NATIONAL CONVENTION

SOCIALIST LABOR PARTY

)[" y 5- 10 . 1920 .

REPORTS, RESOLUTIONS, PLATFORM, ETC. •

Publi shed 1921 National Executive Committee, Socialist Labor Party, 45 Rose Street New York The modern revolutionist know s find th e revoluti onist putting himsel f full well that man is not superior to above th e organi zati on. The opposite principle, that principle is superior to conduct is an unmist akable earmark man, but he does not fly off the han- of reformer s. dle with the maxim, and thus turn the The revoluti onist recogn izes tha t maxim into absurdity. He firmly the pre sent machiner y and methods couple s the maxim with this other, of production rend er imposs ible--and that no principle is superior to the well it is th ey do-the individual free­ movement or organization that puts dom of man such as our savage an­ it and upholds it in the field ... . He cestors knew the thing; that, today, knows that in the revolution demand- the highe st individua l freedom must ed by our age , Organization must be go hand irr hand with collective free­ theincamation of Principle. Just the dom; and non e such is possible with­ reverse of the reformer, who will ever out a central directing authority. be seen mocking at science, the revo- Standing upon this vigor-imparting ~~~~::~t 7~~ ~;g:::'~::ti:ndi=~i;ct~~: ~ii;~s~lai:e ~fri~:vil~:ti O:~l ftr~~ i ::;' O I ~~ Principle. He will say; "The Prin- striking contrast with the mentally ciple and the Organization are one." sickly, and, therefor e, suspicious re- former. Hence th e cry of "Bossism!" Again, the modern revolutionist is as abs ent f rom the revolutionist's knows that in order to accomplishre- lips as it is a featu re on those of the sults or promote principle, there must reformer. 'be unity of action. He know s that, if we do not go in a body and hang to- No organ iza tion will inspire t he gether, we are bound to hang separate. outside ma sses wit h respect that will Hence, you will ever see the revolu- not insi st upon and enforce discipli ne tionist submit to the will of the major- within its own ranks. If you allow ity: you will always see him readiest your own mem ber s to play monkey­ to obey; he recognizes that obedience shines with the Part y, the lookers -on , is the badge of civilized man. The who belong in thi s camp, will jus tly savage does not know the word. The believe that you will at some crtti cal word " obedience" does not exist in the moment allow cap ita lism to play mon­ vocabulary of any language until its keyshines with you; they will not re­ peoplegotheyondthestageofsav- spectyou,andtheir accession t o your agery. Hence, also, you will never rank s will he delayed. Repor t of the National Ex ecutiv e Committ ee- , Report of the Editor of th e Weekly Peopl e . Resolutions Adopted . National Platform Ad opted " . Reports of Committ ees Adopt ed Amendments to the Party Constitution Adopt ed and Approved by Referendum 51 Appendix Report of the National Execu tive Committee to the 15th National Convention of the Socialist Labor Party, May 1920

Greetings: the submerged working class, which Looking back over the fou r years so far (out side of Russia) in vain has that have elapsed since the las t con­ soug ht to overcome the monster. vc nt ion of the Par ty , on e is im pres sed In America, the final stronghold, with the faetthat changes hav e taken the backbone of Capitalist Imperial­ that none could have an ticipated is m, a like condition ex ist s, with the that short space of time , a pe - d ifference that actual war doe s no! which in Tmport ance tran scends ex ist, and the masses,though on the any period of that duration in the verge of starvatio n. have as y et not world's history. The entire civ ilized go ne through that agony of hunger world has been convulsed as if by an and miser)' wh ich ha s fallen to the earthquake. The savage wa r, ~nally lot of the working classes elsewhere. C'xtcndingtothercmotes tcor ne rs of The American Plutocracy,true to the the earth, has so affected th e com­ ide als of imperialism, ha s, how ever, plexion of the prevailing system, has introduced a reign of terror among changed its processes, or rather d issentients, which goes further than intensified a nd ha st ened the in most of the old countries. Be ing of these processes, a s :0 " illitera tes" in all matt er s perta ining it im po s s ible ever to ret urn to to th e soc ial sc iences, eco nom ics, the conditions prevailing pri or to erc., the Imperial ists of this country 1914, It has become clear by this stand bewildered at the sight of the t im e that capitalislI1proper, ca pi tal­ yawn ing abyss before them. Chokin j ism in its normal aspects, has gone with wealth wrung from a s ex ploited In its place there ha s been a slave class as ever ex isted, they a system of soci ety which, tremble with fear and wonder at the essentially capitalis t in so far rurnblingsalreadyheard.even inthis as relation to the wo rk in g clas s benigh ted country of untrammelled is concerned, diifers as mu ch from cap itali sm and labor fakerism. In su­ the capitalism of pre-war days asthe perstitious awe they strike blindly rotten ripe fruit differs from the about them, attacking in their despair ripening fruit. Death and pes til e nce, the very foundation of that fo rm of hunger and misery ravage E urope as government which they never tireof a direct resu lt of the war, the foul holding up to the world as the last social atmosphere bein g .su rc harg ed word in governtnental arrangements. with the putrid smell of the de caying, The war and its aftermath hav e fa-t decaying capitalist system, On produced a darkness that ha s filled the o the r han d, Ca pi ta lis t Imperial­ man)' with despair, and many others ism, or nascent Industrial Feudalism, (formerly clear) with confusion. That tower, apparently sup re me above th e which formerly, in the distance, was social misery and socia l decay of the or seemed clear to them has now be­ old worl d, hold in g in it s iron grip come a fog, though within gra sp and realization. Many of those groups losing their grip on the workers­ and individuals who formerly pre­ more and more are these parties and tended to be opponents of capitalism their organs revealed as the hand­ have not only dropped the pretence, maids of the vested interests, of nas­ but have become in fact the last bar­ cent Industrial Feudalism. The time ricades, the final sllpportandchief is fast coming, in short, when we may hope of the Imperialists. In the name expect to be called upon to lead of Socialism these unspeakable that working class to final victory. wretches have slaughtered the work­ One of the important acts of the ers, as witness Germany during the last Party convention was the adop­ last one and a half years. tjon of a statement on the question In all this darkness there has arisen of unity between the S. L. P. and the a pillar of flame, a piercing ray of S. P. The document adopted by the hope, a voice in the wilderness ring­ convention was endorsed by the ref­ ing around the world. Russia, czar­ erendum, and after much discussion ridden and exploited, with a popula­ and correspondence the proposed tion groping in thraldom and misery, Unity Conference took place in Janu­ suddenly arose, Phoenix-like, from ary, 1917, in New York City. Five the ashes . Young Russia, shaking delegate, from the S. L. P . and four the shackles of centuries from off its from the S. P. (one of their delegates strong limbs, stands today as that being unable to attend) attended this pillar of flame, as that piercing ray conference, which, by the way, was of hope. initiated by the S. P. The conference lasted two days (January 6and 7) and We shall now review the events of resulted, as most clear-sighted S. L. the last four years as far as they P. men expected, in absolute disagree- the Party. ment. The S. P ., true to its inherent national campaign of 1916 was bourgeois nature, naturally clung to with great vigor. Tons of its bourgeois reform program, and were distributed, our or- refused to recede an inch from its sent to almost every position as a buffer of the American That the result Federation of Labor, the strongest votes and membership bulwark of American capitalism. The need neither dismay S. L. P., on the other hand, true to us. The S. L. P. is its inherent Socialist nature, insisted the young that must and will upon a revolutionary program, in­ slay the monster capitalism, but it eluding an unqualified recognition of can not do so until that monster has industrial unionism as the sine qua exhausted its own possibilities-e-pos- non of working class emancipation. sibilities for good as for evil. So long The Unity Conference having come as thecapitalistparties,andtheirvarl- to an end, a period in S. L. P. history ous caricatures, are able to poison or was concluded during which the seeds confuse the minds of the workers, so of future dissension were sown. So long must our work be that of the long as there was a prospect of unity, apostle-spreading Our gospel far and however remote, between the S. P. wide as well as at definite points, and the S. L. P., S. L. P. activity was knowing that somewhere it is strik- bound to suffer. The S. L. P., how­ insz fertile soil. some day to sprout ever, in obedience to the mandates forth. The time is fast coming, how- of the International Congress, cleared ever, when the bourgeois parties are itself of all responsibility for a seem- -2- ingly divided movement. It said in gun and carried on, and so t=\r we sub stan ce: Whatever theoretic doubt ha"esucceededinkeepingourfig!;tt­ t he re may be as to the genuineness ingorgan in existence. of the S. P. a s a party of Socialism, In other ways the war made its we are willing to lay that doubt aside presence felt . Freedom of expression to effe ct, if pos sible, unity between was curtailed, meetings were interfer­ real a nd earnest Social ist s. The S. ed with and a condition was created L. P., quickly ent ir ely disillusioned, which made it practically impossible finally gave the proper de signation to to do much else than keeping the or­ the S. P. I n 1908, through Comrade ganization alive, preserving it for the D e L eon, th e S. P . was bra nd ed a s a day that was sure to come. To this caricature of Socialism, and in ring­ task the National Executive Commit­ In\: words the challenge was flung tee, the Sub-Committee, and the Na­ out-"war upon all political parties tional Secretary bent most of their and organizations that directly orin­ efforts. This does not mean that we directl y impair the integr ity of La­ ceased Our constructive work. \Ve bor ...... Had this attitude been continued that along lines and within adhered to, much, if not all of the forms consistent with the new condi­ disturbances that have taken place tions. And had it not been for the within the Party du ring the last two disruptive assault on the Party in year s might have been avoided. 1918, a good deal more could have For if the Un it y Con fer ence had no been accomplished than was the case . other re sult, it ce rta inly had a pro- The Disr-rptive Assault on the Party. found effect upon certain members This brings us to the internal whose many y ea rs' mernbership should troubles of the Party. As previously have rendered them immune to- the stated, the Unity Conference, though "afflictions" to which young and in- barren of any result SO far as "un-ity" exp erienced mem bers m ay be prone. was concerned, upset the minds of Howeve r, thi s phase o f the matter men who ought to have be en proof belongs und er anot he r he ading in against temptations and weaknesses, th is rep or t. It is almost axiomatic that the weak In Apr il, 1917, as w e know, the person who goes astray becomcs the United State s declared war against most designing and unscrupulous of Germany, From that time our real men . Their very weakness renders it troubles began. Due to the hardships imperative (to them) that they bol­ imposed by th e Act of October, 1917, ster up their lost cause with SOme­ our L etti sh and Germ an organs had thing pretended-stage trappings and to su sp en d publication. They did so much show of fault finding. in 1917. Our o ther papers were har- Following the Unity Conference an assed, and fin ally in June, 1918, the attempt was made to commit the second-class mail privilege of the Party membership to a form of unity Weekly People was revoked. The which had tentatively been agreed Party was ind eed face to face with a upon by the S. L. P. delegation at situation that threatened its very ex- the Unity Conference, but which in is tence, For the moment it looked as reality was contrary to the instruc- though all hop e had gon e. The in- tions laid down by the membership ternal turmoil (at that time at its of the Party. The Nationa! Secreta­ climax) naturally increased the dan- ry, scenting the danger, in his capa­ ger and the gloom. The often al- city as a delegate to the conference most heart-br eaking struggle was be- issued a statement which declared the -3- proposed form "suicidal and a play­ plan was being formulated to steer injl"'directly into the hands of the the S. L. P. into the S. P. became S. ~" officialdom". stronger. The N. E. C. meeting in May, 1917, however, postponed any action which the pro-S.P. element might have contemplated. Though a sort of truce was declared at that N. E. C. session it soon became clear that the disrupters were merely rest­ ing on their oars, awaiting develop­ ments as it were. Toward the election of November, 1917, it became apparent that an edi­ torial attitude had been struck, en­ tirely out of keeping with the tradi­ tions of the Weekly People and the S. L. P. Instead of exposing the S. P. as the enemy to the w.orking class that it is, articles were printed which insidiously advocated the voting of the S. P. ticket. Instances were enumerated in the National Secre­ tary's report to the N. E. C. in ses­ sion, May 1918. When criticized on a certain specific point (when the now famous, or infamous, Becker let­ ter was printed in the \Veekly People in which united electoral action with the S. P. was urged, i. e., the S. L. P. to refrain from voting its own ticket) Mr. Seidel, the then editor of the Weekly People, managed to get in a couple.of editorials attacking Mr. Hillquit, the S. P. candidate for may­ or in New York City. This he did while almost simultaneously at a pub­ lic meeting under S. L. P. auspices he practically endorsed Mr. Hi1Iquit's candidacy-and Seidel was the S. L. P. candidate for mayor I This dishonest and hypocritical at­ titude pointed strongly to a conspira­ cy. The traitorous acts of Mr. Seidel were brought out in bolder relief when his action and utterances about the S. P. earlier in the year were re­ called to mind. Expectantly the loyal members were folLowing the maneu­ verings of the ex-editorandhisasso­ dates. -4- And soon the next bomb was ex- t io n in the matter and finally it be- ploded. came necessary to suspend the Fed­ eration. And now began those orgies of vituperation and slander against the N. E. C. and the National Secre­ tary, which with some intervals have been repeated-as if after some stereotyped model-up to this very time. Particularly did the National Secretary receive his share. Epithets such as "boss," "autocrat,' etc .• were among the milder. Before proceeding further chrono­ logically it becomes necessary to re... vert to Mr. Katz and his activities. Since early in the summer of 1917 he was located in Jamestowu where he was conducting a \V. I. I. U. strike. A paper was published by the W. I. I. U. locals there called The Indus­ trial Standard, of which Katz was made editor. In the issue of Decem­ ber22, 1917, Mr. Katz delivered him­ self of the following (the occasion being a "welcome party" to him and his speech being a reply to the "wel­ come"):

"IN A BIG CITY LIKE NEW YORK, IN ORDER FOR THE WORKERS TO SUCCEED THEY MUST MOVE ON A LARGE SCA -LE. THEY HAVE NOT SUC­ CEEDED ON THE ECONOMIC FIELD THERE BUT HAVE PO­ LITICALLY, AS WAS SEEN BY THE LAST CAMPAIGN."

(The II last campaign" referred to was the Hillquit cheap milk campaign so vocifer.ously lauded by Mr. Katz's fellow conspirator, Mr. J. Schloss­ berg. It is worth noting in this con- a nection that all along the trio-s-Sei­ del-Katz-Schlossberg-had acted in unison as against the National Secre­ tary of the Party.) From the above quotation, which we have underscored, it will be seen that Mr. Katz viewed the S. P. "vic­ properac- tory" exactly in the same light as Mr. -5- Schlossberg. And there is nothing tionthroughouttheland. strange in this when one recalls his The Socialist Labor Party is pre pared to withdraw its candidates this violent assaultuponthc:-.J'ational Sec­ Springe!ection provided Local j ame s re tar y for referring to the S. P. as De town Socialist Party is willing to do Leon had referred to it, as the Party the same, thus make it possible for platform of 1912 referred to it, as,·n both parties to work together for the election of working-class candi­ fact, the Party has ever referred to dates to be nominated by a mas s it since the inception of the S. P. convention of all Socialist... and In­ Mr. Katz did not rest contented dustriall·nionists. with merely praising the S. P. vote­ Yours fraternally, Socialist Labor Party, chasing campaign of 1917 as a great W. A. Littl., political victory of the working class. Secretary." He decided that he was going to go ~ Tote the reference to putting up a in Ior some of that sort of victory "united front," 110t only in James­ himself. In January, 1918, he caused town, "but start a movement for unit­ Section Jamestown, S. L P., to offer ed action throughout the land". Con­ united action with the S. P. of James­ trast this grand unity scheme with town. For the sake of the record the the ct a tem en t rnade by 11r. Katz about letter is herewith reproduced in full: two years earlier in his articles en­ titled ""'ith De Leon Since '89". Says he apropos of unity and the for achieving samc : "It is contrary to the laws of na­ very unthankful job to try and water." In 1915-16 it to expect unity between the S. L. P. and the two were correctly likened to fire 7 was :'a~:~'redI ndl:;)~ a~~ da a~::'si~~~~; anditi vigorously nsserted that the S. P. is a party of Socialism; it is vi· ::;f~tt,~~ denied that it is a "bourgeois

Dishonesty and opportunism is written all over t hi s let ter. Thatsuch a letter should have emanated from an S. L. P. Section is a blot upon the Party's fair escutcheon. The S. P. was not slow to take adva ntage of the opportunity offered it and replied to that letter a, follows: ried away oy illusions, namely, th at from the capitalist class in isolated we could in Jamestown at this elec­ cities! To such base and demoralizing tion wrest the political power Ir om tacticshadthe"broaderpolicy" re­ the hands of the ruhngclass,evcn if successful this Spring with all our duceditsadvocates. candidates, we still would be unable It should here he noted that Com­ to control the legislative power of rade A. H. Lyz ell, an ardent support­ our city, consequently, more cduca­ er of Seidel, Katz, ct al, and who at ~~:m~or the working class is our pro- writing is editor of Ar­ Very glad to note that your party our Scandinavian organ, has learned, as you state, the import Arbetaren as follows: of political action, as well as a united "Concerning Katz I will say that front against our only enemy, the there is absolutely nothing dangerous capitalistclass;ourhopeisthatyoui in the 'exposures' or the 'under- :~t;~~ri:t~~:nf~~~.re will give justice ~;~d;dto\\d":f~'nJui~d\~h~~n~~d~~/wh:~ The Socialist Party has a clean record and stands uncompnomisingly it comes up asa question by itself­ for the abolition of the present sys­ defend it without departing one io ta tem of wage slavery, inviting all from t he spi rit of the S. L. P., a nd workers to rally around its banner stand as straight within the S. L. P. this coming spring election. as anyone." As for the union question that you try to raise I wish to state the fol­ The "exposures" mentioned refer to lowing: that I believe that the So­ a letter Comrade Oscar Anderson of cialist Party has as many members Jamestown had written to Comrade as any other political party of this Borg, informing the latter of Katz's city belonging to, and taking active proposed political "Kuhhandel" (cow­ part in the administration of Local unions. trading). I n o ther wo rds, Comrade The Socialist Party supported the Lyzell fully en dorsed the traitorous recent strike (in this particular case and disruptive proposal of Katz and a W. I. I. U. union), and will con­ Section Jamestown. tinue to support strikers in their fight for better living conditions to But let us now revert to Mr. Sei de l its utmost capacity, not however los­ and his activities. ing sight of the main aims of our Following the suspension of the movement, the abolition of wage slavery. Jewish Federation, Mr. Seidel and his The Socialist Party can not with­ friends (Palmer, Dr. Hammer, Basky, draw its official candidates which and the rest) began manipulating a nd :~~i. a former member, know very maneuvering for the N. E. C. sess ion in May, 1918. Somewhat earlier M r. The S. L. P., which can not place in the field apolitical partytickel, Seidel had written an article enti tled, "Building up the Movemen t," which S~~~::ltisth~n~et~~~Ff~li:;~de~o~~s.n~:~ purported to present a new and g reat no log-ical reason why it can not sup­ plan for "buil ding up the movement" port the Socialist Party candidates, nominated by Socialists. as its regu­ (the word "m ovement" no doubt hav­ lar primary electi.ons where a good ingbeenchosenadvisedly,itbeing ;oat~: S. L. P.'s have the right to vague and indefinite), which in effect was no thing but an insidious attack upon the S. L. P., combined with the (Signed) proposal (not bluntly stated, of course) to throw all our energies into Imagine an S. P. local lecturing an the economic field-that is to say , S. L. P. Section on the utopianism of build up the W. I. I. U. and the S. L. attempting to capture political power P. will naturally grow. The result of -7- such a policy (even assuming that it to attack the National Secretary as was honestly advanced) would have well as by an element whose minds meant nothing else than the destruc­ he\:'~:i~ere~i::i~ s~:;i:;erree,:~ai;:~ tion of the S. 1.. P. as a political par­ :;;:e ty, and possihly the end of the ,V. I. here. Mr, Seidel, of course, entcrc-I I. U. Aside from its manifest dishon­ the contest, succeeding in making esty, the article had all the character­ himself ridiculous, while pretending­ istics of rank opportunism. This ar­ to "explain away" the scientific po si­ ticle was attacked in the \Veekly Peo­ tionoutlinedinthearticlereferrcd ple, and an acrimonious discussion to. And this sam e individual, who ensued. About the same time the Na­ nowprctended to take up the cud­ tional Secretary had written an ar­ gels on behalf of the Russian Bol­ ticle on the Russian situation, in sheviki (as if there were any provo­ which an attempt was made to ana­ cation and as if the Russian com­ lyz e the Ru ssian (Bolshevik) revolu­ rade> needed that) only a few month' tion from the S. 1.. P. standpoint. earlier, in an editorial article, had de­ The outstanding features of that ar­ clared that "the latter [Kerensky] t icle were a re-statement of the S. 1... will certainly retain the whip hand P. position as regards the social rev­ in Russia in any attempt at plunging olution and the requirements for its the country into civil strife". (Week­ succc"s,andtheconc1usionthat the ly People, Sept. 15, 1917.) Incidental­ Ru ssian rr-volutio nists could not pos­ ly, Mr. Seidel had not up to that sibly sl1cceedl1nlcss the rest, or at time attempted to treat the Russian least the dominant part, of the cap­ situation editorially in the Weekly italist world likewise collapsed before People. the victorious hosts of labor. This As intimated, this criticism conclusion has been reiterated by the Natio nal Secretary's article Russian comrade'S themselves, Nico­ Iy prompted by a desire to lai Lenin leading.v This article was him, preliminary to making as­ venomously attacked by those who sault the object of which was to re­ were only looking" for an opportunitr move an individual who was looked "Si nc e this report was written upon as an obstacle in the path of the Karl Radek is reported to have unity mongers (to use a phrase cur- made the following observation: rent in British S. 1.. P. circles). The "At the conclusion of the Brest same pro-So P. clement also cncou r- Treaty, the Soviet Government es- aged an clement which thought the timatcd the breathing spell afforded S. L. P. could perform no better act by this j-eace as a very short one; than to sink its identity into the \V. EITHER THE WORLD REV- I. I. U. The unity m~nger; (essen­ OLUTIO.' \V;OULD SOO~ COME tially pro-S.P. whatever their pre­ A~D RESCUE SOVIET RUSSIA, tcn ce s) had no scruples in pretending OR SOVIET RUSSIA WOULD GO to be heart and soul for the W. I. 1. DO\V.' I~ THE C,'EQUAL CO.'- U., though most of them, in fact, had FLICT-SUCH \VAS OUR VIE\V no more use for that organization AT THAT TIME. A~D THIS than had their political paramonr,the CO,-CEPTIO.' \VAS IN ACCOR, S. P., as subsequent events have DA~CE \VITH THE SITUA- clearly demonstrated. TION AT THAT ~IO~[ENT." Thus the struggle went on until the (Underscoring ours.) "Soviet Rus- . '. E. C. session in May, 1918, The "a," Feb. 12, 1921. _8~ational Secretary in his report to against rhe N, E. C. and the National Secretary. Owing to difficulties the Xationa l Office had in getting the minutes of the ...T. E. C. session print­ ed, the slanderers hal for d while full Had we been able to cet thsc outearlicrthcdi:rup- nothavcsecuredp\"t"'l3C; support as they did.

Comrade Olive ~I. Johnson was ap- This disruptive an ti-organization pointed acting editor by the N. E. C., tour of Katz naturally became a ver-i- and later the membership elected her table saturnalia of vituperation and a .. editor of the Weekly People. It viciousness, so much so that the re­ has become evident that the Party has action setting in caused the gentle- secur-ed in Comrade j ohr-son an cdi- men to discontinue it. 't has proper- tor who f s capable of expounding the ly been branded as one of the most Party's p r-inciplcs, and this in a man- ncfa riou s attempts ever made by a ncr that calls to mind the happy da ys Party member to wreck the organi­ antedating the advent of Seidel to zation. If 11r. Katz had trafficked the important post of cd ito-; The on his reputation in the S. L. P., he \Vcrkly People has aqa P bc.iome the soon found out that S. L. P. men arc !'-hining sword that glean~~ ihvough not hero-worshippers-that the S. L. the bitter darkness of t~~ niqht of P. means more to them than any in- capitalism. dividualorgroupofindividuals • TO sooner had the N. E. C. session Meanwhile the disrupters in • Tew r-ome to an end than the friends of York kept busy. A "committee" was the deposed editor commenced a cam- formed to "invcstiaate' the ~. E. C. paign of vilification and slander andthe:-iationaISecretary,the"eol11- -9- mittee" being headed by Mr. Basky Enclosed find the ms tt er reques.ted. and being composed of the following Fraternally your>, sub-divisions: Section New York, (Signed) Arnold Petersen, Hungarian Branch New York, and National Secretary." the Lettish Branch New York. In- Needless to say, Mr. Seidel never solcnt demands were made upon the drew up his "side of the case," thus National Office, which, of course, confessing to his total bankruptcy in were ignored. The anarchy and dis- the matter. rupt io n in Section New York increas- The referendum on the matter ed and in order to avoid complete closed on October 15th, 1918, and wrecking of the New York move- showed that an overwhelming rna­ men t, the Sub-Committee was com- jority of the Party membership sus­ pelled to take action. It was decided t ained the action of the N. E. C. The to suspend and reorganize the Sec- vote was 1.102 in favor and 683 tion on July 11,1918. against. in M~:=w~:~k~y diS;~~~;~~ ~:O~li:~~ One would think that after this ~~~an~~s::p::~' ~~~:n~~, th~a~~:~ ~~:iS~:;t ao~d t::fin~t:m~~~;~~;iO~hO~: Caleb Harrison. Neither Seidel, who pretended to have the Party's ~a~:~e~::~:'I;o:s~~heH;:~:;:~~:~ ~:~:::~:~h:~~eh:~~~i:~~o~:~:~[:~lS~ ;;~di~h; t~ee~~t::t:e, ~r~~e~e h~~ a~~~ :~~::wi~:e~ndd~~e~~e ;~nt~::y::'~~~~ ~e;~~;ret:'~o~n~~:~o:;'e:a~i::sc~::~ ke~h:p:::~ b~~ ~~e~h i~::a~~~ z: t ::~:~d s,::rre:;:;d:C~r ~~: saf~~l:~~~; Philadelphia. In the former, Caleb brief corre~~:t::~hington Ave., ~a~~s~: ~;ed l~:~~:g Bd~:::;~:rs~e:~~ New York, June 18, 1918. ed by o the.r Section members and to Mr. Arnold Petersen, some extent by members of -the for- National Secretary, Socialist Labor eign language branches. In Phila- Party, delphia Robert McLure led the at- ti1a~:~~~;n~r=et: h:::ka ~i~:~ of the :~c~a:s: :~: e~~~i.~io~o~nfga~Ool~a;O~~ charges which you brought against al Party member, George Anton, Sr. me at the recent sessions of the Na- (who died shortly after), ostensibly

;~~;a:he~~~~::;:n":1°b~~iti¥~e't~fI~l~ for an oHenl~;)~;a~~s~n t~;a~t~t;s (a: have not the facilities for making for supporting the Par- such a copy I shall be glad to copy Messrs. Seidel, Katz, the charges myself. et In both cases it be- m~~~:.tilgr:~a~~~r from you on this came necessary to suspend and re- . Fraternally, organize the Sections. The N. E. C. (Signed) Edmund Seidel." Sub-Committee took action re spec-

Mr. Edmund Seidel:'June 20th, }918. ~;1~: a~~brt~:rYN20~. a~.d s~ba:ec:ll:~:~ 14S8Wash,ngton Ave., endorsed its action. ~~:;. 2~~ra~~:' During the latter part of 1918 it Your olet ter of June 18,h received. "'>5 proven that Section Jamestown .-10- had off ered a compromise with the withdraw as a political par ty, circu­ S. P of Jamestown. In effect it late petition lists for:ln amendment was proposed that the S. L. P. pull to the constitution designed to end down its banner and join with the capitalism, etc. It did not lmit it­ S.P.onthespeciouspretextofunit­ self to circularizing Sections and ing on the W. I. I. U. to conduct a members, but spread its "leaflet" campaign together with the S. P. in broadcast. The whole action and order to capture Jamestown. The attitude of the Section was so plain­ practical result of this proposal ly anti-S.L.P. both in principle and would naturally have meant the sub­ action that without much discussion mergence of the S. L. P. The com­ the N. E. C. took the above-men­ munications that passed between the tioned action. The fact that the S. L. P. and the S. P. we have al­ Section was practically dead at the ready reproduced." The slap admin­ time the N. E. C. took this action istered to the Section in Jamestown probably accounts for the fact that measures the degradation it had its suspension did not even create a fallen into under Katz's "strategical" ripple. leadership. Having been rebuffed Shortly after the 1'. E. C. session by the S. P., the Section later put in May, 1919, the stage was being up a ticket, and the "wonderful" set for another disruptive outbreak. campaign in Jamestown was exren­ In Detroit, under the nominal lead­ sive ly advertise d in the Weekly Peo­ ership of H. Richter, plans were be­ ple and commented upon editorially ing formulated to resume the work by Mr. Seidel, Katz's bosom friend of the now thoroughly discredited and other self. But strange to say, Seidel and Katz. The pretext seized not a word was said about the pro­ upon was the pamphlet "Mines to posed deal with the 5. P. That re­ the Miners," it being charged that mained a profound secret until the it was advocated therein to form an summer "f 1918 organization in competition to the Because of this act the Section w. I. 1. 1.:. The fact that the direct was expelled on December 19th, opposite was urged did not trouble 1918, and this action was also ap­ Mr. Richt er and his friends. The N. proved by the N. E. C. Incidental­ E. C. was charged with being a group 1yit should be noted that the Sec­ of traitors to the working class. Si­ tion was called upon to explain, jus­ multaneously the usual orgy of slan­ tifyor defend its action, but point der and vilification commenced. The blank refused to do so. loyal supporters were abused and In his report to the N. E. C. in \·ilified.and,needless to say, no session May, 1919, the National Sec­ work was done, save what was retary reviewed the events of the achieved by the small group of true year since the previous session, S. L. P. men who in the midst of re­ pointing to the fact tllat Mr. Seidel action and anarchy sought to keep and most of his supporters had the S. L. P. banner unsullied. The either joined the S. P. or its "off­ statement of the "Section" was in shoots". course of time submitted to the 1". At the 1919 session the .T. E. C. E. together with a statement by also suspended Section Denver, c., the Sub-Committee, in which the Colorado. The Section h ad taken falsity and viciousness of the charges the stand that the Party should were exposed and a demand made ·See pp, 6 and 7. upon the "Section" to withdraw its -11- slanderous charge of treacherous cember, 1918, the Section had the conduct against the N. E. C. While right to re-instate him!!). The Sec­ the N. E. C. was voting on the mat­ tion's attention was called to the ter it developed that the original fact that its action was unconstitu­ statement and "charges" were not tional and withal a slap in the face the work of the Section at all, but of the Party and an outrage per­ that of the English group alone, petrated upon the S. L. P. During which coolly had usurped the func­ three months the Section was pati­ tions and authority of the entire ently reasoned with, but of no avail. Section, which consisted altogether Having exhausted all efforts to of the three branches. Aside from bring the Section to reason, the N. this, it was proven that an individu­ E. C. Sub-Committee submitted the al who was a member of another matter to the N. E. c., with the rec­ Section, voted at "Section" Detroit's ommendation that the Section be meetings, was elected on commit­ suspended and reorganized. Vote On tees, etc. Special rxectings were the matter closes April 29th. called without notifying all the As rnembcrs-in short, a state of corrup­ tion and anarchy was revealed sur­ passing even that prevailing in pre­ viously expelled or suspended Sec­ tions. The N. E. C. was called upon to halt its vote on the matter already submitted, seeing the submission of the "charges" in the name of Sec­ tion Detroit was a palpable fraud and imposition on the N. E. C. and the Sub-Committee. Finally, the N. E. C. voted to suspend and reorganize the Section. It is gratifying to be able to state that since the suspension andreor­ ganization Section Detroit has per­ formed some splendid work. [he Section is hustling and working for the S. L. P. as few Sections are. And now to the last act (let us hope it will remain the very last) in this :'drama" of dissension and dis­ ruption. Despite the fact that Mr. Katz had been so thoroughly discredited; de­ spite the fact that his traitorous acts had been so thoroughly exposed, Section Erie County, N. Y., admitted him as a "new" member (though claiming their right to confer bership upon the ground that the Section had expelled him, in ) covert defense of and apologetic at­ tun ism could not be better illustrat­ titude toward the S. P. and their pre­ edl· tended solicitude for the W. I. I. U. Or take Mr. Basky. Vociferous in And it is noteworthy that the lead­ his solicitude for the Party and the ing "actors" among them have join­ \V. I. I. U., he secures a job on the ed either the S. P., the 1. \V. \V., or S. P. Hungarian sheet "Elore," and One of the so-called Communist par­ commences a campaign of vilifica­ ties, or the mongrel type of econom­ tionand slander against theS. L. ic organization known as "Amalga­ P. and the \V. I. I. U., from which mated" this or that union. Take the he is later expelled. Dr. Hammer case of Mr. Seidel. \Vhile carrying' joins the S. P. and later becomes on his "war" against the National identified with the "Left Wing" or Secretary, or more correctly .pcak­ "Communist" groups. Lesser lights ing, against the Party, he \..as, as have joined the I. \Y. W., and in already pointed out, vociferous in the case of the Lettish Federation his solicitude for the \V. I. l. U., several of the leading members and while at the same Time doing his bit branches joined the "Communist" for the S. P. Yet, a few months af­ Party, exceptions being- Comrades terhisexpulsionhejoinstheS.P., John Salaneek, R. Upit, G. \Vein­ joins forces with the so-called "Right stein and others, besides the Branch ~~:i:f~'I;:~i~:~ ~~: ~:~r~s~.dk~~ ~hce of Boston and the majority of the members of Branches Seattle and feating the "Left \VinA''"'" i'l the San Francisco. In the case of Rus­ Bronx-the very group he wan t cd to sell Palmer. assistant to the editor "spljt away" from the 5. 1")., and en and a loud-mouthed shouter for the the prospect of doing which he was \V. I. I. U., the evidence shows that so anxious to effect unit? bctwcc.i he conspired to capture Local 25, \V. the S. P. and the S. L. P.'! ::'0 much I. I. U., Paterson, N. J., for the did the officialdom think of their "Amalgamated Textile Workers' new acquisition that he was nom­ Union" (a Schlossberg nursling). He inated for Assembly on the Bronx, was later rewarded with a job in that N. Y., S. P. ticket, the officialdom organization. Likewise with Harry going s-o far as to waive the usual Rubinstein, who, while still a mem­ several years' membership required ber of the Party, managed to saddle to be a candidate for public office. on the Party an expense of $200 for Moral turpitude and corrupt oppor- legal defense. ~o sooner was he

"Mr. Seidel was subseqnently c-t by the old party lawmakers, who elected to the State Senate (New realized the unusual situation in .a York) and has apparently acquired legislative body where only the rna- all the habits of the "social patriot." jority members have the privilege According to the New York Call of ruling the destinies of the State. (April 9, 1921) he was recently call- ed upon to preside over the Senate "Seidel's personal popnlarity in in the absence of the Lieutenant the Upper House has won for him Governor and acquitted himself en- a great host of friends and he, too, tirely to the satisfaction of the cap- seemed to enjoy and appreciate the italist politicians. Says The Call in unusual advantage he had today of part: heingplacedinthepositionofact- "Senator Seidel's conduct in t he ing Lieutenant Governor of thc chair was watched with great inter- State of New York." -13- out of trouble than he quit the Par­ themselves actually committed and tY,began to slander and vilify the condoned the very thing they charged S. L. P. and the National Secretary, others with doing. An xarn pl e is J and aided the aforesaid Palmer in found in the letter which Mr. Katz I his conspiracy, and was likewise re­ wrote to the President of the Unit­ warded with a lucrative job in the edStatcsinI9l7,andp',bl;shed in above-mentioned organization. the Weekly People, August l Sth, Thus one could continue. But 1917. Inpart;treads: enough has been said to show the "These -threats [of the ma nui ac­ character of the crowd which in 1917 tllrersofjame:-town],:icarriedoll, and 1918 wanted to save the S. L. would scr iousty affect the present P. from the "autocratic' grip of the peaceful relations between employes and employers in general Jn thi. cit y, .-ational-Secretary. and have a tendency tocripule in­ 3. Sneaky tactics and moral turpi­ dustryindeed. tude arc characteristic of a number ",\T TH E ART .IET\L CO.I­ PA.·Y OF JA.IESTO\ ',-, WHERF of the disrupters. Mr. Seidel, fOT GOVER,'. IE.'T C () _-TR ACT:-; instance, did not hesitate to purloin FOR STEEL FCR.'ITCRE FOR correspondence from the National R.\TTLESHIP .\RE _'OW BET.-G Office which he thought would serve EXECCTED, " STRIKE \ '.\5 his "cause". A similar example is ,\VERTED BY nil' ('OOL-HE\D ED,'ESS OF (ll'l' ORG\.-IZ\­ found in H. Richter. This gentleman '1'10.'." (Undcrscor iug ou rs.) either steals, or uses a stolen letter (which hc knows to be stolen), ad­ dressed to another party, thus stooping to one of the lowest acts an individual can commit. Such snak c-i n-bhe-jz ra ss methods appcarto he a prom inc nt feature of the prop­ aganda of lIlanyof the disrupters. \nothcr thing common to the dis­ rupters is their is~t1illg of lampoons, onc viler than the other. Their one common strain is thc abuse heaped upon the national officers of the Par­ ty. Lampooning seems to be a rec­ ognized feature of disrupters frorn the days of the Kangaroos till now Vile slanders have been circulated ahoutthcJ.'ationalSe-cretaryandthc

• 'to E. C. Sub-Committee, and m cm- be," of the N. E. C. Thus it has been " maliciously stated that the National Secretary put Mr. Seidel at the mer­ cy of the federal authorities; we have been accused of lying down be­ fore the government, and so on ad nauseam. The utter wickedness of thi s propaganda is brought out 1.11 hold relief when it is recalled that those who Falsely charged such_a::~ !~u~ eyes SI:2";~" :::!1 11:_ '] scorned the siren's call. 'Ve hold to that De Leonistic view that small­ ness of numbers in itself is no cause for despair, nor do we believe that large numbers by themselves consti- tute a measure of Well has the great Lenine put when he said : "The smallness an organiza- tion never frightens me. \Vhat I do fear is the heaping together of het crogencous bodies and then call that thing a 'party"!"

But let liS leave this entire dis­ agreeable business as a matter of history, drawing such lessons as we can therefrom, and proceed to a consideration oithe general activi­ tics of the Party and the problems to be solved. In has most prohibitive. In Oregon the tion s do p erform an im por ta nt Iunc­ National Office is directly support­ tion, and ou r hop e mu st lie with ing the work to enable the comrades their off icer s an d the memb er s d rill­ to get the S. L. P. ticket on the bal­ e d in S. L. P . p rinciples-that t hey lot. Though the difficulties aremany make every effo r t to d rill r ecr uit s and great, the prospects are that we intheprineipl es a nd polieies ofthe shall s ucceed. In Michigan Com­ S. L. P. L ar g e num bers in a fe de r­ rade Charles Pierson is at work un­ a tion who do not understand the der th e direction of the new S. E. C. princ ipl es o f the Party ma y readi ly The di srupters having been remov­ become a da nger to OUf orga niz a­ ed, the work is getting along there tion. almost phenomenally. The foll ow in g amendments a r e An important feature of our agita­ proposed (new clauses o r p rop ose d tion is leaflet distribution. In this ehangesare indicated in bol d fa ce) : res pect w e have cause to be grateful. Article II. It is pr oposed that Sec­ In pro portion to our numbers the tion 10 be m ad e Section 0, an d vice number of leaflets distributed is versa. Th erc Ts evrlentty a r iistake very cons iderable. Under another her e in th con.!c r. head we shall give rnor e details 0:'1 leafl ets printed and circulated. o/:tt~~I: I~Icl~i;~ ~ ~ ' \~:h ~~e c~~~~~ t ~~'i ~t; a Section o f the Socialist L abor Cons ti tu tional Amendments. Party and a Section or Sec tions of From time to time it has become any S. L . P. Lan gu age Federatio n. clear that our constitution needs to there sha ll be fonned a cent ral co m, be changed in ccrtainntinor respects. mittee composed of delega tes fro m said Se-ction s, who se fun ction it shall Some oi the amendments which w e propose hei r deal with the relation r~rt\,°eri~~o\'h~ a ;~i;~~io~, eof':h~o S~ L~ of language l",lerations to the Party. P . in such localities in addit ion t o The kdcratioll ," ur esent ccrtainprob­ such agitation which may be ca rr icd on by the respective Se ct io ns separ­ lcms that arc not easily solved. ately. Those problems a -Ise, of course, In ca se th e cr ea tion of such ccn ­ mainly because of d ::ference in lan ­ tral committee is not deem ed war­ ranted then arr an gem en t s shou ld at guage, which TI1it!< ...S it difficult to lea st be m ade fo r havi ng one or keep the member sh ip of the federa­ more elec ted repr esen tatives of the ti-ons in closer to ich with t:.' Eng­ Langua c e B ran ch es attend the meet­ lish- spe aking' mov men t. There ha­ ing of the P ar ty Section and repor' to both th e Section an d the B ran ch becnatendencyilithepasttoh\'l" of th e do ing s of each. aloof from the Engli sh-speak > ; movement, but of late the ten de - .v To b' am end ed as follows: has swung to the opposite direct .- .\ Sec . 4. 111 citi es, tow ns, or other Language federations are sUPJl0,",('d .c ta lities wh er e there exists a Sec :l~ot~:r :~~au~:~:~ona~:~c il:~sftOrtha:l; ~ t:'~~£~~iJ~~t~ t~t:;!~~ :Fr: the ideal. To what ext ent they fui- form ed a Propaganda Com :n itte : fill that III iS,,10n it is d ifficu lt to say . composed of de legates front ~") .t! though the number of "graduates" is ~ ~~t iit" ~h~ndb:r~on~~~~p :~~t~~ f o ~ ~ \ ' l e not overwhelming by any means purpqse of fur th er ing- the agitaticll The Sl1g'g"csti-on emanating from dif- of the S. L. P . in such localities, i t ferent sides to do away with th e addi fion to suc h agitation wh ich m av

~:~~r~~o~~s t oa~~~~~~~~. do.;~e nf:~e~~: ' ~i~EX~~{};:::~:tiii!~~F S,.- -16- Comment: ceipted for by stamps to be furni sh­ The official designation of federa ­ ed by the Nat ional Executive Com­ tion sub-divisions is "bra nches, F o r mittee to the State Executive COI11- this reason, and also to avoid confu­ flil~~te~e~~ s t ~: crha,t ea ~~ i~ l ~fl~t ~::~~~; sion, it is proposed to change as in. ofsne h, to the Sectio ns at th e ra te dicated. of thirty-five cents each. The term "propaganda commlt­ C;~~\~~/o r t~ro:t:~~lr~~~i~~v~ tee" more correctly designates this committee. Besides, by calling it "central committee" it is easily mis ­ taken for the general committee-an entirely different committee and ffi~~~~~~f~\~~~;:~~~~l with different functions and powers. ta ry, as well as Sec reta ries of Stare The paragraph which it is p rop os­ E xecutiv e Committe es, shall not ed to eliminate is In cont rad iction to se nd out any stam ps ot her than In the preceding paragraph, wh ich is com pl iance with thrs rule . Amend to read : mandatory. The second pa rag raph practically nullifies the first. The Section 3. Eve ry newly organized second paragraph should be stri cken Section shall rece ive a free quota o f out. stam ps, to be measured by the size of the membership. All stamps re- i; i~~~h~U~~dq~h~tlkati~~;lbS~;~~ a~~ Off;;;ic1c th~ee\n:~b~~: t ~ fm th~ or, as well as Secretaries of Sta te Xational Executive Com mittee shall Executive Committees, sh all not he one year. send out any stamps other than in Add after "one year": compliance with this rule . Commencing May first. Comment: Amendments proposed to sections I and 2 would increase the price of now any prov ision in dues stamps. The increased cost of coveri ng th is mat- living, and the increased cost of everything else, makes it necessary Article \'111., Section 1. The Sec­ to Tncrease the regular revenues of tionsshalllevyuponeachof thei r the National Office. members a monthly tax of at least Amendment to Section 3 provides thirty cents, to be pai d to the State that newly organized Sect ions are Executive Committee. to get as many stamps free as they Amend to read: have 'Charter members. There seems Section I. The Secti ons sh all levy to be no good reason for maintain, upon each of their memb ers a ing a standing indebtness against monthly tax of at least thirty-five a Section. cents, to be paid to the State Ex ecu­ tive Committee. Article IX ., Section 5. No mern - Section 2. The dues sha ll be re- ber, committee, or Section of the ceip ted for by stamps to be furni sh- Party shall publish a po litica lllaper ed by the •"ati"nal Executive Com- without the sanction of the Nat ion , mittee to the State Executive Com- al Executive Comm ittee, and then mit tees at the rate of at leas t twenty only on condition that all the pr op­ cents each, and in the abs ence of ertyofsuchpaperbevestedasfar ~~ir~~ t~e~~: e;~h~ions at the rate of ~i~rC~~;~~~e~n f~~: fr~:~~y Er'i~~~:

i;:~i~~ ~~ ~~~: dues sh all be : J1.~~~~a~?:~el~1:i~~!li£~~:!~~:'r~~ l Amend to read: Comment: N te;,e~~Go:'or tan~~~erfed~~ti~~ The changes proposed in section. of the Party shall pnblish a political 4 and 5 are calculated to do away paper without the sanction of the with dual membership in the organi­ National Executive Committee. and zation. It seems incongruous that a then only on condition that all he property 01 such paperlbevestedin member of a federation branch may the National Executive Committee be also a member of a Section. It is free from any financial or legal Tia, impossible to control absolutely bility, the editor of such paper to whether a member votes both in his be subject to the provisions of the branch and in the Section. Besides, preceding section. there appears to be no good reason Comment: why this dual membership should be The insertion of "or language fed­ maintained. ! eration needs no explanation. The qualilyingc1ause-as far as practi­ Section 7. Delegates, whether fra­ cable" should be stricken ont. To ternal or otherwise, must be able to express themselves intelligently in qualify the demand in the clause ls the English language.. to render it practically null and Section 8. The basis of representa­ void. \Vho is to determine whether tion shall exclude those members of Or not it is "practicable"? a federation who are members of a Partv Section. Se~tion 9. Upon questions submit- :l~~tI1\~e;.cn\~~~~ V~e\~no: ~~ethPadit:~c\l;; to a Section 01 the Party and a branch ofa lan guagc federation, shall vot e at meetings of the Sections on­ ly.

Eliminate the foregoing clauses (7,8,9.)

Comment: In conformity with changes pro- ~)l~:e~a~~~ sr~~t~:~:. should pay 4 and 5, and for Section 4. Sections or branches of New section to be known as: federations shall be represented on Section 6: No member of a feder­ the General Committees of the S. L. ation language branch shall at the riY'7~~t~~~~~~.~;it~dta~, t~~\:alratI~~:. ~e or~~e b;ar~/neniber of a Sec- Eliminate. Comment: Se~~i~~O~ ~oto~:~~eS~~~i~~n5:' and cdS~~ ~~;t\:~;lt4 c~~nges propos- f:: d Section S. Branches of federations shall be represented in the State Section 10 becomes section 7. fh~;ve;:~o~~e o~e~~larP;~?'c;;'i~:i~=~ Article XIII. International So- to the State Executive Committees cialist Bureau Representative. Sec- ~~t~:. S. L. P., or by fraternal dele- ~~~e;;1 r~~~es;~'tt:tri~:ti~h:il b~O~tel~~~ Amend to read: cd hy the National Convention, the Section S. Branch of federations election to be specifically approved shall be represented in the State by a general vote of the whole Par- ~~td~l~~~s.of the Party by Irater, tYiWminate. -18- j chener, London, anJ Tor-onto. \Vc had a Section at Vancouver, B. C., which collapsed, in part due to the Iact that merubcrs had to leave the city, and partly because (Or t he reac- tionary laws (or rather "order-s-in-

State of Organization. ~~c~~~il'~p/en:~~ddu~~:r:~st:ccin~;~:~~~ particularly in the Kitchcner-T'oron­ to territory, with prospects of a Sec­ tion at Hamilton in the ncar future Our Canadian com rade s arc vigorou... and uncompromising, aurl have ex­ crted considerable influence at a time when all other so-called u so _ cia!iq"orlabororganizationsdrirt­ ed from their mooring-s, with anar­ chyandchaosprevailing. COLOIL\OO: In Colorado we have 110\",· only one Section left-a small one at Colorado Springs. As stated prcviou...ly, Section Denver lladtobcstlspcndcubecauscof its anti-S.L.P. attitude, and as practical­ ly nothing was left of the Section, there has been nothing to reo rgan iz.e with. Some of th e loyal com r-adcs left the city, and others have held a.oof. At least one of the Iormerl c activc members joined th e S. P. In 1916 there was an excellent o ppor­ tun it v for putting a ticket in the field, but although the National Of­ ficeofiered to pay all the connected with this, neither ganixcr nor the members a iingcr for that purpose. m emhers who might have been ing: were unable to do themselvcs. We have a Bulgarian branch at Erit, Colorado. The State lost a good member wb eu Comrade \V. J. Gerry of Colo­ rarl o Spr ing s died. He was .a hard worker for the S. L. P. CO.·:\ECTIClJT: There are five Sections in Connecticut: Bridgeport,

Hartford, New Haven•. f CW London, cities: Kit- and Rockville. Section Hartford i_ ~19~ the most active, but Section New Siavonian), Benton ( Bulgarian) , Chi­ London, through its organizer Com­ cago (Hungarian, Sca ndinavian, rade I'rink,isbeginningtopush the South Slavonian), Christopher (So uth work vigorously again. Bridgeport is Siavonian), Frankfort Heights (B:lI­ not as active as a city of that size garian), Granite City and Mad ison and industrial importance would (Bulgarian), Molin e (Sca ndin avia n) , seem to warrant. though the few Mount Olive and Orient (South Sla­ comrades who arc active arc do-jog vonian), Peoria (Hungarian) , W auke­ the best they can. Section Rock­ gan (Bulgarian), Zeig ler (Bulgari a n, ville lost one of its old and hard South Siavonian). working members in 1917, Comrade INDIANA: There are two Secti ons \ Vm. Suessbrich. in this State-;Indianapolis and Ev an s­ The following cities have language ville. Besides, there are pr ospects of federation branches: Ansonia (Scan­ organizing one at Terre Haute, and d inavian) , Branford (Scandinavian), when the work a mong the co al mi n­ B ridgepor t (Hungarian. Scandina­ ers of Illinois is exte nd ed in to In ­ vian), Hartford, New Britain, New diana there ou ght to be seve ra l mo re Haven (Scandinavian), Stratford and formed in th e near fu ture. Ev ans ­ South Norwalk (Hungarian). ville is in a weak condition as a con ­ GEORGIA: Section Thomasville sequence of the \ V. 1. I. U. strike a disbanded after a couple of years' few years ago-t1>ough the Section struggle for existence. The field in was never very large. It is expec t­ that state is hardly ripe for S.L.P. ed that an organizer will be sen t propaganda, certainly not without do­ through the state in the near future. ing some persistent agitation. What­ Language federation b ra nches: ever can be done is being done by Blanford (South Siavonian), Clinton the sympathizers and by Comrade (Hungarian), Fort Wayne ( Bulga­ Has elgrovc who is a member-at­ rian). large. KENTUCKY: Louisville is the on­ I LLL'OIS: There are now 11 Sec­ ly Section in this state. The me m­ tion s in Illinois. Most of these are bers of this Section have been har­ in the mining regions. Some of them assedoflatebyfederalagents,and w ere formed during the summer and at least one is th reatened with depor ­ tall of 1919 as a direct result of Our tation. The Section is holding to ­ agitation among the coal miners. But gether and is doing what litt le wo rk fo r the "strategical" fight that has to it can under very difficu lt con diti ons. be waged there, more Sections woul l1 probably have been formed. How- I OWA: T her e is n o Sect ion in this ever, Comrade Koch, organizer 1'1 sta te, but there are a num ber of charge of the I llinois field and dele- members-at- Iarge an d sy mp a thizers , gate from Illinois to this Convention, notably in Clinton. We ha d a tick et will be able to give more details. in the field in 1916, and it is h ope d Section Cook County had to be re - that we will be able to ge t on th e organized, as already stated. Due to ballot this yea r al so. the internal struggle the Section is T here is a Bulgarian Branch at not doing as much work as it o r- Maso n Ci ty. dinarily would be doing, bu t th ere MARYLAND : Sect ion Baltimore are prospects of improveme nt. is still th e only Section in this state, T her e are a number o f lan guage but it is do in g work of two Sections branches in Illinois: Argo (South of ave rage activity. There is some -20- splendid material in the Sect ion and W inona and Duluth, though it will it is adding new members to its be necessary to send an organizer to ranks from time to time . those places to effect organization. MASSACHUSETTS: T he re a re Language federation branches: five Sections in the state: Boston, Minneapolis (Bu lgarian, Scandina- ~~'~lrn;cst::.ttsfl~it~~fie~r~l~~~e~~~r,ani~ :~~: ~: ~~. ~:Lt~B~~oa;:~"sI:~:nn~::~~ practically extinct as a Section, an d MLSSOURI: In th is state w e prac- \Vorcester appears to be in a weak ticall y have only one Sec tion-St. condition. The state needs an or- Lou is. The Sect ion at Kan ias City ganizer to devote some time to the coll apse d, but there will undo .r'rted ly industrial centers. Section Boston is, SOOn be anoth er Section the re, Sec­ of course. the leading Section an d is .tion St . Lou is is do ing as good work doing splendid work. as can be expected under the circum- The following branches (all Scan- stan ces. dinavian) are in the state: Beverly, There is a Bulgarian aud a Hunga- Boston. Brockton. Cambridge, Dor- ria n federation branch at St. Louis. chester. Lynn, Quincy. Springfield, NEBRAlSKA : Section Oma ha, Waltham and Worcester, which had a nom inal ex istence, lap ved MlCHIGA.': T here are two Sec- a couple of years ago, but ir is now tions in this state: Detroit and L an- being revived . It promis es to be sing. There was a small Se ctio n at st ronger than before. Educational ~l~atndse~:~~~s;n~:~b~;:inl~f:o t~:e :i~~~ ~~~be~:~a~~:;ged~:~et~::: t: ::C~ t he Sect io n lapsed. As already s ta t- tiv e. cd, Section Detroit was reo rgan ized NEW HAMPSHIRE: Our littl e early in th e year, a nd si nc e th e r e- g roup at Manchester is still holding organization splen di d wo rk has been together, though unable to do any done. It promises to become one of work for the Party. our most active Sect ions. Th er e is NEW JERSEY: There are eight an English and a Gre ek b ranch. Sect ions in th is state, some of them Comrade Pierson is now tou rin g th e i n a rather weak condition. The state, and there a re prospects of or- most active are Newark (Essex Co.) ganizing- several Sections. Flint a nd Paterson (Passaic Co .). The seems ripe for a Sectio n now. other Sections are: Bergen Co., Cam- Langnage federation b ra nches: D e- den, Elizabeth, Hudson Co . (Jersey trait (Bulgarian. Hungarian , Sc and i- Cit y, Hoboken, etc.), Mercer Co. navian, South Slavonian- 2), F lint (T re n ton) . and Plainfield. An or­ (Huntrarian, Bulg-arian). H amtramck ga nizer is ne eded in this state. (South Slavonian); Jackson,L an sing , Lan gua ge federation branches:Eliz- and Pontiac (Bulgarian). abe th (Hungarian), Hoboken (South . II.·.·ESOTA: \Ve have one Sec- Siavon ian), Newark (Scandinavian , tion at St. Paul and another at AI- So u th Slavonian), \V. New York born. The latter is in a farm ing- dis - (South Slavonian). trict and the members live far ap art. NE\V YORK: This state has suf- Section SI. Pau l is doing go od wo rk. fered con siderably from rhe work of T here has been talk fo r a long time dis ru ption dur in g the last two years, of fo rming a Section a t Minn eapo lis, though th e mem bership is about the bu t no thing has com e of it . There same, probably slightly increased. a re pr ospe cts of forming Sections at The State Committee was partly d is- -21-

(organized for the purpose) the Sec­ the only ones to join tions planning to carry on a large. With the new campa1gn, one object being prospects of building up to get S. L. P. on the ballot. good. With support from the National Of­ There are language fede rat ion fice the Oregon comrades ought to branches as follows: South Slavonian succeed. at Conway, Farre11, Monaca, Ph:);l­ Language federation branches : delphia, and Slovan. Scandinavian Portland (Bulgarian and Scandina­ at Philadelphia and Warren. vian). RHODE ISLA:-ID: There is 5,,11 PE.·,'SYLVA.·IA: The state has only one Section in this state, name­ Sections at Allegheny Co. (Pitts­ ly, Providence. The Section is ac­ burgh), .\ltoona (weak), Beaver Co., tive, however. 'I'here a:-I' Scandinavian Ie ~(':ation Erie, and Philadelphia. Section Co­ lumbia collapsed owing to the sav­ branches at Pawtucket and Prov.d- agery of a mob during 1919. Com- rades were maltreated, and one of SOUTH DAK,oTA: The Section them, C. E. Manuels, reduced to a which we had in 1916 at Sioux Falls condition from which he will suffer lapsed after a brief existence. Though a long time. All this happened at a it promised well it never aecomplish­ meeting which the Section had ar- ed anything of lasting value. ranged for '\Y. \V. Cox, who at that TEXAS: There are still no Sec- time was in Columbia for the \V.LI.U. tions, but we have several members- We were planning to prosecute the at-large throughout the state. local authoritics, but we found it UTAH: Section Salt Lake City, practically irnpossible to secure legal which was lingering for some time, talent, and the matter was at last became defunct a couple of years dropped upon suggestion of Com- ago. Several of the most active mcrn­ rade Manucls, upon whom the actual bers left the city. We have syrnpa­ work of pushing the case would have thizers, but no members in the state. devolved. VIRGIN ISLANDS: Shortly after The state suffered considerably the acquisition United States a Section was who in 1918 was State Secretary, was formed at 51. Thomas. The material, an ardent supporter of ex-editor, at however, was very green, the me m­ present S. P. member, Seidel, and as bers having a very limited under­ stated previously, it was chiefly due standing of the Party's principles. It to this person's vicious influence that existed less than a 'Year. Consider­ Section Philadelphia (then seat of the able literature was sent to the Islands, S. E. C.) \)s suspended and reor- however, and the seed sown may ganized. Later the S. E. C. seat was bear real fruit some day. removed to Pi t t sburgh, where it is in VIRGL'IA: There are three See- capable hands, tions in Virginia-i-Newport Xew s, Sections Reading and York wer e Norfolk Co., and Richmond. None of dropped from the rolls. The former these Sections is very active, though ceased to be active as a direct :00- individual members here and there do sequence of the disruptive propagan- good work. da carried on by Me Lure, Seidel, H.lT- \V-ASHL'GTON: This state has rison, and others. Comrades Hinkel Sections at Seattle, Spokane, and Ta­ and Homan. So far as we know, were eoma. Al1 of these Sections are do- -23- ing good work. The brutality of the and at the end of the year we had 32 authorities. here as elsewhere, has regular groups ,....it h a membership of 1583, and 306 members-at-Iarg e, or a done much to total of 1889, of which 1549 arc in The members are good standing; an increase of 1083 sihilitivs, however, keep members. santly at it. Pamphlets printed: \Ve have language federation During the year of 1919 we have branches at Seattle (Scandinavian and printed 31,706 copies of9 different pamphlets, namely: Yearly Almanac, South Slavonian), and at Spokane. 4,978 copies; Individualism vs.Social­ There is also a Lettish branch at Se­ ism, 3,550; Industrial Unionism (re­ attle. printed), 1,914; Soviets at \Vork, 3.­ WISCO.'S!.': We have a goo.l 882; Song Book (reprinted), 3,202; Toward Marxism, 3,947; Marxism and Section at Milwaukee, which, how­ Darwinism, 3,060; History of the ever, is mainly composed of German­ Russian Revolution, 3,500, and the speaking members. It is hoped that Mines to the Miners, 3,673. an English-speaking element will be Rabotnieheska Prosvcta : attracted, and that an English branch At the beginning of the year we will thus be formed. had 3,063 prepaid suhs for the paper; There arc federation branches at at thcrnd wchad6,S60-.."11l increase of 3,497. Milwaukee (Bulgarian and South Report: Slavonian) and at \Vouwatosa (Hun­ $30,003.96: expenditures, garian). W. VIRGJ:\fIA: We have Secrctary-Trcasurcr. tionsin this state, but there (Signed) Theo. Baeff. South Slavoriian branch at C Granite City, III., March 23, 1920. Language Federations. Hungarian Federation. In 1916 the Party had affiliated to New York, N. Y., it six language federations, namely: Dec. 23,1919. Hungarian, Jewish, Lettish, Scandi­ Comrades: navian, South Slavonian, and Ukrai­ In the Following the Xat ional Oi­ nian. It now has four: Bulgarian, fice of the Hungarian Socialist Labor Hungarian, Scandinavian, and South Federation acquaints you with the conditionoftheferlcrationinahrici Slavonian, The following reports report. submitted by the federations give an The last emergency convention of idea of what those federations arc the federation, held in ..[ovembe-, doing for the Party and what their 1918. cleared away certain misunder­ membership and resources are: standings that existed through the actions of the former officials and Bulgarian Federation. t.he sub-committee, between the fed- (Annual Report for 1919.) eration and the Party, or rather the Membership: • 'ational Office and the Sub-Commit- po~;:d ela~~d y~~~, ye~itl~f 1~18, r:;ur:; ~~~~f ':'ha~t~r~rt;~:er~sb~o~h~srec~~::~~ groups, with a membership of 816, tion referred to the National Con- and 168 members-at-large, or a total vcn tion : otherwise the federation has of 984-of which 854 were in good strictly adhered to the principles of standing. \Vith the ending of the the Party and has endeavored to r~~~year ~!~~::~oil\~~~~h::~:~~hb;I::11rihowever four of the group ~~~~~~n~~:~:~~;t~::propagate same to the~:~:nf:C:::Sfullest extent}~:':~

£~~b;fr::~~~~~~I~:or~!~:~a~r~~24 ili:~~uet~rat!r:s~~~~l!e~~~{~i~~e~::,~~~ ~mji:~!~~~t~:~::~{{~~:~:f{~ ~~~::::;~::::":~;::~::~;;;::d

~~~J~~l: V~;~~~U~~C:}~~~~ ~:~~C~lo1tn~~:~~ Se crctary . cecdedin leading astray our members. .'. con t rove rsy, n: t involving Party p rin ci pie-, -rr tac rtc s, a~ose between ~;~~~~I~~ii:i:~~~~~~~~~f:Li~~:r::xr~: the Hun.r» an Federation and the Xarional Cdl r .. o. the Part} It in­ federation held its own despite all the adverse conditions. A third fac­ valved a SUllJ of III oney tu rru d into tor is also causing some harm; it is the ...ational Office treasury:))' that Hungarians in large numbers Branch Lorain of t lu, Hungarian FfU­ nr e leaving' America. At the present eration upon its withdrawal from the writing' we are as yet not able to a say whether this will cause serious federation and upon it:' becoming conditions for the federation: we be­ Section of the Party. Tho Icdcration lieve, however, it will not. eontendedthatthebrane!tdi>soivd The federation a year ago had 17 andthataccordingtothefederatit)11 branches with an approximate rncm­ by-laws the entire sum should have hership of 350; since then we have rcverted to the federation. It wa s increased our branches to 20 and the pointed out that in the first place mcmbcr.ship has grown to about 675. The oificial organ. A Munkas, a year the branch did not dissolve, and sc c­ ago had a circulation of 1,950 and was ondly,that any sub-d"ivisionof the ~ve s1;~~-~"~1:~~Yit aO~ve~~f: I,~~~ Party has aright to donate any l:d amount it sees fit to the Na t ional Of­ at present a circulation of about 3,­ 200. Our literature department d ur- fice of the Party. The X. E. C. su s­ ~~~ ;~~i Or~~\.ob~~;n~h~~~::s~;\~~~ tained thisvicw at its 1919 session. tr;:r Copies of the statement adopted by Pages Irorn Roman History" and the .~. E. C. on this matter are avail­ "\1111('<';' to tl-c Mincrs". At present the "High Cost of Living" and able. "Money" are on the press. The ap­ proximate value of the literature de­ Scandinavian Federation partment is about $8,000; the Iiabilitv (As of Dec. 31, 1919.) on same is about $300. - The total membership of the Scan­ The finances of the federation dinavian Federation on December 31, 1919, was, according- to the reports from November I, 1918, to November 30,1919, were as follows: Balance in from Our 36 branches, 629, of which 1918, $151.89 : Income for the above 515 were members in g-ood standing. period,$9,501.85:total,$9,653.74. Ex­ The corresponding- figures on Decem­ penditures f~r t h e period, $9,321.66: ber 31,1918, were 7-13 and 545 rcs p cc­ halanee on hand on Dec. I, 1919. tively. Pamphlets printed: ~.~i~200~lles\\~a~;~~gh\;~~1;i~\~':I~e ';;,~,~~ During' the year of 19 19 we han' ;J'.:!f'-121"Jgoorl-standingmembrr:- for printed 2.000 copies of Daniel De the year. At p rr-scn t , a, sr-e n from Leon's "Two Paces from Roman the above, the mernbe r ship is la ruc r. History". \Ve have also pr iu terl as it has steadily incrcased during 10,000 leaflets. "Socialism," and 10,­ the wca r. 000 leaflets, "S. L. P. vs. S. P." Of other noteworthy events we Financial standing: have informed the National Office Receipts, ;'3,32-1A-t; expenditures, durinl'(theye-ar. $.1.1189.10; balance on hand Dec . 31, Since the last convention the fed- 19 19, $135.80. era tion is gave rned hv a ~ a tiona 1 ~:l~~:b~~~(' cfe~r~di~;e tl~~n~~~~:~~r~rl;~ Owing to the attitude of the editor - 25- of Arbetaren, Comrade Lyzell, and ~~~:~: Calendar for 1919 shou ld be bec"useofhis declared solidarity with ex-editor, at present S. P. m ern ­ Financial Report: ber,Seidel,a bitter controversy has Balance on hand July I, 1918, $286.­ been going on within the Scandina­ 67; receipts, $35,385.84; expenditures vian Federation during the last year ni9~3il.~~ob3J~nce on hand July i: or two. The Scandinavian Federa­ tion convention which met last fa ll A subsequent report (December nevertheless re-electcd Comrade Ly­ 31, 1919) shows a membership in zcll editor of Arbetarcn, and took good standing of 975 and 30 branches. other action contrary to the best in­ Jewish Federation: This federa­ terests of the Party. T hus, it sus­ tion, as previously reported, was sus ­ tained the expulsion of Comrade pendedin 1918 for aiding and sus­ Carm, whose real "crime" was that taining the disrupter Schlossberg. he exposed and attacked individuals There has lately be en talk of reor­ in the Chicago b ranches who ha d ganizing the federation. The success supported Caleb H arri son and h is of this undertaking depends, o f fellow disr upters. T he convention course, upon the suitability of the also sustained the action of the Lake material, some of which appears rath­ View (Chicago) branch in engaging erdoubtful. Lettish Federation: This federa­ as speaker the said Harrison, WJ10 with others had been expelled from tion practically withdrew a few Section Cook Co. at the time of its lTlonthsago. Several of its leading suspension and reorganization. The members aligned themselves with the referendum in the federation sustain­ "Communist" parties. For quite cd the acts of the co nve ntion. some time the federation had caused T.he N. E. C. has recen tl y deci de d dissension within the Party, particu­ not to approve the election of Com ­ larly over its branch in Boston..\s rade Lyz ell as editor, considering one the federation volunta·rily withdrew holding" his views incompetent to be (with exception of the branches in Seattle and San Francisco, and mern­ editor of a Party o rga n. T he Federi ­ tion will be called upon to elect an ­ bershereand ther e, besides the other editor. branch in Boston) there seems to be no need of going into further details. South Slavonian Federation Ukrainian Federation: This federa­ (As of Sept ember, 1919.) tion, judging it by its lcadi~ mem­ A g itat ion : bers, promised well, but it SOon ap ­ Du ring" the latter part of the ve ar pearrdthat the organization ha d hardly thanapaperexi;tence. !~1~:1~~~,~,ti~he r;u;~~~~ k$~,~l~ ',~.~~ ,-agoodbranchat acuv e indIviduals . her e two last mentioned are pub­ were able to close the contract short­ Cleveland under the direct lybeforethe latest unprecedented of the editor of Radnicka rise in price took place, When the carload was delivered (in January, 1920) that carload of paper was WOrth Party Membership, $5,000, and had to be insured at this The membership in 1916, measur­ amount. its replacement "value". \Vr:. ed by the sale ('1£ dues stamps, was fortunate in these respects, viz., about 2,000. FOl1rycarslatcr our sa\'edabout$2,OOOand se- mcmbcf:,hip has been increased by a supply of paper that would 3,000. In other words, we have now see us through another six or seven approximately 5,000 members. The months. In between gct ti ng Our reg­ increase has mostly been in the Fed­ ularsnppliesofpaper there have er a t ion s, these holding a majority of been weeks of veritable agony and the total membership. Such a prog­ suspense. There have been weeks rc ss, in spite of the war, in spite of wh en one or two days before going governmental persecution, in spite of to press we had no idea where we the internal fight, speaks well for the were going to get paper from. At this S.L.P.indecd. \\'ithcontinuedef­ moment the situation looks darker fo rt s. with renewed faith strengthcn­ than at any other. cd hy the accumulating- evidence tcs­ \Vhen we purchased our last car­ ti lving to the correctness of the Par­ load we had to advance from other .v's principles, ''\o'cshal1 continue to sources the $3,000 which the paper forge ahead. cost. Having no surplus capital we Party Press and Literature, had no choice in the matter. This The st ru zg le to keep Our fighting $3,000 is gradually being replaced in ali\"ehasbeenatcrriHctJllt. proportion as the paper is cons ame L previollslypointed to the If we arc to contract for a new car­ the second-class mailing load of paper (which if done would was revoked in 1918, This be in July or August) we s1lall have resulted in increasing our to advance $6,000. \\'hereto ge t tha­ expenseshyabout$60.Inad­ amount is a problem. For even if we that, prices of everything conldreplacc !'llchan amount again gradually we have no such amount g o es to make up a newspaper ~one ky high, Wages have al­ available. It will be one of the most most doubled. But the most serious scr iou s problems of practical i mpo r­ problem has been that of getting tance to be met and solved durin z newsprint paper. The problem here the next few months. i s three-fold: (a) The difficulty of g-ctt;ng- parer at any price; (b) The d:ff;c'l!tyofg-etting- the sizes (in rolls) which our pr ess will take; (e) The tremendous increase in prices To il lus tr at e this increase: A carload of paper which in 1917 cost about $1,000 in 1920 costs about $6,000. The last carload of paper was contracted for last August Or September at a price of approximately $3,000, By kcctling t b on developments continue to usc it much longer will result simply in an increasing cost of production and in a decreased output. At this writing we have purchased a new book press-a good second hand Michie press. which will bc thorough­ ly rebuilt and which in certain re­ spects will be even better than a new machine. Delivery of this press will be in about three weeks. The price is $5,500 put on our floor with motor and all attachments. The discount for cash payment, and allowance on the old press (fit only for the jurk Americanism (Olive .1. Johnson). $~ heap) brings the price down 10 •. 321'1' 3.000 700. Anti-Patriotism (Herve). 32 pp, \\'ith this new press installed we (May-June 1916) 6.000 c;\na1mostql1adruplcourproduction Berger's Hit and Misses (Dc Leon). of books. pamphlets and leaflets. 104 Pl' 2.000 Burning Question (De Leon). Furthermore, in case of extreme 481'1' 10.000 emergency. i. e., in case we can not Crises in European History (Bang), get newsprint paper in rolls and as­ 561'1' 5.875 suming that we can get it in sheets Class Struggle (Kaut sky), 32 Pl' 1.000 (which in fact is easier to obtain) we "Daniel De Leon," Iir st edition, could print OUf papers on this new 3361'1'.• 14 ill., 500; secondedi­ press. But permanently that could tion.360(Yp.• 16ill..l.000... 1.500 not be done except at a considerable Fifteen Questions (Dc Leon). 1281'1' 7.000 expense. Free Trade (Marx). paper. \Vc repeat, and we can not impress 48 pp . the fact too strongly, the newsprint Historical Basis of Sociaism in

~:~~~e~u~l~~~n hi:s th:on7r:~te~eri~~: Hig~:~:;.~ ?r~.1~~·g ~~.t~·~;;~·n~:~~~ management of the Party plant. The Historical Materialism (Engels). situation is desperate. though not 321'1' 3.000 hopeless. I.ndu3~r~~. .. ~.~i.o.~i.s.n~ (~.eb' )2.000 Our sale of literature has increased Industrial Unionism (De greatly. particularly during thc last Leon-Debs), 361'1' 12.000 two years. Wc have printed great International May and Labor Day

~;~:::i:: q~/anl~~;~:t~h:~dm~:~~v~~:~ Manj~~lr~i~?~~~~.. ~~" .. ~':.' .i~~O.::~: suspect. Mines to the Miners, 16 pp ...16.000 L~~;r ~i-~er:~ ~;.le:91~e~r. e~~:$7.708.21 ::~:!6 ~fp·~::ii::i~lC~~~i.nL~::I;~n·6.0oo Labor .-ews Sales year end- 32 Pl' 5.000 ing March 31. 1920. ..10.224.90 ~:;i, ~~;,~m~~I:(~{~~~d~8~~;.::~~~ Weekly People Sales year Russian Soviets and American cn d i n g March 31. 1919 7.550.n S. L. P .• 32 pp 4.500

W:~~:;'g ~;::Cll~ 3;.al~;20y~~r 9.597.14 Reli3~onp;f .~~:~t.~I. Y:~fa~~~le:. 4.000 In the ease of the \\'cekly PLOP:' i»p~~ Revolution IDe Leol;~550 Socialist Reconstruction of Society is exce llent not only as a biog ra ph y Soci~rs~nL~~n~.\n:~c6';~~1·'{D~' ~;~~~ of De Leon, but as a history o f t he 40pp 2.00u labor movement (and mor e par ticu­ ~.~~i:;!~~l /~~lrk~)!·3~6p~:'.::: §::iZ~ larlyoftheS.L.P.) during the las t 30 years. A new impro ved edit ion Trial of Ferrer (Angulo). 48pp. SOU is just off the press and is now in Two Pages from Roman History (De Leon), 96 pp 2,450 the hands of the binder. Value, Price and Profit (Marx), Toward the end of the year 1918 96pp 4,000 Comrade Henry Kuhn was engaged What Means This Strike? (De Leon). 32 pp 13.000 to edit an d compile the editorials of Withdraw from Russia, 16 pp. 10.000 Daniel De Leon. To this tr emen­ Working Class (Kautsky), dous task Comrade Kuhn has ap­ J2pp 1,000 plied himself with the energy of one \Voman under Socialism (Bebel), 4OOpp 1.000 many years his junior. Obvioust y, Wage Labor and Capital (Marx) , Comrade Kuhn has fou nd it neces­ 64pp 1,000 sary to do other work fo r t he P arty \Voman and the Socialist Movement a s the occasion required it. T his (Ofive M. Johnson). 48pp. 3,000 important work should be prose cuted Total. 178,375 until finished. Comrade Kuhn sub- mit ted a report to the:-l. E. C. at its

10~i~~:f1~~~~ ~~e ,:~ai:~ l;~~~~~~ 2,:~~.~ ~:::ionis inap~el:det I~ ~~~ oof t~h~ :t~~~ :::h:~r~::; ~::;u::.e: pS~~:e~n~~~~:~ :::~;k at~di~~tne~1 ~~~;:t eOr:~~~~ ~: : guage federations). At March 31st. printed in "' . E. C. minutes 1919, the ~~;~OO~V~e:~~t:nwh~~~ :~:~:i~ha:::~ second in the x. E . C. minutes 1920.) four years we have actually distribut- National Campaign. cd over 2.3 13,000 leaflets-and thi s As previously sta te d. we pla n to entirely exclusive of what our Ian - carryon as v igo rous a campaign as guage federations have distributed or our resources will pernnit. A call sold. has been sent out fo r a $50.000.00 \ Ve feel we have cause to be proud Carnpzign Fund. a nd ot her m eth od s of this r eco rd. The oft-repeated will be devised fo r raisin g fund s. charge th at the Party is doing n oth- \ Vit h our in st alled, a nd ing receives a rather effective r efu- hoping-for 50farasthepa- ration by this demonstration of just per situation concerned we ough t One line of our activities. to be able to make a good sho win g In addition to the Ioregoing, we of ourselves. printed about 4.150 Su- books of d if- It wi ll he a physical im poss ibili ty ferent bulk. I n this ..onnection it for the Nationa l Secr eta ry to co n- should be mentioned that almost all duct the na ti on al cam pa ign work be- of our printed Sue books stock sides att ending- to his regular du tie s, burned while stored at our binders, which arc many as it is. In 1912 Thos, Y. Crowell Co. We were am- Paul .A'l'l"Ustine had Charles Chase to ply covered bv insurance, however, assis t him. In 1916 th e prese nt N a- and the amount claimed (somewhat tional Secret arv had Boris Reinstein over $1.412.00) was paid us. for fou r or fi~'e weeks. It is suz - Among- the important publications zr-st cd that Comrade H enry K uhn of the last few years slands out the he cn'l",ge~ for the spe cif ic p u rp o se book "Daniel De Leon". This work "f conducting the ac tual cam paign ill -29 - co njunction wjth th e N atio nal Se c­ left for Europe with credentials from retary, Comrade Kuhn to de vote hi s the Party to attend the Stockholm entire time to this. conference then scheduled. Comrade The International Situa tion. Reinstein, as you will recall, was al­ The international situ ati on is of vi­ so our representative on the Inter- tal interest to our movement. While national Socialist Bureau. As far the S. L. P. is in America, body and as we know Comrade Reinstein i s mind, we can not, and do not wish now in Moscow, participating in the to ignore developments abroad. Nor work of the Soviet Government. On­ have we done so in the past. In 1919 ly two communications have reached the Party through referendum vote us since he left, the last one being in May,1918. alrnost unanimously decided to with­ draw from the so-c alled second In- The situation in Europe appears ternational. Whatever may have complex. The European working been said in favor of this o rganiza- class, as a whole, has unquestionably tion in the past it had become thor- broken definitely with capitalism and ouzhly clear that it no longer, not its traditions. But the new or-ienta. remotely, represented the true tion (outside of Russia) is interests of the workers. In distinctly Socialist. A great wherever consistent adherents confusion both as to the nature organization had anopportu· the goal as well as to tactics pr e- to assert themselves, it was 011 - vails. It has been our endeavor to invariably as defenders of the help clarify the situation by sending retreating capitalist forces-it be- our S. L. P. literature wherever pos­ carrie, in fact, the last stronghold be- sible and whenever opportunities hind which capitalist imp erial ism en- arose, and the results arc noticeable. trenched itsclf. The classical exam- From several countries there have pIe is found in Germany. Clearly, heen indications that the S. L. P. the S. L. P. could have nothing in and De Leon arc playing a g reat er common with such an e lement. role in social reconstruction than ~s In the early part of the year 1919 generally admitted. In Russia we a call was issued by the Moscow know that Lenine has acknowledged congress of what has become known De Leon as the one Socialist that as the Third International. While in has really contributed to the science accord with the essence of this call of Socialism since Marx, Leninehas (or program) the S. L. P. can not publicly and repeatedly acknowl- accepteertaintacticaldetailsinsisted edged his debt to the genius of our upon therein, for which reason we great Daniel De Leon. In France have been unable to see ourwav clear Boris Sonvarine (an admirer of De to join it formally, The X. E: c. at Leon and an ardent revolutionist) is its 1919 session adopted a series of preparing a biography of De Leon resolutions which among other and a summary of hi~ works and the thing'S covered adequately our rela - principles now embodied in the S. tions with the old as well as with 1- P. the new International. These reso- Through Comrade \V. H. Mills of lutions were overwhelmingly a dopt- Baltimore the National Office is ed by the Party membership th rough keep ing in touch with the Socialist the referendum. Copies of the res o- m ovement in several South American lutions arc available. conntries. Considerable literature In 1917 Comrade Boris Rein ste in ha s been sent to Spanish-speaking -30- tio nal Executive Committee or as a delegate to the convention, I know thatthereportoftheeditorisgen­ eralJya disappointment to the dele- Unless there is trouble in the orcomplaintsabo\lttheedi­ action.sorrulingsthereisvery to report. The National Sec­ retary, of course, has to deal with the Party's internal events, but the Weekly Pcople itself constitutes a weekly report of the events and happenings which affect the activity of your editorial office, However, the circumstances under which I took office were so unique, and the two years I have had charge of the paper have been so portentous, that a sum-mary of the event.s and cir­ cumstances may not be amiss.

Report of the Editor of the WeeklY People 'I'o the FHteenth Convention of the Scda!!st Laber Party, May, 1920. Party Or in a state of turmoil which THE COLU~L'S OF THE WEEK- showed deterioration. ;~~ ~~~iyLEdisl~:~te\~~nO~~ s;tu~:~~: • I had been sent out byheadquar­ ter s, which, of course, meant "the been an active participant in every ,'ationa! Secretary and the Sub­ struggle of the Party from the time Committee." but I never had, to the of the Kangaroo jump in 1898; for best of my remembrance, exchanged many years I had to stand the storm one word with Comrade Petersen and stress of such attacks as a mem­ upon the unity question or thewran­ ber of the N. E. C, but I never had gle which grew out of it, nor with witnessed a struggle SO dishearten­ any other member of the Sub-Com­ ing from the Party side as this 50­ mittee, with the exception of Com­ called Seic1eldisruption,and the rea­ rade Zimmerman, who, I am certain, son was that the disruption issued considered me disgustingly luke­ from the very heart and brain of the warm concerning the whole matter. Party-its official organ, the \Veekly The truth was that I had for a num- People. ber of years been heavily engaged in Thus matters stood when the 'N. studies which had prevented me for E. C. met and E. Seidel was removed the time being from throwing myself from the editorship, and I was elect- into Par tv work with the ardor of ed, temporarily, to take his place. I pr-evious years. In spite of this, and was not at the meeting at the time; in spite of the fact that my whole I was never consulted; the first no- effort while I was on the road was tice of mv election came to me with spent in a nearly futile-under the a snecr,·and the sneers and slurs conditions and circumstances-effort that I was a Petersen tool, Peter­ in attempting to revive the activity sen's rubber stamp. came to me re- ofonr Sections, and in spite of the pea tcd ly that day and for months fact that I never spoke on the dead thereafter. Let me tell you some- and damned unity question or the thing in confidence: If Petersen "trouble at headquarters" unless the wanted a "tool" of his in the edito- subjects were forced upon me,-in rial chair and if he can be proven as spite of all this I found that I was careless in all other things as he looked upon as an agent of Peter- was in the selection of this "too)," sen, and by the time I returned to then hc js not worthy the confidence New York I was put under the ban the Party has placed in him. Peter- as being an "administration tool" sen had never once "sounded" who had been sent out to fight Sci- Party matters; he might even del. had reasons to feel When I returned to :--rew York, ant with the unity just in time for the meeting of the only thing Petersen or anyone X. E. C., [ had my own firmly made- of the administration knew about me up opinion-based on first-hand wa ... my previous record in the Par- e videncr-c-,a ... to the disintegrating in- ty .•·or did any of the members of fluences at work in the Party, and the Sub-Committee Or the National my mind was made up also as to the Executive Committee sound me no r causes thereof-LACK OF S. L. P. even consult me, officially or unoffici- PROPAGANDA AMONG THE ally-with one exception. The only RANK AND FILE OF OUR OWN N. E. C. member that asked me dur­ MEMBERSHIP AND LACK OF ing the :--r. E. C. meeting whether I SOUND S. L. P. TEACHING IN would be willing to serve was Com- -32- rad e Paulsen, and to him I stated get along here that is not a pliant that though I would be willing to tool of Petersen-a notion created help out in an emergency, I knew I hy the Seidel-Katz crowd. This [ had neither the training nor other feel should be dispelled before it qualifications of an editor. There is works any more harm to the Party. small doubt but that the entire N. E. Let me use an example. C. felt the same. Together we were Last February I arranged to get simply trying to meet an emergency, away for a few days' rest and wit h to bridge over until the Seidel ques- a friend and comrade I ran up to tion was settled and the Party could Boston. Instantaneously it was buzz- act. ed about that I had been sent up to Certainly the opposition looked work for the administration-pre­ forward with great glee to sure and surnably to influence .he election of sudden disaster. Palmer immediate- convention delegates or to influence lyrcsigned as editorial assistant, and the opinions of pro spectivc xlele­ it was openly announced that we g-atcs. The notio-i is preposterous. would have to shut up shop in a Comrade Petersen, I believe, diduot couple of weeks. Of course, I was even know where I was going, and only to be a rubber-stamp anyhow; for my part I ran away to get a few Petersen would now run the \Veekly days' respite from Party matters. People to suit his fancy, and as time Such suspicions of the Party's chosen went on letter-box answers and edi- officers are not only stupid, theyare torials were blamed on him and on wearing; they are certainly not con­ variousother,!,eople,eveugoingso ducive to inspiration for the best far that some were laid at the door work and the best efforts. I don't of Comrade Corregan way out in say they are characteristic of the Syracuse, But, as the boys say- feeling in the Party-far from it­ there was no such luck. If I had hut they exist in isolated instances hoped and expected help in this line, as an aftermath of the late disrup­ I soon found that Comrade Petersen tion; and in order to secure the best was much too busy with his o wn possible harmony in the work dur­ work and his own trouble-which ing the coming campaign, I have de­ came in fast and furious after the sired to impress this matter upon 1918 N. E. C. session. He Ita, never the delegates, so that wherever this offered to write either editorial or ridiculous idea of bossdorn sticks up other maller, except ~h: few SIgner! its head it may be caved in. Remem­ lettcrs Or articles which have ap- her that "boss'"is the first word peared; he has never ordere-I me to hurled at anyone who stands write certain things nor t old me hew straight and acts in an uncompro­ to do it. Advice and 'lid I have al- mising manner whenever the Party ways received when I have a-ked for is assailed. it-he has never been too husy for For better Or for worse, I was left that. Orders I never re t nvcd, nc r to work out my own problems, to looked for. write my own editorials, to pass I have gone into this matter at judgment on other material for the some length not whol'v Ior the sake paper. Seidel and his supporters of past history. but to do my best to were right for once: the N. E. C. dispel an impression which:s al road could not have chosen a greener thing to this very day-s-the rubber..stamp for editor than I was. I knew noth­ theory. the notion that no one can ing about writing editorials, norany -33- other responsibilities. I knew only hear of it. The People is being read one thing-and if Seidel had known b v our members as it should be. Nor that one thing his administration is this all. I think the delegates will might have been less of a fiasco. I bear me out that there is a marked knew wh.o could write editorials. I revival of interest in the rest of our knew who had made The People literature. THE BEST SOCIALIST P.A..PER The summary of my disheartened IN THE E.'GLISH-S,PEAKI.·G feeling when I returned from my WORLD. I turned directly to De tour in May, 1918, was this: "Our Leon, not to imitate h im as a pigmy people have stopped reading our lit- ;~~u~del; =~~nt;n:~';tra~i:~l.rneld l:~er:;;~ ~~::~re~'f ~~te o;;op~~:~eYa n;:::raa~ soaked myself in his pam phlets and rule-except the "tearing down the editorials. I spent every spase rno- movement" discussion which gave ment in running back over the t reas- them the "blues," but they were for- ~:s ~:o~heo~a~~e~eo:~~~t~ c~:;~:::~ ~~:~inkgnoO;;' ~~::~:cs'I t~:s:d :~; I~:~~ that turned up, and I found he had ple soaked in the war stories of the an answer for each, even the t ickl ish capitalist press; I found they had ones which aro se as a result of the turned to radical papers and maga­ war. \Vhcn my own vocabulary or zincs for interpretation of events-in expres sion or argument seemed to sheer desperation, I have no doubt, fail me, I quoted-quoted paragraph at not finding what they really ex- upon paragraph of n ::lrl y 'org'Jtlcn peered in The Peop} @!! Hence I made gems of thought. up my mind to one thing. If I could <::0 the Seidel-Katz crowd had do nothing else I would at least try proved themselves ha.l prophets to revive the interest of our rnem- Tr.e People did not "croak". On t he bers and readers in the Socialist contrary-and I hope it may not be classics and in our best literature, and taken as exaggerated self-esteem- good literature in general. Iopent:d I think we are justified in saying the treasure house of the Daily Peo- that "from all reports" the interest in ple and started to select one De our Party organ has revived. It :5, Leon editorial a week. I started a as it always has been, the best $0- book review column, selecting care- cialist paper in the English language fully-for I desired the review of a -and let me emphasize that I do not book to be considered a recomrnen- consider it of particular credit toany dation in itself-new and old books one that it is. \Ve have the "dope"- for the worker's bookshelf. These re- to usc an expressive slang term- views never failed to bring some and I consider that it would be far orders even when the boo:': was not harder to conceal the sound S. L. P. further advertised. With the helpof material in an S. L. P. paper than it other departments we started to get is to bring it out. The People is up new book ads as attractively as being read-we know it. Miss Pha- possible: the National Secretary has lor and I know that we are watched taken the matter up and new and week by week by several thousand attractive book ads and a careful critical S. L. P. watchdogs who are system of advertisemenr has de vel- ready to swallow us. \Ve know it, oped in the \Veekly People by mutu- for if there appears even "a mi s- 81 aid. The Labor News Notes are placed comma" we are quite sure to the latest development of this work. -34- The re sults have been most gratify­ surprisingly smooth. The croaker. ing . Th e rece ip t s of the Labor soon stopped,and the prophets o f New s hav e risen nearly $4,000 intwo evi l sought new pastures. Some lit­ y ears, and I ant sure I am justified t le grumblings there have bccn over in sa ying that had the manager had my rulings in a few ca ses of d is­ th e pr oper facilities to turnout books gruntled individuals, bnt only a few a nd pamphlets results would have times have I had to appear before th e heen far g reater. Th e sale of the Sub-Committee for ruling Or advi ce Suebookshas had tosto p, a nd sev­ and there has never been any ne ed era l of our bes t se lling pamphlet s of going any further. have been re pca tedly out of print. I The strain which we have been sub­ don'! sa y that the cred it is predom­ jected to in this office from th e inantly du e to th e work of the Week- "outside" has been even worse than ~ar~e::i~~ sb:tu~t ~~s:~ ~n ::i:U I ~v ~:k : ~; that from the inside. The amended espionage act camc into force about tog eth er o f all th e departments at the same t;meas I took off ice. Pri son head quart ers, and as far as our share bars, police raids, or what wa s worse, in th e revival has been concerned it the attack from a crazy mob stared was due to a con scious determina­ US in th face every moment. \Ve tion to a ttem p t to br ing it about. did not know how far Our soundnes-, Th e p ro blem of an a ssis tant in the and general sanity would be a pro­ editorial office app eared during the tection. Sound prineiplesare no fir>tyea'r so nearly ins olvable that it came near bowling me over. There f~~tti~~:~~i::~~~s:h~y~~;:~"s ~:p~:i~ is no need of reciting the tale. I nable position, and with this we fcit will o nly say that a ft er nearly a year fortified. \Ve knew that we could of struggle with impossihle condi­ be attacked and crushed only by tion s I was extremely fortunate in lawlessness, and before lawlcs s ncs s se curing Comrade May Phalor of we had no right to back down-that Columbus, Oh io. I need not speak would be to betray the Party's t ru st. of her work-it speaks for itself­ We lost the second class permit, not and the comments which have come on my counts however, but on p r e­ in fr om the outside about her writ­ vious ones. A number of issues of ing s have shown me that other> the Weekly People were held up for feel as I do . a time, one only permanently. This, In this connection I desire to ex­ however, kept us constantly in hot pre ss my appreciation of the kind waters. \Vc were never iuformed aid of Comrade Kuhn. Not only why we were held up. Hence w e during spells of my first year when did not know what was considered I was alone in the office did he will­ "sed itious" and what was not. We inglyjurnpintodoanyoddjobI could only guess. This uncertainly asked him to do, but he has ever was conducive to fostering a hah i] be en ready to fill any emergency, of speaking out ever plai .u-r. particul arly during my rec ent illness. It became increasingly hard to keep It is true that Comrade Kuhn is in one's temper relative t-o arbitrary o f­ the employ of the Party, but this ficials. \Ve were up against a d ou bl e makes it no easier to jump into work problem. The S. L. P. could not which docs not belong to one's rou­ afford-like the S. P.-like the S.P. tine. again in the recent Albany tr ial s-ro As a whole, matters have gone compromise one iota on principl e. -35- Nor did we. We can face future ;1'S- phraseology to contend with from tory and future Internationals head our contributors; most of them have erect. On the other hand, we could shown how thoroughly they had not afford to let the Party suffer been trained in the school of De shipwreck for the sake of the joy Leonism. of indulging in raging at the storm. All in all I think we have a right "In law," De Leon used to say, "it to congratulate ourselves on our sue- is not a question

~~~rd~~re~c:;i:~;~g:it::~iO~a~;C~;:: so Thhae ~ee~' sdp~;:ni~ ~~~eai~~s~h~e~~e~: s :::, a~odns:~~~::~O;~~io~~;;i~,~lopb;'~;~ ~~:~g:~lS~~wahobl:~~r:~ ~:s~~~:\:~~ ::~ S~v:~' ~:r;a~oa:~e o~~~:c~:~~;nS~ ~:;:~. ,:;~:n P~~;iC~:~: ~:v: tr~t:1 b:~:li; ~~ire:n/O-~~I~C~a~C~:;:m~:~~t'~e~~~,:: :~m~~~ L~~in~ket:'~r ~:i~~'sbcl~~~I~ :::etod~;:~n;l~~lra~:n~~~ f:~~:m~:;; :~:~. u~m:s:::e~sO~g:~~ir P::~:~~~

~~~s;s a;h~s r~~r~:~~:r1;I:';;so~; ~;~ :~~~\\\:~;... ~~m;~e hf~:~s bhe:: ~::,~:~ ~:~~:~:: et~:res~io;~~·::tone:eo:r~:. ~:rin~~sttht: r~:~~~le~n \~:ei~a::ai;ri:~e

~;;~~~~~:'ica~~r ~~~si~hne :::o~:~:o~~ ~~e: ,:oe ::~:~g'of ~~~r~~~at~~n~hai~ ~~~e t~~irtht:o~:;r :~lr~ t,~:s \~:: :~;~~ ~tV~~t a:~~r::tlh:i~:~e boer'i~~ebst,h;vtit~v:~; ~~pilt:~~:;s, :~/ht~; ~~~ie~ol~Tet1~: ~;~~i~~~tO~ti~r:~gu~Olf:rtht~~~g~m~hr~

:~~:~:i~n.i~;:::ti~.:st: ti~; :~~;'~e~he i~;OP. it:o~'~~i:ue:a::~po::~: ~~a;~t~:~s\ng~e~:;ap~~ite ~~~mi~~t:har~,h:e;:~~:I:':~t~h~s ~~~~ order to get that message across. It Partisan League is taking its; the is only fair for me to add, however, Committee of 48 will take its; and a that I have had very little loose possible new liberal party will take -36-

Whereas, One conception-that held by the American Federation of Labor and kindred unions-is that the organization should concede the right of capitalists to own and control in­ dustry, and should be built upon nar­ row craft lines for the sole purpose of protecting its members in their employment and of securing petty improvements in the conditions of Labor; thus becoming a mere "watch­ your-job-and-boost-your-pay" organi­ zation;and Whereas, The other coneeption-s­ that held only by the Workers' In­ ternational Industrial Union-is that the economic organization of Labor should deny the right of capitalism to continue in the ownership and control of industry and that it should Resolutions Adopted be built upon industriallines,not only with the aim of more effectively co-operating in the daily struggle against the employing class, but for the supreme purpose of taking pos­ session of the industries andoperat­ ing them in the interests of society as a whole; and Whereas, "Neutrality" toward eco­ nomic organizations of Labor on the part of a political party of Socialism is equivalent to neutrality toward or­ ganizations that endorse and s"pport the system of private ownership Q,f the social means of producing wealth, the system which the Party is fight­ ing;and Whereas, The bona fide or revolu­ tionary Socialist Movement needs the economic as well as the political or­ ganization of Labor, the latter for propaganda and as a civilized means of rcgistcringpublic opinion through the ballot; the former as the only conceivable organized force without which all ballot is impotent, and which force is essential for ultimate­ ly locking out the capitalist class from the andustries ; therefore, be it Resolved, That the Socialist Labor -38- ~e;r:S;';~~I:'l~t:e:r~IJ'~a;t~iokf;nnra~~I::II~~nPd~~tOl:sIt;le.in;:I~fu~n;,.~oa;n~;.~t h v ~:-:;~~t;i~:~e~~~{i:I:~~,;S~~T\~;:rCpO:~:there was Issued over the signature a Iished in the Socialist press, a Mani- festo, which, in the absence of any Resolution on the Third International ;:l;~~dat~~leant~~i~~te\:'~l:~:'b;~l~~t::f;:~ ut~: c[oa:'I~'it:~~9'o;h~h~'a~~~7:iiS~X{~~ ~\\: PdOeSs\t~:~t~~k~: ~'~h;I~:'i~~ ~:~:~~

~::';J l':;~~n~~I~:n~rl~:t~:; ar::~~:tt;:~ na.~:natl;:~ outset, this 1Ianifesto, on the subject of the International dwelling upon the coalescence of the Relations of the Party, and, based revolutionary elements in "France, ~:soo~v:~et~nf:~~~~~~~ :~~,: :~eha:~~ ~::::~c:~tEi~gl~:~~eant1,a~e'~;I~~y~'n~~~ called Second International while fa- chistic-syndicalist groups and the vor ing attachment to and affiliation groups that now and then call them- with an International truly repre- selves simply anarchists are thus also ~~~et;:~s~heA~~~I~~~;~n ~~~~lkit~~ il~~:~ j;~:~nu~ivetheco;'~;,~~::e c~;r~;::. C~J~'~ International, then in process of Ior- m unis t ic International welcomes this marion and about which no reliable most heartily," and then, proceeding, and certainly no official information the statement is made that "In was available, was deferred. These America, and also to some extent in resolutions, since referred to a refer- England, the fight for the Soviets is endum vote of the Party's member- led by such organizations as the I. ship, were almost unanimously 'V. ,V. (Industrial 'Yorkers of the adopted and stand today as the ex- World), These groups and t enden- pression of the said membership cies have always actively opposed upon that subject. the parliamentary methods of fight- Another year has passed. The Third in g", International, organized at Moscow, From this it would appear that the its existence authenticated by nurne r- Third International, over the signa- OtiS pr onouncernents in the Socialist ture of the President of its Executive of the world-though the So- Committee, "welcomes most heartily" Labor Party is still without to its ranks Anarcho-Syndicalists and official communication on the Anarchists pure and simple; that, part of its officers-according to therefore, membership in or attach- press reports and alleged official pro- ment to the said Third International nouncements and manifestos ap- implies bedfcllowship with Anarchy pears to have taken, upon matters of and Anarchists, and that these e le­ tactics and methods, and upon mat- mcnts, always regarded as the mildew ters of the endorsement of organiza- upon the revolutionary Labor Move- tions in countries outside of Russia, ment, shall henceforth be regarded a position that requires careful ana- by and within that Movement as co- lvs is and consideration ·on the part workers in the work of the Socialist of the Socialist Labor Party of Reconstruction of Society. America. Socialist experience and Socialist Under date of September 1, 1919, reason rebel against such a position, -39- a po sit ion, more over, that seems to capitalism and capitalist economic be in vio lent conflict with all that preponderance, the political State hit her to w e hav e been permitted to must and will be dominated and learn ab ou t the Ru ssian Socialist "'anipulatedbyandforthecapital­ M ovem ent, th e po sition it took and i..[ class and cl6"ainst the working the course it pursued. But the clas s ; it knows that, as economic .I a nifesto, suc h as it is, and with all evolution and inlustrial development it s ram ifying im plications, is now awaken and consolidate the masses before us and it is upon that we 01 the working cia'S, there will arise m ust s pea k, and, speaking , do so in the power that will set itseli against lan gua g e unmi stakable and defining the class-ruled political State-the with clearne ss and emphasis just integrally organized useful occupa­ whe re we stand. Ne edless to say tionsoftheland,thefuturecousll­ th at ac ceptance of the position out­ tuencies of tho Industrial Republic, line d in the sa id Manifesto implies the class-conscious Industrial Unions th e complete aba nd onment of all the -as now exemplified by the Work­ Socialist Labor Party of America ers' International Industrial Union ha s ever s to od for, theabandonrAent -the power that will eventually sub­ o f its go al by implicatio n and infer­ stituteitandtherebY""dclassrule ent ial reasoning, as well as the d i­ and with it capitalism. abandonme n t of its tactical pl­ In point of tactics, based upon the It imp lies even more, It principles sketched above, the So­ the surrender ofitsjudg· cialist Labor Party has ever traveled American conditions, of the- straight and nar row path of No to be pursued upon the Compromise. It has not sacrificed conditions and the sur­ principle to numbers, votes, tempo­ judgment to another rary gain, Or popular acclaim. ' It can scarcely be pre­ has not placated the pui e and simple posted upon these con- trade union reactionist-it has fought him. It has not (tallied with Th e Soc iali st Labor Party is a the pure and simple politicalist So­ product of th e American Labor cialist Party and its "parliamentary Movement . It repre sents today the idiocy"-it has fought it. And it l.Ig he st, the mo st advanced expres­ has not "welcomed most heartily" sion of that Movement in principles the Anarcho-Syndicalist I. W. \V ., as we ll as in tacti cs, both of which hut has fought it bitterly, relentless­ have be en evol ve d in storm and ly, without respite and without quar­ st res s, in end less conflict and Iric­ ter and shall and will continue to so tion with the rea ctionist, the trim­ fight it with all the power at its m crandcol11promiser,andthe llbull­ command to prevent the marplot iu-t he-c hi na sh op" direct-action idiot. from foisting its pernicious doctrines lnpointofpnn c'r,jethcSociali,.;t and methods upon the American La­ L ahar Party openly and fearlessly bor Movement. pr oclaims the revolutionary RIGHT In the light of American condi- of the \\'orking Class. It recognizes tions the Socialist La .or Party holds clear ly th e character and function of that he who wants Socialism must th e politi cal St ate; it knows that, in first want class-conscious working a class-di vide d society, the political class organization on the industrial Stat e • I U'S'T b ecome an instrument field and that, without such or- o-! CLASS RULE and that, under ganization, there can be no working -40- cla ss emancipation and no abolition and partly as an arsenal wherefrom of capital ism; that he who calls him­ to draw wea pons ag ainst the La bor self a So cial ist and refuses Or fails Movement. And it has more recen t­ tohelpinthetaskoforganiz:ingthe ly be en demonst rat ed in the case of wo rki ng clas s on the industrial field the burlesque imit ation "Communist" - where alo ne the MIGHT of the movement s, which, taking a mo re o r working class can be gathered-is less op en direct action an d physical eithe r one who knows not what he force po sit ion , and seeking to line wants nor how to get it, or he is a up "most he artily" w ith the anti ­ fake r and a fraud who does know political 1. ....V. W ., were o ff-hand w io­ but finds it convenient for reasons edoffthe slate by the capitalist p;­ bes t known to himself to dodge the liticalState andthen served it as a obligation. handy ins trume nt to smite the gen ­ eral Lab or Mo vement...... 0 sa ne mov ement of men will see k to shape its course with utter P it iful in the ex treme is the posi­ disrega rd to surrounding conditions tion in which the se innocent imita­ and the course and policy of the tion'lCommunist s" appear in the Socialist L ab or Party is and has lig;,t of even t s. Ho neycom bed with been shaped with regard to the con- police spies , th eir very platform de­ di tio ns th at surround us in America- clarations rep uted to have been wr it­ con di tio ns historic and social, indus- ten by operatives o f t he Department t ria l and political. In the light of of Ju stice on the stre ng th of which the his toric and political conditions they were lat er raided, arres te d an d of the la nd we condemn, utterly and often deported, these raids made without the slightest reservation,the successful by the circumstance that, Anarcho- Syndicalist, anti-political I. under poli ce guidan ce, the Com ­ \ V. W . position of "direct action," munists were made to ca ll meetings "sabota g e, "strike at the ballot-box all over the country on on e an d the with an ax," and general perversity. same day, on Janu ary 2d, there to That posi tion, we hold, is not only land like fis h in a net, as was bro ught vicious, si nce it implies a first-hand to light in th e proceedings of the resort to phys ical force, but it is Boston Federal Dist rict Co urt-the absurd. Th e idea of winning over picture presented is one that aga in the Am eri can working class to an re-emphasizes th e S. L. P. wa rni ng aban do nme nt of political action and that the Labor Mo vem ent in Am er­ .politic al pr opaga nda is puerile. Such iea do es not lend its elf to and m ust is the lay of the land in America, not des cend to the level of ra t-hole tha t any orgaa ization which places consp iracie s. Aiming as it does anti itself in such a position at once be- must to gather the m ass of th e wo rk­ con ics a club in the hands of the cap- ers,itcanonlydosointhe opcn, ita!ist clas s for assailing the Labor openly and in full dayli ght proclaim­ Movem en t, as has been amply dern- ing its aims and m et hod s, and said onstrat ed. It has been demonstrated methods in keepin g with the funda ­ in the ca se of the 1. W .....V•• which is mental law of the land. tod ay very largely used by capitalist Furthermore, in the light of our so ­ reaction partly as a scare-crow to cia} and indu stri al conditions w e fr igb ten the "public" with, as ought condemn, utt e rly and with ou t the to be plain to any intelligent person slightest re ser vation, the pure an d wh o reads und erstandingly the pub- simple polit ica list Berger-H illquitSo­ !icity campaign connected with it, cialist Party, not on ly bec a use of its -41- r of the Russian revolutionists from a ers-on of the capitalist system a purely strategic point of view in state of mind which, commingling launching the Third International,as fear and apprehension with feroei. opposed to the earicature which the oushatred,seeks and finds a vent in Social Patriot crowd attempted to political persecutions to an e.·tent continue by their meeting at Berne, we nevertheless hold that the Third International, splendid as it may he [~~~g~j

i~~P~ 1~;J;~~~E~~e ~~;~f~::~e\7:s~~:~ . ~:~~.~~~t~: f~i~r:~:~:~~ t;~~e~;i~~

Resolve", That we call upon th-; ~e:b:::a~:ntht: \;'~;k~~t;a~:~:s ~~:~dii~ National Platform Adopted confronting them, to meet that situ The world stands upon the thresh­ ation-which today expresses itself old of a new social order. The cap- in capitalist persecution of the vile s] itaJist system of production and and most ferocious kind, and may distribution is doomed; capitalist tomorrow find expression in ar. appropriation of labor's product tempts to forbid even the organiza- forces the bulk of mankind into lion of the workers-by rapidlygath- wage slavery, throws society into cring and consolidating their im- the convulsions of the class strug­ me nse numbers in industrial organi, gle, and momentarily threatens to zations 'based squarely upon the engulf humanity in chaos and dis- lines of working class interests such aster. At this 'Crucial period in his- as is already exemplified by the lory the Socialist Labor Party or Workers' International Industrial America, in 15th National Conven- Union, to the end that, as capitalist tion assembled, reaffirming its for­ disintegration proceeds, the eternal Iller platform declarations, calls upon iner ests of the human race may be the workers to rally around the safeguarded by the presence of an banner of the Socialist Labor Party, economic power that will be capa- the only party in this country that ble, during the oncoming period of blazes the trail to the Wor-ker-s' 1:1­ social transformation, to assist the dust rial Republic. same and to lead it without undue Since the advent of civilization friction through channels of orderly human society has been divided into and systematic procedure to its final classes. Each new form of society destination-the emancfpation of hu- has come into being with a definite manity from the thraldom of capital. punpose to fulfill in the progress of ism. the human race. Each has been Labor, cra It.d ivided, its u nit s In horn, has grown, developed, pros- . constant conflict of jurisdiction with pered, become old, outworn, and one another, is powerless against has finally been overthrown. Each capitalist reaction and is endangering society has developed within itself the interests of the working class, the germs of its own destruction as the more so since the craft union is well as the germs which went to only too often used as a direct: up the society of the future. 4 5,,=e The capitalist system rose during care itself out of the debris. Amer­ the seventeenth, eighteenth, and icatoday is choking under the nineteenth centuries, by the weight of her own gold and prod- throw of feudalism. Its ucts, all-important mission in This situation has brought on the opment of man was to improve, present stage of human misery- velop, and concentrate the starvation, \vant,cold,disease,pes4 ~roduotion and distribution, tilence, and war. This state is creating a system of brought about in the midst of ple n, production. This work was com- ty, when the earth can be mad e- to pleted in advanced capitalist coun- yield hundred-fold, when the rna­ tries about the beginning of the chinery of production is made to

20th f:;0~I:e~a~~:~~~t~!~ ;e~:/i~; b:u~:n hU~~er:~ T~ned pr~::

::;~ti:I~~t became a class of ~~~s:t~~ee o~o~~se:r p~:i~:t~:~el:'b~~~ parasites. against the mode of exchange. Pri- In the course of human progress vate property in the means of life mankind has passed, through class has become a social crime . The land rule, private property, and individu- was made by no man; the modern alisrn in production and exchange, machines are the result of the COm­ from the enforced and inevitable bined ingenuity of the human race want, misery, poverty, and ignorance from time immemorial; the land can of savagery and barbarism to the af- be made to yield and the machines fluence and high productive capaci- can be set in motion only by the ty of civilization. For all practical collective effort of the workers, purposes, co.operative production Progress demands the collective has now superseded individual pro- ownership of the land on and the duction. tools with which to produce the ne, Capitalism no longer promotes the cessities of life . The owner of the greatest good of the greatest num- means of life today partakes of the ber. Private production carries with nature of a highwayman: he stands it pr ivate ownership of the prod- with his gun before society's tem­ ucts. Production is carried on, not pIe; it depends upon him whether to supply the needs of humanity, but the million mass may work, earn, for the profit of the individual own, eat, and live. The capitalist system er, the company, or the trust. The of production and exchange must worker, not receiving the full prod- be supplanted if !progress is to con­ uct of his labor, can not buyback tinu e. all he produces. The capitalist In place of the capitalist system wastes part in riotous living; the the Socialist LaJbor Party aims to rest must find a foreign market. By substitute a system of social owner­ the opening of the twentieth centu- ship of the means of production, in, ry the capitalist world-England, dustrially administered by the work­ America, Germany, France, Japan, ers, who assume control and dir ec­ China, etc .-was producing at a mad tion as well as operation of their rate for the world market. A cae- industrial affairs. italist deadlock of market brought ,W e therefore on in 1914 the capitalist collapse workers to popularly known as the World War. a revolutionary The capitalist world can not extri, tion under the -46- cia!ist Labor Party; and to organize the Press Security Fund be entitle4 themselves likewise upon the indus­ "The Press Security and Print Pa­ trial field into a Socialist industrial per Fund" and that Sections be urged union, as now exempliied by the to elect a collector whose duty it Workers' International Industrial shall be to collect forth.is fundand Union, in: keeping with their politi­ remit as promptly as possible. cal aims. Referring to the report of the And we also call upon all other Editor of the Weekly People, we intelligent citizens to place them­ note the request for closer editorial f selves squarely upon the ground of eo-operation with the language pa­ working class interests, and join us pers and would recommend that the in this mighty and noble work of nrious Editors be urged to trans­ human emancipation, so that wemay late and use important material from put slim mary end to the existing the \Veekly People and, in turn, to barbarous class confliot by placing furnish the Weekly People with the land and all the means of pro­ translations of interesting or in­ duction, transportation, and distribu­ structive mattcr concerning thelr re­ tion into the hands of the people spectivepeoples. as a collective body, and substitut­ ing Industrial Self-Government for Pamphlet on Co-operative Move­ thepresentstateofplanles'sproduc­ ment. tion, industrial war and social dis­ Whereas, The A. F. of L. official­ order-a government in which ev­ dom, to~(':h~:- \\'il~l the Amalgamated ery worker shall have the free ex­ Clothing Workers' official news­ erciseand full benefitofhisfacul­ papc rs, the S. I' Call, many loading ties, multiplied by all the modern m(,JII~)(·j":. of rl.e 5 P., and leadinz factors of civilization. r c v ; j.apcr.s oi J op-Capitalism, have energetically entered upon an "edu­ I Reports of Committees cational campaign" to convince the American working class that co-op- Adopted eratives, with their so-called "cheap" 0" Party Press and Literature. buying features, will solve the ills Your Committee on Party Press which accompany and so painfully and Literature ieels that the Party illustrate the "benefits" of Class membership can not hut be impress­ Rule: and ed by that portion of the National Whereas, Tho capacity for evil Secretary's report which refers to of the combination seeking to plant the difficulty of obtaining newsprint this latest boob trap is such that paper. To maintain the continuity steps must be taken to meet and of the \Vcekly People issues iswith­ refute their arguments and the yer­ out doubt one of the most impor­ s as ive influence flowing therefrom; tant duties of the Party at this time. therefore, be it Carrying on a ...[at ional Carnpaign at Resolved, That the Fifteenth Na­ this crucial period makes it doubly tional Convention of the Socialist imperative that the supporters of the Labor Party instruct the National Party provide the necessary facili­ Executive Committee to have pr e­ ties for publishing the great mass of pred a pamphlet or leaflet expos­ leaflets, pamphlets and books now ;ng the fallacies of the Co-operative needed and for which there will be ~.r.ovement, so that argumentative an ever increasing demand. ammunition may be furnished those \Ve therefore recommend tl~ 47w:: will be called u n \Q oppose final attempt of the R ulin g sub-divisions should be sys tematl­ to render harmless the grow- ca lly employed in the best intc-xv.s angel" of the pr oletariat again-st of the movement. system of wage slave ry. (4) If feasible, one of our na- Publicati on in Book Form of "AIl- tional candidates to tour the CO,II\- archie Tendencies." try by automobile. We also recom- Whereas, Section Baltimore, S. rucnd that States usc this method as L. 1'.. has noted, with much inter- :a:- as practicable. est, the very able series of articles, (5) Posters for national dis t ribu­ entitled "Anarchic Tendencies and tion and also the creating- of Ian- Constructive Forces in the Labor guage leaflets for national distrrb-r- ..[o vernen t'"; and lion. \ Vherea s, Section Baltimore feels (6) To have one day or week set that these articles arc so timely that aside by the Campaign Cornmittec their value will not have been thor- fo r the purpose of national dist r ibu- oughly taken advantage of if now al- t ion of printed matter having to do lowcdtoslumber; therefore,beit w ith the election. Resolved, By the Fifteent h Na- De Leon Me mo rial Day. tiona: Convention of the S. L. 1'., Resolved, That December l-Ith of That the Xationa l Executive Com- cscl , year be iedieat.,] by each Se i­ mit tee be. and hereby is instructed t ion of the Socia.i st Labor Pa-ty to have published in book form this and its Lan guag, Fe le rat ions as ~ -crics of articles, so bound that the da~ of cc lebration in book will have an appea rance equal tiOI1 of the service: t\-, to the dignity of its co nte nts . of the world of Daniel (Cormuit tec rec c m mend s that ma t- On South American Socialist MOVCM ter be referred to the N. E . C.) ment. On National Campaign. W her ea s, Socialism, as embodied (1) \ Ve reco mme nd adoption o f in principles, tactics and goa l is es­ the raising of a $50,000 Campaign scntially the same in every land;anJ Fund , all customary mea ns to be Whereas, Proponents of its phil- used in acquiring the above SUIl'. osophy and tactical methods realize (2) \ Ve recommend concurrenee that propaganda for the dissemina- that Comrade Henry Khun be elect- tio n of its principles is equally im­ cd as campaign ma nager, por ta nt in all parts of the world; (3) In connection with re commen- and dation 2 we add that a Xational \Vhereas, It is deemed expedient Campaign Committee be formed of for the Socialist Labor Party to co­ w h ich Comrade Kuhn shall be thee operate in every way possible with chairman. This National Cam paign organizations on both the political Committee shall consist of 8 nu-m- and economic fields which teach and bcrs and the chairman, ele cted from practice the principles and methods the Party and every one o f it s suh- of Socialism as propagated by the divisions. Socialist Labor Party to the end of This National Campaign Co mm it- unifying the organized worId move. tee shall devise plans that p rope r ment airuing at the attainment of State and Local Campaign Co rn-nit - Socialism: and tees be formed similar to th e a bove. W herea s, A political party known It is intended tha t all th e organize , as the International Socialist Party sent out by the P ar ty and by all exi st s in the Argentine Republic ot -48 - South Am eri ca which holds in all es­ able to find cause to suppress,bul se n tial particulars an at t it ud e identi­ have succeeded by persecutions ancl cal with th at of th e Soc iali st Labor intimidations, consequently weaken­ P arty, th at is to say , a real Soc iali st ingourforces, it therefore behooves at ti tu de t and u s to make special efforts to strength­ W her eas Th er e ex is ts sid e by the weak points; si de a nd w o rkin g ha rm o nious ly with "Whereas, One source of weaknes.. and supp or ting it a po we rful indu s­ lies in the fact that there are no w trial ( sy ndica te d) economic organi­ several subdivisions of the Party, zation kn o wn as the "F ederacion each maintaining a headquarters ill Ub rcra Regi onal Ar g ent ina," which differentl

, I ~l ~

{ ~ AMENDMENTS TO THE PARTY CONSTITUTION ADOPTED AND APPROVED BY REFERENDUM.

l.-Art. II, Sec. 10 to become Sec. 9 and vice versa 2-Art.III,Sec.4: In cities, towns, or other localities where there exists a Section of the Socalrst Labor Party and a Section or Sections of any S. L. P. Language Federation there shall be formed a central committee composed of delegates from said Sections, whose function: it shall be to co­ operateforthepurposeoffurtheringtheagi­ tation of the S. L. P. in such localities in addi­ tion to such agitation which may be carried on by the respective Sections separately. In case the creation of such central com­ mittee is not deemed warranted then arrange­ ments should at least be made for having one or more elected representatives of the Lan­ guage Branches attend the meeting of the Party Section and report to both the Section and the Branch of the doings of each. Amended as follow'S: Sec. 4. In cities, towns, or other localities where there exists a Section of the Socialst Labor Party and a branch or branches of any S. L. P. Language Federation there shall be formed a Propaganda Committee composed of delegates from said Sections and branches, whose function it shall be to co-operate for the purpose of furthering the agitation of the S. L. P. in such localities, in addition to such agi­ tation which may be carr.ed on by the respec­ tive Sections and branches separately. Eliminate second paragraph. ~-A ~~ i r ~: ' Sec. 4: Add words "Commencing )Iay

4-Art. VIII, Sec, 1: Increase dues to Sections to thirty-five cents from thirty cents . 5-Art. VIII, Sec. 2: Increase dues to twenty-five and thirty-five cents from twenty and thirty cents . Ii-Art. VIII, Sec. 3: Every State Executive Committee or Section shall receive a first quota of stamps on credit, to be measured by the size of the membership; such quota to remain a standing indebtedness. All stamps received subsequently must be paid forinc",;h,an

Amended to read: Section 5. No member, committee, Section or language federation of the Party shall pub­ lish a political paper without the sanction of the National Executive Committee, and then only on condition that all the property of such paper be vested in the National Executive Committee free from any financial or legal liability, the editor of such paper to be subject totheprovisionsoftheprecedingsection ... 8-Art. XII, Sec, 1: Increase Federation dues from fourtosixcents .. 9-Art. XII, Sec. 4: Section 4. Sections or branches of federa­ tions shall be represented on the General Com­ mittees of the S. L. P. Sections, provided they pay the regular per capita tax, or by fraternal delegates. Eliminated. Section 5 to become Section 4, and Section 6 to become Section 5 . 10-Art. XII, Old Section 5: Section 5. Branches of federations shall be represented in the State Conventions of the Party,provided they pay the regular per capita tax to the State Executive Committees of the S. L. P., or by fraternal delegates. Amended to read: Section 5. Branches of federations shalllJe represented in the State Conventions of the Party by fraternal delegates...... ll-Eliminate Sec. 7, 8, 9, Art. XII, to conform with changes proposed in Sections 4 and 5 .. 12-Add new Section to be known: as Art. XII, Sec. 6: No member of a federation language branch shall at the same time be a member of a Sec- tion of the Party . 13-Art. XII, Sec. 10: To become Sec. 7, to conform with changes . . 14-Eliminate Art. XIII relative to representation in International Bureau. 15-Amend Art. V, Sec. 10, by adding: Two-thirds of the (15) Sub-Committee members shall be actual wage workers. .. I&-Art. II, Section 11: On readmission of expelled members. Add new paragraph: Art. II, Sec. 11, new paragraph: "An expelled member may be re-admitted to membership if his application for reinstate­ ment is endorsed, first by the Section hav.ng expelled him, and, second, by the National Executive Committee. "In case the expelling Section is or has been located in a State having a State Executive Committee, the N. E. C., in the event of its endorsement of such application', shall forward the same to such S. E. C. for submission to a general vote of the membership in such State for final action; but if the Section having ex­ pelled the applicant is or has been located in a State not having a State Executive Com­ mittee, it shall be the duty of the National Executive Committee finally to dispose of such application. The same procedure and differ­ ent.ation as between organized and unorgan­ izedStatesshallbeadheredtointhecaseof expelled members-at-Iarge applying for re-ad- mission." . 17-Art. VII. Sec. 2: Strike out entire Section and substitute as follows: Art. VII, Sec. 2, substituted for old Sec. 2: "The State shall be the basi> of representa­ tion, each State to be entitled to one delegate for every fifty members and one additional delegate for a major fraction thereof; but the apportionment shall be made on the average membership for the last twelve months of the year next preceding. Any State having less thanf:fty members to be entitled to one dele­ gate; a territory to be treated as a State." -53- 18-Art. XII, Sec. 3: Add after word "thereof" in third line the following: "as provided in Art. VII, Sec. 2." . 19-Art. XI, Sec. 8: Strike out and renumber sue- cedingparagraphsaccordingly . 20-Art. XII, Sec. 2: Insert word "major" before the word "fract ion " . 21-Art. V, Sec. 14, paragraph d: Eliminate words "or suspend" . 22-Art. XII, Sec. (last) New 'Section: "The units of organization shall be known as branches. Branches shall have jurisdiction over their own members .n conformance with Art. II, Sec. 7-11 inclusive .

Other Acts of Convention Approved on Referendum. Resolutions on International Relations. (Third In- ternational.)(Seepage38.) . Resolutions on Relations with Spanish-speaking countries.(Seepage37.) . Resolutions on Economic Organization: reaffirming re .o:ut.onadoptedinl916.(Seepage37.) .... 1501 32 Resolutions on "Capitalist Reaction." (See page 42.) 1496 13 Party Platform. (See page 44.) . 1534 4 Weekly People: Increase subscription price from $l.50to$2.00perannum . December 14th (Daniel De Leon's Birthday) of each year shall be dedicated to the memory of Daniel De Leon. (See page 47.) . 1474 24 Resolutions on Centralization. (See page 48.) . 11311 224 For National Secretary: Arnold Petersen . 1439 98 For Editor Weekly People: Olive 1\1.Johnson . 1490 43 APPENDIX

I. to be placed on the ballot by the Sec­ The convention nominated W. W. retaryofState. COXof Missouri and August Gillhaus More than $20,000 was collected for of New York for the presidency and the campaign from members and sym­ vice-presidency of the United States pathizers. respectively. The official count gave our candi­ II. dates a total vote in the States men­ The Scandinavian Socialist Labor tioned of 44,271 as compared with Federation appealed to the national 14,398 votes in 1916. It should be convention the decision of the N. E. born in mind, however, that we were C. of the Party not to approve the on the ballot in five more States in election of A. H. Lyzell as editor of 1916. The potential S. L. P. vote in Arbetaren. By a vote of 42 in favor '1920 would have been a great deal and 6 against (the six being the larger than the one officially record­ Scandinavian S. L. F. delegation) the ed, though it is idle to conjecture. The convention sustained the N. E. C. The S. L. P. is not primarily concerned dishonest. and pro-S.P, element (plus about the size of its vote at this the usual odd number of sentimental­ stage, but those who are wont to point ists and muddleheads) got together in with derision at the "small S. L. P. an illegally called "convention" at vote" would do well to bear the above Boston, July 3, 1920. The leading facts in mind, participants and endorsers of this The Party succeeded in getting on "convention" were Lyzell, Bjorkman, the ballot in the following States. Bjorklund, Furstenberg, Malmberg and Connecticut, Illinois, Iowa, Mary­ sundry small fry traitors. Theseneo­ land, Massachusetts, Michigan, Min­ "Kangaroos" have acquitted . them­ nesota, Missouri, New Jersey, New selves after the fashion set by the York. Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode original "Kangaroos" of 1899-1900. Island, and Washington. . They usurp the name of the Scandina­ The following were the States where vian Socialist Labor Federation, ille­ we attempted, but failed to get on gaily retain property, books, etc., all the ballot: of which at this writing is still a mat­ Indiana, Kentucky, Ohio, W.sconsin, tel' of litigation. This last disruption Virginia. closed the attempt to capture the In the last mentioned State our S. L. P. for bourgeois compromise failure to get on the ballot was entire­ andconfusioninitiatedbyMessrs.Sei­ lyduetothecarelessnessandstupidi­ del, Katz, Schlossberg, et aI. ty (if not worse) of the state offi­ Arnold Petersen. cials, our ticket having been accepted June 4, 1921.

PRINCIPLES OF THE SOCIALIST LABOR PARTY

A perfect understanding of Capi­ But while Progressive Competition talism is necessary to a clear com pre­ is the law of wages, Progressive Con­ hension of socialism. centration is the law of capital. Under Capitalism Society is divided First, a as tool develop into a ma­ into two classes of people, as follows: chine, the aritisan is driven from his A possesing, or Capitalist Class, shop, into the factory of a small ca­ among the members of which is dis­ pitalist. Then, as the machine de­ ributedin unequal shares and various velops into a greater machine, the forms the ownership of the whole small capitalist is driven out of busi­ existing wealth, including land, the ness by his more powerful competi­ machinery of production and the com­ tor; and so on until the greatest capi­ mod itiesthatmustbeconsumed in the talists, unable singly to posse ss them­ sustenance of life; selves of the vast machinery required A dispossed, or Proletarian Class, tocarryonindustrY,uniteintoCorpo­ w'hose members own nothing but their rations, which in turn unite into labor power, which is useless unless Trusts, Concentration in productive in­ it can be exerted upon Nature through dustry necessitates a corresponding the machinery of production. concentration in the distributive agen­ Since machinery is owned exc1usi­ ey, i. e., commerce. velyby the Capitalist Class, each pro­ Thus does Individual Capitalism de­ letarian must sell his labor power to velop into Collective Capitalism, less a capitalist or to an association of ca­ and less competitive; while Individual pitalistsin order to obtaintheneces­ Labor develops into Collective Labor, sariesoflife. more and more competitive. A point Of the wealth produced by his labor at last is reached where the class power the portion which he receives struggle culminates; a point where is called "wages"; the other portion "To be or not to be" is the question is appropriated by his employer and for the majority of the people. The is called "profit." end is in sight. The issue is plain. Wages naturally depend upon com­ "The dispossessors must be disposses­ petition among workers, and this com­ sed," The instruments of Collective petition increases with the displace­ Labor must be owned collectively by ment of labor by machinery. Each the whole people-that is, by the Co­ capitalist conducting his own business operative Commonwealth; "a com­ with a sole view to his own immediate monwealth in which every worker profit, regardless of the present or shall have the free exercise and full future public welfare, no provision 'benefit of his faculties multiplied by is made for the re-employment of the all the factors of modern civilization." labor displaced. How shall this great social revolu­ Not only, then, is the rate of wages tion be accomplished? steadily falling, but the number of In any form of Society the economic proletarians who must starve in en­ organism depends for its development forced idleness, is constantly increas­ and preservation upon its political ing. In other words, the struggle for organ; the organ which, under the existence among the workers, becomes name of "government" is simply the nore intense as invention supplies the public agent of the economic rulers. means of greater abundance with less In capitalism, government is neces­ effort. sarily the right arm of the Capitalist Class; ita function is to promote by The proletariat must, therefore, con­ all means the interests of that class, stitute itself into a polital party of to promptly obey its commands, and its own class, in order to possess it­ e pecially to protect at all hazards self of the government, which, adapt­ the very fundamental of the capitalist ed to the changed requirements of the structure, namely capitalist owner- modified social organism, will no Ion­ lihipofthemeansofproduction.Were gerbe, as it ever was in the past,a government the organ of collective class executioner, but will be trans­ labor instead of collective capitalism, formed into a public executive of the the capitalist structure would fall and administrative measures adopted by a the Socialist structure would rise. free people. HOW TO JOIN THE SOCIALIST LABOR PARTY.

I All persons desiring to attach them­ six others to join with them in orga­ selves to the Socialist Labor Party, nizng a "Section," but desiring to be­ either by the formation of a local or­ come members, may do so by becom­ ganization known as a "Section," or ing members-at large by signing the by joining as members-at large, may applicatinoncard,subscribingthereoD proceed as follows: to the platform and constitution of 1. Seven persons, five of whom the S. L. P.. and answering other must be actual wage workers, may questions on the application card. form a "Section," provided they ack­ For application blanks to be used in nowledge the platform, constitution the formation of "Sections" and for and resolutions of the Party and be­ application for the use of individual long to no other political party. But members as well as all otherinforma­ if more than seven propose to organize tion, apply to the undersigned. a "Section" then at least three fourths must be actual wage workers. Arnold Petersen, National Secretary, 2. Isolated persons, unable to find 45 Rose Street, New York, }<. Y.