Hillquit: Keynote Speech to the 1920 SPA Convention [May 8, 1920] 1 Socialism — The Hope of the World: Keynote Address to the 1920 Socialist Party Convention: New York City — May 8, 1920. by Morris Hillquit Published in The New Day [Chicago], v. 1, no. 2 (June 19, 1920), pg. 3. I am grateful to you for your greeting; it is a in the Socialist movement. miserable business being sick, especially at a time when All over the world Socialism was split into con- every hour sees more history unrolled than years in tending and antagonistic camps, ranging from those ordinary times. I am glad to be back, and I will stay who had betrayed the vital principles of the movement with you. during the war and were cooperating with its enemies This is the third after the war, to those who, in convention of the So- their impulse of resentment and cialist Party since the last impatience, were ready to surren- Presidential election. der the most effective methods of The two preceding con- the Socialist propaganda, the slow ventions met in an at- but certain methods of political mosphere of violent education and struggle. storm and stress and The question then was have faced conditions whether the Socialists of America which put the very life would remain true to the funda- and soul of our move- mental principles and methods of ment to a crucial test. the militant working class Social- When we met in ist Party, rejecting the suicidal St. Louis in 1917, the compromises of the extreme right country had just been as well as the sterile revolution- drawn into the world ary phrases of the extreme left. war, and the great ques- We did. tion was whether the So- cialists of America Present Danger would have the vision from Without. and courage to uphold the ideal of human soli- In the nominating conven- darity in the face of the vehement national hysteria tion of 1920, the Socialist Party is confronted by a and terrorism. We did. situation somewhat similar to that of last year, except When we met in Chicago in 1919, the fighting that this time the danger comes not from within our was over, but the war was not. The terrible experiences ranks but outside of them. of the prolonged world war and the catastrophic so- Within the last year all the powers of darkness cial and political changes which accompanied and fol- and reaction in the country have united in a concerted lowed it had created new issues and new alignments attack upon the Socialist movement unparalleled in 1 2 Hillquit: Keynote Speech to the 1920 SPA Convention [May 8, 1920] ferociousness and lawlessness. Nor do we, American Socialists, depend for our The obvious object of the provocative onslaught hope of success solely upon the precedent and example is to crush the spirit and paralyze the struggles of the of Europe. The conditions of our own country and Socialist movement or to goad it into a policy of des- the record of our own party are the gauge of our ulti- peration and lawlessness, thus furnishing its opponents mate victory here. the pretext for wholesale violent reprisals and physical We have noting to retract, nothing to apologize extermination. for, in connection with our stand in recent years. The great question before this convention is: Will the Socialists of America prove true enough and brave Socialists Alone Against the Slaughter. enough to survive the attack and to withstand the provocation? We will. When Congress committed the United States to Persecuted, defamed, and outlawed as they may participation in the world war, ours was the only orga- be, the Socialists of America enter the coming national nized political voice in the country to protest. We de- campaign of 1920 with frame erect, spirit unbroken, clared that the inhuman slaughter in Europe was born and enthusiasm unchecked — determined to continue in a sanguinary clash of commercial interests and im- the battle without letup or relaxation. Confident in perialistic ambitions. the righteousness of our cause and the imminence of We warned our countrymen that the savage con- its victory, we defy and challenge the combined pow- test of arms would bring no peace, no liberty, and no ers of capitalist reaction. happiness in the world, but that it would result in misery and desolation. Now the whole world is begin- Growth of the World Socialist Movement. ning to see the justice of our criticism and the tragic fulfillment of our prediction. For while our frightened profiteers are engaging One year and a half after the formal cessation of in a stupid campaign to kill our movement by vio- hostilities, there is no peace in Europe; the victorious lence, every social force at home and abroad is work- powers are intriguing among themselves about land ing irresistibly for the triumph of Socialism. grabs and national advantages, while Europe is starved In Europe, where the ruling classes are wiser than and the ghastly wounds inflicted by the war upon the ours, one nation after another is surrendering to the whole system of human civilization remain open and overwhelming tide of the Socialist movement. The bleeding. great working class republic of Russia (applause) has Today it is becoming increasingly clearer that if survived all counterrevolutionary attacks, domestic and the treaty of “peace” is not written all over, the war foreign, and now, after a continuous and embittered will have to be fought all over — unless the worldwide struggle of 30 months, it stands before the world more triumph of Socialism overtakes both the treaty and strongly entrenched, more hopeful and confident than war. ever. And as time goes on, the passions and preju- In Sweden, in Czecho-Slovakia, in Germany and dices aroused by the war will die out, its stultifying Austria, Socialists largely are in control of the govern- slogans created during the war will be forgotten, its ment. horrors and ruins alone will stare accusingly at man- In England, Italy, France, and Scandinavian kind from the blackest page of the world’s history. countries, the Socialist workers are fast gaining politi- Then a sobered America will look back with cal power. The most enlightened nations have openly gratitude to the small band of Socialists who saw the or tacitly recognized that Socialism alone has the moral danger and sounded the warning, and were persecuted and intellectual resources to rebuild and revivify the and jailed. This sobering up will be one of the factors shattered world, and in this, as in all other vital cur- that will make the American people turn to Socialism. rents of modern life, the United States cannot effec- And this time it will be not merely a general and tively or permanently seclude itself from the rest of abstract spirit of so-called Socialism, but the definite the world. and organized Socialism of the Socialist Party which Hillquit: Keynote Speech to the 1920 SPA Convention [May 8, 1920] 3 will lead the fight of the workers. Wilson, the idealist and humanitarian, has in- augurated a reign of intellectual obscurantism, moral Wilson the Hypocrite. terrorism, and political reaction, the like of which the country had never known before. Time and again the Socialist struggle has been The morbid national psychology which he has sidetracked by the appearance of a so-called radical helped to create has produced such atavistic political leader in the ranks of one of the old parties who held types as [Mitchell] Palmer, [Albert] Burleson, [Thad- out the promise of immediate victory and salvation deus] Sweet, and [Clayton] Lusk. It has advanced to for the common people. Time and again the common places of honor political mountebanks like Ole Han- people believed in the false prophet and voted him son, but has put into prison stripes the noblest and into power, only to reap a heavy harvest of bitter dis- truest types of American manhood, persons like Eu- appointment. gene Victor Debs. If there remain any large sections of workers who put their naive faith in old party messiahs, Woodrow Wilson’s Collapse Not Accidental. Wilson must have effectively destroyed their faith. For be it remembered that in 1916, Woodrow Wilson ran The pitiful collapse of Wilson’s liberalism was as a “radical.” He promised practically Socialism nothing accidental. through the shortcut of the Democratic Party. Woodrow Wilson was probably inspired by the One-half of the normal supporters of the So- best of intentions when he ran for re-election. But he cialist Party cast their votes for him. Woodrow Wilson did not express the sentiments, convictions, or inter- was elected over Charles E. Hughes by the vote of So- est of the class he represented or the political party to cialists. In California alone, the defection in the nor- which he owed allegiance. mal Socialist vote determined his victory in the Presi- When the great crisis came and he was forced to dential contest. choose between the class and the party to whom he Mr. Wilson’s administration in the last 3 years belonged and the workers for whom he professed a has furnished the most striking and abhorrent proof platonic affection, he rallied to his class and party in- of the fallacy of the “good man” theory in politics. terests. Wilson, the pacifist, drew us into the world’s Nor was Wilson’s fall purely personal. When most frightful war. Woodrow Wilson fell, the entire structure of middle Wilson, the anti-militarist, imposed conscription class and capitalist liberalism tumbled with him like a on the country in war, and urged a large standing army house of cards.