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Supplementary Report of the National Executive Committee of the Socialist Party of America to the Emergency National Convention: Chicago, IL — September 4, 1919

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Supplementary Report of the National Executive Committee of the Socialist Party of America to the Emergency National Convention: Chicago, IL — September 4, 1919 NEC of the SPA: Supplementary Report to the Convention [Sept. 4, 1919] 1 Supplementary Report of the National Executive Committee of the Socialist Party of America to the Emergency National Convention: Chicago, IL — September 4, 1919. Published in the New York Call, v. 12, no. 250 (Sept. 7, 1919), pg. 5. This report was delivered to the convention by James Oneal, who seems likely to have been the main author. In response to the request of the convention, we ued for months and no member of these federations submit this supplementary report. thought it necessary to even inform us that the party The reasons for suspending the offending lan- was on trial or intimated that we should have a hear- guage federations were stated in the June Bulletin of ing. the National Office. They are, in brief, as follows: It is evident that most of the members of the Section 2 of Article 12 of the constitution pro- federations honestly believed that the Socialist Party vides that the duty of each Translator-Secretary “shall had become an annex to the capitalist class and world be to serve as a medium of communication between imperialism. They heard one side, and it was so persis- his federation and the national organization of the tently presented that their minds were poisoned against Socialist Party.” the party and the National Executive Committee. The suspended federations, instead of serving this purpose, assumed power to reverse decisions of Slanderous Propaganda Appeared in the National Executive Committee. They demanded English Publications of Left Wing. that the amnesty convention we tried to arrange be abandoned or they would oppose it. After the suspensions some of this propaganda The federations attempted to usurp power that appeared in the English publications of the Left Wing. belongs only to the general membership and conven- The National Office has a number of translations from tions and such power as is delegated to the National the language papers that may be consulted by the del- Executive Committee between conventions. Either the egates. In our first report we have given quotations National Executive Committee had to accept the of- from organs of each wing of the Left Wing in which fending federations as a self-constituted supreme court both admit this propaganda was waged to destroy the with power to veto our decisions, or else suspend the Socialist Party. federations. In this conduct the federations violated The suspended federations had also violated the Section 5(a) of Article 12 of the constitution. spirit and intent of Section 3(a) of Article 10 in a joint The suspended federations had also tried and communication to the National Executive Commit- convicted the Socialist Party and the National Execu- tee, stating that they would “brook no opposition to tive Committee in their language publications. This the stand they have taken” in refusing to abide by the took the form of charges that the party was a party of constitution and bylaws of Local New York. “Scheidemanns” and “Kolchaks,” betrayers of Social- Local New York had to expel certain language ism and the working class. These foul slanders contin- branches for violations of the local constitution or it- 1 2 NEC of the SPA: Supplementary Report to the Convention [Sept. 4, 1919] self be expelled by the state organization. Section 3(a) Labor Party] find it impossible to either agree or to of Article 10 of the national constitution provides that associate with the language federations. “no state or local organization shall under any circum- The revocation of the charter of Michigan was stances fuse, combine or compromise with any other due to the fact that the state convention adopted the political party or organization.” We assume that a lan- following provision in the state constitution: guage federation cannot do what a state organization An member, local or branch of a local, advocating cannot do. legislative reforms or supporting organizations formed for The National Executive Committee had issued the purpose of advocating such reforms, shall be expelled a statement in January [1919] regarding this same from the Socialist Party. The State Executive Committee is authorized to revoke the charter of any local that does not matter with reference to labor parties. It was a unani- conform to this amendment. mous decision of the committee. NO protest came from any section of the party regarding this action. There is no mistaking the meaning of this clause. Yet the language federations assumed that they could It is a well known fact that this Michigan organization assume a relationship toward the Left Wing organiza- overemphasizes political action, though opposing any tion and program that we prohibited in the case of program of immediate measures in the interest of the labor parties and their programs. working class. On the other hand, it has little use for It is claimed that the federations were not given labor unions and industrial action. By adopting this a trial. The federations were before the committee for clause, the state convention made it mandatory that a two days. An informal consideration of all the docu- member supporting the position of the national party ments bearing on the actions of the federations had in this matter should be expelled. been in process for many hours, when Comrade [Jo- In the view of the Michigan organization, if the seph] Stilson of the Lithuanian Federation demanded party members in California urged the repeal of the that the charges be formulated in one document. The Criminal Syndicalist Law, a violation of which sub- matter was postponed until this could be done. jects the offender to 14 years’ imprisonment, these The next day charges were formulated and pre- California Socialists would be bad Socialists and unfit sented. They appear on page 9 of the June Bulletin. A to associate themselves with the Socialists of Michi- stenographer was present. A record of this second stage gan. Or, if the Socialist members of the New York Leg- of the trial has been printed and handed to the del- islature were to introduce a bill providing that territo- egates to the convention. It contains 75 pages of single rial representation in that body should be abolished spaced reading matter and records the defense made and representation be based upon useful occupations by Comrades Stilson, Katterfeld, and Wagenknecht. and industries, the New York Socialists would be out- This record is in your hands. It is sufficient answer to casts. the repeated statement that the offending language The clause would even penalize a comrade who federations were suspended without a trial. represented his labor union before a legislative com- mittee in demanding the extension of the franchise to Suspensions Considered Temporary; hundreds of thousands of Negroes and whites who are Final Action Up to National Parley. disfranchised in the Southern states. All of these mea- sures are “reforms,” but as such they are of vital inter- We might add that in voting the suspension we est to the working class until capitalism becomes only regarded our action as temporary. We provided that a memory. the convention should decide whether the evidence was sufficient to justify suspension and also urged that Objectionable Clause Called Violation the language federations have their own representa- of Second Article of Constitution. tives at the convention to present their case to the del- egates. They are with the Communist Party, not here, The objectionable clause is in violation of Sec- and even many of their late associates and defenders tion 5, Article 2, which reads: in the convention downstairs [with the Communist NEC of the SPA: Supplementary Report to the Convention [Sept. 4, 1919] 3 In all my political action while a member of the Socialist clause as a recommendation for action in the national Party, I agree to be guided by the constitution and platform of that party. convention there could have been no objection, but to adopt it and make it mandatory on pain of expel- Also Section 3(a) of Article 10, which reads, in ling members who accepted the national party posi- part, as follows: tion, was to make outcasts of these members. The Massachusetts case can hardly be separated The platform of the Socialist Party shall be the supreme declaration of the party, and all state and municipal platforms from the language federations, as these dominated the shall conform thereto. state organization. Out of some 5,000 party members, less than 1,000 are English-speaking locals. The Left It is claimed that no trial was given Michigan. It Wing language organizations were retained as an inte- is true that Michigan had no delegated representative gral part of the state organization after their suspen- present. But it is also true that prominent Michigan sion by the National Executive Committee. They were members in articles in the Left Wing press placed the permitted to vote in the election of delegates to the same interpretation on the clause that we did. National Emergency Convention. The state conven- Comrades Wagenknecht and Katterfeld of the tion, held in June [1919], voted to strike out a clause [National Executive] Committee, defending the Michi- approving political action and to substitute the fol- gan organization, did not deny that the clause was sub- lowing clause: ject to our interpretation and the interpretation of prominent Michigan members. They urged that we The object of this organization shall be to enlighten and organize the working class for the purpose of postpone action until the State Secretary arrived, stat- overthrowing the present capitalist system and establish an ing that he might interpret it differently. industrial democracy. Keracher Didn’t Deny Questionable Clause Regarded as Practical Clause Had Been Approved by Vote.
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