chicago Police and forced to stand for hours in an anteroom where they could not hear the proceedings for which they had traveled 2,000 miles to attend. All the while, " packed delegations from other states occupied the convention floor," the statement declared. The Contest Committee stalled a decision on the California delegation for two days, thus preventing them from participation, eventually coming in on the third day of the gathering with a recommendation to deny the delegation their seats. This was overturned by action from the floor by delegates who were held to have awoken to the "despotic procedure steamrollered by the officialdom of the convention." The California delegation demanded that all contested delegations be seated, that the representation of the packed delegations from "reorganization states" be scaled down to the number of votes to which they were entitled based on actual paid membership, and the removal of the Chicago Police was demanded. The delegation -- which included Max Bedacht, James Dolsen, and John C. Taylor -- ultimately refused their seats and bolted the SPA convention to help establish the Communist Labor Party.

 

"Convention Voids Referendum C by Unanimous Vote: Delegated Decide to Choose Temporary National Executive Committee as Soon as Party's Constitution is Rewritten by Convention: New Balloting Will Be Instituted for Officials: California Delegation Fails in Its Attempt to Bolt Gathering -- Seated Envoys Who Participated in 'Communist Convention' Will be Permanently Excluded Today by Herman Michelson [Sept. 1, 1919] Front page account of the 3rd day of the Emergency National Convention of the Socialist Party by the correspondent of the New York Call. Michelson reports on the convention's unanimous vote to set aside the results of the 1919 party referendum for National Executive Committee on the grounds of electoral irregularities. Michelson notes that "State Secretaries from as far apart as Kansas and Massachusetts told of branches voting twice the number of their members; of voting en bloc in which ballots were marked and signed by the same person throughout; of refusal to allow the investigating committee to see the actual ballots; of ballots being destroyed on the plea there was not room to store them; and other procedure claimed to be highly irregular." He adds that "when the unanimous roar of approval invalidated the referendum, the convention launched into an ovation, presumably for itself and its own good judgment in ordering a new deal." Later in the day, after this decisive action had been taken, the decision was made to overrule the recommendation of the Panken Credentials Committee and to seat the elected Left Wing delegation from California. This group declined to accept their seats, however, sending James Dolsen as its spokesman. "We will not take our seats," Dolsen declared, "unless all duly elected delegates are seated, until the packed delegates from several reorganized states be reduced, nor until the convention ceases to act under the guardianship of the Chicago Police Department." An appeal was made for delegates to abandon the Socialist Party convention for that of the Communist Labor Party downstairs in the same building; this earnest request met with no response, Michelson states.

 

"Socialist Convention Held at Chicago," by Joseph W. Sharts [Sept. 1, 1919] Valuable first-hand account of the pivotal 1919 Emergency National Convention of the Socialist Party beginning in Chicago on Aug. 30, 1919. Sharts, a SP Regular lacking the pugnacious attitude common during the summer of 1919, tells the tale of dominance of the convention by an effectively-run machine. "Along the left-hand side of the room ran a railing, and out beyond this railing were the seats for the spectators. Here the "Lefts" were packed, pressed, crammed, suffocating; while inside, although the big hall was full, there was comfortable elbow-room," Sharts writes. The pivotal test of strength came in the election of the contest committee, which was headed by Right Winger Jacob Panken of New York. As the contest committee slowly and methodically conducted its inquisition of challenged delegates and acrimony erupted on the floor of the convention upstairs, "an ominous sound" began to be heard from the billiard room downstairs -- "the singing of songs, sharp outbursts of applause. The Left Wingers have started their rival convention without waiting the action of the old organization on the contests." A press deadline unfortunately limits Sharts' account to the early stages of the convention.

 

"Communist Party Convention: Day 1," by James O. Peyronnin [Sept. 1, 1919] In addition to having a "confidential informant" as a delegate on the floor of the founding convention of the Communist Party of America (N. Nagorowe, Gary, IN), the Department of Justice's Bureau of Investigation had one of its Special Agents sitting at the press table, taking notes in shorthand, and other agents mingling in the guest area. The BoI's "journalist" was James O. Peyronnin, who contributed daily reports of the activity of the convention to his superiors. This is Peyronnin's account of the opening day of the CPA convention. Peyronnin notes that prior to the opening, officers of the Chicago Police Department removed red decorations from the convention floor, presumably to bring it into compliance with a state or local "red flag law" -- political speech not enjoying any substantive constitutional protection in this period. A local attorney acting on behalf of the CPA was summarily arrested when he remonstrated over the removal of the red signs, streamers, and bunting. The convention was opened by Michigander Dennis Batt, representing the organizing committee. Louis Fraina was elected Temporary Chairman and delivered a keynote address. The all-important Credentials Committee was elected, 7 members from a field of 18. The committee was chaired by Lithuanian Federation leader Joseph Stilson and additionally included Elbaum (Polish Fed.), Olkin (Russian), Kopnagel (Russian), Lunin (Jewish), Forsinger (Latvian), and Baltrusaitis (Lithuanian) -- a clean sweep for the Federationist faction. Peyronnin estimated that 150 delegates and approximately 300 visitors were gathered for the first day's session. The Credentials Committee reported out, a process which took 90 minutes and generated a neat list of convention delegates for Peyronnin and his superiors -- list included here. Following the report of the Credentials Committee, the convention formally opened, with the Michigan faction's Al Renner topping the Left Wing National Caucus faction's I.E. Ferguson in balloting for Chairman of the Day. The Left Wing National Caucus' John Ballam was elected Vice Chairman. Rules and an order of business were passed. A motion by Ferguson to establish and elect a committee of 5 to conduct unity negotiations with the Communist Labor Party group was defeated and initial dissatisfaction with Russian Federation Control began to brew, with Missouri delegate Henry Tichenor bolting for the CLP gathering and challenged Californian Irene Smith gaveled down by Chairman Renner "and interfered with by the delegates at her table."

 

"Communist Party Convention: Day 1," by August H. Loula [Sept. 1, 1919] August Loula was a Special Agent of the Bureau of Investigation who attended the first day of the founding convention of the Communist Party of America as a "visitor," using an IWW card to gain admission. Loula reassures his superiors that "Our Confidential Informant No. 121 [N. Nagorowe], who has been directed by Division Superintendent Edward J. Brennan to attend this convention, has been elected as a delegate and is taking an active part in the proceedings, and any secret sessions of the heads of the Communist movement or any other secret procedure that may be contemplated by the radicals outside of the convention hall are concerned, will be taken care of by him." Loula passes on the exact vote totals of the 7 leading candidates for election to the Credentials Committee, with the Polish Federation's Daniel Elbaum leading the way with 89 votes, followed by Lithuanian Federationist Joseph Stilson with 87. The keynote speech of Louis C. Fraina is quoted at great length. "The beginning of this movement has its roots many years back and has but now reached the stage where it can proceed as the dominant one. Our work here is to formulate the position and structure of an organization that will be the weapon by which the working class will train and organize itself for a conquest of political power. The party is here. The movement is here. It is for you to shape its structure. The Communist Party of America is a fact," Fraina declared. With regard to the Left Wingers who were to emerge as the Communist Labor Party, Fraina stated: "Events of the last few days in this city have amply established the truth of our contention that it was futile to participate in the Socialist Party Convention. The Communists who are still of the opinion that they should participate have since been forced by the contemptible acts of the rules of the Socialist Party to leave that convention. There is no question but what these Communistic elements will eventually be lined up with us. There is also the possibility that a third movement will be organized." Fraina added: "The American proletariat, I am confident, does not lack the intelligence and courage to follow the path lighted by the Moscow International to a conquest of political power."

 

"Chicago Police Invade Hall of Communists: Red Decorations Torn Down -- Lawyer Beaten Unconscious -- New Party Formed." (NY Call) [Sept. 1, 1919] Unsigned news report from the pages of the Socialist Party's New York Call detailing the first day of the founding convention of the Communist Party of America, held at the home of the Russian Federation in Chicago and attended by about 100 delegates. The facility was stormed by Chicago police, who tore down red buntings and are said to have beaten unconscious and jailed lawyer L.M. Montgomery when he tried to remonstrate with the bluecoats. A 10 piece orchestra added atmosphere and a 20 minute keynote address was delivered by Louis Fraina, who is said to have stated that all controversies between the Communists and the Socialist Party were at an end -- meaning, in the reporter's estimation, "that thereafter the Socialist Party was to be 'common enemy with the rest of the bourgeoisie.'" Attention is called to "the methodical way in which the Russian Federation voted without a single exception for a prearranged slate proved to be interesting, inasmuch as it foreshadowed clearly one of the rocks on which the Communist Party is headed for a split." A further deep fissure is observed between the Michigan federation and others participating in the Communist convention, the Michiganders being "exclusively for political action, whereas the others minimize it. On the other hand, the Michigan group minimizes industrial organization as a means to revolution and does not believe in mass action at all, whereas mass action and industrial organization are considered the trump card by their present partners."

 

"Communist Labor Party Convention: Day 2," by L. Loebl [Sept. 1, 1919] This report was written by Louis Loebl, an undercover Bureau of Investigation based in St. Louis who attended the founding convention of the Communist Labor Party as a guest. Loebl passes on to his superiors a complete list of delegates successfully passing muster of the Credentials Committee, including 16 from the state of Ohio (including C.E. Ruthenberg, who departed) and 10 from New York. Loebl notes that the gathering was in limbo awaiting the return of its 5 member unity committee, appointed to seek merger with the Communist Party on the basis of organizational parity. As the committee did not return until after noon, the morning was spent composing a "Bolshevik War Cry," an "Official Convention Yell," and singing various songs. The afternoon was spent hearing the report of the unity committee, delivered by Jasper Bauer of California, as well as the individual reports of committee members. "Every one of them were of the belief that the members of the Communist Party were absolutely hostile to them and that the Russian delegates are controlling the situation, who are against any kind of a unity of those two parties," Loebl reports. Consequently, late in the afternoon "it was finally decided to organize definitely and to go on with the order of business regardless of the Communist Convention." Loebl predicts that no amalgamation of the two parties would be possible so long as the bitterly anti-federationist John Reed and Ben Gitlow remained in the leadership of the CLP.

 

"Convention May Name Debs Today for Presidency: Nomination Will Be Submitted to Referendum of Party Membership Upon His Acceptance of Candidacy, Resolution Proposes. Choice of Running Mate Will Probably Be Put Off: Drastic Revisions Sure to Be Made in Constitution -- Special Bureau to Deal with Relations to Economic Organizations Regarded Certain of Creation," by Herman Michelson [Sept. 2, 1919] The New York Call's staff correspondent from the Chicago Emergency National Convention reports on the activities of that gathering's 4th day. Full rosters of the various committees were named and the day was dominated by committee work. Text of a cable to Ludwig Martens of the Soviet Russian Government Bureau is included, expressing the best regards of the Socialist convention and wishes for success in the establishment of friendly relations between the peoples of the United States and Soviet Russia. Michelson is preoccupied on the question of whether the Emergency Convention would nominate Gene Debs as its Presidential standard-bearer for the 5th time (it ultimately did not; instead Debs was nominated by the 1920 Convention). A complete list of delegates "present and taking part" in the SPA convention (that is, excluding delegates who were challenged and rejected, those refusing to assume their seats, those bolting, and those who missed roll call) is included, listing 128 names of regular and fraternal delegates to the convention for which 200 delegates were originally authorized.

 

"First Convention of the Communist Party of America: Day 2," by James O. Peyronnin [Sept. 2, 1919] The Department of Justice's Bureau of Investigation had no fewer than 8, and perhaps a dozen or more, of its agents, operatives, and confidential informers in Chicago in Aug.-Sept. 1919 for the conventions of the Socialist Party, Communist Labor Party, and Communist Party of America. One of the most important was James O. Peyronnin, who apparently sat undercover as a "journalist" at the press table of the CPA Convention, and who wrote lengthy reports of each day's sessions and gathered relevant documents for BoI Headquarters in Washington, DC. These and other reports have been preserved on freely available and unexpurgated microfilm by the National Archives and Records Administration and are an exciting new historical source. The 2nd day of the CPA convention sees the acrimonious departure for the CLP convention of delegate Henry Tichenor of St. Louis, who likens the Russian Federations' machine control of the CPA gathering to the domination of the SPA conclave by the Regulars' machine: ""I have certainly had the steamroller run over me recently -- once by the Berger regime in Milwaukee, and once right at this convention. It will be utterly useless for me to work with the element that is in control and therefore I ask the Credentials Committee to kindly return me my credentials." Chairman of the Credentials Committee Joseph Stilson announces that 128 delegates are seated (so far), representing a membership of 58,000 (the latter number certainly inflated). A surprising mass resignation takes place by the Left Wing National Caucus Faction, with a dozen or more delegates and two convention technical secretaries resigning their posts over a failure to negotiate with the Communist Labor Party's unity committee. Michigander Dennis Batt defiantly declares "I think myself the Convention will progress better without them." Following a 3 hour recess to resolve the crisis, the convention reconvenes and reconsiders its previous action, appointing its own 5 member unity committee, which included Federation chiefs Stoklitsky, Hourwich, and Elbaum in addition to Ruthenberg and Ferguson of the Left Wing National Caucus faction. Chicago police arrest Dennis Batt from the floor of the convention on an outstanding warrant for alleged violation of the Illinois State Sedition Act. A Manifesto and Program Committee is elected by the convention with Nicholas Hourwich the top vote-getter and other committees of the convention are elected as well.

 

"Communist Party Convention: Day 2," by Jacob Spolansky [Sept. 2, 1919] Report of the proceedings at the the 2nd day of the founding convention of the Communist Party of America by Bureau of Investigation Special Agent Jacob Spolansky. Spolansky sees the convention as being "ruled" by a Russian Federation clique including Alex Stoklitsky, Nick Hourwich, Oscar Tyverovsky, George Ashkenuzi, and Alex Bittelman. Always with a flair for the melodramatic, Spolansky reports that "the convention elected an Emergency Committee of 19. Before the election of this committee took place, Alex Stoklitsky and several other Russian radicals appealed personally to every delegate not to inquire as to the purpose of this committee. Employee ascertained that the real purpose of this committee is the creation of a RED GUARD." While Michigan leader Dennis Batt played a key role in organizing the convention, Spolansky states that he actually "has no influence whatever and the delegates don't pay any attention to his suggestions or motions which he makes." On the other hand, "Stoklitsky is the czar and Stoklitsky is the man who gives instructions to all the delegates how to vote. They all look upon him and as soon as he raises his hand everybody follows him." Spolansky also makes known that the Military Intelligence Division had placed one of its own as a delegate at the rival Communist Labor Party convention: "An undercover representative of the Military Intelligence [who] is attending the Communist Labor Party convention as a delegate informed Employee that Ludwig E. Martens has advanced a considerable sum of money for the organization and propaganda work of the new Communist Labor Party."

 

"Resignations Split Ranks of Communists: Fraina and Ruthenberg Among Those Who Quit -- Another Party is Formed." (NY Call) [Sept. 2, 1919] This report from the hostile New York Call notes with barely concealed glee the bitter acrimony which met the founding convention of the Communist Party of America in the second day of its founding convention. The report notes that "the Communist Party, composed of the Michigan crowd, the Russian Federation, and the former Left Wing National Council, nearly split in two when, at a concerted signal, there resigned from the important Emergency Committee of the convention Louis C. Fraina, C.E. Ruthenberg, I.E. Ferguson, Maximilian Cohen, D. Elbaum, and A. Selakovich and, from other offices, former Organizer A. Paul of Queens and Fannie Horowitz. The issue was over sending a committee of conciliation to the 'Lefts' who had meanwhile formed the Communist Labor Party. Afraid of losing their numerical and actual domination of the convention and of the Communist Party, the Russians had throttled the proposition to increase the English-speaking element. But the scantily veiled threat of the 'Lefts' in their midst had a partial effect." The Federation group ultimately consented to naming a 5 member unity committee composed of Russian Federationists N.I. Hourwich, Alexander Stoklitsky, Polish Federationist Daniel Elbaum, and English speakers I.E. Ferguson, and C.E. Ruthenberg. "On one thing the Russians and their opponents agreed. Nobody would be permitted to join the Communist Party Convention without first passing the Credentials Committee, which consists of 7 Federationists out of 7 committeemen. Also tacitly, it is agreed that under no circumstances would they admit John Reed, Ludwig Lore, Benjamin Gitlow, A. Wagenknecht, L.E. Katterfeld, L.B. Boudin, and the others who had insisted on disobeying the Russian-Michigan mandate for a Communist Party several weeks ago," the unsigned news report avers.

 

"Report on CLP Mass Meeting, West Side Auditorium, Chicago," by P.P. Mindak [Sept. 2, 1919] On the evening of Sept. 2, 1919, the fledgling Communist Labor Party held its first public meeting in Chicago. Undercover Bureau of Investigation Agent Peter P. Mindak was in attendance to make a report on the proceedings. The session was addressed by three CLP leaders -- Ella Reeve Bloor, Jack Carney, and Jack Reed. Mindak is most enthusiastic about the ability of Irish emigré and CLP NEC member Carney, calling him "a very eloquent speaker" who made use of "a very poetic and dramatic style" to review the history of the contemporary radical movement. "He spoke of the proposed formation of the Communist Labor Party, which he stated was in wholehearted sympathy with the Russian Soviet, and urged agitation amongst the workers and the formation of shop committees throughout all the shops and factories. He urged the workers to prepare themselves for the opportunity when a proletarian dictatorship could be established in this country," Mindak states. "There appeared to be a lack of enthusiasm which is usually seen at gatherings of this kind," according to Mindak, who adds that "many of those present came for the purpose of hearing Jack Carney, who is a very eloquent orator." Literature for the IWW and Soviet buttons were available for sale at the meeting, Mindak adds.

"Statement to the Delegates of the Communist Party Conventions by the Delegates of Local Kings Co., NY," by Edward Lindgren and Morris Zucker. [Sept. 3, 1919] With three radical conventions taking place simultaneously in Chicago during the first week of September 1919, a certain amount of shuffling of a few delegates who found themselves in the wrong place was inevitable. Two of those leaving the founding convention of the Communist Party of America in disgust were Edward Lindgren and Morris Zucker of Local Kings County, Socialist Party, with the pair bolting the CPA for the most hospitable climes of the Communist Labor Party on September 3. This is the declaration read by the pair to the assembled CPA convention upon their departure. Lindgren and Zucker are vehement in their denunciation of the Russian Federations (meaning the joint alliance of the Russian, Ukrainian, South Slavic, Polish, Lithuanian, and Latvian language groups). They declare: "Events have proven conclusively to us that this is not a genuine Communist Party; it is merely an attempt on the part of the Russian Federations to enlarge their organization and increase their power under the guise of a camouflage Communist Party." While acknowledging the sincerity of the federationists, Lindgren and Zucker did "most emphatically condemn the dictatorial control of their Executive Committee over their membership — a control which it now exercises over this Convention; a control which does not hesitate to expel branches when they dare disagree with the Executive Committee; a control which will not hesitate to expel and even disrupt the Communist Party if the rank and file dare act contrary to its wishes."

"Socialist Party Wins Primary Contest in All But Few Districts: Manhattan and Bronx Boroughs Carried Completely by Regular Organization Candidates." (NY Call) [Sept. 2, 1919]  Lest there be any doubt about the inevitability of a split of the Socialist Party in the summer of 1919, here are the voting results of the Socialist Party's Sept. 2, 1919 primary election in New York City. In this election the Left Wing Section fielded and promoted a full slate of candidates against the SPA's Regulars (who touted their own slate in the pages of the New York Call). Even as the Socialist Party was in the process of shattering at the Chicago convention, the Regulars were scoring a decisive victory in the primaries -- with the battle between the factions contested with particular vigor in Brooklyn. In duels between prominent figures, journalist William Morris Feigenbaum topped Left Winger Bert Wolfe in the 6th Assembly District, 61-42, while future Assemblyman Charles Solomon beat Harry Waton 228 to 38 in the 33rd Assembly District. In the 59th Aldermanic District of Brooklyn Abraham Shiplacoff decisively defeated Left Winger Morris Zucker by a count of 516 to 74. Other prominent figures of the nascent Communist movement falling in the primary included Ludwig Lore, Edward Lindgren, and Will Weinstone.

 

"Communist Party of America Convention: Day 3," by Jacob Spolansky [Sept. 3, 1919] While he is the best-known of the Bureau of Investigation's undercover operatives by virtue of his melodramatic 1951 memoir, The Communist Trail in America, Jacob Spolansky was by no means the most important (or the most accurate) of the bevy of agents put into the field at the 1919 Chicago radical conventions. Spolansky provided to BoI headquarters in Washington this detailed account of Day 3 of the Founding Convention of the CPA. Spolansky notes the report of Press Committee chairman C.E. Ruthenberg, which called for the establishment of a party owned English language daily called The Daily Communist, a monthly theoretical journal called The Communist Review, and the establishment of a $100,00 fund for the publication of free leaflets and other literature. The name of the theoretical journal was changed to The Communist International and the (wildly optimistic) dollar "limit" on the literature fund were removed by vote of the convention. The convention spent a good deal of time and energy arguing the question of whether non-proletarian elements should be allowed in the party, ultimately approving the essence of Nick Hourwich's motion " that no man who earns a living through rent, interest, or exploiting his brother worker can be admitted into the ranks of the Communist Party. That no Federal, County, City, or Civil Service employee can be admitted into the ranks of the Communist Party" (as Spolansky summarized the motion). Another small bolt was made by Morris Zucker and Edward Lindgren of Local Kings Co., Left Wing, who purportedly received instructions by telegram from their local instructing them to leave the CPA Convention. Zucker stated he and Lindgren were leaving "because the convention was controlled by Russian elements and that other representatives have no show whatever; that caucus is being held every half an hour and the Russians have a well organized machine which has full control of this convention" and because Zucker "did not see any difference between this convention and the Emergency Socialist Convention and he was afraid that a few leaders were trying to dominate the Communist Party of America for their own selfish purposes." The departure was met in silence, Spolansky indicates. Negotiations between the 5 member unity committees of the CPA and CLP continued without any show of progress, Spolansky states, and documents exchanged between the committees were reviewed by the convention.

 

"The Chicago Convention: An Editorial in the New York Call, Sept. 3, 1919." This editorial in the New York Call from the time of the Socialist Party's Emergency National Convention provides numeric detail illustrating the magnitude of the "regrettable" party split: "The report of Secretary Germer, showing that of the 200 delegates allotted to the convention, 136 were entitled to seats without a contest, indicates the extent of the schism in the party. But even this figure does not tell the whole story. About 103 of these uncontested delegates are said to be 'Regular.' That is, they stand for the Socialist Party organization, but among them are a considerable number who are uncertain of their course and reserve judgment on matters in controversy. Some have positive convictions that the expulsions of several state organizations and suspension of language federations were not justified, and it will require strong evidence to convince them." The remaining 33 uncontested delegates were "strongly sympathetic to the so-called Left Wing," the editorial continues, adding that "some of them may be won over if the evidence is strong enough to justify the expulsions." The preposterous claim is made by the editorialist that "every delegate entitled to a seat, no matter what his views are, was seated" at the convention.

 

"Convention Urges US to Recognize Republic of Erin...: Formation of Socialist Press Syndicate Favored: Question of Naming Debs for Presidency Put Over Until Today -- Resolutions Adopted Demand Berger Be Seated in Congress and Denounce Recent Race Riots," by Herman Michelson [Sept. 3, 1919] The New York Call's day-by-day account of the Emergency National Convention of the Socialist Party in Chicago continues in this coverage of Day 5. Reporter Michelson emphasizes the recommendation of the convention's Press Committee that a nationwide Socialist press syndicate be established for the collective gathering of news on behalf of the daily press affiliated with the SPA -- standing at 10 papers and slated to rise to a dozen in the coming year. If there had been such an organization of the Socialist press, the present crisis in the party would have been averted, Press Committee chairman Eugene Woods claimed. Michelson also reports the findings of a special committee headed by Left Wing sympathizer Rose Weiss of New Jersey which was given the task of investigating whether the delegations of the "reorganized" states of Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, New York, and Michigan were packed by the party officialdom. "The committee found that 4 states were entitled to a representation of 69 and only 61 delegates seated on the floor of the convention," Michelson reports. The news account includes full text of the Press Committee Report as well as resolutions adopted in favor of Irish national liberation, condemning race rioting, and demanding the seated of elected Congressman Victor L. Berger by the House of Representatives, which had denied him his seat on political grounds.

 

"Supplementary Report of the National Executive Committee of the Socialist Party of America to the Emergency National Convention: Chicago, IL -- September 4, 1919." The Emergency National Convention of the Socialist Party demanded of the outgoing National Executive Committee a supplemental report justifying its actions of expulsions and suspensions which took place at its May 24-30, 1919 meeting in Chicago. This is the second of the two reports of the NEC, signed by 8 of the 15 members of the committee, written in the unapologetic and combative language of NEC member James Oneal, who delivered the report to the gathering. "The federations attempted to usurp power that belongs only to the general membership and conventions and such power as is delegated to the National Executive Committee between conventions. Either the National Executive Committee had to accept the offending federations as a self-constituted supreme court with power to veto our decisions, or else suspend the federations," the report asserts. The report declares that the charges made that the federations had no opportunity to defend themselves to be false and adds that Michigan State Secretary John Keracher had declined an invitation of the NEC to reopen the matter of the Michigan expulsion in order to present contradictory evidence. The expelled state of Massachusetts had at its convention sent representative voting delegates to the National Conference of the Left Wing in June, a banned "party within the party," and the expelled state of Ohio had been "the worst offender of all" through its call through its State Secretary, Alfred Wagenknecht, to withhold funds from the national organization. "For the National Executive Committee to acquiesce in all these actions would have been for its members to surrender the party organization and the convention to those responsible for them. We had to act as the National Executive Committee or vacate," the report declares. The NEC's abrogation of the 1919 party election had already been justified by the convention's accepting of the report of the special investigating committee that "gross frauds" had been committed and the charge that the Emergency Convention had been "packed" was without merit, the report adds.

 

"Debate on the Actions of the NEC at the Emergency National Convention of the Socialist Party of America, Chicago -- Sept. 4, 1919." Following the delivery of the supplementary report of the National Executive Committee on its actions during the ongoing party controversy, delivered by NEC member James Oneal of New York, the convention spent the whole of its sixth day discussing the matter. By this time the convention was firmly in the hands of the Germer-Oneal "Regulars," with many of the Left Wing delegates denied their contested seats or having bolted the Socialist Party convention. Dissident voices did remain, however, centered in the New Jersey and Illinois delegations. This extensive portion of the previously unpublished stenographic report of the convention gives voice to these discussions for the first time. Discussion was to be limited to 2 hours and to concentrate on critiques of the NEC's actions, rather than support. Rose Weiss of New Jersey declares that "through this whole unfortunate controversy many mistakes have been made" and that the NEC's actions were "absolutely unwarranted and unconstitutional, and from the standpoint of politics one of the most stupid things that could have been done." She states that entire federations including many thousands of party members were penalized and alienated from the party based upon the factional activities of their Translator-Secretaries. She criticizes the convention's decision to disallow elected delegates from states which allowed the participation of members of federations controversially suspended by the NEC. She upbraids the Regular majority, declaring "You would have been perfectly safe...because these comrades number no more than 25 or 30. The comrades sitting here who have voted for the Left Wing, or for the opposition, many of them have been forced into that position by what they regard as the arbitrary action of the majority. Many of these would have voted with the majority had the minority been allowed to come here prepared to present their case." The hardline factionalism of the regulars had deepened the split of the party, in Weiss' opinion. Weiss is also harshly critical of the draconian suspensions of the Massachusetts and Ohio state organizations. William Kruse of Illinois states that the failure of the Regulars to allow the emergency convention to have a frank discussion of the principles of the "Left," the "Center," and the "extreme Right" would have made for "a thoroughly worthwhile convention in every way, and a split would not have occurred the way it did." Instead, the shattered convention had taken a form which "amounts more or less to a Right Wing caucus." After heated debate throughout the day, the actions of the NEC were ratified by a vote of 95 to 8.

 

"Party Manifesto Demands Amnesty and End of Blockade Against Russia Be Instituted by US Immediately: Document Reaffirming Solidarity with Revolutionary Workers of World Adopted Unanimously by National Socialist Convention at Chicago...: National Executive Committee Rebuked by Gathering for Expelling Language Federations and State Organizations Without Appealing to Their Members," by Herman Michelson [Sept. 4, 1919] During the 6th Day of the Socialist Party of America's Emergency National Convention in Chicago, the delegates unanimously adopted a manifesto of the party which New York Call reporter Herman Michelson characterizes as "the most revolutionary the party has ever drawn up, and one certain to bring back into the organization thousands of members temporarily outside of it, either because their local organizations were expelled or by reason of what Lenin has called 'the intoxication of the revolutionary phrase.'" Upon adoption of the document, "the convention broke into an ovation that lasted for several minutes, winding up with three cheers for the Socialist Party," Michelson notes. An extremely controversial supplemental report of the National Executive Committee was also delivered and debated, detailing the NEC's aggressive policy of suspensions and expulsions which stripped upwards of 70,000 members from the SPA's ranks in a few short months. The convention approved the report by a vote of 53 to 8, concurring that "the administration of discipline was necessary and justified, but feels that had the National Executive Committee made a sufficient effort to acquaint the membership of the suspended and expelled organizations with the facts and endeavored to have them repudiate their officials that many of the members now outside the party might have remained in." The view of William Henry of Indiana is cited as being typical of that of convention delegates: ""There is little doubt that the National Executive Committee was absolutely right in its action. But that action was very bad tactics."

"The Socialist Party Manifesto," by James Oneal [Sept. 4, 1919]  A lite and breezy opinion piece written from Chicago by the New York Call's lead editorialist, James Oneal. Oneal considers the recently-adopted "Manifesto of the Socialist Party" -- an aggressively-phrased document written in large measure to stave the attrition of the SPA's more radical members. Oneal, the dominant leader of the SPA's Regular faction in 1919, admits as much here, calling the manifesto "a splendid document" which "will tend to rally members who have been uncertain of the outcome of the convention" as well as those blinded by the appeals of patriotism during the war years. "The old isolation of the United States is gone, gone for the Socialists and the exploiters of the country," Oneal declares. He notes that now that America was integrated into world imperialism henceforth American Socialists will have to give as much attention to matters such as militarism and colonialism as the European Socialists have.

 

"Dove of Peace Badly Treated by Communists: Two Factions Throw Charges of Treason at Each Other; Folks at Home Worried." (NY Call) [Sept. 4, 1919] This unsigned account from the pages of the Socialist Party daily the New York Call revisits the ongoing soap opera in the Communist movement to unite. The Communist Labor Party sought unification on the basis of organizational equality with the (larger) Communist Party of America, the report notes; meanwhile, "each convention declares that the other consists of inharmonious elements damned by both as centrist." The news account states that "when the CLP statement, full of counter-accusations, was read at the Communist Party convention yesterday morning there was considerable laughter. But the matter was taken up for caucus and careful consideration, for both sides realize that negotiations have reached a critical phase." Standing in the way of easy unity were matters of personality (active dislike of some leading members of each organization with their counterparts), the "strenuous objection to the domination of the Russian Federations" by the CLP, and organizational rules adopted by the CPA which would exclude from membership CLP leading light William Bross Lloyd and others deriving the whole of their income from rent, profit or interest. CPA convention committee members are listed, as is the New York delegation to the Communist Party's convention. The claimed representation of 14,900 New York members of the CPA is said to have been characterized as "grossly inflated" by both the Socialist Party and the rival CLP.

 

"Polish Communist Meeting, Walsh's Hall, Chicago," by P.P. Mindak [Sept. 4, 1919] In contrast to the tepid mass meeting of the CLP held the evening of Sept. 2, Bureau of Investigation undercover agent Peter Mindak indicates that the mass meeting of Polish CPA members and supporters held 2 nights later was a rousing and enthusiastic affair, attended by 700 or 800. The keynote speaker was Daniel Elbaum, editor of Glos Robotniczy [The Voice of the Workers] of Detroit, with Translator-Secretary of the Polish Federation Joseph Kowalski chairman of the meeting. Elbaum "explained to the gathering the purpose and program of the Communist Party and that this party represented the revolutionary element of the Socialist Party. His speech had a very powerful effect on the audience, as at the conclusion the applause lasted for several minutes," Mindak reports. In his remarks, Kowalski is said to have taken aim at the American Federation of Labor, ridiculed as an organization which had outlived its usefulness. "The meeting was one of the most enthusiastic Polish Communist gatherings which Employee has so far attended and shows that the leaders of the Polish Communist movement have been and still are very active in spreading the Communist Party and organizing," Mindak notes.

"Parleys Fail to Effect Fusion of Communists: Both Groups Stand Pat on Original Declarations — Chicago is Adopted as Seat." (NY Call) [Sept. 5, 1919]  This unsigned report from the New York Call documents squabbles at the founding conventions of the rival Communist Party of America and Communist Labor Party. In the CPA's case the cause of dissension was the location of party headquarters, with the Russian Federationists of New York City breaking ranks with their caucus in supporting NYC over Chicago -- a proposal which was defeated. The CLP fought over the composition of its NEC, with a first outcome that included moderates Ludwig Lore and Marguerite Prevey bitterly denounced by a bloc of New Yorkers including Jack Reed and Ben Gitlow as constituting an impediment to unity with the more radical CPA. A new election was held as a result of this attack, the article indicates, with a new 5 member NEC approved that included Max Bedacht and Edward Lindgren in place of Lore and Prevey.

 

"Party Repudiates Berne Parley, Calls for New Conclave: Convention Goes on Record As Favoring Eugene Debs For Presidential Candidate in 1920 and Ends Its Sessions...: National Executive Officials Instructed to Appoint Committee of 7 to Draw Up Statement of Principles and Working Platform..." by Herman Michelson [Sept. 5, 1919] The final day of the Socialist Party Emergency National Convention is reviewed by the New York Call's reporter on the scene, Herman Michelson. During its 7th day, the convention delegates unanimously declared themselves in favor of Gene Debs as the party's Presidential standard-bearer in the coming 1920 campaign, but left the matter of formal nomination to a convention to be convened for that purpose in the coming year (the revised party constitution calling for annual conventions in lieu of the previous quadrennial gatherings). The issue of international affiliation was debated and a majority resolution adopted for referral to the party membership which called for SPA affiliation to a "reconstructed Socialist International" in which "only such organizations and parties should be given representation which declare their strict adherence by word and deed to the principle of the class struggle." The majority resolution added that "to such an international must be invited the Communist parties of Russia and Germany and those Socialist parties in all countries which subscribe to the principle of the class struggle. No party which participates in a movement coalition with parties of the bourgeoisie shall be invited." This majority resolution was ultimately defeated by vote of the party membership in favor of an even more radical minority resolution authored by Illinois delegates Louis Engdahl and Bill Kruse, calling for affiliation of the SPA to the Third International. A 7 member "provisional National Executive Committee, which is to function until the next national convention in 1920, or until a permanent committee is elected" was named by the convention, consisting of William Brandt, William Henry, John Hagel, Edmund Melms, James Oneal, George Roewer Jr., and Oliver Wilson. Substantial changes in the party constitution were made and referred to the membership for ratification by referendum, including a provision that the new Executive Secretary of the Party was to be named by the NEC rather than directly elected by the party membership, as had previously been the case.

 

"Proclamation to the Membership of the Socialist Party: Issued by the National Convention in Chicago, Friday, September 5, 1919." This proclamation to party members by the 1919 Socialist Party Convention outlined its reasoning for supporting the actions of the outgoing National Executive Committee during the faction fight of 1919 as well as its own factional activities with respect to Left Wing delegates denied participation at the gathering. The apologetic declares: "There is no doubt that fraudulent methods were used in the disputed referendums. Whether the National Executive Committee took the wisest course in suspending the offending federations and refusing to tabulate the vote is a matter that no one can decide now. It might have been better to have permitted the matter to drift until the convention met, but it is certain that if that course was taken the facts would be the same regarding the disputed referendums." Rough details are given about each of the contested delegations and the actions of the convention in whether to permit or deny the participation of these delegates. The proclamation optimistically insists that "The Socialist Party has survived the attacks of the terrorists within and the reaction without. It has not compromises, it has not retreated a single inch. It is still the American section of the International, the militant party of the working class... Comrades: The Socialist Party will rise stronger than ever after this cleansing. We will enter the struggle next year a militant party of the workers, enthusiastic, united, and determined."

 

"Minutes of the Founding Convention of the Communist Labor Party of America, Aug. 31 - Sept. 5, 1919." After fighting for control of the 1919 Emergency National Convention of the Socialist Party of America in Chicago and losing in their bid, the organized Left Wing Section of the SPA retired downstairs and held a convention of their own -- a gathering which established the Communist Labor Party of America (CLP). The body elected organizational officers and wrote and adopted a platform and program.This document collects the minutes of every session of the CLP convention held over the six day period.

"Constitution of the Communist Labor Party of America." [adopted Sept. 5, 1919] Complete published edition of the organizational law of the Communist Labor Party of America, passed by its founding convention on September 5, 1919. Owing to the speed and severity of government repression of the Communist movement, these rules barely had a chance to take effect before being supplanted of necessity by an underground form of organization. One sees what the hardliners of the rival Communist Party of America were talking about when they condemned the CLP as "centrist," as the form of organization and its procedures were clearly borrowed wholesale from the Socialist Party of America. Of particular note is the state-based form of organization, election of delegates to national conventions by the state organizations, provision for membership referendums on matters of controversy, and establishment of a "Young People's Communist League" to replace the SPA's "Young People's Socialist League." Membership is open to all those 18 years or older, with former members of the SPA in good standing as of the September convention considered members in good standing of the CLP without the necessity of paying a $1 initiation fee, upon the signing of a new organizational pledge card. The same "Translator-Secretary" structure employed by the Socialist Party is ported over to the new CLP, with the establishment of five branches speaking a non-English language sufficient for the establishment of an official CLP language federation and the organization committed to provide office space in the National Office to the federation's Translator-Secretary upon the attainment of 1000 members.

 

"Platform and Program of the Communist Labor Party of America." [adopted Sept. 5 1919]. This is the programmatic document adopted by the Founding Convention of the Communist Labor Party of America (CLP) -- the group which emerged when the 1919 Emergency National Convention of the Socialist Party of America was successfully controlled by an "old guard" headed by National Executive Secretary Adolph Germer. The CLP founders consisted of three basic groups: credentialed delegates who bolted the SPA Emergency Convention, delegates denied access to the SPA Convention by the SPA's Credentials Committee, and delegates who had mandate to attend the SPA Convention. This "Platform and Program" remained in effect for the CLP for the duration of its short life, from adoption in early September 1919 until merger with the Ruthenberg/Ferguson group of the CPA to form the United Communist Party of America in May 1920.

 

**Dues Stamp and Organizational Stamp of the Communist Labor Party.** [pdf graphics file, circa Sept. 1919] Specimens of a dues stamp and special revenue stamp sold to founding members of the Communist Labor Party in 1919, from a scrapbook preserved by CLP founding member W.E. Reynolds, now in the collection of Pittsburg State University, Pittsburg, Kansas.

 

"First Convention of the Communist Party of America: Day 6," by James O. Peyronnin [Sept. 6, 1919] In this Bureau of Investigation report, Special Agent James Peyronnin notes that the morning of the 6th day of the Founding Convention of the CPA was occupied with paragraph-by-paragraph consideration of the proposed program of the organization -- based upon the draft prepared by Louis Fraina and the Left Wing National Council faction rather than the alternative prepared by the Socialist Party of Michigan. While 2 days earlier chairman of the convention Al Renner (Michigan) had been eager to push the pace of the gathering, now he strongly objected to a proposal to move to electing of officers of the CPA. Peyronnin notes that Renner "stated that there are certain delegates who are struggling for time in which to put something over; that the reports of the committees should by all means be acted upon before the election of officers." Peyronnin adds that the proposal to move to elections by Left Wing National Council faction member Isaac Ferguson, "who seemed now to be in unity with the Russian Revolutionary Organization to control the convention", was carried, and the process of nominations and elections moved forward. Four International Delegates (and 4 alternates) were elected, as was a 15 member CEC (with 5 alternates). Michigan faction members declined all nominations, notably Renner for Executive Secretary (Ruthenberg elected) and Batt for National Editor (Fraina elected). In the night session of the convention, Dennis Batt took the floor and excoriated the "100% Bolsheviks" of the Russian Federations for the "junk which you threw on the table for the delegates to pass on" (i.e. the Fraina version of the party program). "Batt in his discourse was very incitive and expressed himself with much force," Peyronnin notes. The complete Michigan program was read into the record. Batt was forcefully answered by Alex Bittelman on behalf of the majority, comparing the two programs "practically paragraph for paragraph." "In course of his inflammatory remarks, Batt vacated the hall for the balance of the night," Peyronnin reports.

 

"Communist Party Mass Meeting: Douglas Park Auditorium, Chicago," by Louis Loebl [Sept. 6, 1919] Bureau of Investigation Special Agent Louis Loebl briefly reports to his superiors in Washington on the mass meeting of the CPA held in Chicago the evening of September 6. "From all appearances, it was a Russian Affair pure and simple, the English speakers, Ferguson and Ruthenberg addressing the audience for conventionality's sake, rather than with a view to convey their messages to the English speaking audience. It is a fair estimate to state that 99% of the crowd were Russian, Lithuanian, and Polish," Loebl states. In addition to the two English speakers, Alexander Stoklitsky addressed the gathering in Russian, A. Forsinger in Latvian, and Boleslaw Gebert in Polish.

 

"First Convention of the Communist Party of America: Day 7," by James O. Peyronnin [Sept. 7, 1919] Bureau of Investigation Special Agent James Peyronnin reports on the 7th and final day of the Founding Convention of the CPA. The report of the Resolutions Committee was presented by S.A. Kopnagel and was approved by the convention without discussion. P. Sparer reported for the Committee on the Young Peoples Communist League, the proposed youth organization of the CPA (never launched). George Ashkenuzi and Bert Wolfe resigned from the Central Executive Committee to make way for Harry Wicks (breaking factional discipline with his Michigan comrades) and Charles Dirba. The finance committee reported that a total of 137 delegates had been seated at the convention, with nearly $5900 collected thus far on registration fees and all but $100 of the amount spent on delegate train fares and building rent. Translator-Secretary of the Lithuanian Federation Joseph Stilson indicated that the new organization would be receiving approximately $10,000 from the various Federations as the portion of dues withheld from the Socialist Party's National Office during the faction fight of 1919. At the conclusion, C.E. Ruthenberg seems to have addressed the convention at length as the new Executive Secretary of the CPA, deprecating the efforts of the rival Communist Labor Party, whose list of 90 delegates was seriously padded, including 7 who "did not represent anyone to speak of"; 10 from New York, a state in which Ruthenberg states that he did not think there were more than "a couple of hundred" in support of the CLP; and 11 from Illinois, were "not more than a few hundred at the very best represent them." Ruthenberg declares "The only sound organizations they have behind the delegates who were in that convention were Washington, California, and Oregon. And we have delegates here on the floor representing those states." Special Agent Peyronnin states in conclusion that "on account of the antagonism and friction existing between certain groups of the Convention, the ultra-radicals, who are the real 'Bolshevists' in the United States, did not deviate to any extent from the actual business of the convention, but these radicals, with especial reference to the group representing the Russian Revolutionary Organization from New York, should be kept under surveillance in their activities in behalf of the Communist Party, and which organization with the other foreign element of the Convention practically controlled the Convention from its inception to end."

 

"Platform and Program of the Communist Labor Party of America." [Adopted Sept. 1919]. This is the programmatic document adopted by the Founding Convention of the Communist Labor Party of America (CLP) -- the group which emerged when the 1919 Emergency National Convention of the Socialist Party of America was successfully controlled by an "old guard" headed by National Executive Secretary Adolph Germer. The CLP founders consisted of three basic groups: credentialed delegates who bolted the SPA Emergency Convention, delegates denied access to the SPA Convention by the SPA's Credentials Committee, and delegates who had mandate to attend the SPA Convention. This "Platform and Program" remained in effect for the CLP for the duration of its short life, from adoption in early September 1919 until merger with the Ruthenberg/Ferguson group of the CPA to form the United Communist Party of America in May 1920.

 

"Convention Impressions," by William Bross Lloyd. [events of Aug. 30-Sept. 5, 1919]. An account of the preliminary political jousting and formation of the Communist Labor Party by a founding member of that organization. William Bross Lloyd, a millionaire, was one of the financial angels of the American radical movement during the last years of the 1910s. In this article, published in The Class Struggle, he harshly criticizes the Left Wing National Council of Ruthenberg, Ferguson, & Co. for having exceeded its authority when it collaborated with the Language Federations and Socialist Party of Michigan in calling for immediate formation of a Communist Party of America. Lloyd is particularly blunt with regards to the "Russian Federations," which he characterizes as "a machine just as pernicious as the old SP National Executive Committee. That is the situation which is the fundamental cause of disunion today." If there is unity between the CLP and the CPA, Lloyd states, "it will come because self-seeking politicians and their power of control have been eliminated."

 

"Report of the National Convention at Chicago," by John C. Taylor [events of Aug. 30-Sept. 5, 1919] First-hand account of the 1919 Emergency National Convention of the Socialist Party and the founding Convention of the Communist Labor Party from California SP State Secretary John C. Taylor, not included in volume 1 of Draper. Taylor provides the best account of Adolph Germer's use of the Chicago police to "clear the hall" of those delegates not carrying a white card issued by Germer. Taylor charges bad faith on the part of the Germer clique in the distribution of such cards, these not being mentioned the day prior to the convention during conversation with Germer and his associates. Removed by a plainclothesman and "fully a dozen" uniformed officers already standing by, Taylor and his comrades were excluded from the hall from 10 am until after 1 pm, at which time they were only permitted to stand in an adjacent room in the heat. Taylor details the machinations of the credentials committee, which operated in slow motion until the Germer clique was certain of the stability of their majority. Taylor remarks on that several votes were decided by a tally of 88 to 33 the first day, giving an indication of the relative strength of the two factions among uncontested delegates, and details the walkout of the Left Wing delegates when the convention moved to conduct business before the resolution of all delegate contests. Taylor's account of the founding convention of the CLP downstairs is unfortunately less valuable, emphasizing the songs sung by the delegates but providing little additional substantive detail.

"Constitution of the Communist Party of America: Adopted at the Founding Convention, Chicago, Sept. 1-7, 1919." Basic document of organizational law of the old Communist Party of America. Structurally similar to the apparatus used by the Socialist Party of America -- the basic unit of organization being the "branch" of at least 7 members, combined into a "City Central Committee" if more than one existed in a locale (the SP basing itself on the city-level "Local" which may or may not be subdivided into "branches"). These CPA branches and City Central Committees were to be combined into either state or (at the discretion of the CEC) industrial district organizations. In all there were two or three layers of organization between the individual member and the governing 15 member CEC. An inner circle of the CEC called the "Executive Council" -- all living in the specified headquarters city of Chicago and consisting of the Executive Secretary, Editor, and 5 members of the CEC -- were to handle day to day operations of the party. Also notable in this organizational structure was the fact that the Executive Secretary and Editor were to be elected annually at party conventions held in May or June and that there were to be no members-at-large.

 

"The Chicago Conventions," by Max Eastman; Drawings by Art Young. [events of Aug. 30-Sept. 7, 1919]. [Large file -- 1 megabyte] At the end of August and first of September, there were three monumental conventions of the American left simultaneously taking place at Chicago: the 1919 Emergency National Convention of the Socialist Party of America, the Founding Convention of the Communist Labor Party, and the Founding Convention of the Communist Party of America. No more than a small handful of people attended sessions of all three bodies and only one chronicled them with a journalist's touch and a historian's eye. This lengthy analysis of the three gatherings by Max Eastman is a seminal pieces of reportage -- absolutely indispensable for historians of the Debsian SPA and the early American Communist movement. First published in the pages of The Liberator in its October 1919 issue, this a the revised version of the article, adding many of the original sketches and pen-and-ink drawings by Art Young. Those with slow internet may alternatively download the text-only version.

 

"Impressions of the Convention," by James Oneal [events of Aug. 30-Sept. 5, 1919] This article by leader of the Socialist Party's Regular faction, James Oneal, provides a review of the party's life in the months leading up to the August 30, 1919, Emergency National Convention. Oneal charges the Left Wing with a breach of faith for abandoning the Socialist Party when it was under external attack by the US government, despite its maintenance of a consistent and principled anti-militarist perspective during the world war. While Oneal allows that "many of those who had in the meantime attached themselves to the insurgent forces were thoroughly sincere in their belief that the Socialist Party had in some way betrayed the historic aims of the Socialist movement," he charges that the Left Wing had never provided evidence of any sort documenting the validity of their position. Outside of a few lapses of individual members from the party and its cause, the Left Wing's criticism had amounted to nothing more than "highly emotionalized attacks which at times bordered on hysteria," Oneal charges. "The insurgent group displayed the same sort of mental distress and irrational conduct that the deserters who left the party shortly after the entrance of the United States into the war. Both constituted an irrational reaction to the great events transpiring in Europe. Thousands of party members who were not swept off their feet undoubtedly felt the impress of the European upheaval and at certain moments were inclined to permit their emotions to sway their reason." Oneal claims that the outcome of the Emergency National Convention was not determined until its third day, when at last "normal judgments began to return and became more and more stable." The chief cause of this change was the "sobering effect" of certain delegates "demanding admission and then refusing to take their seats when given them" -- "something that had never been witnessed in a Socialist convention before." The unanimous vote accepting the controversial report of the special investigating committee on the 1919 party referendums is characterized as another pivotal moment in the history of the convention: "When the negative vote was called for there was silence for a moment. Then the convention burst into a roar of applause," Oneal recalls. "No convention in the party's history was ever characterized by so many dramatic moments and so much tense feeling and uncertainty, for the first few days of this one," Oneal declares.

 

"The National Emergency Convention Through Yipsel Eyes," by William F. Kruse [events of Aug. 30-Sept. 5, 1919] Participant's report of the Socialist Party's 1919 Emergency National Convention in Chicago by the former National Secretary of the Young People's Socialist League. Kruse, elected by the Socialist Party of Illinois as a delegate to the convention, relates the story of the SPA gathering in Machinist's Hall through the prism of his former organization. He indicates that he and other friends of the YPSL were able to persuade the Constitution Committee and then the convention itself to liberate the YPSL from formal Party control by deleting constitutional provisions that the YPSL "shall be under the control and direction of the Executive Committee of the Socialist Party," in favor of language establishing a "Director of Propaganda and Education among the young" who "shall organize and cooperate with the existing Young People's Socialist Organization for the extension of propaganda and education among the young people." In this way it was hoped that the YPSL might be able to steer its way clear of the factional war that was decimating and disorganizing the adult socialist movement. Kruse also makes mention of the "Minority Report" on international affiliation that he put forward with Louis Engdahl. He emphasizes the commonality between Majority and Minority perspectives: "All agreed that the Second International was dead. All repudiated absolutely the Berne Conference. All agreed that the new International would have to be organized upon the definite and rigid basis of the class struggle. All repudiated the social patriots who had stood by their warlords in time of test and struggle. All agreed that those who entered coalition governments with the bourgeoisie could not sit in the International. The distinction came on the point of whether the Third International should come into being through the call issued by the Communist Party at Moscow, or upon some subsequent call...coming from some other source among the revolutionary socialist parties of Europe."

 

"Report of the Missouri Delegates on the National Emergency Convention to the Membership." [events of Aug. 30-Sept. 5, 1919] Brief report by W.M. Brandt, G.A. Hoehn, Caleb Lipscomb, Jacob Kassner, Missouri delegates to the Socialist Party's Emergency National Convention to the members of the Socialist Party of Missouri. "We find that the action of the National Executive Committee in holding up the referendum on the election of a new National Executive Committee last May was not only fully justified, but extremely proper. It saved the party from total destruction. We examined the returns and heard the report of the special committee elected to investigate the charge of fraud, which report was adopted by unanimous vote of the delegates, and find beyond doubt that the most shameful frauds were perpetrated, mostly by some of the foreign language federations, and largely under the direction of American citizens," the report declares. The report also cites financial improprieties on the part of the suspended language federations, but optimistically asserts "aside from the financial condition of the party, we feel that it is in better condition than ever before." As published in the New York Call.

 

"Report to the Members of the Socialist Party of Missouri by the Missouri Delegates to the Emergency National Convention." [events of Aug. 30-Sept. 5, 1919] Brief report by W.M. Brandt, G.A. Hoehn, Caleb Lipscomb, Jacob Kassner, Missouri delegates to the Socialist Party's Emergency National Convention to the members of the Socialist Party of Missouri. "We find that the action of the National Executive Committee in holding up the referendum on the election of a new National Executive Committee last May was not only fully justified, but extremely proper. It saved the party from total destruction. We examined the returns and heard the report of the special committee elected to investigate the charge of fraud, which report was adopted by unanimous vote of the delegates, and find beyond doubt that the most shameful frauds were perpetrated, mostly by some of the foreign language federations, and largely under the direction of American citizens," the report declares. The report also cites financial improprieties on the part of the suspended language federations, but optimistically asserts "aside from the financial condition of the party, we feel that it is in better condition than ever before." As published in St. Louis Labor.

 

"Emergency Convention of Socialist Party," by "A Staff Correspondent" [William Brandt?] [events of Aug. 30-Sept. 5, 1919] The authorship of this lengthy account of the 1919 Emergency National Convention from the pages of St. Louis Labor has been tentatively assigned to William Brandt. The account notes the use of admission cards "to accredited delegates only" as a means of "thwarting the plans of the Left Wingers" to "capture" the gathering. Of the 200 delegates scheduled to attend the 1919 convention, the report notes there were 136 uncontested delegates and 31 contests at the conclave's opening. An account is provided of the storming of the floor of the convention on the first day, "lead by John Reed." The report notes that "Germer entered the hall and requested them to leave, but they refused. It was necessary to call an officer before they would retire." Day 2 got "down to business" with "about 130 reliable delegates," according to this account. Daily accounts are provided of the convention's activity. The report notes that "the regular Socialists have won victory after victory throughout the entire convention" and sympathetically quotes NEC member James Oneal of New York as stating the factional actions of that committee had made its members feel "sick at heart at the necessity of their action. " Nevertheless, Oneal is said to have told the gathering, "We served the party at the most trying time of its history and we had to be guided by the constitution."

 

"Red Conventions in Chicago Rank: Simons Shows Up Their Unrepresentative Character in Very Graphic Style: Wild Groups Consisted of Persons with No Control of Labor or Industry: Whole Country Laughs at Their Call for a General Strike to Begin Oct. 8," by A.M. Simons [events of Aug. 30-Sept. 5, 1919] In this article for the Minnesota Union Advocate, Right Social Democrat Algie Simons (later in his life a full-blown conservative) upbraids all factions of the American Socialist movement for their political activities in Chicago earlier that month. Simons declares: "They dearly loved phrases. They had small relation to facts. The speakers' lips were ever haunted by the forms of dead and gone blessed words. As phrases and dreamers circled in mental and physical whirls, they suggested the ghost dancing and weird rites of savage medicine men, who chant the cries and perform the gyrations of their ancestors to invoke rain or good hunting." For all their piety about the revolutionary working class, Simons charges that "There were fewer union men and women of influence in these three conventions than in any Socialist convention ever held. The unionists who are Socialists refuse to take these ghostly gatherings seriously." Lumping all three gatherings together and contending they advocated a soviet system and the establishment of the dictatorship of the proletariat, Simons laughing concludes that "Such topsy-turvy doctrines are revolutionary only as the whirlings of a top are revolutionary. They are dangerous only if reactionaries succeed in maintaining an industrial autocracy and blocking progress through democracy."

 

"Socialist Party Convention," by Emma Denney [events of Aug. 30-Sept. 5, 1919] This is a unique first-hand account of the pivotal 1919 Emergency National Convention of the Socialist Party, published in the pages of the official organ of the rival Socialist Labor Party. This account does not seem to have been known by Theodore Draper and it advances out understanding of the most eventful week in the history of American Socialism on the following matters: (1) Denney seems to indicate that the Chicago police responded to the scuffle between John Reed and Julius Gerber and were thereafter spontaneously used for their own ends by the Party Regular leadership, rather than through prearrangement. (2) The meeting hall was very large and included, in addition to the 200 or so delegates and potential delegates, spectators and press bringing the total to approximately 1,000. (3) Bits of flavor about the actual proceedings, including a heckling call by the Left Wing delegates for the election of the Chicago Chief of Police as Chairman of the day. (4) A protracted struggle on the floor over the presence of the police, in which the SP Regular leadership, headed by Chairman of the day Seymour Stedman, defeated all efforts to remove or formally protest the police presence. (5) The only first-hand account of the work of the Credentials Committee in its interrogation of challenged Left Wing delegates, in which Chairman Jacob Panken is said to have queried about personal information and hypothetical convention situations, during which some Left Wing challenged delegates are said to have responded to the committee's politically-driven obstructionism and badgering in an aggressive manner. (6) Prolonged discussion over the matter of setting aside the SPA constitution and electing the new NEC by the convention, despite lack of legal authority to do so. Denney also visited the conventions of the Communist Labor Party and the Communist Party of America taking place at the same time, but does not contribute appreciably to our understanding of either with her brief account.

 

"Constitution of the Communist Party of America: Adopted at the Founding Convention, Chicago, Sept. 1-7, 1919." Basic document of organizational law of the old Communist Party of America. Structurally similar to the apparatus used by the Socialist Party of America -- the basic unit of organization being the "branch" of at least 7 members, combined into a "City Central Committee" if more than one existed in a locale (the SP basing itself on the city-level "Local" which may or may not be subdivided into "branches"). These CPA branches and City Central Committees were to be combined into either state or (at the discretion of the CEC) industrial district organizations. In all there were two or three layers of organization between the individual member and the governing 15 member CEC. An inner circle of the CEC called the "Executive Council" -- all living in the specified headquarters city of Chicago and consisting of the Executive Secretary, Editor, and 5 members of the CEC -- were to handle day to day operations of the party. Also notable in this organizational structure was the fact that the Executive Secretary and Editor were to be elected annually at party conventions held in May or June and that there were to be no members-at-large.

 

"The Communist Party Convention," by I.E. Ferguson [events of Sept. 1-7, 1919]. Ferguson, a prominent member of the Left Wing National Council, founding member of the Communist Party of America, and editor of that party's official organ provides a lengthy and detailed account of the founding of the CPA, published in the pages of The Communist for the benefit of CPA members. Ferguson's account makes clear that the gathering was anything but monolithic -- he emphasizes the division of the organization between three groups: the Michigan faction, the Language Federationists headed by Alexander Stoklitsky, and the Left Wing National Council group. Ferguson emphasizes that the latter favored a softer line with regards to the participation of bolting delegates from the Socialist Party Emergency National Convention and serious unity discussions with the emerging Communist Labor Party group -- a position which was defeated by the convention in a test of strength. Includes a very useful list of elected officials of the CPA using "real" names.

 

"In Re: Communist Party Convention," by N. Nagorowe [events of Sept. 1-7, 1919] In its first great anti-Communist intelligence coup, the Department of Justice successfully placed one of its "Confidential Employees" on the floor as a delegate at the Founding Convention of the Communist Party of America. This is individual was neither Louis C. Fraina nor Harry M. Wicks (about whom there have been hushed whispers and furtive glances over the years; neither of whom were on the BoI payroll by any indication), but was rather the Russian delegate elected by Branch 2, Gary, Indiana, N. Nagorowe. This extensive report by Bureau of Investigation employee Nagorowe is an extraordinarily important historical document, containing a first person account of the closed door caucus activities of the Russian Federations faction. According to Nagorowe, the various language federations were driven by the action of the Russian Federation, disciplined and united fresh from their Federation Convention in Detroit held just the previous week. The chief of the faction is said to have been Translator-Secretary Alexander Stoklitsky, a man of few words at the caucus meetings. Stoklitsky's verbose and doggedly persistent front men are said to have been Novyi Mir editor Nick Hourwich and top Jewish Federationist Harry Hiltzik. Also playing a key roll was CEC member and Latvian Federation chief John Schwartz, characterized as "a resolute rough leader of the mob." The Left Wing National Council faction is interestingly characterized as the "Fraina group" by Nagorowe. Nagorowe is particularly important for his description of the 3 way dance between the Federations with the "Fraina group" and the "Michigans" -- in which the Michigan draft program seems to have been abruptly and faithlessly dropped in favor of the Fraina-drafted program as the working basis for the CPA program by the top leadership of the Federation. Stoklitsky and Hourwich failed "even to give any intimation of it to their own caucus members" this drastic change had been made, Nagorowe notes. The entire situation was masterfully handled Stoklitsky & Co., Nagorowe indicates, with open split with either the Left Wing National Caucus or the Michigan faction avoided and merger with the Anglophonic "Centrists" of the Communist Labor Party skillfully managed and ultimately avoided.

 

"Communist Party Convention," (A Michigander Perspective) [events of Aug. 30-Sept. 7, 1919] There are numerous primary accounts of the founding conventions of American Communism. The greatest number deal with the high-profile split at the Socialist Party convention, which lead to the formation of the Communist Labor Party. A lesser number deal with the establishment of the Communist Party of America at the convention of its own, called for Sept. 1, 1919 in Chicago. Of these few, the only one written from the perspective of an adherent of the ideologically-distinctive Socialist Party of Michigan seems to be this one -- published in The Proletarian, the official organ of the Michigan party and the Proletarian University of America. The unnamed author of this report emphasizes that there were 3 fairly compact caucuses at the CPA convention: "The largest group of the convention was the Russian caucus group, made up of the Russian-speaking elements, including Poles, Lithuanians, Letts [Latvians], Ukrainians, and others." Second was "the Fraina-Ferguson caucus," consisting primarily of anglophonic elements associated with the National Council of the Left Wing. The third group, "generally referred to as the Michigan group," was composed of "delegates from Muskegon, Grand Rapids, Grand Lodge, Jackson, Detroit, Buffalo [NY], Rochester [NY], Cleveland, Rockford, Ill., and Chicago," the author indicates. This latter group, consisting of approximately 20 delegates to the convention, remained united in support of a minority program and platform written in accord with the distinct teachings of the Michigan organization, which rejected any notion of mass action by a conscious minority, instead arguing for the necessity of minority support for any revolutionary action.

"Proclamation to the Delegates and Members of the Communist Party by the National Executive Committee of the Communist Labor Party." [Sept. 6, 1919] First of many unity appeals by the leaders of the Communist Labor Party to the rival Communist Party of America. The CLP's NEC declares: "As far as we can discover, there is no fundamental difference of principle between us. The platform, program, and resolutions that our convention has adopted are uncompromisingly revolutionary. They conform to the Left Wing program and are in strict accord with the principles laid down by the Communist International of Moscow. We are affiliating with the Third International. We hereby announce that we are ready at any time to meet your representatives to consider the question of unity on a basis of equality." Therein lay the rub. With the CPA sporting roughly triple the membership, annoyed that the CLP had not abandoned the clearly failed strategy of capturing the Socialist Party, and populated by neo-Social Democratic "Centrists," there was no comparable mood for unity -- particularly upon any "basis of equality," wherein party jobs would be split evenly and the CPA's semi-autonomous Federations placed in jeopardy.

 

"Minutes of the Central Executive Committee of the Communist Party of America, September 7, 1919." The first physical meeting of the Central Executive Committee of the old CPA was held in Chicago immediately after the conclusion of the founding convention of the organization. Attended by 14 of the 15 individuals elected by the Convention, the CEC elected five additional members to join Executive Secretary C.E. Ruthenberg and Editor of Party Publications Louis Fraina on an "Executive Council": I.E. Ferguson, Charles Dirba, K.B. Karosas, John Schwartz, and Harry Wicks. The CEC named the Executive Council as the party's legal bureau and committed to undertake the legal defense of Dennis Batt, naming Isaac Ferguson as party legal counsel. Ferguson was also named Associate Editor of Party Publications. A standard party wage of $45 for those with families and $35 for single employees was established. The New York members of the CEC were named a subcommittee to organize a NY state district, with Max Cohen as secretary of the organization committee. The CEC agreed to conduct its ongoing activities by mail through executive motions with the next physical meeting set for October 1. Party funds were to be deposited in a bank account under the name of C.E. Ruthenberg, with I.E. Ferguson a necessary co-signer for all party checks -- a decision which would eventually haunt the CEC when Ruthenberg and Ferguson bolted the party in April 1920, taking with them thousands of dollars in misappropriated CPA funds.

 

"Letter to Alfred Wagenknecht in Cleveland from John Reed in New York, September 7, 1919." Brief note from John Reed in New York to the Executive Secretary of the Communist Labor Party in New York, Due to Reed's high profile and sexy personality, the secondary literature often indicates that he was the founder and head of the Communist Labor Party. This is quite incorrect as illustrated by this letter; Executive Secretary Wagenknecht was the outstanding political leader of the CLP and it is from him that Reed inquires for authoritative documents and pleads for financial support for the labor publication which he edited, The Voice of Labor. Reed relates that fact that "We held a meeting tonight, a hastily-assembled but enthusiastic crowd from different branches. About three hundred. They are very much interested, especially in the report on our efforts to reconcile the two conventions.... There is going to be a terrible fight in New York, but everybody so far seems to think that the CP has acted wrongly -- everybody, that is, except the Michigan shouters and the Federation fanatics. We've got three branches, anyway, already."

"Convention Inspires Socialists to Build Mighty Party Anew: Reconstruction Now Keynote of Movement as Delegates Return Home to Intensify Local Organization Work." (NY Call) [Sept. 7, 1919]  It is regrettable that this account of the Chicago conventions from the summer of 1919 is unsigned, for it adds free and easy and whimsical portraits of tense and overwrought gatherings. The writer notes several important technical details -- the fact that fully three days of seven had been spent just getting the credentials war at the Socialist Party convention resolved, the fact that a new orientation towards the trade unions through establishment of a Committee on Economic Organization, details of the revised party constitution, which was to end direct election of the governing National Executive Committee. First-hand glimpses are offered of the Communist Labor Party convention, including a comical take upon the Ohio CLP's dilemma of voting for its own candidates on the November ballot under the Socialist Party's banner, with Communist Party of America Executive Secretary C.E. Ruthenberg at the top of the ticket. A folksy description contrasting the demeanor of the aggressive New York and laid back Wisconsin delegations at the SPA's Emergency Convention adds spice, complete with charming descriptions of Milwaukee Socialists Ed Melms, Dan Hoan, and Victor Berger.

 "Circular Letter to All Russian Branches of the Communist Party of America from Alexander Stoklitsky in Chicago, Sept. 8, 1919." Immediately after the conclusion of the Founding Convention of the CPA, Translator-Secretary of the Russian Federation Alexander Stoklitsky dispatched the following circular letter to the various branches of the Russian Communist Federation detailing the activities of the convention. Stoklitsky uses a low count for the number of delegates credentialed (128; actual number seems to have been 137, according to the Finance Committee's report late in the convention). He announces the publications launched by the convention -- the weekly organ (The Communist) and the monthly theoretical magazine (The Communist International) and details the names of those elected as International Delegates and members of the organization's CEC. Stoklitsky declares that "the work of the construction of the Communist Party of America has been crowned with success. The old, rotten Socialist Party has cracked at all its seams. All thinking elements have joined the fighting Communist Party of America." He adds that "a difficult task lies before our party. Surrounded on all sides by enemies, it will be obliged to fight on many fronts simultaneously" -- including particularly "the Germers and the Bergers," brothers of the German Social Democratic "traitors" and "social-patriots," who "are ready to do all in their power in order to crush the real Revolutionary movement."

"Socialist Party Convention." (Editorial from The New York Call)  [Sept. 9, 1919]  Self-congratulatory editorial from the pages of the New York Call, probably but not definitely written by the paper's chief editorialist, James Oneal. The editorial calls the newly formed Communist Party of America "an anomaly in the history of working class parties" in that it is an organization established by foreign-born workers in an attempt to win power by gaining the mass support of a native-born population. Moreover, hostile constituent elements comprise the CPA, the editorialist notes, including an electorally-oriented but programatically impossibilist Michigan organization and language federations believing in imminent revolution while eschewing politics altogether. The rival Communist Labor Party is portrayed as a "wavering center" between the SPA and the CPA, comprised of Ohio and Washington delegations and a "few scattering delegates" from elsewhere. This group bolted one convention only to be excluded from the other and were a patched-together assemblage held together only by an amorphous conception of "political action." No long term party could be maintained around such a vague concept, the editorialist asserts. The Socialist Party, by way of contrast, is said to have repudiated the weak 2nd International and "without a dissenting voice, maintains its position of aid and endorsement of the genuine fighters for Socialism and the working class in Russia, Germany, and other countries, while opposing all groups that support counter-revolution or who sanction support of coalition governments." The editorialist expresses confidence that "the sincere members who have been misled during the past few months will return" to the Socialist Party's ranks.

***PUBLICATION*** The Ohio Socialist: Issue 84 [September 10, 1919]

"Circular Letter to All Ohio Locals and Branches from Alfred Wagenknecht, Executive Secretary, Communist Labor Party." [circa Sept. 10, 1919]  The failure of the two Communist conventions in Chicago to unite created an intense and bitter political situation -- referred to in this circular letter by top CLP leader Alfred Wagenknecht as an "emergency." This communication to the membership until recently comprising the Socialist Party of Ohio attempts to justify Wagenknecht and the Ohio delegation's course of action, reveals to these rank-and-filers the fait accompli of its new membership in the Communist Labor Party, and calls upon them to "maintain our strong Ohio organization and loyally cooperate with the efforts of new party officials to build a powerful national organization." New dues stamps and cards are said to be ready, based on a dues rate of 50 cents per month, and the constitution of the CLP adopted in Chicago is to be in effect "until such time as it is amended by referendum," Wagenknecht declares.

"Circular Letter to All Locals and Branches of the Socialist Party of America from Alfred Wagenknecht, Executive Secretary of the CLP, circa Sept. 10, 1919." This communique was sent out by Executive Secretary of the Communist Labor Party Alfred Wagenknecht immediately after the formation of the CLP to all local units of the Socialist Party, seeking their affiliation with the new organization. "The Left Wing delegates whom you sent to Chicago to attend the convention of the Socialist Party were thrown out of the convention hall by the police in command of the Socialist Party National Secretary. These Left Wing delegates, 82 in number, then organized the legal Socialist Party convention, under the direction of the new National Executive Committee which you elected and in obedience to the mandate of the National Left Wing Conference, organized the Communist Labor Party, the logical outgrowth of the fight for Left Wing principles made in the Socialist Party by the majority of its members," Wagenknecht declares. Wagenknecht advocates the immediate call of a meeting of each local body for the sole purpose of considering the constitution, program, and platform of the CLP and for decision on the question of affiliation. "Take your stand with us in a united revolutionary movement. Out all ties that bind you to that kind of socialism which has made Scheidemann and Kerensky infamous.... The old Socialist Party is dead. The new party is virile with the spirit of those who know no compromise," Wagenknecht implores.



"Left Wing Left Far Behind in Primaries." (NY Call) [Sept. 12, 1919]  Final, official vote counts from the unprecedented primary election battle in New York City between the slate of the Socialist Party Regulars and the slate of the Left Wing Section. Unlike the initial report of the vote count published by The Call a week earlier, this includes the names of the entire Left Wing slate. One or two of the very few races captured by the Left Wing shifted back to the Regulars in this final count.

 

"Russia -- The World's Greatest Labor Case: A Speech in San Francisco," by Robert Minor [Sept. 14, 1919] Texas born, California dwelling cartoonist and journalist Robert Minor was one of the first-hand American observers of the Russian Revolution. For the better part of a year he lived in Moscow, interviewing Lenin, contributing a cartoon to Pravda, and attempting to fulfill his journalistic obligations in spite of suppression of his various cables to America. Once home, Minor toured and spoke extensively on behalf of the Russian Socialist Republic. This is the text of Minor's second speech in America, made in San Francisco late in the summer of 1919. Minor charges that Soviet Russia is the victim of the greatest of labor frame-ups, a "conspiracy to falsify the facts" on the part of governments and their diplomats working hand in glove with the bourgeois press. Soviet violence was exaggerated and depicted in the lurid accounts, while the greater violence of the anti-Communists went largely unreported. Minor tells his audience to "dismiss from your minds the lies that have been told on the score of the 'red terror.' Perhaps 4,500 or 5,000 people were killed under the 'red terror.' For that reason Russia is to be excluded from all consideration, they say. Look on the other side of the fight. Not less than 76,000 were killed by the "white terror" and you never heard of it." Minor makes the provocative claim far from American being threatened by the virus of Bolshevism, to the contrary it was American that was radicalizing Soviet Russia. Minor asserts that he "ran across these American-Russians everywhere, and every one of them who has been here got his political education and has no illusions, knows all the potentialities of this country." It was these American-Russians who were "the most radical of all." The St. Louis stockbroker-turned-diplomat David Francis was dismissed by Russians as an "old stuff shirt," Minor declares, while the "one American representative in Russia who understood and saw" was YMCA man Raymond Robbins, "a capitalist of the kind that can understand a few things and see ahead."

 

"Old Local Queens [NY] Votes to Leave Socialist Movement: Report of Meeting of Sept. 14, 1919." This news report from the New York Call details the exodus of Local Queens from the Socialist Party as the result of a decision made at the membership meeting of September 14, 1919. The session received the report of Maurice L. Paul, a delegate to the founding convention of the Communist Party of America, who declared asserted the decision of Local Queens to send him to the CPA gathering was the correct one. "The Socialist Party Convention was packed. For example, New York was represented by 36 delegates, whereas 36 delegates is out of all proportion to the true representation. The Communist Convention and the bolters' convention, or Kangaroos [the CLP], was made up of such comrades who fluctuated one way or another and knew not where to go." After hearing Paul's report, Edward Lindgren reported on behalf of the Communist Labor Party, who claimed the CLP delegates were attempting to fulfill their mandates to attend the Socialist Party's Emergency Convention; as opposed to the CPA, which Lindgren stated was dominated by the federations and thus "could never amount to much in this country as a revolutionary party." Jay Lovestone also spoke on behalf of the CPA. "His remarks were mostly personalities, and of all the speakers of the evening he seemed most bitter," the account notes. After extensive debate on a series of amendments, Local Queens voted 39-8 to join the Communist Party of America.

 

"Historical Review of the Split in the Socialist Party and the Organization of the Communist Party and Communist Labor Party." [Sept. 1919] An official review of the split in the Socialist Party and division of the Communist movement in two new organizations from the perspective of the Communist Labor Party. Authorship is unknown, but the document appeared in the CLP's official organ, Communist Labor Party News, and was reprinted in the CLP-affiliated press. Onus for the division is placed squarely on the shoulders of the Communist Party of America, which broke ranks with the will of the Left Wing National Conference and then "refused to elect a committee on unity to confer with the committee elected by the Left Wing delegate convention" -- changing this decision only when faced by a bolt of about 40 delegates from their own convention. The CPA, said to be "controlled" by "the Russian Federation" and run by means of "dictatorial methods" then refused to unite with the CLP on the basis of equality, but instead sought control of the new organization by uniting on the basis of declared memberships. The claim of the CPA to represent 55,000 members is contested by this article; instead the CPA included only 24,900 Federationists and "two or three thousand English-speaking members" while the Communist Labor Party represented the Socialist Parties of 23 states as well as the German, Scandinavian, and Italian Federations -- 30,800 in all.

 

"Circular Letter 'To All Ohio Locals and Branches,'" from Alfred Wagenknecht. [Sept. 1919] This mimeographed letter was sent out to the Secretaries of the various Locals and Branches of the Socialist Party of Ohio by Communist Labor Party Executive Secretary Alfred Wagenknecht in the immediate aftermath of the split of the Socialist Party of America at its convention held at the end of August and during the first week of September. Wagenknecht briefly recounts the history of the Left Wing movement from the time of the June 21-24, 1919, Left Wing National Conference in New York. Those favoring immediate formation of a Communist Party of America are categorized as "the Russian Federation bolting minority group," which "refused to unite with us, for it wanted the "honor" of organizing the first communist party." Wagenknecht is careful to describe the actions of the group which founded the CLP as having "obeyed instructions to the letter." Wagenknecht states that "Your delegates were not instructed to attend the convention called by the bolting minority group, the Russian Federation group, but to attend the convention which was to have been called by the National Council under instructions from the National Left Wing Conference." The Socialist Party of Ohio, having been expelled from the SPA, was henceforth affiliated with the new CLP, Wagenknecht indicated. The dues structure of the new organization is detailed -- an initiation fee of $1 (half to the local organization) with dues of 50 cents per month (15 cents of which were to go to the local organization).

 

"Statement of the Illinois Delegates Who Withdrew from the Emergency Convention and Participated in the Formation of the Communist Labor Party." [Sept. 1919] This mimeographed letter was sent out to the Secretaries of the various Locals and Branches of the Socialist Party of Illinois by a group of 12 delegates elected to the Socialist Party's August 1919 Emergency National Convention. The document is useful in helping to establish a time line for the SPA convention -- a four hour caucus of the Illinois delegation on the second day (Sunday, Aug. 31) is described, and the full convention did not return to session until 2:00 pm, at which time the Credentials Committee was still unready to report. When the convention -- sans a mass of challenged Left Wing delegates -- moved to conduct its business without the resolution of the credentials question, the bulk of the Illinois delegation walked out, according to this document. They apparently gathered with like-minded others in the interim, waiting until 6:00 pm for resolution of the issue. Failing that, the disputed National Executive Secretary-elect Alfred Wagenknecht called the "real Emergency Convention" to order in a room downstairs from the convention of the Germer-SPA, according to the document. The charge is made that "we demanded immediate action of our claims [to seat all constitutionally-elected delegates], only to learn that it was the intention of those in control to seat [only] enough of us that they might retain control by a safe margin." The document states that "it is our purpose to make of the Communist Labor Party an instrument for the conquest of the class state and the inauguration of Industrial Democracy."

 

"Call for a Mass Membership Convention For the Purpose of Organizing Local Cook County of the Communist Labor Party of America." [Sept. 1919] . A rare leaflet held in the Comintern Archive, a call by the provisional Cook County, Illinois, CLP organization for a "Mass Membership Convention" to establish "Local Cook County, Communist Labor Party of America." All those pledging allegiance to the program of the CLP and submitting an application for membership were to be entitled to participate at the organizational convention, to be held Sunday, Sept. 28, 1919. Includes the organizational principles and program of the CLP, an illuminating view of the ideology of the party's early participants. Published over the signatures of the Cook. Co. Organization Committee: G.A. Engelken, Arthur Procter, J. Meisinger, Sam Hankin (Sec.), and John Nelson.

 

"Circular Letter to All Locals and Branches of the Socialist Party of America from Alfred Wagenknecht, Executive Secretary of the CLP, circa Sept. 10, 1919." This communique was sent out by Executive Secretary of the Communist Labor Party Alfred Wagenknecht immediately after the formation of the CLP to all local units of the Socialist Party, seeking their affiliation with the new organization. "The Left Wing delegates whom you sent to Chicago to attend the convention of the Socialist Party were thrown out of the convention hall by the police in command of the Socialist Party National Secretary. These Left Wing delegates, 82 in number, then organized the legal Socialist Party convention, under the direction of the new National Executive Committee which you elected and in obedience to the mandate of the National Left Wing Conference, organized the Communist Labor Party, the logical outgrowth of the fight for Left Wing principles made in the Socialist Party by the majority of its members," Wagenknecht declares. Wagenknecht advocates the immediate call of a meeting of each local body for the sole purpose of considering the constitution, program, and platform of the CLP and for decision on the question of affiliation. "Take your stand with us in a united revolutionary movement. Out all ties that bind you to that kind of socialism which has made Scheidemann and Kerensky infamous.... The old Socialist Party is dead. The new party is virile with the spirit of those who know no compromise," Wagenknecht implores.

 

"Circular to All Branches of the Russian Federation of the Communist Party of America from Oscar Tyverovsky, Secretary." [circa Sept. 15, 1919] In this communique from the first days after the split of the Socialist Party of America into 3 competing organizations, Secretary of the Russian Federation Oscar Tyverovsky offers the Communist Party of America's perspective of the dispute. Tyverovsky is harshly critical of the Communist Labor Party element for not joining with the Communist Party of America after the outcome of the Socialist Party convention became clear on its first day, Aug. 30, 1919. These delegates disregarded the fact that the CPA organizing committee had agreed to accept those delegates who would be willing to submit to the requirements governing the delegates of the Communist Convention, i.e., to pass the Mandate Commission." Instead, they formed their own dual communist political organization, the CLP -- a group which Tyverovsky characterizes as "a party of leaders without [the masses]." Tyverovsky notes that these "so-called communists" had admitted to their organization branches of the Russian Federation which recently been expelled by the Russian Federation "because of their Menshevik tactics and disorganizing activities." Instead of making known the real differences in the orientation of these two wings of the Russian Federation, Tyverovsky states that the CLP was instead exaggerating an artificial issue, the question of control over the Russian Soviet Government Bureau of Ludwig Martens (which the CLP supported and worked with and the CPA sought to subordinate to its own party control). The CLP also made use of their "backbiting, lying paper, Pravda" to slander the Russian Federation, Tyverovsky charges, adding that "we must stand fast at our post, not allowing the evil-doers to disrupt our ranks."

"Introduction to the Official Report of the Chicago Convention," by John Reed and Benjamin Gitlow [circa Sept. 15, 1919]  Close political associates Reed and Gitlow, hardline anti-Russian Federation folk, provide here an introduction to an official publication of the Communist Labor Party detailing the events of its founding convention for its members. The pair call for an end to the six months of "ceaseless bickering" between Right and Left which dominated discourse in the old Socialist Party and which now seemed to be continuing between the CLP and  the rival Communist Party of America. "The vast bulk of the Party membership, we are sure, from whatever part of the country it may come, is with us. Our Convention, in which there were regularly elected delegates from 22 states — including the solid West — proves that the revolutionary rank and file of the old Socialist movement in this country has lined up with the Communist Labor Party," Reed and Gitlow declare. They add that Federation autonomy has been eliminated in the CLP, whereas in the CPA no language branch could remain a member without first being a member of its associated language group. The CLP stood ready to unify with the CPA, however, Reed and Gitlow noted, despite four rejected appeals for unity on an equal basis made to the CPA in Chicago.

 

"Strength of the Two Left Wing Parties." (Communist Labor Party News) [circa Sept. 15, 1919] This short article pronounces the Communist Labor Party's view of the membership status of the CPA and CLP at the time of their formation. The article correctly notes that "only an estimate of the strength of each can be given at this time for the exact membership can not be ascertained until both organizations have functioned for some months and then only upon the basis of dues stamp sales." The CPA is said to consist largely of members from the language federations: "Russian, 6,500; Ukrainian, 3,500; South Slavic, 3,000; Lithuanian, 6,000; Lettish [Latvian] 1,500; Hungarian, 2,400; Polish, 2,000," plus "a few thousand English-speaking members" for a total estimated membership of the Communist Party of "about 28,000." This estimate is reasonable. The count of its own CLP organizational ranks is highly inflated however, based upon Anglophonic state memberships plus "the greater portion of the German Federation membership, with a Left Wing of "about 5,000, plus "the Italian Federation, 1,000; and the Scandinavian Federation, 3,000." Thus, "the membership of the Communist Labor Party equals, if it does not exceed, that of the Communist Party," the article writer optimistically (and wrongly) declares.

 

"Letter to John Reed and Ben Gitlow in New York from Alfred Wagenknecht in Cleveland, circa mid-Sept. 1919." Short note from the head of the Communist Labor Party to the editors of the CLP's labor publication, Voice of Labor in New York. Wagenknecht indicates that discretion is the better part of valor with respect to impeding enlistment in the army through the pages of The Ohio Socialist, when mailing privileges and a potential jail term would be in the offing. But "don't call me an angle-worm -- backboneless," he asks, noting that "it will please you to learn that the Communists are AFRAID to publish their platform and program. Ruthenberg said to me the other day that they would probably have to circulate it SECRETLY." Little did he know that in little more than three months the CLP, too, would be driven underground...

***PUBLICATION*** The Ohio Socialist: Issue 85 [September 17, 1919]

 

"'Bulletin No. 1' to Local Units of the SPA and SLP from C.E. Ruthenberg, Exec. Sec. of the CPA in Chicago." [Sept. 18, 1919] Immediately after formally organizing itself at its founding convention, Sept. 1-7, 1919, the Communist Party of America attempted to win adherents en masse to the CPA banner. This typeset flyer was sent to various branches of the Socialist Party of America and Socialist Labor Party, attempting to win the allegiance of entire branches and locals previously affiliated with these organizations. Noting the move for organization of a third party by the bolting delegates from the SPA convention, Executive Secretary Ruthenberg states: "It is still possible to attain unity between all the workers who are ready to support Communist principles. If every branch which stands for those principles endorses and becomes part of the Communist Party, which already has 50,000 members, no second organization can come into existence."

 

"National Secretary Germer's Letter of Resignation: Retiring Party Official Gives Reason for Quitting Post at This Time -- Is Under 20 Years' Prison Sentence," by Adolph Germer [Sept. 18, 1919] With the exception of factional leader James Oneal, the members of the National Executive Committee of the Socialist Party stood down after the Emergency National Convention which began August 30, 1919, and a new NEC was elected to govern the organization. National Secretary Adolph Germer was not far behind them, submitting this letter of resignation to the newly named "Temporary NEC" little more than 2 weeks after the convention closed. "Much has been made of the claim that the old National Executive Committee precipitated the controversy within the party in order to keep itself in power," Germer declares, noting that "the report of the special committee that investigated the election frauds fully vindicated the course of the old National Executive Committee. Those who questioned the motives of the National Executive Committee in holding up the election for party officials, suspending the 7 foreign language federations, and expelling Michigan and Massachusetts were proven malicious slanderers and professional disrupters." The decision by the outgoing NEC to terminate the 1919 election of party officials was "unanimously endorsed by the recent national convention, which included a large number of the Left Wing delegates." Germer announces that "I assume my full share of the responsibility" for the halting of the election, suspensions, and expulsions, and that he would follow the example of the outgoing NEC by standing down as Executive Secretary, effective Oct. 11, 1919, "or sooner if the NEC can make arrangements to have a successor take over the affairs of the National Office."

 

"The Communist Party," by Jack Carney [Sept. 19, 1919] This article by Duluth, Minnesota Left Wing iconoclast Jack Carney, a member of the National Executive Committee of the Communist Labor Party, takes aim at his rival Charles Dirba and the Communist Party of America. Carney had in the previous week asserted that "The majority of the English-speaking membership" which the CPA had was "drawing away from it" and State Secretary Dirba had taken exception, asserting that "common decency and honesty demands that you retract this misstatement." Carney sticks to his guns, writing "If you want to judge the membership of any party, just judge them by their actions, not their TALK. There has been more work done in the city of Duluth than in both of the Twin Cities. We have sold more literature than the State Office, which has the whole membership to serve. The Scandinavian Local has practically kept the State Office above water. This has been made possible because within the Socialist Party of Duluth there has been unity of purpose and unity of action. We have not engaged in talk so much as action. True it is that we have not used many revolutionary phrases, but we have gone to the place where the worker was reached and that was on the job." Carney seeks unity of Communist forces: "There is no Communist Party that has a right to say that WE are the only party. The times call for more tolerance and they call for the exercising of our common sense in these matters. We must come together. If you are prepared to stay in your own little party, then you are lost to all sense of a conscious realization of the task that is set before you."

 

"'Death for Me or Release for All,' Says Debs: 'I Trust in My Comrades,'" by Joseph W. Sharts [event of Sept. 20, 1919] News account of a follow-up visit to imprisoned Socialist leader Gene Debs at Atlanta Federal Penitentiary by Dayton, Ohio Socialist Joseph Sharts. Sharts' visit was to receive the final word from Debs about whether to proceed with a habeus corpus appeal on his behalf -- a procedure put on a 30 day delay by Debs at an August 21 meeting with Sharts and Marguerite Prevey. Debs declines to allow action taken for him as an individual by his comrades: ""I have studied this matter for 30 days. Every instinct in me is against my making an individual fight for liberty while my comrades rot in jail! Woodrow Wilson and his political crowd sent me here from Moundsville [WV] to kill or break me. I shall stay until I die or he is forced to release us all. My faith is in the rank and file of my comrades." With regard to the split in the ranks of the Socialist Party, Sharts quotes Debs directly: "'The rank and file of the Socialist movement have no quarrel with each other,' he declared. 'It is the leaders always, and those who want to be leaders, who keep up factional differences and stir up new ones.'"

"Steel Strike May Begin Labor's Last Big Battle With Industrial Barons: Bitterness and Violence Seen as Certain Results -- Wilson's October 6 Conference Mildly Amuses Wall Street Interests," by Laurence Todd [Sept. 20, 1919]  Laurence Todd of the Federated Press sets the table for the Great Steel Strike, scheduled to begin the day after publication of this article. Todd notes with approval the decision not to delay the strike until after the  October 6 scheduled start of Woodrow Wilson's Conference Industrial Relations, noting that the ranks of participants had been stacked with leading opponents of organized labor under the guise of representatives of the "public." Todd also notes that the red-baiting of strike organizer William Z. Foster had begun -- "the game is to present him as a dangerous anarchist." In contrast to the stillborn October 6 conference, Todd holds hope for a "genuine and sincere conference on the future of the railroad industry" in support of the Plumb Plan to be led by Frederic C. Howe. A grassroots movement in favor of a Labor Party and Farmer-Labor cooperation is noted, with state labor organizations in five states already having declared "for union with the organized farmers in the coming political campaign."

 

"Application for Membership in the Communist International on Behalf of the Communist Labor Party of America," by Alfred Wagenknecht [September 21, 1919] Succinct application for Comintern membership by the Executive Secretary of the Communist Labor Party of America, acting in accord with a resolution passed unanimously at the founding convention of the party, which closed Sept. 5, 1919. The resolution states: "We hereby declare ourselves one in principle and actions with all the parties and organizations already affiliated with the Third International formed at Moscow, and send them our heartiest greetings. We pledge ourselves to work upon the lines and according to the program determined upon by the first Congress of the Third International..." By way of contrast, the Communist Party of America applied for Comintern membership on Nov. 24, 1919, and the Socialist Party of America applied for Comintern membership on March 12, 1920.

 

"In Re: Communist Meeting at West Side Auditorium, Chicago," Reports by Peter P. Mindak and Jacob Spolansky [Sept. 21, 1919] Two Bureau of Investigation reports on the mass meeting held in Chicago in the afternoon of September 21, 1919, by the Communist Party of America. According to Special Agent Mindak, about 800 or 900 persons were in attendance, "most of whom appeared to be Russians," to hear speeches by Harry Wicks and C.E. Ruthenberg (in English), J. Kaminski (in Polish), and Alexander Stoklitsky (in Russian). Mindak singles out Wicks for special mention: "This speaker assailed the President in most violent terms, and his entire speech, it can be safely said, was the most revolutionary and fiery talk that employee has yet heard. He called all the police and other peace officers as being all thugs cutthroats, and pimps. He could not find words powerful enough to portray his contempt and animosity. He advocated the organization of the workers in the various shops, to prepare themselves for the time, which he stated was at hand, when the workers will take the plants in their own hands as they did in Russia." Ruthenberg is said to have delivered "more of the old time Socialistic anti-Capitalistic talk and was tame in comparison with the talk of Wicks." Mindak states that Stoklitsky was the most effective speaker, resoundingly greeted by the assembly. The Russian-speaking Spolansky adds a note on the content of Stoklitsky's speech, noting that he "worded his speech to the coming strike" on Sept. 22. As is his wont, Spolansky luridly adds that Stoklitsky "stated that the steel strike, which is going to start on September 22nd [1919] will become a general revolution, and that the Communist Party, whose aim is to bring about this revolution in this country should make every possible effort to explain to the steel strikers that proclaiming getting more wages for shorter hours is not the thing to fight for. He stated that they must fight for the establishment of communism through the proletarian dictatorship."

 

"'Not Goodbye, Just Change,' Says [Alex] Georgian." (NY Call) [event of Sept. 21, 1919] On Sept. 21, 1919, a meeting was held in Minneapolis, Minnesota to honor Russian-American Socialist activist Alex Georgian, who was slated to be transported to Ellis Island, New York for eventual deportation. Georgian was greeted with an ovation by his comrades before telling them: "Deportation is not a new thing. It has existed since the exploitation of man was introduced into society. It was so in Russia, and it is so in England, France, and all over. Deportation is a social crime by the master class to subjugate workers. I am not the first, and I will not be the last. Deportation will exist as long as the capitalist class.... Because of the prosecution and oppression visited upon the workers of Russia, Russia is in the vanguard of progress. The same thing is coming here, and they can't crush it. This is not a farewell, just a changing of place. I have always been in the struggle, and am going to talk whether they send me to China, Germany, or Hell." A footnote by Tim Davenport notes that Georgian was ultimately freed on a writ of habeas corpus and remained undeported throughout the early 1920s -- eventually playing a major role as a member of the dissident Ruthenberg faction of the Communist Party of America and serving as a delegate to the 1922 Bridgman convention under the pseudonym "Kasbeck."

 

"Morris Hillquit Returns After 14 Months' Recuperation; Looks Fine." (NY Call) [event of Sept. 22, 1919] While certainly not of the same world-historical importance as the meeting of the returning Lenin at the Finland Station by the Bolshevik faithful, there is a certain faint echo of the event depicted in this news report from the New York Call detailing the meeting of Socialist Party leader Morris Hillquit at Grand Central Station in New York after his 14 months' illness and recuperation in upstate New York. At 7:45 am, "about 40 of [Hillquit's] close friends and party officials, together with committees from some of the branches, greeted him with enthusiasm. The cheering was so great that an impromptu meeting gathered around the Socialists, from which Hillquit laughingly escaped with his companions." In attendance were such heavy-hitters of the Socialist Party as Executive Secretary Adolph Germer, Secretary of Local Greater New York Julius Gerber, NEC member George Goebel, and representatives of various party units and institutions. "Flowers were sent by many of the branches, and someone laughed and wondered where the rice was," the reporter notes. "When asked his opinion upon the League of Nations, the steel strike, the Left Wing, the chances of the Reds copping the world's pennant, and of the Shantung settlement, Hillquit said: 'Let's all have breakfast.' The announcement was greeted with cheers." The party thereupon adjourned to the Grand Central Station restaurant for bacon and eggs.

 

"We Are All Socialists: Split Need Not Weaken the Movement -- Let Us Waste No More Time In Quarreling, but Throw Our Whole Strength Into the Fight on Capitalism," by Morris Hillquit [Sept. 22, 1919] This article in the New York Call marked Socialist Party leader Morris Hillquit's return to active party life after a 14 months' illness and recuperation at a sanitarium in upstate New York. Hillquit weighs in publicly on the 1919 party split for the first time, taking a benign position on the bitter factional struggle, which Hillquit characterizes as "unfortunate but unavoidable." The division of the party had been "an accomplished and irrevocable fact many months ago" and the various Chicago conventions had done "nothing more than recognize the fact," Hillquit notes. The departure of the Left Wing from the ranks of the Socialist Party did not mean that their loss to the Socialist movement, however, nor need it necessarily mean a weakening of that movement. "Our newly baptized "Communists" have not ceased to be Socialists even though in a moment of destructive enthusiasm they have chosen to discard the name that stands for so much in the history of the modern world. They are wrong in their estimate of American conditions, their theoretical conclusions, and practical methods, but they have not deserted to the enemy. The bulk of their following is still good Socialist material, and when the hour of the real Socialist fight strikes this country, we may find them again in our ranks," Hillquit declares. Hillquit urges against an preoccupation with factional infighting: "The quarrels of political stepbrothers are always more violent than those of political strangers. It is to be hoped that the Socialist Party at least will effectively resist the temptation, for nothing could be more ruinous to the Socialist movement than frittering away its energies and resources on internecine strife," Hillquit cautions. Hillquit upbraids those who have taken the party's dirty laundry to the capitalist press: "Our quarrel is a family quarrel and has no room in the columns of the capitalist papers, where it can only give joy and comfort to the common enemy."

 

"The Foreign Language Federations in the Socialist Party: What Should the Relation Be Between Non-English Speaking Groups and the American Workers?" by Andrew Pranspill [Sept. 23, 1919] A thoughtful and provocative reassessment of the role and function of language federations in the Socialist Party of American in the aftermath of the great split of 1919. Pranspill, formerly the Secretary of the SPA's tiny Estonian Federation and now secretary of Local Astoria, New York, argues that each of the federations are actually nothing more than a dreaded "organization within an organization," in which the participant members have their own set of nationally-determined concerns and further reflect the general concerns of the foreign worker in America, rather than the issues which concern the American working class as a whole. For perhaps the first time in the Socialist Press, the real cause of growth of the Russian, Ukrainian, and other language federations in late 1918 and early 1919 is correctly identified: "They have joined the Socialist Party because they want to go back to their old country. 'The workers in Russia have overpowered the capitalists and all the exploiters, and in the struggle they have not spared their lives.... What will you say on your return when the Russian comrades ask you "What good did you do in America?"' These are the arguments one almost invariably hears at the Russian propaganda meetings. The reason they so eagerly flock to the Socialist Party is their desire to go back to Russia." The publications of these foreign language groups are dominated by news of the old country, while the news of the American movement is given short shrift. No matter how radical the positions it takes, the American party will never be radical enough for such foreign workers, Pranspill declares, since the federationists held the anglophonic membership in even greater contempt than English speaking workers hold for their foreign brethren on the basis of national chauvinism. "Why should then the federations pay dues to the party for merely supervising their work? They need no supervision. To do that is an insult to them. This state of affairs naturally breeds discord and dissatisfaction. The Socialist Party in America should stand on its own feet. It should not have any foreign federations inside of itself.... It is a condition detrimental to both the party and to the federations. The best thing to do is to leave them alone. Let them have their platform if they wish, and let them do whatever they please. No matter how revolutionary the foreign federations may be, no matter how perfect their organization, the American workers will not be led by the foreign federation. The Socialist Party must represent the workers in America, not some homesick immigrants. It must speak to the American workers in the terms of their grievances," Pranspill declares.

 

Letter to A.M. Rovin in Detroit from I.E. Ferguson in Chicago, September 23, 1919. A historically important and illuminating document from the Comintern archives. This lengthy letter from National Left Wing Council Secretary and CPA founding member I.E. Ferguson answers a hostile interlocutor and defends the decision to move to an immediate September 1 launch of the Communist Party of America. Ferguson charges that the Communist Labor Party resulted from "the trickery of about a dozen reckless men who were in the strategic position to mislead about 30 delegates who really belonged in the Communist Party Convention but were purposely kept away by misinformation." As for the remaining members of the CLP founding convention, Ferguson calls them "drifters of one kind or another, men and women incapable of decision, and at the moment representing no membership and no set of principles." Aside from the question of programmatic differences between the CPA and the CLP, the issue of so-called "autonomous federations" is discussed, with Ferguson defending the CPA's federation model as "realistic, yet uncompromising so far as the principle of party centralization is concerned."

"Seattle Labor Forces Removal of Warden Who Tortured Wells: Halligan to be Ousted from McNeil Island as Result of Physician’s Report of Terrible Brutalities Practiced on Political Prisoners." (NY Call) [Sept. 24, 1919]  News report indicating that the scandalous treatment meted out to Seattle Socialist and wartime political prisoner Hulet Wells had ended in removal of O.P. Halligan as warden of the federal penitentiary at McNeil Island, Washington. Wells, an opponent of conscription, had been jailed and sentenced to two years in prison even before passage of the 1917 Espionage Law. There he had been assigned to a work crew with the task of felling and cutting one cord of wood per man per day. Physically unable to perform this task, Wells had refused the duty and been consigned to a subterranan punishment cell, where for nearly two weeks in inadequate sanitary conditions he had been forced to undergo stress position and food deprivation torture -- limited to 14 ounces of bread plus water per day. His wife had alerted the Seattle labor movement to her husband's plight and a public scandal had erupted, ending with the warden's replacement by the former chief of the Washington state penitentiary at Walla Walla.

***PUBLICATION*** The Ohio Socialist: Issue 86 [September 24, 1919]

 

"National Yipsel Head Under Charges." (NY Call) [Sept. 27, 1919] Brief news snippet from the pages of the New York Call announcing that charges had been brought against Oliver Carlson, head of the Socialist Party's youth section, by William Kruse, former head of the Young People's Socialist League ("Yipsel"). "The charges are that he has not occupied his office, although regularly drawing his wages; that he has had his official mail directed to his home, and that he refused to occupy his seat at the national convention, but attended the convention of a party formed as a rival to the Socialist Party instead," the article states. Kruse had been placed in interim charge of the YPSL organization. The article ironically notes that Bill Kruse had himself recently been "the leader of the "Left Wing" element in the national convention, but that he refused to bolt the party."

 

"Civil Rights Dead in America; Labor Must Build Anew: Problem is to Change Conditions So That Under Workers' Administration Free Speech and All Civil Liberties Will Be Guaranteed, American Freedom Convention is Told: Permanent Organization Planned." by H. Austin Simons [Sept. 27, 1919] While the new American Communist Parties were attempting to perfect their organization, the Socialist Party regulars concentrated much of their time, money, and effort on attempting to build what might accurately albeit anachronistically be labeled a "United Front mass organization" with a view to uniting various labor, political, civil libertarian, and pacifist religious organizations to gain amnesty for those convicted for "crimes" related to their political, economic, or ethical views. The new organization was also to be charged with attempting to win the restoration of the constitutional rights of speech, press, and assemblage abrogated by the Wilson regime and the bellicose Congress during the war. From Sept. 26 to 28, 1919, an "American Freedom Convention" was held in Chicago, bringing together 250 delegates from around the country. This is a news report from the Milwaukee Leader reporting on the initial speeches delivered to the American Freedom Convention, including one delivered by Albert DeSilver, Director of the National Civil Liberties Bureau, which declared that "The whole vice of suppression of civil liberties lies in the alternative that a society that suppresses the honest expression of political opinion must either decay from lack of new though, new blood, or else must become an autocracy." DeSilver added that "Organized labor is the only element in our society that can prevent either condition today." Recently released conscientious objector Roger Baldwin was directed by the convention to draw up a preliminary report on the establishment of a permanent amnesty organization. The convention was divided by a proposal to endorse the "One Big Union" concept, which was ultimately tabled as a non-germane issue. This gathering was boycotted and sharply criticized by the infant Communist Parties, both of which were engaged in ultra-left posturing and concentrating their efforts on uniting their own ranks rather than serving as junior partners in a Socialist Party-dominated, non-class, mass organization dedicated to regaining "liberty" under a "capitalist" constitution.

"Large Section of Old Local [Cuyahoga County, OH] Back in Party (NY Call) [event of Sept. 28, 1919] Brief news account from the Socialist Party's New York daily detailing the visit of party NEC member William Brandt to a large Sept. 28, 1919, gathering of Local Cuyahoga County, Ohio -- the massive local organization from which both Communist Party Executive Secretary C.E. Ruthenberg and Communist Labor Party Executive Secretary Alfred Wagenknecht hailed. Brandt had been denied the right to address the gathering on behalf of the Socialist Party, which limited presentations to the two rival Communist organizations. CLP NEC members Wagenknecht and Alexander Bilan spoke on behalf of the Communist Labor Party and Ruthenberg had spoken on behalf of the CPA. Debate followed, after which the gathering voted overwhelmingly for the affiliation of Local Cuyahoga County to the Communist Party -- the CLP astoundingly mustering only 3 votes of support. The vote for affiliation prompted an immediate bolt of a small number of loyalists to the Socialist Party, who proceeded to reorganize as Local Cuyahoga County, Socialist Party, with former Cleveland City Council member John G. Willert as Secretary. NEC member Brandt assured the rest of the SPA's NEC that "the English membership was with the party, as was the membership of the Jewish and Finnish branches," according to the news report. "Brandt estimates that while 25 percent of the membership is inclined toward the Communist Party, at least 25 percent is loyal to the Socialist Party, with 50 percent indifferent. He feels that the better part of this 50 percent can be brought into the Socialist Party," the report optimistically continues.

"Minutes of Meeting of Local Hudson County, NJ, held Sept. 28, 1919."  Minutes of the first post-convention meeting of Local Hudson County, NJ -- including the cities of Hoboken and Jersey City, across the river from New York City. New Jersey's delegates to the 1919 Emergency National Convention staked out an intermediate position between the Left Wing Section and the Regulars, generally supportive of the former but seeking to continue work within the Socialist Party rather than to bolt. With the resignation of left wing supporter State Secretary Fred Harwood -- discouraged by the course of the party convention -- Milo C. Jones was named his replacement. The minutes reveal that the National Office of the SPA was $5,000 in debt and the State Office of the Socialist Party of New Jersey $1,000 in debt. Nine branches of the organization were found to have joined the Communist Labor Party and their charters were subsequently removed. A statement to the party written by convention delegate Rose Weiss was approved by the local and is reprinted in full here. The Weiss resolution declared: "We wish emphatically to  protest at the manner in which the convention was conducted. The exclusion of the minority faction, the evasion of the issue as to the right of the National Executive Committee to revoke chargers and suspend members at will, the holding of secret caucuses, and the passing of machine slates for the election of committees, the unwillingness to face the issues squarely, manifest tendencies which, if not checked, will give rise to a despotism within the party as dangerous and as undesirable as that prevailing in the capitalist parties."

 

"Cheer Plea to Impeach Wilson: President Scored by Congressman at Freedom Meeting: Convention Elects Immediate Action Committee to Organize Machinery for Carrying Propaganda for Amnesty and Restoration of Civil Rights to All Parts of Nation: Statement of Principles is Adopted," by H. Austin Simons [Sept. 29, 1919] Second report in the Milwaukee Leader by recently released conscription resister Austin Simons on the American Freedom Convention held in Chicago from Sept. 26 to 28, 1919. Simons notes that the convention decided to establish itself as the "American Freedom League," with headquarters in Chicago, to be governed by a National Committee consisting of one representative from each state. The convention heard a speech from Congressman William Mason of Illinois in which he stated "In my opinion Wilson stands impeached because he has changed the form of our government from a republic to a monarchy." Mason's call for the impeachment of Woodrow Wilson was met with a thunderous 3 minute ovation from the 250 assembled delegates. This article includes the full text of the statement of principles of the American Freedom League, which included the declaration that "So long as the vicious repressive laws denying free speech, free press, and free assemblage in the United States are on the books; so long as the steel trust barons are permitted to forbid steel workers peaceably to assemble for organization into unions; so long as there is danger of a settled policy of conscription for military service; so long as our Prussian court-martial system exists -- so long will democracy continue to be dead in the United States and our government will be a republic only in name."

"Letter to Edward S. Smith in Warren, OH from C.E. Ruthenberg, Executive Secretary, Communist Party of America in Chicago, Sept. 30, 1919."  Short note from Executive Secretary C.E. Ruthenberg to an activist in Warren, Ohio which notes the overwhelming decision of a delegated convention of Local Cuyahoga County [Cleveland] to affiliate with the Communist Party of America over the Communist Labor Party, by a vote of 178 to 3. The Cleveland local was by far the largest in the state of Ohio, which was regarded as the center of the CLP's activities -- indicating a grim political situaiton for the CLP from the outset.

"To Our Comrades In Kings County! Open Letter from Headquarters, Local Kings County, Socialist Party." [Sept. 30, 1919]  Open letter published on the party page of the New York Call from the Brooklyn Socialist Party organization inviting members who had left for factional reasons during the Left Wing split to rejoin the party. The unnamed author observes that the Socialist Party Regulars had been accused by the Left Wing of supporting the regime of Philipp Scheidemann in Germany, the failed Berne International, and of opposing the Bolshevik government of Soviet Russia -- not one of which was true, as proven by the actions of the recently completed Emergency National Convention. Nor had the Left Wing been barred from the convention, as "the records...show that quite a minority of delegates with Left Wing sympathies were seated without any contest and helped to organize the convention." The new dual Communist parties were already beset by factional strife and "cannot live," the writer contents, while the Socialist Party was "still growing" in Kings County. Despite having been slandered by the opposition "we also recognize that many comrades were honest and conscientious in taking the course they did," the writer notes, adding: "There is no desire to indulge in a policy of vengeance. A few of the leading offenders who were responsible for the injury will be excluded. But the mass of the honest members are welcome in the party at any time they desire to join."

"Socialists to Vote for Left Wing Nominees: Members of the Seceding Groups Were Put on the Ticket at Primaries: State Executive Committee Calls for Working Class Unity at Polls." (NY Call) [Sept. 30, 1919]  Although the regular faction of the Socialist Party of New York resoundingly defeated the slate of the Left Wing Section in the first primary election in party history (held Sept. 2, 1919), there were some Left Wing candidates in Brooklyn, Queens, Rochester, and Buffalo who emerged triumphant. After the first week of September, these "Socialist Party nominees" were no longer members of the party, having left for the rival Communist Party of America or Communist Labor Party. The question arose: What were oyal party members  to do about these non-Socialist Party Socialist nominees? The State Executive Committee pondered the issue and decided to endorse the voting of a straight party ticket, including departed dissidents. "Forget the personalities and wage the strongest campaign we have ever yet put up," the New York SEC advised. "It is believed that the result of the action will be a warmer and more cordial feeling between the factions," the article of this short piece in the New York Call opines.



"Open Letter to James Pontius in Sedalia, Missouri from William L. Garver in Springfield, Missouri." [circa Sept. 30, 1919]  With the Socialist Party's 1919 Emergency National Convention in the rear view mirror, State Secretary of the Socialist Party of Missouri at last feels free to offer his own assessment of the recent party crisis. The split Garver attributes to the personal leadership ambitions and enmities of Left Wing Section leaders Ludwig Katterfeld and Alfred Wagenknecht. If the Socialist Party was not radical enough, these leaders and their followers could simply have joined the Socialist Labor Party, Garver suggests, since its historic leader Daniel DeLeon had been lauded by Lenin and it had maintained a delegate at the founding congress of the Communist International in March 1919. Garver calls the "so-called Communists" "paper revolutionaries" and notes that whereas in Russia the revolution was based around a land program and was backed by a cooperative movement including 48,000 societies. The Communists had neither and furthermore dismissed such matters as insignificant. "They want all or nothing," Garver complains. The Socialist Party's role remains education of the working class and the role of the unions should be to train workers for the eventual management of industry and to develop a cooperative network for the distribution of goods in the post-revolutionary future, Garver indicates.

 

"An Open Letter to All Yipsels," by William F. Kruse [late September 1919] This open letter, sent out by former YPSL National Secretary Bill Kruse to all of the organizations state organizations and circles, provides important details about the history of the organization in the turbulent months around the Socialist Party split in the summer of 1919. As the Aug. 30 Emergency National Convention of the SPA approached, YPSL National Secretary Oliver Carlson polled the state and local YPSL organizations as to their intentions should the Socialist Party split. A clear consensus indicated that the YPSL should attempt to steer a middle course through organizational independence. When this split became a reality at the end of August 1919, Carlson unilaterally removed himself from the National Office, instead having the Post Office transfer mail service to his home, from which he attempted to establish de facto YPSL headquarters. This arrangement proved unsatisfactory to the Socialist Party which was paying his weekly salary -- mail stacked up and went unanswered, the Young Socialists' Magazine began to become irregular, and Carlson's long unexplained absences caused the SP's NEC to first suspend his paychecks and then terminate his employment by the party altogether. William Kruse was convinced to take over the National Office's "Young People's Department" and resume editorship of the YSM -- although Kruse was careful to explain in this open letter that he made no claims to be the National Secretary of the organization. "The Socialist Party regrets exceedingly to part company with its younger comrades at this time, but feels that the Yipsels know best what will help maintain the integrity of their organization. If by this step the young comrades can avoid the fratricidal strife that has torn the older movement, the Party will put no obstacles in the way of such a step," Kruse states.

 

OCTOBER 1919

*** PUBLICATION*** The Proletarian, vol. 2, no. 6 [October 1919]  (Graphic pdf, large file, 2.3 megs.) Full issue of the official magazine of the Socialist Party of Michigan/Proletarian University faction headed by John Keracher. This issue contains: Cover art by Breit [V.M. Breitmayer]; "Spartacan Sparks"; "Communist Party Convention"; Oakley C. Johnson: "'Vaudeville Socialism'"; L.B.: "Morals vs. Profits"; "John O'London": "The WIIU Editor Bumps His Head Against the Proletarian"; Oakley C. Johnson: "Shall Private Property Be Abolished in America?"; John Keracher: "International Notes" (England, Persia, Afghanistan, USA); "As You Like It"; "Correspondence"; "John O'London" [Keracher?]: "Revolutionary Political Action: The Road to Socialism" (Pt. 5);  "Manifesto and Program: Minority Report of the Committee on Manifesto and Program at the Communist Party Convention."

"Boycott the Elections! Proclamation of the Communist Party of America, Local Greater New York." [c. Oct. 1919]  (Graphic pdf, small file)  One of the first leaflets issued by the Communist Party of America following its formation in the summer of 1919, this by its "Local Greater New York" organization. The Left Wing Section of the Socialist Party had become the Communist Party of America in August, the leaflet states, but many of its members had already entered the primary elections against Socialist Party Regulars, some winning. Resignation was impossible after the primary date; thus, some Communists would be appearing on the New York ballot under the Socialist Party's arm-and-torch logo. These candidates "DO NOT WANT YOUR VOTES!" the leaflet proclaims. Instead, the CPA calls for a boycott of the elections by the working class. Participation in the "blind alley of capitalist elections" would be merely a diversion of the revolutionary energy of the proletariat, the leaflet asserts. "Workers, the United States seems to be on the verge of a revolutionary crisis," according to the leaflet. The CPA's task is said to be the unification of mass strikes of the workers and developing them into "political strikes," thereby challenging the "very power of the capitalist state itself," the leaflet explains. A short ad at the bottom announces that the official organ of Local Greater New York, CPA, "The Communist World," is available "at all newsstands" weekly (sic.) for a nickel.

"The German-Speaking Branches in New York: Most of the German-Speaking Comrades True to the Socialist Party are Reorganizing — Others Divide Up Between Communist and Communist Labor Parties," by G.A. Hoehn [Oct. 1, 1919] Socialist Party Regular G.A. "Gus" Hoehn, editor of St. Louis Labor, gets his German-American readership up to date with affairs in the Socialist Party's German-language branches in New York in the aftermath of the September 1919 party split. Hoehn details the story of Ludwig Lore, formerly an IWW organizer who became Herman Schlueter's successor as editor of the daily newspaper of the German Federation, the New Yorker Volkszeitung. "When John Reed, Fraina, and others decided to put the Socialist Party on wings, Lore joined the 'Left Wing,' which was his privilege. But he always pretended he would defend the unity of the Socialist Party and his only object was to get the party into a radical revolutionary position," Hoehn writes. With the split, Lore went with the Communist Labor Party established by Alfred Wagenknecht and his associates, publishing accounts of the CLP convention in the Volkszeitung. As a result, Hoehn notes, many German branches of New York went over to the CLP en bloc, having received no legitimate information from the Socialist Party in the Lore-dominated daily. Hoehn was brought to New York by SPA loyalists from September 20 to 26, 1919, to represent the party's position in person to the German branches, being joined at a large meeting on Sunday, September 21 by Executive Secretary Adolph Germer. The CLP and CPA also had representatives in attendance to state the cases of those organizations. The end result of the debates was a split of the German-language branches between SPA and CLP branches, with the latter retaining control of the Volkszeitung. Hoehn nevertheless held up hope that error would be recognized and that the supporters of the Communist movement would subsequently return.

"Otto Branstetter Named Secretary of Socialist Party: Edmund Melms Sees Huge Increase Coming in Party Membership." (Milwaukee Leader) [Oct. 1, 1919] Following Adolph Germer's mid-September resignation as Executive Secretary of the Socialist Party, the party's governing 7 member "temporary" National Executive Committee quickly moved to fill the vacancy. Their choice was was long-time Oklahoma party functionary Otto Branstetter. The decision was announced to the SP daily, the Milwaukee Leader, by NEC member Edmund Melms, returning home from the NEC's quarterly gathering in Chicago. "Encouraging reports were received from Ohio, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Indiana, and California, an from indications it will be only a short time when the Socialist Party of the United States will witness a new growth and a tremendous increase in membership, as the result of overcoming the recent troubles forced upon it," Melms optimistically told the paper. Melms proclaims the Communist Labor Party to be a stillborn organization: "The so-called Communist Labor Party is dead. One of the strongest states that it claimed was Ohio, and that state is hopelessly lost to it. Some of the strongest industrial cities have repudiated it. In Cleveland, in the city and country convention just held, the Left Wingers [CLP] were able only to muster the votes of 3 delegates seated in the convention." Plans for aggressive expansion of the SP's membership ranks are noted by Melms.

 

"The Three Parties," by L.E. Katterfeld [October 1919]. An official CLP history of the division of the American Marxist movement into "three parties" -- the Socialist Party, the Communist Party of America, and the Communist Labor Party of America. Katterfeld portrays the division of the movement into reformist and revolutionary camps as a fundamental opposition of viewpoints with the split being reproduced around the world. As for the split of the American revolutionary section, Katterfeld states that the germ was planted by the partial suspension and expulsion of the Left Wing Section by the NEC of the Socialist Party. A Conference was held in Chicago where it was agreed to continue the fight within the SPA, but "within two weeks the Michigan-Russian Federation coalition violated this joint agreement and began boosting for a separate party." The matter came up again at the National Left Wing Conference in New York, where the majority again agreed to carry on the fight "until the natural climax in convention." A third meeting, that of the new NEC of the Socialist Party, held in Chicago on July 26 reaffirmed this decision. Although both Louis Fraina and C.E. Ruthenberg were at this last meeting and supported the decision, "within a week they flopped" and endorsed the call for an immediate convention regardless of the outcome of the internal Socialist Party fight. "Then the Revolutionary Age turned a somersault and began to play its financial masters' tune by abusing as 'centrists' all those that did not join it in its flop." This was the cause of the split between CLP and CPA, a division which Katterfeld stated was not based upon any "fundamental difference of principle." The CLP stood ready "at any time, anywhere to meet on a equal basis of Comradeship" with the CPA to forge unity, Katterfeld noted.

 

"Fifty-Seven Questions Answered," by the National Office, CLP. [Oct. 1919]. Frequently Asked Questions of the National Office regarding affiliations of individuals and full SP Locals and Branches to the newly organized Communist Labor Party -- published in order to minimize the amount of costly individual correspondence that needed to be conducted on these matters. Affiliations of SP Locals and Branches were to be automatic upon majority vote; Socialist Party dues stamps were no longer to be valid after Nov. 1, 1919; uniform dues for individuals and couples was to be 50 cents per month (with allocation of this amount specified); new members were to pay a $1 initiation fee; and the Communist Labor Party News was to serve as a temporary membership bulletin until a regular publication could be launched.

 

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

 

"Be a Socialist -- Join the Party," by Otto Branstetter [Oct. 6, 1919] This article by new Socialist Party Executive Secretary Otto Branstetter provides an excellent example of the relatively simple agitational literature which that organization issued in copious quantities. It also provides a window upon the dominant SPA ideology in the months following the September 1919 party split. Branstetter draws parallels the Socialist Party to several broad membership social and fraternal organizations -- the Methodist church, the Masons, the trade union local. The notion of the SP as a "vanguard party" is entirely lacking in this construct; rather, joining of the Socialist Party (and paying its dues) is seen as a matter of civic duty for those sharing the socialist vision. Branstetter declares: "I know of but two reasons why a man who calls himself a Socialist does not join the organization. The first is that, while he believes in the principles of Socialism, he does not realize the need of the party organization. In this case he has missed the essence of Socialism -- cooperation, organization, concerted effort, and united action on the part of the working class for their own advancement and their own emancipation... If, on the other hand, he realizes the need of organization ... and then he refuses to get into that organization which he knows to be necessary -- he is unfaithful to his principles, to the party and to his class, and is unworthy of being called a 'comrade' or a 'Socialist.'" Branstetter states epigrammatically that "It is well to agitate, it is good to educate, but it is absolutely necessary to organize." The activity of the broad Socialist Party in the electoral sphere is seen as the mechanism for the victory of the Socialist system, the SP "a political movement that will become a power for the benefit of the working class in your city and in the nation."

 

"Circular Letter to All Branches and Locals of the Communist Party of America from C.E. Ruthenberg, Executive Secretary, Oct. 7, 1919." This recently-surfaced circular letter by CPA Executive Secretary C.E. Ruthenberg outlines his party's side of the argument with the Communist Labor Party over the question "Who is blocking Communist unity?" Ruthenberg unhesitatingly declares the fault lies with the CLP, the leaders of which asserted falsely that "the decisions of the Left Wing Conference called for a third convention, and, logically, for a third party." These leaders went to Chicago fully intending to hold a convention of their own to establish such a third party, Ruthenberg asserts, although they did not have the courage to announce this intention to the party membership. Ruthenberg reveals that at the caucus of the Left Wing delegates to the Socialist Party held the evening before the convention convened, he introduced a resolution "binding them to enter the Communist Convention immediately after they bolted from the Emergency Convention" -- a resolution which was voted down. A similar motion the next day making unity with the Communist Convention the first order of business was similarly rejected, Ruthenberg states. The Communist Convention merely sought bolting delegates to submit their credentials to the Credentials Committee the same as any other delegates, Ruthenberg says. "Previously the Organizing Committee and the Left Wing Council had declared to these delegates that all those delegates who had credentials for both the Emergency Convention and the Communist Convention would be included in the roster of delegates that would organize the convention, and the spirit of the convention toward the other bolting delegates was shown in the seating without question of 4 delegates from Minnesota because their State Organization had endorsed the Left Wing Program, although they had no definite credentials for the Communist Convention." This very reasonable position was rejected by the delegates who formed the CLP, he indicates, which demanded all-or-nothing acceptance of all delegates on the basis of organizational equality. Ruthenberg declares that "Communist Unity is still possible. The delegates of the Communist Labor Convention are responsible for the organization of a third party. If they are Communists in principle let them step aside. If they desire unity of the Communist elements in the United States, let them disband their Executive Committee and urge every local to join the Communist Party."

 

"Pittsburgh -- Is It Revolution?" by Charles Merz [Oct. 8, 1919] The great steel strike of 1919 was accompanied by a shrill media frenzy claiming the conflict was the first shot in a revolutionary upsurge aimed at overthrowing the American system of government, led by an subterranean syndicalist, William Z. Foster, and making use of ignorant and blindly compliant foreign-born workers. This article, written by New Republic editor Charles Merz from Pittsburgh, challenges the popular misconception of the steel strike. "No observer looking with his own eyes would, on the day this is written, have found much in Pittsburgh and the towns of the iron valley to assure him that a social revolution was in progress," Merz declares. Neither overturning the government in Washington nor taking over the operation of the steel mills was at issue, in Merz's view, but rather the strike was for "for the right of collective bargaining, the 8-hour day, one day's rest in seven, abolition of the 24 hour shift." Far from seeking to destroy the federal government, the steel strikers sought government aid in achieving their reasonable objectives, which were in full accord with the expressed views of the Wilson administration during the recent world war. That the strike consisted largely of foreign-born workers was a situation of the steel companies' own making, Merz observes, reminding his readers that the companies had practiced a conscious policy of hiring cheap immigrant labor as a means of keeping steel workers from collective action across their various national lines. It was not the unions but the owners and their agents who were the cause of disorder and violence, with peaceful union meetings disrupted and banned and force used against striking workers by the company-dominated constabulary and governmental officialdom. " To what pass has democracy come if the right to assemble honorably for the free discussion of important questions can be classed as disorderly conduct?" Merz asks.

"The Capitalists Challenge You, Workingmen! Proclamation of the Communist Party of America." [Oct. 1919] This is one of the first agitational leaflets produced and circulated by the Communist Party of America, directed at striking steel workers in Gary, Indiana. In response to what had been a successful strike, troops were dispatched to the city, which the Communist Party attempted to make into an object lesson of the nature of class rule: "The Steel Trust was in danger of being beaten. It might have to submit before the power of the workers. To save itself it brought into the field the instrument forged by the capitalists to uphold their system of exploitation and oppression, the State, which in spite of all its democratic pretensions is but the physical expression of the Dictatorship of the Capitalist Class. WORKINGMEN OF THE UNITED STATES, THE CAPITALISTS ARE CHALLENGING YOU! They are demonstrating before your very eyes that the governmental power is theirs, for use against you when you dare strike against the enslavement which they force upon you."

***PUBLICATION*** The Ohio Socialist: Issue 88 [October 8, 1919]

 

"Mounted Police Trample Men, Women, and Children in Assault on Russian Parade: Many Wounded By Cops' Clubs; 2 Children Are Reported Dead... 8 Paraders Arrested: Nightsticks, Poles, Stirrups, Straps Used in Attack -- Men Dragged from Hallways and Beaten." (NY Call) [event of Oct. 8, 1919] A forgotten incident of anti-radical police brutality recalled: On October 8, 1919, an estimated 2,000 to 2,500 Russian-Americans gathered in New York City to conduct a peaceful protest march in protest of the undeclared act of war against the Soviet Russian Republic represented by the blockade of the nation. A squad of mounted policemen, swinging clubs ferociously, rode into the crowd, followed by more than 100 foot policemen and plainclothes detectives, headed by Chief Inspector John Daly and Detective Sergeant James J. Gegan of the NYC "Bomb Squad." "Cries for help arose, abut there was no help. The very men sworn to uphold the law and protect life were violating the one and seeking to destroy the other. Men threw themselves in front of women and were beaten down; women tried to shield their children and were trampled on; the children fled, screaming, among the flying hooves and rhythmically pounding clubs, seeking in vain for an escape," this eyewitness journalist account from the New York Call indicates. Protesters were trapped in alleyways by mounted policemen and beaten mercilessly without provocation. The police arrested 8 in conjunction with the "riot" which resulted from the police attack.

 

"Police Batter Down Paraders With Clubs: Brutality of Mounted Cops Exceeds That of Men in Trenches, Says Woman Writer, Eyewitness of Charge on Men, Women, and Children," by Louise Bryant [event of Oct. 8, 1919] Prominent Left Wing journalist Louise Bryant (wife of CLP founder and fellow journalist John Reed) was a witness to the brutal attack by New York City police on the Oct. 8 anti-blockade protest. She calls the action by the police against some 2,000 to 2,500 unarmed and peaceful protesters "the most disgraceful scene of my life," more callous and brutal than anything she had seen in war or revolution. Bryant recalls "The mounted police galloped along the sidewalks. There was nowhere for that big crowd to hide. Many ran down the steps of the [Hotel] Brevoort leading to the cafe, others ran up the front steps leading to the lobby, some hid behind the little iron fence, but there was not room enough for all. From everywhere policemen on foot came running, striking out with their heavy clubs right and left, and plainclothesmen appeared. The latter armed themselves quickly with stout poles from the fallen banners. And they also began beating the people." She recounts the brutal technique used by the purported guardians of order: "They would pull a man from behind the iron fence or from the edge of the sidewalk and begin to club him. He would try to protect himself, but would soon find it no use. A whole mob of plainclothesmen and police would attack him; then he would run, and as he ran he would receive blow after blow." In a memorable word picture, Bryant recounts pulling a Russian woman to safety: "She was absolutely beside herself and kept saying in Russian: 'Like Cossacks! They ran over us like Cossacks!' We dragged her behind the iron fence. A fat woman leaned down from the balcony and looked at us with a cold smile on her face. She held in her hand the biggest gold-mesh bag I ever saw. 'She isn't hurt,' she said, 'she's only bluffing...' Then she glanced up the street and watched with interest another poor Russian being beaten. I never saw such a cruel expression, not even at a bull fight." Bryant then was then confronted by a NYC policeman: "Then a detective came up to me and told me to go home. He said, with his crafty animal eyes close to mine, 'I'd like to put you where you belong.' And a middle-aged gentleman with a cane and his chin quivering from excitement came up and asked me if I was born in America. He wanted to arrest me, but the policeman shook his head. 'No, she's an American,' the policeman explained. That was not the full explanation. I had on good clothes." Bryant characterizes the October 8 violence as "a riot started by the police and kept up by the police."

 

"The Demonstration of October 8 and What It Teaches Us," by Nicholas I. Hourwich [event of Oct. 8, 1919] Leader of the Russian Federation of the Communist Party of America Nick Hourwich offers his perspective on the ill-fated Oct. 8, 1919 parade in New York of 2,500 to 3,000 Russian immigrants who gathered to attempt to bring an end to the blockade of Soviet Russia. The peaceful gathering had been ridden down by mounted policemen and the unarmed and passive demonstrators had been systematically beaten by foot officers and from horseback. Hourwich states that the "illusion of non-partisanship" of the demonstrators had been "badly shattered" by the brutal actions of the New York police. The actions of the servants of the state had proven that anyone "who goes out to fight for the lifting of the blockade from Soviet Russia must inevitably be drawn into the conflict against the entire existing economic and social-political system -- against capitalism and the capitalist state." The demonstrators, who are compared to the supplicants marching behind the banners of Father Gapon in Tsarist Russia in 1905, sorely lacked the leadership that the Communist Party could have provided, Hourwich asserts. Hourwich notes that Communist leadership would have understood the potential for state violence and carefully weighed its strength and prospects, not hesitating to delay action if conditions were not promising. Cancellation of an ill-prepared action was "better than a disorderly procession of several thousand people, lacking any elements of heroism, scattering aimlessly in the face of several scores or even hundreds of police," Hourwich declares.

 

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

 

"Communist Labor Party Mail Referendum for NEC Motions 3 and 4." [Oct. 11, 1919] Historians of the Socialist Party of America will immediately recognize this document. The SP was a decentralized organization based around state party organizations -- its governing NEC met only infrequently, approximately once a quarter. In the interim, it transacted its business by mail. So too the early Communist Labor Party (which in the eyes of many sprang from the actually elected Socialist Party, illegitimately overthrown by an illegal coup by the outgoing 1918-19 NEC). In addition to being an interesting illustration of pre-Palmer Raid organizational form, this document set in motion the post-September wrangling of the two Communist Parties over unity, featuring a resolution by Edward Lindgren to have Executive Secretary Wagenknecht write a letter to the CPA offering to hold a joint meeting of the two Executive Committees on Nov. 1 in Chicago "for an informal discussion of a basis for a formal Unity Conference."

 

"Six Victims of Cops' Brutality Get Six Months in Workhouse: 'Why Don't They Go Back to Where They Came From?' Magistrate Sweetser Asks..." (NY Call) [event of Oct. 11, 1919] In the aftermath of the October 8, 1919, orgy of unprovoked and unilateral police brutality in New York City at the "Hands Off Russia" march of some 2,500 Russian-Americans, justice was swiftly meted out -- not against the outrageous excesses of Detective Sergeant James J. Gegan and his associates in beating and crushing the unarmed protesters, but rather against 7 innocent demonstrators arrested in the police's dragnet. Sentences of 6 months in the county workhouse were pronounced upon 6 of the demonstrators by ultra-nationalist magistrate Howard P. Sweetser. "These foreigners assail the institutions of the country and especially the constitution, but when they get pinched they hide behind it and ask for protection," Sweetser belligerently declared at the sentencing. ""The constitution is for Americans, not for foreign Russians," Sweetser asserted. The 6 were tried en mass, 4 arrested for carrying literature and banners to the Washington Square site of the demonstration (without ever making it to the scene, apparently); 2 were IWW activists carrying leaflets and the Wobbly paper New Solidarity. A 7th defendant, an American citizen, escaped with a $10 fine when it was admitted in court that the defendant was "courteous and submitted to being taken into custody," belying charges of resisting arrest and disorderly conduct. Evidence as to the real nature of the police-riot was given in the course of the trial by a major in the Army's chemical warfare section and the personal secretary to the 3rd Assistant Secretary of the War Department, the latter of whom implicated Detective Sergeant James J. Gegan as one of the most brutal figures in the vicious suppression of the demonstration.

 

"Letter to Fred Walchli in Bellaire, Ohio, from L.E. Katterfeld in Cleveland, Ohio, October 12, 1919. Reply by CLP Organization Director Ludwig Katterfeld to an Oct. 6 letter from Walchli condemning the alleged statement of Tom Clifford that "We want to make the Communist Labor Party 100% American." Katterfeld states that he was next to Clifford at the meeting in question and that what Clifford actually said is that "We want to build an American Communist Party." Katterfeld points out that far from being nativist, all five members of the CLP National Executive Committee were foreign-born. Statements of CLP election strategy and the reason for no formal endorsement of the IWW in the CLP platform are included. Katterfeld also indicates that it was as yet impossible to determine the numerical strength of the two Communist Parties, as "not until the individual member affiliates with a Party by paying his dues can you claim him as a member," He states that 20,000 CLP dues stamps had been distributed to date.

 

"Young Reds Break with Yellow SP," by Maximilian Cohen [events of Oct. 12-13, 1919] On Oct. 12 and 13, 1919, a closely watched convention of the Young People's Socialist League of New York was held. The gathering was attended by representatives of the 3 main radical parties: Alexander L. Trachtenberg for the Socialist Party of America, Fannie Jacobs for the Communist Labor Party, and Harry M. Winitsky (convention Day 1) and Bert Wolfe (Day 2) for the Communist Party of America. In addition, Bertha Mailly and David Berenberg were in attendance on behalf of the Socialist Party-linked Rand School of Social Science. The primary order of business for the gathering was to determine the organizational affiliation of the New York YPSL in the aftermath of the 1919 split of the SPA. The New York convention anticipated the eventual action of the national YPSL organization, ultimately deciding upon an official policy of "neutrality" and severing relations with the parent Socialist Party. A new State Board of Control was elected, including 4 supporters of the CPA, 1 supporter of the CLP, and 2 supporters of the SPA. All references to the Socialist Party were deleted from the organization's constitution. The New York YPSL convention also adopted a resolution repudiating the Berne International and declaring itself "an integral part of the International Communist movement."

 

"Democracy and the 'Dictatorship of the Proletariat,'" by Joseph Gollomb [Oct. 13, 1919] Socialist Party loyalist Joseph Gollomb takes on the main ideological concept advocated by the nascent Communist movement, the primary objective of establishing a "Dictatorship of the Proletariat" in the transition to Socialist society. Gollomb quotes statements made in very recent months by leading Left Wing writers Max Eastman and John Reed indicating a belief in the alternative conception of "Democracy" and states that " a change in a few months or even years from a conviction of the beauty of political democracy to a contempt for it suggests less a growing mind than a spinning top. One can't help wondering what the next 4 months will do to the present fashion. And a year or two from now?" Gollomb quotes a conversation had recently with John Reed in which Reed is held to have agreed freely with the premise that due to the lack of "class-consciousness" on the part of a great part of the American proletariat, "Dictatorship of the proletariat ... means practically dictatorship by the [Left Wing] Socialists." By way of contrast, the [Regular] Socialists "have fought dictators and dictatorships until the very name makes our neck feathers stand on end. For years we have cried and agitated that the cures for the ills of democracy is more democracy and still more democracy." As for Russia, the desperate measures adopted of necessity of the Bolsheviks had little to do with the situation in prosperous and swaggering America, Gollomb states, although "our peddlers of the phrase would try to vend here and now what the Russians have resorted to only in the most desperate of their emergencies!"

 

"Will Go Over Enright's Head; Major Swears to Cops' Acts... Evidence Piles Up: Object of Fight is to Get Mayor on Record as Opposed to Government by Police Clubs." (NY Call) [Oct. 13, 1919] Defeated in court by a blindly partisan conservative magistrate, attorney Charles Recht prepared to take the matter of police brutality in the Oct. 8 "Hands Off Russia" demonstration over the head of unsympathetic Police Commissioner Richard Enright to the mayor of New York. As part of this effort sworn affidavits were taken from various witnesses of police misconduct during the affair. This news report from the New York Call reproduces the text of one such affidavit concerning police brutality, the testimony of Maj. Richard C. Tolman of the Ordinance Dept. of the US Army, who was eating lunch at a Washington Square tearoom at the time of the police-riot. Tolman states that "the crowd seemed to me unusually orderly and very patient" until the arrival of foot policemen, who roughly jostled the crowd, led to the procession starting up Fifth Avenue in a "disorderly fashion." "Suddenly about 12 or 15 mounted police rode down from Washington Square into the head of the column, beating the crowd on the head unmercifully with their nightsticks," Tolman states. "The crowd tried to disperse, but the foot policemen and mounted policemen were so placed as to make this extremely difficult. The plainclothesmen and foot policemen stationed themselves on the sidewalk and the horsemen drove the crowd into them. The foot policemen beat people in the crowd over the head and, in particular, Sergeant Gegan took a long staff from one of the banners carried by the paraders and beat the men up unmercifully." Tolman attests that he "saw no case of retaliation by members of the crowd upon the police, for in every case they were running away as rapidly as possible."

 

"Dr. Ackerman Also Swears to Cops' Brutality at Russ Parade: Secretary to Third Assistant Secretary of War Makes Affidavit to Be Handed Hylan... Head of 'Bomb Squad' Was Most Active Among Uniformed Assailants is Charge." (NY Call) [Oct. 14, 1919] Text of an affidavit by Dr. Phyllis Ackerman, personal secretary to a prominent War Department official, gathered by attorney Charles Recht as part of his effort to prevent future incidents of police violence against individuals attempting to assert their constitutional right to peaceably assemble and petition the government for redress of their grievances. Ackerman declares in her sworn testimony that "Members of the crowd themselves insisted in keeping the roadway clear for traffic. There was perfect order, good nature, no jostling, no noise, no protests of any kind at the long delay." The crowd remained peaceful despite 4 or 5 officers throwing themselves "with all their force against the crowd," Ackerman states. "Suddenly there was a clatter of hooves and about a dozen mounted policemen crashed down the avenue from the direction of Washington Square and galloped at full speed into the crowd, swinging long clubs. They drove them against the iron fence and into the areaways of the houses, beating violently on all sides of them."The mounted police meanwhile rode up and down the sidewalk to catch chance passers and when these refugees attempted to come out, as the police had commanded them, the police, both mounted and men on foot, stood on either side of the sidewalk and beat them. Conspicuous among these police was the heavy-set, gray-haired man whom I have since had identified as Sergeant Gegan. He had picked up a long pole, which had broken off one of the banners, and was beating so violently at everyone who came past that he was gasping, red in the face, and perspiring. At every opportunity he rained brutal blows on every man or woman who came within reach." Ackerman notes that "It was conspicuous that anyone in working clothes, or who seemed to be a member of the working class, was beaten, shoved, told to move on, and followed up; whereas I, who deliberately pushed my way in with all my might among 3 policemen, was deliberately left alone, the policemen stepping aside. A tenement woman spoke of the policemen as brutes. Five of them pursued her with swinging clubs, but failed to hit her. I stood in front of 6 policemen and said the same thing with greater force, but they merely looked abashed and did not know what to say. The point I wish to emphasize is that the only disorder there was provoked by the police themselves, by deliberate brutality of the most violent and unwarranted kind."

 

"A Visit to Communist Party Headquarters, Chicago," by A.H. Loula [Oct. 14, 1919] This document chronicles a visit by Bureau of Investigation Special Agent August Loula to the national headquarters of the Communist Party of America, located at the so-called Smolny Institute on Blue Island Avenue in Chicago. Loula states that the CPA is "very actively engaged in spreading its anarchist propaganda throughout the country" and lists its leaders as Louis Fraina, Alex Stoklitsky, Nick Hourwich, Ed Ferguson, Joseph Stilson, C.E. Ruthenberg, Joseph Kowalski, and Fred Friedman. He notes in his report that his superiors had instructed Loula to "keep in constant touch with the activities of the above-named renegades" and he states that "their activities are carefully being watched." In response to a complaint by an officer in Central Division Military Intelligence about a CPA leaflet "pamphlet reeks with sedition and anarchy," Loula visited CPA headquarters to investigate. After some verbal jousting with Ferguson and Ruthenberg, Loula obtained some copies of the leaflet in question, "The Capitalists Challenge You, Working Man." "I later read the pamphlet and have come to the conclusion that it does not contain matter upon which prosecution could be based by this Department," Loula indicates.

***PUBLICATION*** The Massachusetts Worker: Issue 1 [October 15, 1919]

 

"Circular Letter to the Members of the Communist Party of America from C.E. Ruthenberg, Executive Secretary, Oct. 15, 1919." This letter from Executive Secretary C.E. Ruthenberg to the members of the Communist Party of America declares that the organization is "alive to the present struggles of the workers" and will "aim to enter actively into every struggle of the workers." By its deeds, the fledgling CPA would demonstrate that its slogan declaring itself a "party of action" is "no idle boast," Ruthenberg states. In practice, these deeds of the young organization consisted of the coordinated distribution of leaflets -- available for $1.50 per thousand from the party's national office in Chicago. "The Capitalists Challenge You, Workingmen" was to be distributed in the second half of October 1919; "Declaration of the Communist Party on the Blockade of Russia" from Nov. 1 to 9; and "Your Shop" for the balance of November. "Action, and more action, comrades, that must be our goal. Begin a widespread distribution of these Communist Party leaflets. Each one, while dealing with specific problems contains the argument for Communist principles. Our party will grow strong and powerful as we show ourselves worthy of support of the workers. Make the party what it should be by active participation in this literature campaign," Ruthenberg implores.

"Confidential Circular Letter of the CPA’s “Proletarian Club” Minority to its Supporters." [circa Oct. 15, 1919] A split of the Communist Party of America between its rather incongruous "Federationist" and "Marxian Educationalist" factions seems to have been in the cards from the date of the organization's establishment, owing in large measure to the latter group's certainty of its ideological correctness and revulsion for the idea of compromise. This document, preserved by the Justice Department's Bureau of Investigation, moves back the origins of the split which lead to the formation of the Proletarian Party of America back into early October 1919 -- mere weeks after the formation of the CPA in Chicago. On October 5, 1919, a joint session of the (interlocking) Board of Control of the Proletarian University and Board of Directors of The Proletarian was held to determine the future course of the Keracher/Socialist Party of Michigan/Educationalist faction. A split was clearly in the offing: "It was the consensus of opinion at our meeting that the time is not ripe for the lunching of a new party embodying our views; it appears to be advisable to defer action until such time as the issues was forced upon us, or until we had developed sufficiently in strength to make the venture a success. In the meantime, the intention is to proceed with the work of strengthening and unifying the groups now in existence, and organizing and assisting groups." The time of the forthcoming split was carefully planned: "The question then arises: When will be the most fitting time to launch a party such as we favor? Should it happen that the issues is not forced upon us prematurely, it appears that the ideal moment would be immediately preceding the national convention of the present parties. This would mean that we should be prepared to act in May 1920. This allows ample time for preliminary organization; so that we may have the framework of the new organization prepared, and have on hand funds necessary for carrying on propaganda and organization work on a national scale."

 

"Communist Labor Heads Arrested! Infamous Freeman Act Again Used to Crush Political and Industrial Activity Among Ohio Workers," by Joseph W. Sharts [event of Oct. 16, 1919] News account from the (Regular) Socialist Party of Ohio official organ, the Miami Valley Socialist, edited by Joseph Sharts of Dayton. Sharts notes the Oct. 16 arrest of 5 prominent leaders of the Communist Labor Party in Ohio under the state's criminal syndicalism statute, the ironically named "Freeman Act." Those arrested included Alfred Wagenknecht, National Secretary of the new Communist Labor Party; L.E. Katterfeld, national organizer of the CLP; Elmer T. Allison, editor of The Ohio Socialist; Charles Baker, state organizer; and Walter Bronstrup, Secretary of the Cuyahoga County Committee of the CLP. Sharts characterizes the arrests as the "latest incident of the White Terror in Ohio" and declares that "everyone personally acquainted with these radical leaders knows that if they spoke at any meeting they were careful to avoid making statements that would violate the Freeman Act." Sharts notes that the Freeman Act was also being used to battle unions on behalf of the employers, citing the recent arrest of 9 striking coal miners in Harrison County, members of the United Mine Workers Union. Sharts calls for Ohio workers to make use of the initiative process to overturn the Freeman Act via the ballot box.

 

"CLP Officials Arrested." (Communist Labor Party News) [event of Oct. 16, 1919] This short news article notes the arrest of a number of CLP leaders when attempting to organize the party organization in Cleveland. These included: "L.E. Katterfeld, organization director and member of the National Executive Committee; E.T. Allison, editor; Walter Bronstrup, Cleveland CLP Secretary; Charles Baker, organizer; and A. Wagenknecht, Executive Secretary of the CLP, were arrested Thursday, October 16th [1919] and charged with violating the criminal syndicalist law." The article declares: "The assault upon the party by the masters' menials will spur every CLP member to double duty for the party. Defense funds must be secured. Strength in organization must be developed. Every attack by the hysterical opposition must be met by additions to our ranks and greater determination for an early victory."

"Letter to Johnson H. Meek in Yarrow, MO from William L. Garver, State Secretary of the SP of Missouri in Springfield, MO, October 16, 1919." The State Secretary of the Socialist Party of Missouri William Garver justifies the Socialist Party of America's decision to proceed to a split at its 1919 Emergency National Convention in this letter to a party member elsewhere in the state. " Garver has confidence in the forthcoming 1920 political campaign and its prospects for success, something he deems which would have been "hampered and held back if the elements that have lost hope in political action had had a dominating influence in the party." While the Communists have abandoned the political process for "mass action," Garver professes his continued faith in an electoral road to power, declaring: "I contend that the American people can still use the ballot and get the police and army in their control through political action if they want to.... I am ready and willing to use force, but I want to have the public opinion of the masses of the people on our side when the force is used, and the only way to have it is to have the force clothed with the legal power. Let us get the police force and the army and navy in our power and on our side." Garver deplores the factional war waged by the Left Wing against the Regular, calling it "the most regrettable thing" the way in which "sincere comrades swallow without apparent question the accusations hurled at the old-time workers who for 20 or even 30 years have worked for the upbuilding of the Socialist Party. Along comes someone who has not had his ambition for leadership gratified and makes charges against the officials, and immediately the rank and file, who have developed such abnormal faculties of criticizing the exploiters and capitalists, cannot help but use the same critical faculties upon their own comrades."

 

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

"U.S. Senate Resolution No. 213." [adopted Oct. 17, 1919] J. Edgar Hoover's campaign for the arrest and deportation of alien radicals did not occur in a political vacuum, this resolution of the United States Senate makes clear. On October 14, 1919, conservative forces in the Senate introduced this resolution calling upon Attorney General Mitchell Palmer to "advise and inform the Senate whether or not the Department of Justice has taken legal proceedings for the arrest and deportation of aliens" who had "attempted to bring about the forcible overthrow of the Government of the United States" and "preached anarchy and sedition" in print and via the spoken work. This was, it was believed by the Senators, a exercise in pursuing "a deliberate plan and purpose to destroy existing property rights and to impede and obstruct the conduct of business essential to the prosperity and life of the community." The resolution passed the Senate three days later.

"Letter to E.M. Wormley in St. Joseph, MO from William L. Garver, State Secretary, Socialist Party of Missouri in Springfield, October 18, 1919." Open letter from the State Secretary of the Socialist Party of Missouri, William Garver, to a member of Local St. Joseph explaining the causes of the 1919 Left Wing split as he understood them. Garver places the main cause of the split in the explosive growth of the SPA's foreign language federations in the aftermath of the Russian and Hungarian revolutions. "Many members of these federations are not naturalized citizens of the country, could not vote, and as a natural result did not have much confidence in the vote ever getting anything. This was accentuated by the knowledge that the Russian and Hungarian revolutions had been secured without the vote. The feeling grew stronger and stronger that the vote was no good," Garver indicates. "About this time some members of the party who had given up hope in political action for quite a while coined the term Mass Action, and this term was taken up as showing a method better than political action," Garver adds, noting that this idea appealed to the federationists, who secretly named a slate in the elections for party  office and voted for it en bloc. Acting upon evidence of gross irregularities, the results of this election were set aside, Garver continues, with an emergency convention called to settle the matter and "the old committee holding in the meantime, because they would naturally hold until their successors were seated."

 

"To the Striking Longshoremen: Proclamation Issued by the Communist Party of America, Local Greater New York." [leaflet circa Oct. 20, 1919] Full text of one of the very first leaflets of the American Communist movement, a proclamation to striking New York longshoremen by the New York Communist Party. The leaflet attempts to draw parallels between the longshoremen's strike and the steel strike and to identify the state with violence on behalf of the capitalist exploiters: "How then can you expect to receive a square deal from the Bosses' Government?! The Government will place squads of soldiers on the piers, with rifles and machine guns to shoot you down. If you hold your ground they will establish martial law; they will break up your meetings; raid your homes, arrest you -- just as they are doing to the steel strikers in Gary now. In other words, they will try to crush your spirit, break your solidarity with your fellow-workers, and send you back to work like a lot of beaten dogs." Dismissing the possibility of amelioration, the leaflet declares that "The only way is to get rid of the present Bosses' Government and establish a Workers' Government in its place. A Workers' Government like the Soviet Republic of Russia. The present Government is a government of the capitalists, by the capitalists, for the capitalists. You must aim for the establishment of a Workers' Republic of workers, by the workers, for the workers."

 

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

 

"Executive Motions of the Central Executive Committee of the old Communist Party of America, Oct. 23, 1919." As was the case with the rival CLP, the Central Executive Committee of the old Communist Party of America initially used the mails rather than frequent physical meetings to make its organizational decisions. This document from the Comintern Archive details the results of Motion #1 (to approve reply to CLP on unity -- passed) and Motion #2 (To postpone the next physical meeting of the CEC from Nov. 1 to Dec. 20 -- failed). It also reveals the limitations of this slow and tedious method of making decisions, with Motion #3 (to delay the reply to the CLP approved by Motion #1) arbitrarily terminated by Executive Secretary Ruthenberg to prevent a defeated minority from arbitrarily halting action, and Motion #5 (calling for International Secretary Fraina to delay his letter to the Comintern until after the next physical meeting of the CEC) announced as being moot, the letter having already been sent. Motion #4 (to delay the next physical meeting of the CEC from Nov. 1 to Nov. 15 to allow members to be in their cities to help conduct Nov. 7 Revolution Day activities had to be voted on by wire due to the proximity of the Nov. 1 date and the need to make necessary travel arrangements to Chicago. The motion to delay ultimately passed.

 

"Statement to the National Executive Committee of the Communist Labor Party in Cleveland from the Central Executive Committee of the Communist Party of America in Chicago, October 23, 1919." This is a very early formal reply from the governing CEC of the Communist Party of America to the NEC of the Communist Labor Party in reply to the latter's request for a joint meeting of Executive Committees to attempt to broker organizational unity. The CPA is dismissive of such a task, rhetorically asking whether "a conference between the two Executive Committees be of any use for this purpose? We think not..." Instead, an appeal is made over the head of the NEC of the CLP, directly to the rank and file membership of the organization. The delegates to the Sept. 1 founding convention of the CPA acted decisively, the statement contends, forming a new Communist Party only after having made appeals "individually and collectively" to the Left Wing delegates to the SPA Convention. It was only "the eagerness of the National Secretary of the Communist Labor Party [Alfred Wagenknecht] to run socialist candidates and garner socialist votes" and the selfish desires of other "conscious manipulators" that led to the "deliberate act against Communist Unity" that was the establishment of the CLP. The CPA had stood ready to welcome dedicated Communists to its founding convention as delegates but was unwilling to negotiate with a new "third party" as a party. The door remained open for branches of the CLP willing to accept the program and constitution of the CPA to join that organization as branches and participate in the affairs of the organization leading up to the 2nd Convention, slated for June 1920. The CPA stood ready to assume all work and liabilities of the CLP as a condition of liquidating the CLP organization. "We appeal to the Communist Labor Party membership which is truly Communist to take this situation in their own hands and to compel unity on a fundamental basis," the statement declared.

 

"Rhode Island Party Reorganized: One Week's Whirlwind Campaign Puts State Back Into Socialist Ranks." (NY Call) [events of Oct. 20-25, 1919] The Socialist Party experienced a brief interlude of euphoria in the aftermath of the 1919 party split, marked by rosy vistas of rapid recovery of organizational size and energy with the departure of the organization's dissident Left Wing. State and local organizations were rapidly reorganized for the newly purged SPA and the outlook seemed positive. This report from the pages of the New York Call details the efforts of Socialist Party organizer William Kruse to relaunch the organization in Rhode Island, a state which previously went over to the Communist Labor Party by a vote of 60 to 30 at an October 1919 state convention. Bill Kruse arrived on the scene on Oct. 20, and within a week had successfully managed to reconstruct a state organization with 9 branches (5 English, 2 Finnish, 2 Yiddish). A colorful account of an Oct. 24 YPSL meeting is included, featuring what seems to have been a spontaneous emergence of the sort of obnoxious disruptionism that would come to characterize the factional warfare of the American Left over the two subsequent decades: "After a motion to adjourn by the CLP members was defeated, about 8 of them arose and stamped noisily out of the room, yelling and singing. They went to the room above where they stamped on the floor and yelled 'Bolshevik' and sang 'The Internationale' -- very much out of tune... The meeting was held successfully, even after the bolters came back into the room to make more noise there." "Even those Yipsels who were sympathetic with the CLP were disgusted at such tactics," it is remarked.

 

"The Socialist Apostle Speaks," by Nicholas I. Hourwich. [Oct. 25, 1919] This article in the official organ of the Communist Party of America attacks the perceived duplicity of Morris Hillquit's second article on the factional war, "We Are All Socialists," [Sept. 22, 1919], in the immediate aftermath of the Chicago party split. Hillquit's chastening of his comrades for "infraction of Socialist ethics and decency" in the attack on the Left Wing is dismissed by Hourwich as paternalistic patter -- the zealous attack of the Left in the bourgeois press is viewed as being uniform behavior by the "social-opportunists and the social-reformists of all lands" in their effort to prove their "ability" and "respectability" to the bourgeois public. An interesting example of the vehement antipathy held for the archetypal centrist social democrat Hillquit by many on the revolutionary left of the American movement.

 

"National Executive Committee of Communist Labor Party Meets: Establishes Communist Labor as Official Organ and Makes Class Struggle Magazine and Voice of Labor Official Publication of Party -- Takes Over Publishing Business of the Socialist Publication Society." [Meeting of Oct. 25-27, 1919] Account from the official organ of the Communist Labor Party detailing the second gathering of the party's governing National Executive Committee. The sessions were attended by the entire NEC: National Secretary Alfred Wagenknecht and NEC committeemen Max Bedacht (San Francisco), Alexander Bilan (Cleveland), L.E. Katterfeld (Cleveland), Jack Carney (Duluth), and Edward Lindgren (Brooklyn). The group heard an organizational report by Wagenknecht, in which he stated that a total of 6,788 charter (initiation) stamps had been ordered to date, plus 14,976 monthly dues stamps and 657 dual husband/wife monthly dues stamps. State organizations were chartered in 9 states, with several others due to follow in short order and additional unorganized states to be divided into regional districts. The group addressed the ongoing unity discussions with the Communist Party of America and established an editorial board and an array of publications, including a new bi-weekly official newspaper to replace Communist Labor Party News called Communist Labor. Max Bedacht was named editor of this publication. The NEC voted to absorb the backstock of publications of the Socialist Publishing Society, including the theoretical magazine The Class Struggle, and to issue this magazine and other future publications in its own name. Ludwig Lore was named editor of The Class Struggle and Jack Carney and A. Raphailoff were elected associate editors. The session also voted to move party headquarters from Cleveland to New York, effective in November 1919.

 

"Left Wingers Invited to Rejoin Party." (Walter Cook) [Oct. 29, 1919] It is simple to interpret Socialist Party of New York State Secretary Walter Cook's appeal to Left Wingers to return to the ranks of a revitalized party as a crass bid by the now-impoverished SP for dues money, the organizational apparatus having just been safely ensconced in the hands of Oneal, Gerber, and the SP Regulars. However, Cook's appeal may be also interpreted as a Hillquitian olive branch to those who had previously been dissatisfied with party tactics but who were at heart loyal to the SP organization -- those who had been inadvertently cast aside in the suspensions of Left Wing branches and locals and their hasty reorganization (the New York Call in the same issue ran a display advertisement from the Communist Labor Party announcing its own organizational meeting, a sign of an effort towards coexistence between the feuding radical siblings). Secretary Cook (himself later a member of the Workers Party of America) notes that, unlike the practice during the run-up to the Emergency National Convention, it is not necessary for suspended members seeking readmission "to re-sign any application for membership or sign any new statement or pledge." Cook states that "in order to retain their continuous and unaffected party membership, [suspended members] are earnestly requested to attend the meeting of the branch or local in their respective districts at their earliest convenience for the purpose of paying up such back dues as may have accumulated during the period of their inactivity and to have the branch authorize its secretary re-enroll them.... We appeal to you, therefore, comrades, to renew your activity within our ranks and assure you of a warm welcome back to your former places in the party."

"Communists Unite: An Appeal to the Rank and File of the Communist Party and the Communist Labor Party," by Elmer T. Allison [October 29, 1919] Graphic pdf format. Front page editorial from the October 29, 1919 issue of The Ohio Socialist. Allison, editor of the Ohio Socialist (and brother-in-law of Communist Labor Party Executive Secretary Alfred Wagenknecht, makes an appeal to the rank and file of the rival Communist Party of America (CPA) and Communist Labor Party of America (CLP) to push their leadership to organic unity of the two organizations. "The rank and file of both sections see no fundamental differences between the two parties. And there are none," Allison declares. Allison proclaims that the Communists of Cleveland are a microcosm of the movement across the United States, split up into two competing camps. This situation needs to be brought to an end, in Allison's view, and he advocates that the rank-and-file of both organizations demand unity of the two organizations. "If any stand between unity of the two Left Wing elements, throw them out, brand them for what they are, ENEMIES OF THE WORKERS," Allison insists.

"Confidential Letter to Anthony Caminetti in Washington, DC from J. Edgar Hoover in Washington, DC, Oct. 30, 1919." With political and popular pressure growing for the federal government to take action against alien radicals, J. Edgar Hoover, a young Special Assistant to Attorney General Mitchell Palmer, was eager to accommodate. This October 30 letter to immigration chief Anthony Caminetti notes that given the increased activities of the anarchist Union of Russian Workers, a determination had been made by the Department of Justice's Bureau of Investigation that "certain leaders of this organization should be taken into custody."  Each local office of the BoI had received instructions to investigate the activities of the  URW in its vicinity and to  submit "affidavits setting forth the names of the secretaries, delegates, and organizers of each local" to the Attorney General's office no later than November 3, 1919. Hoover seeks Caminetti's cooperation in an envisioned mass operation in which warrants would be issued, arrests made, and prisoners turned over to immigration authorities for final disposition in bulk. This would ultimately be carried out in the evening of November 7, with the process ending with mass deportations aboard the Buford in January 1920.

 

NOVEMBER 1919

"The Communist Labor Party," by Ludwig Lore [Nov. 1919] This editorial from the final issue of The Class Struggle announces the transference of this publication to the fledgling Communist Labor Party. Lore indicates that the split in the Socialist Party was "a foregone conclusion for months past. There was but one alternative. Either the Socialist Party must be forced to abdicate its advocacy of pure and simple politics; either it must resolve to become the exponent and the leader of the fighting vanguard of the American working class upon the economic and political field, or an organization would have to be created to take its place." Lore acknowledges that "many sincere Communists are of the opinion that the split came too early," but notes that "the situation exists, and has to be met as it is and not as some of us would wish it to be. The CLP is in the field and is here to stay." Lore details the CLP's perspective on the relationship between the working class and the organized vanguard of leaders acting in its behalf: "The CLP recognizes that the emancipation of the working class must be the work of the workers themselves and that no set of leaders can achieve it for them. But it also knows that revolutionary changes in society are not brought about by the masses, but by a determined and clear thinking minority, by the most advanced and trustworthy element in the proletariat." He notes that only organizations standing squarely for the "dictatorship of the proletariat" like the CLP can be admitted to the Third International and further remarks on the very different perspective of the SPA and the CLP on the question of political action, in which the CLP would seek to elect its representatives not to legislate, but to educate the masses. Lore remarks only briefly upon the "saddest of all" disunion of Communist forces in America, blame for which he assigns to the refusal of the Communist Party of America to "admit those of Left Wing delegates who had no credentials for the Convention called for September 1st." "The CLP is convinced that eventually there must and will be only one communist political organization in this country," Lore declares.

 

"Workers, Free Yourselves!" by Floyd C. Ramp [circa November 1919] Apparently a speech delivered by early member of the Communist Labor Party Floyd Ramp upon his release from Leavenworth Penitentiary. Ramp remains unbowed and unbroken: "I lost my citizenship when I went to Leavenworth but I retained my self-respect. They have robbed me of my right to vote, and they have classed me with degenerates and other inferiors, but they will know before I am through with them that I am a citizen and that I believe enough in the welfare of my country to work unceasingly for its improvement." Ramp defends his heartfelt patriotism with the flag-waving jingoism of the 100% Americans. "I believe I love this great country just as much as any man who was ever born within its borders. I do not think that keeps me from understanding the needs of other people and I believe I can best prove that patriotism by joining hands with the workers of the world to overthrow the system of society that has taught us to hate each other and has kept us at each others' throats for these thousands of years and that has just left us as a credit to our bloody work -- 50 million victims," Ramp emphatically declares.

"Hands Off Soviet Russia!" by A. Raphailoff  [November 1919]  First agitational leaflet of the Communist Labor Party of America, published and distributed early in November 1919. With the mere existence of the Soviet Republic nearly certain to inspire emulation, the capitalist nations of the world were engaged in a joint effort to destroy the workers government, Raphailoff asserts, with Woodrow Wilson joining the effort as the "faithful servant of the American plutocracy." Raphailoff notes the refusal of workers in Great Britain, France, and Italy to aid the military action of their governments against Soviet Russia under the slogan "Hands Off Soviet Russia!" and encourages American workers to do likewise. Writes Raphailoff: "You must know that every American soldier sailing for Russia goes there to shed the blood of the Russian workers and peasants who are now engaged in a desperate struggle against the capitalists of the world... You must bear in mind that every rifle, every cannon, every machine gun which is being sent from the United States to Russia means death for the many Russian workers and peasants who are sacrificing themselves in order that the workers the world over may be liberated from the yoke of international capital." Workers were refusing to load supply ships bound for Russia and Soldiers refusing to go to the Russian front. "American workers, you must follow their example!" Raphailoff insists. He proposes the slogan: "Not a soldier for war against Soviet Russia, not a cent, not a rifle to help wage this war."

***PUBLICATION*** Cleveland Socialist News: Issue 256 [November 1, 1919]

***PUBLICATION*** The Proletarian, vol. 2, no. 7 [Nov. 1919]  (Graphic pdf, large file, 2.6 megs.) Full issue of the official magazine of the Proletarian University CPA faction headed by John Keracher. This issue contains: Cover art by Breit. "Spartacan Sparks." Oakley C. Johnson: "The Psychology of Militarism." "The Big Strike." Dennis E. Batt: "Minority Action." L.B.: "Blurring the Class Lines." John Keracher: "International Notes" (England, Bulgaria, Russia). "The Socialist Forum" ("Who Has the Voting Power?" "Does the Salesman Create Value?"). John O'London (pseud.): "Revolutionary Political Action: The Road to Socialism" (Pt. 6). Frederick Engels: "The Materialist Conception of History." "Suggestions for the Conducting of Study Classes."

 

"Letter to Floyd Ramp in Leavenworth Penitentiary, Leavenworth, KS, from L.E. Katterfeld in Cleveland, Ohio, Nov. 1, 1919. Letter from the Organization Director of the newly formed Communist Labor Party to the soon-to-be-released Oregon Socialist Floyd Ramp, seeking his affiliation with the CLP. "I feel sure that you agree fundamentally with the CLP and therefore do not hesitate to ask you to cast your lot with us. The Party is steadily gathering strength and is gradually winning out over both the others. We shall move headquarters to New York within a few weeks. Have taken over the Voice of Labor and The Class Struggle magazine with the full stock of pamphlets and books of the Socialist Publication Society and we are tackling the job of educating America's 30 million wage workers in all earnestness. Will you help with that task?" Katterfeld asks. Ramp did indeed join the CLP upon his release.

 

"'The Red Evening': Bureau of Investigation Report on the Mass Meeting Held at West Side Auditorium, Chicago," by Jacob Spolansky [Nov. 1, 1919] This brief report by Special Agent Jacob Spolansky details the visit of "Confidential Informant #43" to a special meeting attended by an estimated 1700 Communist Party members and Left Wing sympathizers at West Side Auditorium in Chicago. Lithuanian Communist M. Ruchilis was chairman of the proceedings, which featured a Latvian orchestra and Latvian and Lithuanian choruses. The keynote address was delivered by former Translator-Secretary of the Russian Socialist Federation, Alexander Stoklitsky. Stoklitsky acknowledged that "there will be many comrades of ours in prison, tortured, killed, but that should not stop you. There has been no freedom won without sacrifices, and tonight we are assembled here for the purpose of extending our proletarian solidarity to the working class our Russia -- our brothers. We pledge our lives for the great cause of Communism. So onward, comrades, in the name of Communism, onward! In the name of the final triumph of the international proletariat -- onward!"

 

"Bylaws of Local Greater New York, Communist Party of America." [Nov. 1, 1919] State and federal law enforcement authorities portrayed the new Communist Party of America as a violent menace to American government, at odds with the norms not only of democracy, but human society itself. These first by-laws of the "open" New York City unit of the CPA reveal an organization closer in nature to the Kiwanis Club than to a pack of bloodthirsty bombthrowing nihilists. All joking aside, these by-laws were clearly closely modeled after those of the Socialist Party's Local Greater New York, being based upon a City Central Committee formed on the basis of 1 delegate for each branch of the party, with an additional delegate for each 50 members in good standing. Local Greater New York was to be headed by an 11 member Executive Committee elected by the City Central Committee, an Executive Secretary [Harry Winitsky, with other officers including a Recording Secretary and Treasurer. Delegates to the City Central Committee and officers of Local Greater New York were to serve for a term of 6 months and were to be subject to recall by the bodies which sent them. Duties and procedures of all officers and the conduct of meetings are spelled out in detail.

 

"Boycott the Elections! Proclamation Communist Party Local Greater New York." [Nov. 1, 1919] This proclamation of Local Greater New York, Communist Party of America, (also issued as a leaflet) attempts to explain the incongruous situation which arose when a handful of supporters of the Left Wing Section won primary election victories over adherents of the SPA's Regular faction, thus appearing on the November ballot as Socialist candidates for election, despite their subsequent joining of the Communist Party of America -- an organization which had called for a boycott of the 1919 elections. The proclamation notes that "The Left Wing Section having now become the Communist Party, these nominees tendered their resignations from the Socialist Party ticket. But, according to the election laws, such resignations could not be accepted after primary day. Therefore, some Communist Party members will appear on the Socialist Party ticket, BUT THEY DO NOT WANT YOUR VOTES!" The CPA's national party program is cited, which asserts in no uncertain terms "participation in parliamentary campaigns, which in the general struggle of the proletariat is of secondary importance, is FOR THE PURPOSE OF REVOLUTIONARY PROPAGANDA ONLY." (emphasis in original). A strike wave of revolutionary import was sweeping the country, the proclamation notes, with steel workers, longshoremen, building trades, milliners, and printers on strike. This was of primary importance, not the elections, the proclamation declares and the slogan of "Boycott the Election!" is advanced.

 

"New Jersey Party News," by Walter Gabriel [events of Nov. 1-2, 1919] This brief news account by State Secretary of the "open" New Jersey unit of the Communist Party of America details the origins of that particular state organization, which was based just across the river from New York City. The New Jersey CPA organization was formally launched at a convention held in Newark on Nov. 1 & 2, 1919. There were 62 delegates in attendance from 41 of the state's 53 branches, which claimed a total membership of 1,678. Walter Gabriel of Newark was elected the paid State Secretary, Louis Brandt elected State Organizer, and headquarters established in Newark. Affairs of the New Jersey state organization of the CPA were to be governed by a 15 member State Committee, meeting monthly, which would in turn name a 5 member State Executive Committee, to meet weekly. A state constitution was adopted and resolutions passed by the convention, including one resolution "pledging the State Organization to initiate the work of forming 'factory-shop committees,' these to function under the control of the City Central Committees and to be composed of Communist Party members only."

 

"Break the Blockade of Russia! Declaration Issued by the Central Executive Committee of the Communist Party." (CPA leaflet #2) [dist. Nov. 1-9, 1919.] This very early leaflet of the Communist Party of America announces the forthcoming first anniversary of the armistice in the World War, but notes that a blockade and military action is still being conducted against the Soviet Republic of Russia. "Soviet Russia was a menace to this peace of plunder and oppression. Soviet Russia has repudiated Imperialism; it has repudiated annexations and wars of plunder; it believes in liberty of the peoples. Soviet Russia, in crushing its own Capitalism, is an inspiration to the workers of the world to crush all Capitalism. So the Peace Conference declared war against Soviet Russia," the CPA leaflet declares. Continued military operations had forced Soviet Russia to continue to devote its economy to military purposes, while the blockade had been an intentional effort at "deliberately starving the men, women, and children of Russia -- starving them in a brutal purpose to restore Tsarism and maintain the workers of the world in slavery." The leaflet declares: "The war against Russia, the blockade of Russia, is an expression of the international class struggle between the workers and the capitalists. Force is used against the Russian workers, but force is also used by these governments -- British, French, Italian, Japanese, American -- against their own workers. The war against Soviet Russia is a war against the workers of the world. Let the workers determine: We must break the blockade of Soviet Russia! ... Agitate against the blockade. Organize mass demonstrations against the blockade. Organize strikes against the blockade."

***PUBLICATION*** The Ohio Socialist: Issue 92 [November 5, 1919]

 

"What's the Matter with America?" by John Reed [Nov. 5, 1919] The most famous member of the Communist Labor Party of America sounds off in the party weekly The Ohio Socialist. Reed states that America had begun 1919 as "one of the most reactionary nations on earth." Workers were sated with "war-wages," the radical opposition had been "privately and publicly mobbed into comparative silence," President Woodrow Wilson and AF of L boss Samuel Gompers were each riding waves of personal popularity and power. Towards the end of the year, by way of contrast, Wilson had been exposed as a phrase mongering hypocrite, Gompers and his craft union orientation had done nothing to ameliorate the lives of the workers and had come to face opposition even in his own organization, and the working class of the country was stirring -- organizing and striking as a defensive measure to fight the effort of the employing class to roll back wages to pre-war levels. "But the workers...cannot wait. They must get relief: they strike. The leaders forbid. They strike anyway -- they must strike. And this struggle between the masses forced to move forward, and the 'leaders' who want to hold them back, reveals to the workers the reactionary character of the whole Craft Union structure, and its function as a buttress of the capitalists' system." "So Revolutions begin -- so the Revolution is rapidly approaching here in the United States," Reed concludes.

"Telegram to Special Agents in Charge of Offices of the Bureau of Investigation from J. Edgar Hoover in Washington in the name of BoI Chief Frank Burke, November 6, 1919." While the so-called "Palmer Raids" of January 2/3, 1920 are best remembered by historians and in the public mind, this was actually the second of J. Edgar Hoover's mass dragnets against the non-citizen radicals in America. On November 7/8, 1919 a very similar operation was conducted on a smaller scale against the anarchist Union of Russian Workers organization. This cable from Hoover to the Special Agents in charge of Bureau of Investigation offices scattered around the country provides final details on the operation. The mass arrests are to take place at the "most opportune time" on Friday evening, November 7, Hoover instructs, with examinations by waiting immigration inspectors to follow immediately. Details of the operation were to be wired from each local BoI office to headquarters no later than 10 am on Saturday, November 8.

"Speech in Celebration of the 2nd Anniversary of Soviet Russia: Park View Place, New York City," by Santeri Nuorteva [Nov. 7, 1919] November 7, 1919, marked the 2nd Anniversary of the Russian Revolution, an event celebrated by mass meetings all over the city of New York and in other American urban centers. One of these gatherings was addressed by Santeri Nuorteva, secretary to Ludwig Martens of the Russian Soviet Government Bureau in New York -- the de facto embassy of Soviet Russia to the United States. A verbatim transcript of this meeting, including Nuorteva's full speech to the gathering, was taken down by a Department of Justice stenographer. Nuorteva indicates an altogether different mood on the 2nd anniversary as compared to the first: "A year ago it required a special enthusiasm, it required a great deal of faith, it required a great deal of conviction to believe and to know that the Russian Soviet Republic was not to go down, that it was to remain in power. Now today we do not need to doubt." Nuorteva indicates that while the blockade was a serious obstacle to the future success of the revolution, the most serious dilemma was the standing need of the Soviet Republic to devote 75% or more of its productive forces to military purposes. To the advantage of Soviet Russia were the contradictions within the imperialist camp, Nuorteva notes, with some Western powers seeking division of the Russian empire into its national constituencies while others sought to back White Russian forces intent upon the maintenance of the multi-national Russian empire. Soviet Russia wanted only one thing, Nuorteva declares: "We want to be left in peace, so that we may concentrate our forces on that work of construction and reconstruction which is before us there. We want to do that, and we are sure that if left alone, if not pestered by all these little dogs that are trying to bite us in the legs, around us, we will be able to show the world that the Russian Workers' Revolution is not a crazy thing, it is not a freak, it is not an invention of 1 or 2 or 3 men, that it really inaugurates an era of a new social order and we want to work it out and it is that very thing which the capitalist class is afraid of."

 

"Speech in Celebration of the 2nd Anniversary of the Russian Revolution: Hunts Point Place, New York City [excerpt]," by Benjamin Gitlow [Nov. 7, 1919] November 7, 1919, was the occasion of half a dozen or more celebratory meetings in New York City as well as in other large metropolitan areas across the country. One of the New York City meetings, in addition to being addressed in Russian by Ludwig Martens of the Russian Soviet Government Bureau and his office manager, Gregory Weinstein (a member of the CLP), heard a speech by Benjamin Gitlow -- soon to be a celebrated victim of government persecution. A stenographer employed by the Department of Justice's Bureau of Investigation transcribed the bulk of Gitlow's speech, which was preserved in the Bureau's archives and is reproduced here for the first time. "Two years ago today the Bolsheviki went into power in Russia, in 1917; and today in Russia the Bolsheviki are no longer in power, but the working class the world over is today in power in Russia," Gitlow tells the assembly. Capitalists the world over were afraid of the new Bolshevik government in Russia, according to Gitlow, because "they know that the workers' government of Russia is not a national government representing Russia alone, but that it is the government of the entire working class and that it is challenging today the entire world order of capitalism." " The workers the world over, despite the lies of their capitalist papers, despite the false promises of their crooked politicians, despite the sermons of their ministers, despite the wisdom of their college professors, must determine to follow the example of the Russian workers and do everything in their power to stop intervention in Russia," Gitlow declares.

 

"Proclamation on the 2nd Anniversary of the Bolshevik Revolution," issued by the SPA National Executive Committee [Nov. 7, 1919] This proclamation by the governing NEC of the Socialist Party should once and for all bury any notion that the 1919 party split was over the issue of "Communism" or the Left Wing's disharmonious "support of Soviet Russia." Documentary evidence makes amply clear, beyond any shadow of doubt or debate, that ALL ELEMENTS OF THE SOCIALIST PARTY OF AMERICA WERE SUPPORTIVE OF THE BOLSHEVIK REVOLUTION IN THE 1917-1920 INTERVAL (and a great many through the 1922 show trial of the Socialist Revolutionary Party leaders, despite constant antagonism from Moscow and the American Communist movement). This declaration, issued by the so-called "Right Wing" NEC in honor of the 2nd Anniversary of the November Revolution, proclaims: "In all the annals of human history there never has been a more heroic struggle of the masses against such tremendous odds as that waged by the revolutionary republic of workers and peasants. From the hour of the proclamation of the Soviet republic, it has met the hostility of the world imperialists -- German, Allied, and neutral alike. Our Russian comrades have decreed the abolition of the rule of capital, finance, and landed junkers in the life of Russia. They have repudiated the crimes of the imperialist statesmen and renounced the proposed annexations of the former criminal regime. Against the counterrevolution they have stood in arms, defending the Socialist fatherland, the only fatherland the workers can ever have to defend. The Soviet republic's repudiation of the intrigues and crimes of the imperialist diplomats has provoked the hatred of the ruling classes of the world... Surrounded by a ring of bayonets, blockaded and denied the foodstuffs and raw materials essential for its economic and social life, interned from the world by the lying bourgeois press of the capitalist nations, forced to divert its energies to military defense, menaced within by the intrigues of the counterrevolutionist, maligned and slandered by the infuriated international thieves, the Socialist Soviet Republic of Russia bears aloft the banner of internationalism and serves as an inspiration for the workers of all countries."

"Speech Honoring the 2nd Anniversary of the Bolshevik Revolution: Brownsville Labor Lyceum, NYC — Nov. 7, 1919," by James Oneal There are a number of reasons that the Socialist Party split in 1919. Not included on this list was any difference in viewpoint between Socialist Party Regulars and Left Wing Socialists over the nature and fundamental justice of the Bolshevik Revolution in Russia. This is absolutely not a matter of debate: both factions were strongly supportive of the October Revolution in 1919, with the Regulars only gradually moving to a position of hostility, particularly after the show trial of the Socialist Revolutionaries in 1922. This November 7, 1919 speech in honor of the 2nd anniversary of the Bolshevik by the most Regular of the Regulars, National Executive Committee member James Oneal reiterates the point. Oneal notes that it took from 1776 to 1783 -- seven years of "chaos, disorder, violence, and dissolution" -- for the celebrated American Revolution to consolidate itself. Despite the similarity of the American revolutionary process to its Russian counterpart, Oneal finds one important difference: "We are accustomed in this country to glorify all bourgeois revolutions, all capitalistic revolutions are glorified, are worshiped, but any revolution that proposes to emancipate working men and peasants, are denounced and are anathematized, and they try to strangle it in the blood of those who achieve them." Oneal declares that "in Russia the red banner of freedom flows above 150 million human beings, and it will stand as a beacon light to all the peoples of the world; and because it will serve as a beacon light, for that reason the diplomats and the bankers and the financial oligarchy and the international imperialists intend to crush it if they possibly can. Russia is an inspiration of the working class, to the working class of the world."

 

"Socialist Russia Against the Capitalist World," by Morris Hillquit [Nov. 7, 1919] American Communism's favorite whipping boy, Socialist Party leader Morris Hillquit, caricatured for decades as a loathsome Right Winger, offers the following thoughts on the occasion of the 2nd Anniversary of the Bolshevik Revolution: "When the Socialist workers and peasants of Russia assumed control of the government of the vast domain of the former Tsars the hapless people of the country were miserably succumbing to the cumulative weight of age-long oppression and rapacity, a monstrously voracious war, and a treacherous and incompetent bourgeois regime. The class-conscious workers of Russia determined to take the government of their country into their own hands and to make a clean sweep of all exploitation and all exploiters of human toil. The class-conscious capitalists of Europe and America were fully alive to the challenge of their rule. Thereafter it was war between Socialist Russia and the capitalist world, a war of aggression on the part of the foreign capitalist governments, a war of defense on the part of the Russian people. The world has never seen a war so desperate and persistent, so ruthless and brutal as the unconfessed, unsanctioned, and uncivilized war which the capitalist powers have been waging against Soviet Russia in the 2 years of its existence.... And the Socialist Republic of Russia lives. The 2nd Anniversary of its birth finds it strong and stable, confident and invincible, dreaded and cursed by the oppressors of all lands, acclaimed and cherished by the forward-looking workers of all nations and races. Hail, Soviet Russia! The bright proletarian hope, the symbol of the new world spirit and new world order!"

 

"IWW and Russian People's House Raided: Men are Clubbed Without Mercy; 52 Held for Exile: Officials Shroud Brutal Plots in Mystery -- One Talks of 'Plot' for 'Revolution' Today -- Caminetti Issued Warrants -- Many of the Victims Released." [events of Nov. 7, 1919] On November 7, 1919, federal and local authorities in New York City held a celebration of the 2nd Anniversary of the Bolshevik Revolution of their own, launching coordinated raids against the local headquarters of the Industrial Workers of the World and the "Russian People's House" of the anarchist Union of Russian Workers. This news account from the New York Call details the raid on the Russian People's House (the 4th of a series of raids on that institution) -- another article, not included here, told of the violent raid on IWW headquarters. The action on the Russian People's House, directed by William J. Flynn of the US Secret Service, is called "one of the most brutal raids ever witnessed." Backed with warrants by Commissioner of Immigration A.A. Caminetti, authorities rushed the building, systematically beating the occupants with clubs and blackjacks. Nearly 100 prisoners, many bleeding profusely, were taken away to headquarters, and 52 eventually held for deportation. Mob violence was incited by a policeman, who spotted two Call reporters and shouted from the stoop of the building to the crowd, ""If there's a soldier among you, get after them!" One victim, former soldier Jacob Uden, who was at the Russian People's House for classes, testified as to the behavior of the agents of so-called "law and order": "Some detectives came in, and they pushed us up against the end of the room. I asked one why he was pushing me, and he lifted up his leg and kicked me in the stomach. Then another one hit me in the head with a club. Others were hit. Everybody was hit. There was blood. I saw it, and when they pushed us together close, like in the subway, I got some on my face."

"Statement of the Experience of George A. Evans, a Former Teacher at the People’s House, 133 East 15th Street, Telling of the Brutal Treatment of the Police in the Raid Made There Nov. 7, 1919." This is the account of a victim of the November 7, 1919 Department of Justice coordinated mass raids against the Union of Russian Workers -- testimony taken by friends of the URW about a week after the fact and preserved in the archives of the DoJ's Bureau of Investigation. George A. Evans had been conducting an English language class at the "People's House," headquarters of the URW in New York City. Headed by Detective-Sergeant James J. Gegan of the New York Police Department, the operation was marked by systematic and intentional police brutality, according to Evans' account: "Suddenly there arose moans and screams in the classrooms upstairs as the result of the blows from the blackjacks used by the police. On all the floors, from which men individually were being hurled down the stairs and pitched into the rooms on the 2nd floor, where other policemen mercilessly clubbed and kicked them down the lower stares and finally into the big Assembly Rooms. Not one of these men escaped and nearly every one was bleeding profusely. After this cruel treatment they too were lined up. The police then called for 20 volunteers to step out of the line. Not understanding what all this meant these poor victims remained silent. The plainclothesmen then picked the 20 men, clubbed them one by one, kicked them down the stoop into the street, and thus got into the patrol wagons. When these 20 men had gone another 20 were selected, and they went through the same experience, and then another 20, continuing until the whole crowd had been thoroughly beaten up." In addition to physical violence, Evans indicates that policemen stole from their victims: "Some of these men had wallets that disappeared. One lost one with $35.00 -- a large amount to this laboring man. Another lost his watch, which he greatly valued."

"Statistics of the Nov. 7, 1919 Operation Against the Union of Russian Workers: A Memorandum by J. Edgar Hoover." In January 1920, Special Assistant to the Attorney General J. Edgar Hoover, chief figure in the Wilson Administration's repressive activity against the non-citizen radical movement in the United States, was able to tally the statistics for the mass operation conducted against the anarchist political organization the Union of Russian Workers. This memorandum indicates that a total of 483 warrants against URW activists had been received from the Department of Labor, of which 387 were served on November 7. Actual arrests in the operation had nearly hit the 1100 mark, however, although only 435 were ultimately held for deportation. As of the January 22, 1920 date of this memorandum, 218 URW members had been ordered deported, with another 124 cases remaining pending. These numbers indicate that nearly 65% of those arrested in Hoover's November 7 operation were picked up without a warrant, although the big majority of these were never deported.

"Department of Justice Press Release on the Mass Arrest Campaign Against the Union of Russian Workers, Nov. 8, 1919." J. Edgar Hoover was never one to miss an opportunity to publicize his activities. This is the press release prepared by the Department of Justice for American newspapers explaining their coordinated mass raids against the anarchist Union of Russian Workers which took place in the evening of November 7. Hoover dutifully gives credit for the raids to his superiors, despite the fact that it was actually he who conceived and directed the operation. The lead of the statement reads: "More than 200 Russian Reds, one of them with all the materials for making a bomb in his possession, were taken into custody last night by Agents of the Department of Justice in a raid that covered more than 15 of the largest industrial centers of the country. The raids were made at the direction of A. Mitchell Palmer, Attorney General. Anthony Caminetti, Commissioner of Immigration, cooperated." The press release claims a rather implausible membership of 7,000 in 60 locals for the URW, and indicates the group -- called "even more radical than the Bolsheviki" -- was organized in New York in 1907 by a group of 11 men led by one William Szatow [Shatov], at present the Chief of Police of Petrograd." The seizure of bomb-making components from the room of a URW organizer in Trenton, New Jersey is particularly emphasized.

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

 

"Long Live the Communist Party! 2,500 Seized in Raids," by Maximilian Cohen [events of Nov. 7 to 11, 1919] The first mass operation directed against the fledgling American Communist movement by state and federal authorities came on the 2nd Anniversary of the Bolshevik Revolution, a date which some seems to have been seen as the trigger date for a mass insurrection in America by some paranoid secret policemen. With its meeting times and locations published in its own open press, the Communist Party was an easy victim for the steamroller. Editor Max Cohen notes: "The authorities raided almost every headquarters in the city, smashed up offices furnished, gave everybody they found a free ride, seized records and literature, but the organization remains intact, and the Party membership unafraid or even astonished." Cohen (sensationally and erroneously) i ndicates that 2,500 were seized in the New York operation alone, with only 37 ultimately held -- including Ben Gitlow, Big Jim Larkin of the CLP, and Jay Lovestone, Louis Shapiro, and Henry C. Pearl of the CPA. Russian immigrants were a particular target of the operation, which included a brutal raid on the "Russian People's House" of the anarchist Union of Russian Workers. Targets of the raid included also the offices of Novyi Mir, IWW Headquarters, a meeting of the Local Kings County of the Socialist Party (apparently raided in error), a YPSL package party, and branch offices of the CPA and Union of Russian Workers. In the aftermath a spate of hysterical misinformation ran in the bourgeois press, including a story in the Nov. 10 Morning World stating "there are 75,000 of the Communist Party in Greater New York alone" and remarking that a large bag of "black powder" had been "found" in the simultaneous raids in Cleveland.

 

"Communist Party's Soviet Celebration Plans are Cancelled: Committee in Charge Calls Off Meeting Following Hylan's Criticism." [Nov. 8, 1919] In the aftermath of the Oct. 8 crushing of the peaceful march of 2,500 anti-blockade protesters and the Nov. 7 violent raids on New York headquarters of the IWW and the Russian People's House, the Communist Party of America learned of police plans to halt its scheduled public celebration of the 2nd Anniversary of the Bolsheviki Revolution at Rutgers Square and decided that discretion was the better part of valor. "The cancellation came shortly after a letter from Mayor Hylan to Police Commissioner Enright, denouncing the members of the party and calling upon the police to curb their activities, had been made public," the terse notice on the front page of the Nov. 8 issue of the New York Call announces.

 

"Report of the CLP Ohio State Secretary to the Ohio State Executive Committee, November 8, 1919," by A. Wagenknecht. A report by the head of the Ohio state organization of the CLP to its governing State Executive Committee. Wagenknecht notes that the split in the socialist movement was an international phenomenon, made more complex in the United States by the premature formation of a Communist Party by various Socialist language federations ahead of the timetable set by the majority of the Left Wing National Conference. These federations seemed intent "to perpetuate their clique control" by resisting unity between the CPA and the CLP on the basis of equality. Wagenknecht stated the membership of the CPA would eventually push the CPA leadership towards unity; failing that, the federation of largely autonomous language groups "will disintegrate because of internal differences, and the best of its comrades will join the Communist Labor Party in time." Wagenknecht mentions in passing a sub-group of the party not previously documented in the literature, the "Army of Liberators" -- a cohort who seem to have done outreach work to trade unions to build popular support and action for the release of political prisoners. He resigns his post as State Secretary with this report, noting that the CLP was to shift its headquarters from Cleveland to New York City the following week, and that as Executive Secretary of the party he would thus be moving outside of the state. Wagenknecht is upbeat about the progress and prospects of the CLP organization in the Ohio.

 

"Your Shop." (CPA leaflet No. 3) [distributed from Nov. 10, 1919] A very early propaganda leaflet of the old CPA, revolutionary in content, urging workers to "organize and make it your shop." The Russian workers were the model, they "organized their power" -- then, "when the crisis came they were prepared to use their mass power." The first step was for American workers to organize shop committees, according to the leaflet. "Bring together all the enlightened workers who are ready to participate in the struggle to win control of the shop. Organize them in a Communist Party shop branch.... The work of the committee will be to unite all the workers in the shop in a shop organization" and thus begin to prepare to take control of their shop, work, lives, and happiness. Some 250,000 copies of this leaflet were produced.

***PUBLICATION*** The Ohio Socialist: Issue 93 [November 12 1919]

 "Report to the United States Senate in Response to Senate Res. No. 213 from Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer, Nov. 14, 1919." With the US Senate breathing down his neck to take repressive action against the radical movement in America, Attorney General Mitchell Palmer was forced to show progress by reporting to Congress in accord with Senate Resolution 213. Easing his political position was the November 7 mass raid conducted against the Union of Russian Workers between the October 17 date of the resolution and the November 14 date of Palmer's report. Palmer laments the lack of any applicable law with which to prosecute individual radicals, due to the termination of the war and with it the Espionage Act and supplies a model bill for correction of this deficiency. Despite this, Palmer tells Congress that under the auspices of the newly established "Radical Division" of his Justice Department "a more or less complete history of over 60,000 radically-inclined individuals has been gathered together and classified, and a foundation for action laid either under the deportation statutes or legislation to be enacted by Congress." Undercover agents had been employed in information gathering activities, Palmer implies, and "a force of 40 translators, readers, and assistants" was engaged rendering radical publications into English. Palmer counts 328 domestic and 144 imported radical newspapers (providing a tally of American-produced publications by specific language) and notes that the radical movement was targeting black Americans as a "particularly fertile ground for the spreading of their doctrines" -- with some success. Palmer sees a foreign hand at work, declaring that "from the date of the signing of the armistice, a wave of radicalism appears to have swept over the country, which is best evidenced by the fact that since that date approximately fifty radical newspapers have commenced publication. A large number of these papers openly advocate the destruction of the United States Government and encourage and advise their readers to prepare for the coming revolution. It is also a noticeable fact that a great many of these publications are practically devoid of advertising matter, which indicates that they are receiving money from outside sources to further their propaganda."

***PUBLICATION*** The Massachusetts Worker: Issue 3 [November 15, 1919]

 

"Minutes of the Meeting of the Joint Legislative Committee of the State of New York to Investigate Seditious Activities (Clayton R. Lusk, Chairman), Nov. 15, 1919." Minutes of a special Saturday session of the Lusk Committee to review the subpoena issued and served by the committee on the previous day to Ludwig Martens of the Russian Soviet Government Bureau and documenting his refusal to appear with the papers demanded of him. Legal action was started against Martens, who was arrested and released on $1,000 bail, after promising to appear before the Lusk Committee the following week (which he did).

 

"CPA Party News," by Harry Winitsky [Nov. 15,1919] Brief account of the doings of the Communist Party of Local Greater New York (CPA) by the Secretary of the local, Harry Winitsky. Winitsky notes that the general membership meeting of Local Greater New York had voted to tax all members of the party 1 day's wages to pay for legal expenses incurred as a result of the mass raids held on Nov. 7 and 8. Typewriters and desks had been maliciously destroyed by the raiders, a mimeograph machine seized, and party records taken, Winitsky states, adding that all branch organizers and financial secretaries were instructed to bring their records to party headquarters so that account files could be recreated by the financial committee. "The raiders also got the record of how many membership cards were given to every branch and the secretary is therefore not in a position to know how much money is due to the National Office for the Organization Fund, for which every member of the Communist Party was taxed 50 cents. The organizers of all branches are hereby instructed to immediately collect the 50 cents from every member and turn it in the local office," Winitsky adds.

 

"The Soviets and the IWW," by I.E. Ferguson. [Nov. 15, 1919] This article from the official organ of the Communist Party of America criticizes the Industrial Workers of the World for their inability to "transpose in their own minds" the concept of the Dictatorship of the Proletariat. The IWW fails to grasp the evolving nature of the soviets, Ferguson notes, instead describing them as "a makeshift substitute for industrial unions." This failure to accept the real-world soviets and to insist upon theoretical perfection, makes the IWW "a perverse element in the labor movement" and brings it temporarily into alliance "with the Scheidemann-Ebert-Kautsky regime against the Communist movement, the cardinal principal of which is: All power to the Soviets." Ferguson lambastes the IWW for failing to recognize that the real-world struggle of the proletariat for power will bring into being new forms of organization and management. The industrial union movement remains important in the class struggle, as does the industrial union form in the pre-revolutionary, pre-soviet state, Ferguson states, adding that the current IWW policy is marked by "an arrogant conceit" will ultimately "result in a miserable betrayal of all the splendid courage and sacrifice that have gone into the making of IWW history" unless the course is altered and unity based upon the Manifesto and Program of the Communist International achieved.

 

"Letter to Marguerite Browder in Kansas City, MO, from L.E. Katterfeld in Cleveland, Ohio, Nov. 16, 1919." Letter to the sister of Earl Browder, Marguerite, from the Organization Director of the CLP, Ludwig Katterfeld. Katterfeld thanks Browder for passing along information about Floyd Ramp's political intentions and suggests that he be drafted to write a pamphlet in conjunction with others behind bars at Leavenworth; since Ramp was soon to be released, he could "could bring much of it out [of prison] in his head." Katterfeld indicates that "We have many good pamphlets on Russia that we took over from the Socialist Publication Society in New York. What we need now are some pamphlets written by Americans who prove out of their experience as workers right here in this country the necessity for the Dictatorship of the Proletariat, and who draw their lessons and illustrations from fact with which the workers right here are familiar. Such a pamphlet it seems to me the comrades at Leavenworth could produce in short order." Katterfeld feels there would be "tremendous appeal" for such a project and passes along a title coined by his wife -- "Bars and Stripes." No pamphlet on that topic or by that title was ever produced by the CLP, however.

 

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

 

"Report of the Executive Secretary of the CPA: Submitted to the Central Executive Committee at Meeting of Nov. 15, 1919," by C.E. Ruthenberg. The Executive Secretary of the Communist Party of America briefly summarizes his activity during the first two months on the job for the governing Central Executive Committee of the CPA. Ruthenberg details direct mailings made to the locals and branches of the Socialist Party and its language federations -- resulting in over five hundred CPA charters being issued to these bodies, brief accounts of the factional situation in the German, Finnish, and Scandinavian Socialist Federations, details the issuance of pamphlets and leaflets by the party, notes that subscribers to The Communist do not seem to be receiving their issues in the mail, and indicates that the party should consider acquisition of a printing plant immediately due to the production troubles ensuing from the party's expulsion from three previous shops. Ruthenberg indicates receipts of just over $16,800 and expenditures of about $11,400 for the first 90 days of the CPA's effective operation.

 

"'Indicted.'" by Marion E. Sproule [Nov. 15, 1919] Organized government efforts to decapitate the radical movement was an ongoing process at least from 1917 onward, clearly predating the Palmer Raids of January 1920. Massachusetts State Secretary Marion E. Sproule of the Communist Party of America here provides a first-hand account of her indictment, arrest, and jailing for an October 19, 1919 speech entitled "Americanism and Communism," in which she says that she attempted to show that "the true spirit of Americanism, as embodied in the writings and actions of men like William Lloyd Garrison, Wendell Phillips, and Horace Greeley is the spirit that today finds expression in the teachings of Communism." Her speech was misreported in the capitalist press and an indictment was obtained under the May 28, 1919 Massachusetts "Anti-Anarchy Law," which alleged that her speech "did advocate, advise and counsel and incite the unlawful destruction of real and personal property, and the overthrow by force and violence of the Government of the Commonwealth." Sproule tells the story of how she was arrested at home at midnight on October 30, 1919, the authorities clearly springing a classic play from the Secret Policemen's Handbook. She was then subjected to a comically inept five hour automobile ride in the middle of the night to cover the arduous 32 mile journey from her home in Lowell to Boston, where she was arraigned the next morning and held on $2500 bond. Sproule ironically quotes Woodrow Wilson, who said: "We have forgotten the very principles of our origin if we have forgotten how to resist, how to agitate, how to pull down and build up, even to the extent of revolutionary practices, if need be, to readjust matters," snidely noting that "It is evidently one thing for the President to say this and quite another for someone else to interpret it literally."

 

"Raids and Riot," by Olive M. Johnson [Nov. 15, 1919] In November 1919, a major offensive was launched by the Department of Justice and various law enforcement agencies against the Russian radical movement in America centered in the Union of Russian Workers, an anarchist organization. This is a Socialist Labor Party perspective on the wave of persecution, characterized as a struggle between the "'upper' and 'lower' strata of anarchy." Editor Johnson notes that "But the crazed manifestations of anarchy, cries for 'mass action,' 'mass strike,' 'red guard armies,' 'dictatorship of the proletariat,' and the like in the 'lower' stratum are no more ominous than the purely anarchic manifestations, the utter disregard for decency, law, and order from the powers that be in government or industry and their official, semi-official, or self-appointed henchmen.... Armed with clubs, the police raiders broke into peaceful meetings.... Men and women were clubbed and their shrieks resounded through the neighborhood. Celebrations, concerts, jollifications, even a little package party, given to commemorate the 2nd anniversary of the Russian Revolution, were invaded and broken up. More than a thousand people in New York City alone were dragged into the police stations only to find that there were no charges whatsoever upon which they could be held." Johnson observes that the intent of the raid did not seem to be to actually apprehend criminal anarchists but rather to deliberately "provoke anarchy than to stem the tide." Anticipating the Palmer Raids that were to take place 6 weeks later, she concludes " what the powers that rule are after is less to apprehend, punish, or deport a few really criminal anarchists, than to cause a sensation and a scare which will prepare 'public opinion' for some greater move in the future."

 

"Ruthenberg Acquitted by Court Order at Cleveland: Cincinnati Socialists Raided," by Joseph W. Sharts [events of Nov. 18, 1919] News account by Joseph Sharts of the Miami Valley Socialist (Dayton, OH) reporting on two simultaneous events -- the freeing of Cleveland radical leader C.E. Ruthenberg by judicial instruction on charges of having incited the May Day 1919 Cleveland Riot that resulted in 2 deaths and hundreds of injuries and arrests when a peaceful crowd was charged by club-swinging policemen on horseback and driving motor vehicles and beatings were administered by Right Wing thugs with police encouragement. At the same time that Ruthenberg was being released from the trumped-up charges preferred against him, Socialist Party headquarters in Cincinnati were gutted by a mob of Right Wing "100% American" "patriots." Sharts sees historical precedents for Right Wing mob action: "In all ages there have existed bands of bravados and swashbuckling bullies who have been in the pay of nobles and privileged classes and have sought to strike terror among the commons whose slowly accumulating strength has made the dominant families apprehensive," he states, noting that Rome, Renaissance Italy, Stuart England, and the old regimes of revolutionary France and Russia had made use of mob rule in defense of the old order.

 

"Inside Story of Cincinnati Raid: American Legion Rioters Led by Professional Strikebreakers; Machinists' Desk Rifled," by Joseph W. Sharts [event of Nov. 18, 1919] Dayton Socialist journalist Joseph Sharts makes like Paul Harvey and offers "the Rest of the Story" about the November 18, 1919 gutting of the Socialist Party's office at Cincinnati by a Right Wing mob. Most of the gang of 300 were members of the Robert E. Bentley Post of the American Legion, Sharts charges, a group which marched en masse down Vine Street at 10:30 pm after having assembled to make plans. "Then began the systematic plunder and pillage of Socialist properties. Bundles of radical literature were brought out and heaped up in the street on the tarwood pavement and set afire by the young gentlemen, who had never read a line of Socialist literature in their bright young lives. Policemen were present under the leadership of Lieutenant Messerschmidt; but the eminent respectability of the mob and the "patriotic" nature of the performance, as well as the unpopularity of the party whose property was being burglarized and plundered, caused the police to stand politely aside." The gang had been headed by Jack Manly, secretary of the Cincinnati branch of National Metal Trades Association, and Algie Cooper, a professional strikebreaker, Sharts states, noting that the local of the International Association of Machinists had rented space in the Socialists' hall. In the course of the raid, conducted under the watch of the police, Sharts charges that a desk belonging to the Machinists and containing confidential papers "was broken open and rifled of its contents, while literature lay piled around it untouched!"

***PUBLICATION*** The Ohio Socialist: Issue 94 [November 19, 1919]

"Confidential Letter to Anthony Caminetti in Washington, DC from J. Edgar Hoover in Washington, DC, Nov. 19, 1919." Concerned that lawyers for accused anarchists had been advising those arrested to "under no condition make any statement concerning their affiliations or their connections or activities," the Department of Justice's chief of anti-Red operations, Edgar Hoover sent this confidential inquiry to Immigration chief Anthony Caminetti seeking advice as to whether the practice of advising arrested suspects of their right to counsel at the beginning of hearings was a formal rule of the immigration service, an act of Congress, or simply a common practice initiated by the Department of Labor. Without admissions by the defendants, membership in prohibited organizations would be nearly difficult, Hoover indicates, as "the activities of aliens who are radically inclined are always most secretive in character, it quite often is next to impossible to prove actual membership with the organization alleged to be anarchistic. In most of the cases of the Union of Russian Workers which are now pending before the officers of your bureau, the agents of this department have been reliably informed by confidential informants that the individuals in custody are members of the Union of Russian Workers. You of course will appreciate the inadvisability of calling such confidential informants as witnesses in the deportation hearings, for their usefulness as such informants would immediately be curtailed." Implicit in this letter is Hoover's belief that no notification of the right to legal representation was required and that the testimony of secret informants should be sufficient to prove deportation-worthy membership in banned radical organizations.

 

"All Power to the Workers! Declaration Issued by the Communist Party, Local Greater New York." [Nov. 22, 1919] This is the official response of the Communist Party of Local New York to the mass police operation directed against it and other left wing organizations in New York City on Nov. 7, 1919. The statement declares that " the Communist Party cannot be broken by terrorism and violence.. The Communist Party is accused of using force; but it is the forces of reaction that are using force against the Communist Party. The Communist Party is accused of fomenting terrorism; but we find that it is the reactionary forces that are using terrorism against the Communist Party. These acts of violence and terrorism come as a climax to the preparations made by the forces of 'law and order' -- the police and newspapers -- for a massacre of the Communist Party meeting on Rutgers Square, scheduled for November 8. The newspapers lyingly reported that the Communist Party was prepared to throw bombs, to use violence; lying reports circulated for the express purpose of creating a pretext for using force and violence against Communists and making a massacre." The attack on the Communist Party by the bourgeoisie and its agents was driven by an ulterior motive, the declaration indicates: "The real purpose of these acts of terrorism and despotism, worthy of the most brutal traditions of Tsarism, is not only to break the Communist Party, but to terrorize the workers, to crush their strikes, and to prevent the workers adopting more radical purposes in their struggles against the master class."

 

"Special Report on Radical Activities in the San Francisco District," by F.W. Kelly [Week Ending Nov. 22, 1919] Weekly Department of Justice intelligence report for the San Francisco district by Bureau of Investigation agent F.W. Kelly. Kelly details events in the ongoing Dockmen's and Shipbuilders' strikes, as well as repression against members of the Communist Labor Party and the IWW. With regard to the CLP, Kelly comments on the arrest in Oakland of J.E. Snyder, John Taylor, James Dolsen, and Max Bedacht, four leaders of the California organization. "These arrests the result of information from a confidential informant of this Department, to the effect that these men were plotting the organization of an inner circle for the purpose of killing three prominent citizens for every radical killed or injured by the activities of the American Legion," reported Kelly. Details of repressive measures against the IWW are provided for five locales: Oakland, San Francisco, Eureka/Arcata, Sacramento, and Stockton. With regard to the latter, Kelly includes the text of a letter written to the District Attorney to apply pressure for fast and severe action. As a result of this pressure, "Mr. Van Vranken telephoned this Department that new indictments would be returned November 25th against all the defendants and that the bail would be materially raised and the prosecution thereafter expedited as rapidly as consistent." More evidence of the way that the federal secret police apparatus, state law enforcement, and the legal establishment worked hand in hand in repressive activity against labor organizations and the organized left wing movement in this period.

 

"Keynote Speech to the Founding Convention of the Labor Party of the United States [excerpt]: Chicago -- Nov. 22, 1919." by Max S. Hayes On Nov. 22, 1919, over 1,000 delegates from around America assembled in Chicago to help form the Labor Party of the United States. After a series of nominations and declinations, publisher and typography union member Max Hayes of Cleveland (temporary chairman of the Executive Committee coming into the gathering) was elected permanent chairman of the convention by acclamation. Thereafter, Hayes delivered the keynote address to the assembled delegates. "The time has come for us to burn the bridges of the old political parties behind us, and to rally to the new movement of the working people," the former Socialist Hayes declares. During the war, the employers had made pious pledges to uphold the right of the workers to organize and collectively bargain, but in the aftermath of the war, the employers and their political allies in Congress had reneged: "They declared that the trade unions were controlled by revolutionists, bolshevists, anarchists, and "reds" -- the very names to strike terror into the hearts of the unsophisticated -- in order to prejudice the minds of the people against organized labor. Railway men, miners, iron and steel workers, all were charged with attempting to bring about revolutionary chaos, a thing that is furthest from their minds." The almost universal support for the revolutionary regime of Soviet Russia among the American working class is emphasized by Hayes biggest applause generator, met with a standing ovation and delegates throwing their hats in the air: "We know as Americans what our rights are and we intend to enforce them. Our slogan is "America for the Americans." Just as we believe in America for the Americans, so will we stand for Russia for the Russians."

 

"Constitution of the Labor Party of the United States: Adopted by the 1st National Convention: Chicago, IL -- Nov. 22-25, 1919." Fundamental document of party law of the new Labor Party of the United States, organized in Chicago at the end of November 1919. The purpose of the Labor Party of the US is stated as the organization of "all hand and brain workers of the United States in support of the principles of political, social, and industrial democracy." Governance is to be by a National Committee consisting of 2 members from each state, 1 male and 1 female -- the first American political organization to establish gender parity in its central administrative body. This National Committee was to elect a 7 member Executive Committee and a National Secretary-Treasurer to handle the day-to-day administration of the party. Membership in the Labor Party of the US was to be open to "all workers over 16 years of age, without regard to race, color, sex, or creed, who subscribe to the principles and purposes of the Labor Party, are eligible to membership." There were to be two forms of membership, affiliation of national and local unions and other groups, who paid a per capita tax of 5 cents per month for their entire membership, as well as individual at-large members, who paid 25 cents per month for dues stamps. State organizations were empowered to establish similar per capita taxes of their own. The primary party unit was to be the "local branch" although no specification of their minimum size and mechanism for obtaining charters is given. The National Committee was given the power of expulsion, with a sole party crime, fusionism, specified: "No member of the Labor Party shall permit his name to be placed in nomination by any political party other than the Labor Party, and no branch of the Labor Party shall endorse the nominee of any other party."

 

"Declaration of Principles of the Labor Party of the United States: Unanimously Adopted by the 1st National Convention: Chicago, IL -- Nov. 22-25, 1919." The 32 point program of the newly organized Labor Party of the United States. "The Labor Party is destined to usher in the new day of freedom in the United States - freedom from the grind of poverty; freedom from the ownership of government by big business; freedom from the slave-driving of workers by profiteers; and freedom of the men and women who buy food and clothing and pay rent from exploitation at the hands of the money kings.... During the war, under the cloud of alleged emergency necessity, the rights and privileges of citizens of the United States were stripped from them and guarantees in our constitution were suspended. Now that the war is over, these rights, privileges, and guarantees are still denied and withheld from the people by federal officials and state and local officials who are under the domination of big business... The day has passed when forward-looking citizens can hope for progress, aid, or sincerity at the hands of Republican or Democratic Party officeholders. The time has come for the workers of the United States to force a clear line of cleavage and disengage themselves definitely and permanently from old party ties and henceforth support only those who openly espouse the cause of the workers who constitute the large majority of our citizens and do it under the banner of the workers' own party."

 

"The Labor Party Convention," by A.S. Carm [events of Nov. 22-24, 1919] In November of 1919, approximately 1,000 delegates representing trade unions from around the country gathered in Chicago to form the Labor Party of the United States. This is the account of the gathering from the pages of the official organ of the Socialist Labor Party. Max Hayes, former member of both the SLP and the Socialist Party, was elected permanent chairman of the gathering and delivered the keynote address. Carm indicates that many of the the delegates were members of the AF of L officialdom or past or present members of the Socialist Party of America. Outstanding figure in the organization is said to be Chicago Federation of Labor leader John Fitzpatrick, also a key figure in the effort to organize American steelworkers into an industrial union. Carm provides no evidence that anything of import was accomplished by the gathering, which from his account seems to have been dedicated largely to speeches from fraternal delegates and socializing amongst the delegates.

"Enter: The Labor Party," by Charles Merz [events of Nov. 22-25, 1919]   Summary of the November 22-25, 1919 Chicago convention which established the Labor Party of the United States. Merz indicates that the results of the convention surpassed expectations, with local Chicago delegates outnumbered 10 to 1 by delegates from out of town. Moreover, these delegates represented a broad spectrum of AF of L craft unions, including 175 miners, 65 representatives of the railway brotherhoods, and 40 machinists -- just three of the 55 unions in attendance. The new party adopted anti-fusion rules similar to those of the Socialist movement, banning endorsement of the political candidates of other parties and calling for the expulsion of any Labor Party member accepting the endorsement of another party. The governing National Committee was to consist of two delegates from each state -- including, for the first time of any American political organization, a requirement that one of these delegates be a woman. Although the convention call recommended a short platform, the actual document adopted by the convention proved lengthy, with 30 planks including a call for broad nationalization of large scale industry, abolition of the US Senate, reduction of the veto power of the Supreme Court, sharply graduated income and inheritance taxes, a prohibition of child labor, abolition of the Espionage Act, and a reintroduction of the freedoms of speech and assemblage, among other objectives.

 

"Application for Membership in the Communist International on Behalf of the Communist Party of America," by Louis C. Fraina. [Nov. 24, 1919] In 1919, all four of the existing radical parties in America (CLP, CPA, PPA, SPA) made application for membership in the Third (Communist) International in Moscow. This is the document prepared by Louis C. Fraina on behalf of the Communist Party of America, outlining the history of the American movement and making that organization's case for membership in the Comintern.

 

"The Martens Controversy in the Russian Federation of the CPA: Undercover Report of a Meeting in Chicago," by Jacob Spolansky [events of Nov. 26-27, 1919] BoI Special Agent Spolansky passes on information generated by "Confidential Informant #3" about a meeting of the Federation of the Russian Branches of the Communist Party of America, called by the Russian Federation's Executive Committee to discuss a resolution asserting that Ludwig C.A.K. Martens' Russian Soviet Government Bureau "should be turned over to the Federation for their control." Alexander Stoklitsky and Dr. Kopnagel spoke in favor of the resolution, while Jake Feldmark of the 1st Russian Branch spoke in opposition. To bolster his position, Feldmark quoted from a letter dispatched by Soviet People's Commissar of Foreign Affairs Georgii Chicherin. Spolansky continues: "Alexander Stoklitsky also introduced a resolution demanding from Feldmark that those documents should be turned over to the Executive Committee of the Federation, which Feldmark refused to do, and upon the refusal of the said Feldmark, this meeting expelled the entire 1st Branch of the Communist Party from the Federation."

 

"Letter from Everett Marshall to Rose Pastor Stokes in New York, Nov. 27, 1919." This poison pen letter from 100% American Everett Marshall to indicted radical Rose Pastor Stokes is a lovely specimen of the vicious, mean-spirited, racist ultra-nationalism from whence Cold War anti-communism sprung: "Ever since your clever but unsavory, and withal typical, personality thrust itself so obnoxiously upon our attention, I in common with many other 'Americans in the manor born' have watched your psychological horizon, so to speak, with the result that you have demonstrated clearly to us all the loathsome characteristics that are peculiar in your type and origin, but rarely met with in such completeness in any one individual as in yourself. The inbreeding of centuries of hate, treachery, ingratitude, rebellion, and mental and physical filth have crystallized into your distorted though clever mind and being creating -- just you.... It is our sincere wish that after your prison term has been served that some means may be devised whereby you can be sent back to your nativity; if you could be clothed with the poverty, the rags, and the vermin that you brought here with you when you came it would be simple justice.... These few lines and moments that I care to spend on your behalf should impress upon you that the spirit of American is alive in the land, and that we Americans will not rest until your whole nest of vipers is exterminated, by either prison terms, or deportation, or worse."

 

"The Story of the Egg," by Morris Hillquit [Nov. 28, 1919] A Socialist parable from the New York SPA leader, provided to illustrate that "A country can be educated, led, and transformed into Socialism, but it cannot be driven, lured, or bulldozed into it. The Socialist conception of the world process is evolutionary, not cataclysmic. Socialism has come to build, not to destroy." Hillquit likens the development of one mode of production inside of the previous epoch to the development of an embryo within a chicken egg, gradually transforming itself from one form to another. "As soon as the latter develops sufficient strength and sense, it just cracks the old shell from the inside. The shell breaks into a number of fragments with great noise, the rebellious chick jumps out, and to the superficial observer this act appears to be the revolution which has converted the egg into the chicken. As a matter of fact, however, the actual revolution has taken place in the gradual growth of the chicken embryo at the expense of the egg substance," Hillquit writes. Socialist propaganda is like the hen, developing the egg into its subsequent form. "Should the hen become impatient or get into her feathery head a syndicalist notion to 'hasten the process,' and should she attempt to break the shell before the time, she would only destroy the embryonic life of the chicken," Hillquit warns, concluding that "No system of society can be transformed into a Socialist commonwealth unless it has in it the germs of a social order, and on the other hand, no system of society will grow into a Socialist state unless planfully directed to it."

 

DECEMBER 1919

"Crime, Violence, Terrorism and YOU!" [Defense leaflet of the Communist Labor Party] [Dec. 1919] From virtually the first day of their existence, the two American Communist Parties were subjected to a withering attack by the forces of so-called "law and order," forcing the organizations to move to the defensive to aid their imprisoned comrades. This leaflet from the Communist Labor Party is quite a curiosity, dating from the last days before the Palmer Raids of Jan. 2/3, 1920 drove the organization into the underground. Thus, Executive Secretary Alfred Wagenknecht and the Central Executive Committee and officers of the CLP sign their real names to this appeal for funds. Wagenknecht charges that it is the capitalist state which is practicing crime and violence on the radical movement, behaving in the same manner as "the thief who stole a purse and then ran down the street crying, 'Stop Thief! Stop Thief!'" Wagenknecht declares that "It's a great game Capitalism is playing - but it won't work. It's not working. For every intelligent workers knows that Capitalism is but sounding its own retreat, its own defeat." Wagenknecht continues that "victory for Soviet Russia is our victory. The workers of England, France, Italy, Germany, America helped to win the victory. Capitalism and its agencies covered the world with LIES about the victorious Russian workers. We nailed these lies and SPREAD THE TRUTH. And because the TRUTH ABOUT RUSSIA is winning, capitalism is becoming frantic, hysterical, violent. Arrests take place. Workers' meeting places are looted. Mob rule is encouraged. The workers' platform and press are gagged." Wagenknecht asks for funds to defend those who have been taken by the state.

 

"To the Foreign Committee of the American Communist Party and the American Communist Labor Party. A Confidential Letter from the Executive Committee of the Communist International, circa December 1919." One of the earliest communiques from the Communist International to the American communist movement. The letter indicates the ECCI had "received more or less exact information concerning your differences" from a "reliable and unbiased source" and that the differences between the two American communist parties were not based upon questions of program, but rather on questions of tactics and organization, particularly the place of parliamentarism and the relationship of the communists to the labor movement. The letter is particularly critical of the CPA's position on both counts. With regards to parliamentarism, the need was for "a mass party, and not an isolated group" -- "an active force and not a narrow academic group." The CPA is also implicitly singled out for its views regarding the Soviet Embassy, "there can be no question of his responsibility to any American organization even if it is largely or even exclusively composed of citizens of the Russian Socialist Federal Soviet Republic." A split of the movement is " impossible and unthinkable," the letter indicates, and the position of the CI on vital points of difference is hoped to be a basis for merger of the two American communist organizations.

***PUBLICATION*** The Massachusetts Worker: Issue 4 [December 1, 1919]

 

***PUBLICATION***  The Proletarian, vol. 2, no. 8 [Dec. 1919]  (Graphic pdf, large file, 2.4 megs.) Full issue of the official magazine of the Proletarian University CPA faction headed by John Keracher. This issue contains: Cover art by Breit. "Spartacan Sparks." Dennis E. Batt: "Storm Clouds Gather." Murray Murphy: "The Labor Conference." M.M.: "Journalism -- From the Inside." L.B.: "Can the Workers Understand?" "The Abolition of Capital." Dennis E. Batt: "Sarton Resartus" (anti-Mary Marcy in Gale's Magazine). John Keracher: "International Notes" (Russia, Finland, England). John O'London (pseud.): "Revolutionary Political Action: The Road to Socialism" (Pt. 7). John O'London (pseud.): "Political Action and the General Strike." "The Socialist Forum." Frederick Engels: "Another Engels Letter" (Sept. 21, 1890).

"Report on the New York City Communist Movement," by M.J. Davis [Dec. 4, 1919] Beginning with an order issued by J. Edgar Hoover on Nov. 18, 1919, and throughout the month of December, the Department of Justice's Bureau of Investigation gathered data on targets for a massive operation against non-citizen members of the Communist Party of America and the Communist Labor Party. This mass dragnet was to be conducted simultaneously through all 33 of the BoI's district offices and was ultimately launched on Jan. 2, 1920. This massive report by Special Agent M.J. Davis on the Communist movement is the epitome of this intelligence gathering operation. Davis lists the physical addresses of 78 branches of the CPA and the CLP (not differentiating between the organizations on the list); the names and physical addresses of a dozen Communist publications in the greater New York area; compiles a list of leaflets issued by the radical organizations of the city; and provides an alphabetical listing of 178 prominent Communist activists in the New York area, placing an emphasis upon members of the Russian and Jewish Communist Federations. The quality of the biographical information is not spectacular, but the job faced by the agent was vast and his performance notable.

 

"The Issue is 'Americanism vs. Bolshevism,'" (probably) by Oscar Ameringer [Dec. 6, 1919] Front page piece of campaign agitational literature from the Milwaukee Leader answering the conservatives' attempt to smear Socialist Congressional candidate Victor Berger with the taint of Russian Bolshevism. Rather than flinching, the writer -- probably Oscar Ameringer, but possibly Berger himself -- returns the rhetoric in kind, revealing the so-called "Americanism" of the so-called "100% Patriots" to be a fraud. The words of the Declaration of Independence are cited and real "Americanism" defined as "democratic government by the consent of the governed." This is contrasted with the anti-democratic, anti-libertarian, racist actions of the anti-radical Right: "Jingoism is not Americanism. Race hatred is not Americanism. Mobbing foreigners is not Americanism. Lynching opponents is not Americanism. Obeying blindly the brutal Wilson-Palmer-Burleson combination is not Americanism. Declaring our form of government is perfect is not Americanism. Foaming at the mouth about Bolsheviki and IWW is not Americanism.Painting churches and homes yellow is not Americanism. Breaking up peaceful assemblies by mobs of ex-soldier boys is not Americanism. Destroying the freedom of expression by packed juries is not Americanism." The denial of Victor Berger his rightfully won seat in Congress by the alliance of Republicans and Democrats is deemed "a flagrant violation of fundamental Americanism," and such subversions of the democratic process is presented as dangerous and conducive to the development of a culture of revolutionary violence. The writer argues: "There are but two ways for the forces of evolution -- expansion or explosion. All history is but the recounting of the struggle of the new against the old. And always the new cried for light, for air, for room to grow. And always the old, in tottering self-conceit, denied the new a place in the sun, until the youthful giant burst his bonds and killed his parents. Must we, too, refuse the guiding light of history and tread the path that leadeth to destruction?"

 

"Whippersnapper or Agent-Provocateur?" by Arnold Petersen [Dec. 6, 1919] Socialist Labor Party Executive Secretary Arnold Petersen unleashes a torrent of nasty ad hominem invective against Louis C. Fraina in reply to a recent article in The Communist (CPA) which had "the temerity to point the finger of reproof at the SLP." The 34 year old Petersen shamelessly plays the age card against the 27 year old "Master Fraina" calling him a "precocious lad," "little boy wonder of The Communist," a "flippant whippersnapper," "the male edition of Daisy Ashford (the girl wonder who wrote a book at 9 years of age)," the "boy wonder and Protean model," and a "silly youngster." Aside from Petersen's insipid name calling, a case is made against the Communist ideological concept of "mass action," which is characterized as an idea which "can result in nothing else than anarchy and is indeed the very essence of anarchy." The mob in the street -- at any moment but the final overthrow of capitalism -- contains within it not only unthinking workers, but also a certain percentage of agent-provocateurs, Petersen argues, the ill-conceived or insidious action of whom would provoke the crushing of the workers' movement with state violence. "The Constitution of the United States, defective as it is in other respects, possesses this redeeming feature, a feature that distinguishes it from other documents of class society: it provides for its own amendment even to the point of complete rejection," Petersen states. Noting that only the SLP "represents true revolutionary Socialism in America," Petersen cautions rank and file Communists: "Beware of the fellow who talks or suggests by innuendo force and violence. He is either an ignorant dangerous fool, or he is a scheming, and still more dangerous, agent of capitalism.... Repent in time. Repudiate your "mass action" and veiled advocacy of violence, cast out the ignorant whippersnapper and the agent-provocateur, and join the only organization that holds high the beacon light, and whose sturdy hammering of the capitalist armor has never for an instant ceased."

 

"Letter to Boris Reinstein in Moscow from Henry Kuhn in New York, Dec. 9, 1919." In this letter Henry Kuhn of the National Executive Committee of the Socialist Labor Party attempts for a second time to make contact with Buffalo druggist Boris Reinstein, the SLP's representative to Europe who was a founding delegate of the Communist International in March 1919 despite his lack of a party mandate for any such purpose. Kuhn informs Reinstein about the strikes of coal miners, steel workers, and longshoremen in the United States as well as the split of the Socialist Party into three organizations -- "the old SP, a Communist Labor Party, and a Communist Party minus any qualifying adjective." Kuhn indicates that "the two latter formations came about largely because of rival leadership; there is little else to divide them. Their present attitude is one of leaning Bummery-ward -- a more or less open advocacy of physical force." This advocacy of force had given the state a pretext to exert force of its own, Kuhn believes, writing that "we are passing since the war (and during the war) through a period of reaction such as never experienced. The scarcely-veiled physical force attitude of the SP offshoots was water on the mill of the reactionists and relentless persecution resulted." This reaction had impacted the SLP, whose paper had lost its second class mailing privilege, many of whose members faced deportation, and whose St. Louis headquarters had been subject of a police raid. Nevertheless, the SLP was growing, particularly among its language federations, Kuhn indicates.

 

"Berger Vote Soars; Leads by 4,722: Socialist Gets 14,004 Ballots While Harmony Man Gets 9,282: Bolo Bodenstab Proves to be Weak Candidate: Fusionists Fight." [Dec. 9, 1919] On Monday, Dec. 8, 1919, voters of the 5th Congressional District in Wisconsin went to the polls in a primary election to name the candidates for a Dec. 19 general to fill the open seat of Victor L. Berger. Berger had been denied his seat in Congress won in the fall 1918 election by the combined action of the Republicans and Democrats. To increase their chances of stopping Berger's re-election to the vacant seat on the basis of a plurality, the Republican and Democratic County Committees met and agreed upon a united "fusion" candidate, running on the Republican ticket, Henry H. Bodenstab. Voters of the Wisconsin 5th resoundingly rejected the anti-democratic shenanigans of Congress by rewarding Berger with 14,004 votes of the 23,286 cast and he headed for the general election in a position of strength.

 

"Wake Up, Americans!" by William F. Kruse [Dec. 10, 1919] Agitational article from the pages of the Milwaukee Leader attempting to build public support for the cause of Kate Richards O'Hare, Bill Haywood and other imprisoned members of the IWW, conscientious objectors imprisoned during the war, and Eugene V. Debs and other members of the Socialist Party subjected to state suppression by the Wilson regime and its allies. Kruse indicates that there are nearly 1500 of such "political prisoners in a political democracy," almost all of whom were convicted not of any crime against person or property, but rather of various forms of criminalize speech or thought. "Wake up, Americans! Your institutions are in danger. Political freedom is being destroyed by those who at any cost, even to the destruction of the republic and its civil liberties, would maintain themselves in political and economic power. As long as any man or woman can be imprisoned for "unorthodox" political opinions, you yourselves are not safe -- your turn may come next," Kruse warns. He urges the mass writing of letters to President Wilson, Congress, newspapers, unions, churches, and clubs. "Nowhere else in the world, save in reactionary Japan, is there such vindictive and relentless punishment of political offenders. Shall we travel in this company?" Kruse asks.

***PUBLICATION*** The Massachusetts Worker: Issue 5 [December 15, 1919]

 

"Letter to Emma Goldman at Ellis Island from Ludwig C.A.K. Martens in New York, Dec. 15, 1919." The head of the Russian Soviet Government Bureau published this open letter to Emma Goldman in the pages of his organization's official organ, Soviet Russia, in an effort to repudiate the "malicious hysteria" that resulted in publication of an "alleged interview with me" in the New York press on the previous day. Martens reassuring Goldman that she and other political exiles from America would be welcomed in Soviet Russia. Of particular interest is Martens' reference to an offer made on behalf of the Soviet government to the US government to provide "free transportation to my country of all Russians in America who want to return there, or whose presence in the United States is not desired by the authorities here."

 

"Executive Motions of the Central Executive Committee of the Communist Party of America." [submitted Dec. 17, 1919] During its few short months of legal existence, the early Communist Party of America conducted its executive business in the same manner as its predecessor, the Socialist Party of America -- by mail through use of executive motions. Members of the Central Executive Committee would propose motions to the Executive Secretary, sometimes accompanied by comment; the Executive Secretary would distribute these motions to the members of the CEC, who would vote on the matter at hand by mail or (in rare emergency cases) by telegram. Two motions (#7 & #8) were initiated by Russian Federationist Nick Hourwich, aimed at starting an investigation of his old nemesis at the Russian Soviet Government Bureau, the Social Democrat Santeri Nuorteva, concerning Nuorteva's relationship to "the informer-agent of the Department of Justice" [Ferdinand Peterson], with a view of carrying documents on the matter to Moscow. A substitute motion is offered by Ruthenberg, putting aside the request for another investigation and instead ordering the distribution of the transcript of the Fraina party trial, in which the Nuorteva affair figured large, to Moscow for disposition. A final motion (#10) is put forward by Alex Bittelman, seeking to censure acting editor of The Communist I.E. Ferguson for ideological ad libbing in the pages of the official organ when he appended to an article his commentary, including the words "the members of the Communist Party are among the most ardent supporters of the revolutionary industrial unionism of the IWW character."

 

"People's Rule Upheld in Berger Victory: District Returns Socialist to Seat Congress Refused: Big Business routed by 4,806 Votes, as Balloting Shows Gain of 6,548 for Socialist Party: Genuine Americanism Wins Decisive Victory." [Dec. 20, 1919] Election results of the Dec. 19, 1919 general election for the Wisconsin 5th Congressional District -- a seat vacated when Democrats and Republicans in Congress colluded to deny Socialist Victor Berger the seat to which he had been elected in 1918. Voters resoundingly re-elected Berger to the same position, as Berger defeated Republican-Democratic "fusion" candidate Henry H. Bodenstab by over 4800 votes out of 43,928 cast. The total vote in this special election exceeded that of the 1918 General Election -- a remarkable fact illustrating the great interest generated by the race. Previously elected by a plurality against divided capitalist opponents, Berger won the rematch handily in a head-to-head match up against one challenger. "The landslide majority accorded Berger indicates the voters disapproved the action of Congress in barring him from the seat to which he was elected in the regular election in November 1918, and admire the courageous fight he waged in the interest of representative government and fair play," the Leader report indicates.

 

Speech of Harry Winitsky at a Public Meeting in New York City, Dec. 22, 1919. Harry Winitsky, Executive Secretary of Local Greater New York of the Communist Party of America, was free on bail at the time this speech was made, having been swept up in the Nov. 8 raids of the Lusk Committee on CPA headquarters. He spoke to a meeting of Communist Party members and friends in New York City in the immediate aftermath of the departure of the USS Buford to Soviet Russia with it's cargo of "undesirable citizens." Knowing full well that a Department of Justice stenographer was in the audience to take down his words, Winitsky is defiant: "We do not ask justice from the Lusk Committee. We do not expect any from them. We expect no justice from the capitalist class.... We recognize that there can be no justice as long as two classes exist in a capitalist country. We recognize that there must be and will be a dictatorship and it is up to us to choose whether we want the dictatorship of the capitalist class or whether we want the dictatorship of the working class...."

 

"Confidential Instructions to Agents in Charge of Offices of the Bureau of Investigation from Frank Burke, Assistant Director and Chief, in Washington, DC." [Dec. 27, 1919] This letter from the chief of the Department of Justice's Bureau of Investigation details the plans for various local Special Agents in Charge the forthcoming coordinated raids against the alien members of the Communist Party of America and Communist Labor Party of America. Affidavits regarding the association of leading individuals with these organizations had already been forwarded from local BoI offices to Washington; this information had been transmitted to Commissioner General of Immigration Caminetti and arrest warrants were in the process of preparation, soon to be sent to the individual offices of the BoI. "You should then place under surveillance, where practicable, the persons mentioned and at the appointed time you will be advised by me by wire when to take into custody all persons for whom warrants have been issued," Burke instructs. The obtaining of documentary evidence proving party membership status and citizenship status is to be given the highest priority by the arresting officers, Burke indicates: "Particular efforts should be made to apprehend all of the officers of either of these two parties if they are aliens; the residences of such officers should be searched in every instance for literature, membership cards, records, and correspondence.... All literature, books, papers, and anything hanging on the walls should be gathered up; the ceilings and partitions should be sounded for hiding places." Burke cautions that "violence towards any aliens should be scrupulously avoided" and that due to the possibility of leaks "under no conditions are you to take into your confidence the local police authorities or the state authorities prior to making the arrests." Moreover, Burke announces that "it is not the intention nor the desire of this office that American citizens, members of the two organizations be arrested at this time" and that party members who are citizens arrested in the operation are to have their cases turned over to local authorities for potential legal action under state or local statute. Jan. 2, 1920 has been set as the tentative date for the mass operation, Burke notes, adding that arrests and examinations are to be concluded in the 12 hours from 7:00 pm Jan. 2 to 7:00 am Jan. 3. "The grounds for deportation in these cases will be based solely upon membership in the Communist Party of America or the Communist Labor Party, and for that reason it will not be necessary for you to go in detail into the particular activities of the persons apprehended," Burke states.

"Wholesale Arrests of Communists in Buffalo: Headquarters of Communist Party Raided: Many Men and Two Women Arrested: Other Arrests to Be Expected" (The New Age) [events of Dec. 28, 1919]  With the massive and misnamed "Palmer Raids" (planned and directed by J. Edgar Hoover) mere days their launch, the Lusk Committee of the New York Legislature conducted a raid of its own against the Communist Party of America's organization in Buffalo, New York. This article from the Buffalo socialist newspaper The New Age documents the operation, which netted the arrest of 20 men and 2 women at Communist Party headquarters, located on Main Street in Buffalo. Those arrested and all CPA members were presumed guilty by authorities of having committed the crime of "criminal anarchism" for "subscribing to the constitution and manifesto of the party," according to the news account. "The membership list of the organization is in the hands of the police and more arrests are to be expected," the article notes.

 

"Landis, Who Denied Prejudice, Would Have V.L. Berger Shot." [Dec. 30, 1919] On Dec. 29, 1919, the slightly unhinged "hangin' judge" Kennesaw Mountain Landis spoke before the Advertising Men's Post of the proto-fascist American Legion in Chicago. During the course of his remarks, he was quoted as complaining: "It was my great displeasure to give [Socialist Congressman Victor] Berger 20 years in Ft. Leavenworth. I regretted it exceedingly because I believe the laws of this country should have enabled me to have Berger lined up against a wall and shot. The district that voted to re-elect Berger ought to get out of this democracy and back in their monarchy. Berger's platform was that he was 100% German and on that basis he was re-elected. Watch the vote in Congress for his reinstatement and let those fellows who uphold him know how we feel about it." In related news, Joe Jackson hit .351 for the Chicago White Sox in 1919, going 181 for 516 over 139 games -- 5th in the Junior Circuit. His 7 home runs tied him for 8th in the AL, led by Boston Red Sox star Babe Ruth, with 29. Jackson also drew 60 walks, which computes to an On Base Percentage of .418. Hall of Famer, framed and defamed.

 

"Mob Law and Civil Rights. Statement of the National Executive Committee of the Socialist Party of America." [Published Dec. 30, 1919] There were two new social systems to emerge from the carnage of World War I -- Bolshevism and Fascism. There were two primary American manifestations of proto-fascism in the immediate post-war years -- (1) the resurgent Ku Klux Klan, which grew dramatically throughout the first half of the 1920s and fueled a culture of lynch law and race war; and (2) the American Legion, which conducted episodes of organized violence against perceived enemies of the state, primarily political radicals and trade unionists. This resolution of the Socialist Party's governing NEC condemns the latter of these two threats to American democracy. "Mayors and police officials have accepted orders from the American Legion; they have revoked their own orders at its command; they have made the constitution a 'scrap of paper,' and allowed the American Legion to serve as an upper chamber with veto power over city and state executives," the resolution states, noting 7 specific instances in which American Legion thugs broke up lawful meetings. The de facto rule of the American Legion Posts "has created a privileged mob in the American Legion, whose will is made superior to constitutions and statutes. It is practically given a mandate over the opinions of all citizens with the power to revoke permits for public meetings under the threat of using violence if its will is not obeyed. Scores of communities have been terrorized and in some cases bloodshed has only been averted by organizations temporarily abandoning their meetings." The resolution asserts that "Without free discussion of all social, economic, and political questions no peaceable solution can be found, while it is certain that the intelligent thinking masses will not submit to a dictatorship of businessmen, bankers, corporation lawyers, and capitalists."

 

"Cable to Bliss Morton, BoI Special Agent in Cleveland, from Frank Burke, Assistant Director and Chief of the Bureau of Investigation in Washington, DC." [Dec. 30, 1919] Interesting cable sent to Agent in Charge of the Cleveland office of the Bureau of Investigation, Bliss Morton, answering a query as to whether the Bureau should make use of members of the Loyal American League, an ultra-nationalist vigilante organization, in conjunction with the forthcoming mass operation against the Communist Party of America and Communist Labor Party. The official answer, issued over the name of BoI Chief Frank Burke: "Do not use members of this organization or any gratuitous assistance in making these Communist roundups. Secure cooperation of police on receipt of instructions from me to take these subjects into custody." Anecdotal evidence indicates that Right Wing vigilantes were used in various locales -- this was, however, contrary to official policy, this communication indicates.

"Circular Letter to CPA Members from Charles Dirba, Acting Executive Secretary over the Signature of C.E. Ruthenberg, Dec. 31, 1919."  With the coordinated mass dragnet remembered as the "Palmer Raids" imminent, the Bureau of Investigation opened by raiding the Chicago headquarters of the Communist Party of America and seizing its mailing list. This mimeographed letter from acting Executive Secretary Charles Dirba informs the party membership of the DoJ's action. "Under ordinary circumstances and in law -- this means nothing," Dirba reassures the membership: "they can do nothing, just because they have found your name on a mailing list, no matter what list." Dirba believes the mailing list seizure to be part of a plan to disrupt distribution of the CPA's official organ, the weekly newspaper The Communist, and he asks for new addresses for bundle deliveries forthwith.

 

"First Telegram to Agents in Charge of Offices of the Bureau of Investigation, from J. Edgar Hoover in the name of Frank Burke, Assistant Director and Chief." [Dec. 31, 1919] One of the great misnomers of early 20th Century American history is the designation of the coordinated anti-Communist raids of Jan. 2/3, 1920 as the "Palmer Raids," after Attorney General Mitchell Palmer. In reality, the tactical commander at the head of the operation was Palmer's young special assistant, J. Edgar Hoover. This is the first of two telegrams which Hoover sent on Wednesday, Dec. 31, 1919, to the various Special Agents in Charge of the Bureau of Investigation's 33 offices. Hoover emphasizes the desirability of taking down any aliens who were connected with the editorial boards of Communist papers in each district -- with a clear intent to decapitate the organizations and to render their reorganization difficult or impossible. Agents were also to get in touch with their local Immigration Inspectors on the morning of the mass operation so that they might work hand-in-hand in the roundup of Communist aliens. "Every effort should be made by you to definitely establish fact of subject being an alien and member of Communist Party or of Communist Labor Party before arrests. Policy of bureau is to have perfect cases rather than a large number of arrests," Hoover insists. "No seizure of personal effects or belongings not necessary for evidence should be made by you. Documentary evidence connecting subject with party or documentary evidence on party is the only evidence which should be taken," Hoover further instructs.

 

"Second Telegram to Agents in Charge of Offices of the Bureau of Investigation, from J. Edgar Hoover in the name of Frank Burke, Assistant Director and Chief." [Dec. 31, 1919] This is the text of the second long telegram sent by J. Edgar Hoover to the various Special Agents in Charge of local offices of the Bureau of Investigation, issuing further instructions on the forthcoming January 2, 1920, raids targeting non-citizen members of the Communist Party of America and Communist Labor Party. Citizens were to be exempted from the dragnet, Hoover unmistakably states: "No arrests should be made of persons not aliens and who are not members of or affiliated with Communist Party of America or Communist Labor Party. Under no conditions are American citizens to be apprehended. Where any mistake of this nature is made and a citizen is taken into custody his case is to be immediately referred to state authority for action." The Bureau itself was to provide the bulk of the manpower for the operation: "Effort has been made to supply sufficient agents for the purpose of carrying out arrests in your district. Assistance of local police authorities should only be used where absolutely necessary and should not be requested until a few hours before arrests in order to avoid any leak." It was to be the two Communist Parties which were targeted, not the IWW or various anarchist organizations: "No arrests should be made of any persons connected with other organizations than the Communist Party and the Communist Labor Party." Hoover seems to have had laughably unrealistic expectations for the pace of the operation. "Arrests should all be completed and examinations concluded by Saturday morning January 3rd, 1920," Hoover insists.

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