H-Labor Early American Marxism (14-11) Discussion published by Tim Davenport on Friday, April 4, 2014 Early American Marxism website • www.marxisthistory.org/ Weekly Update no. 14-11 • March 16, 2014 A dozen new files. All of these are clustered in the first quarter of 1919, ground zero for the establishment of the left wing movement that ultimately led to a split of the Socialist Party. In this vein, of particular interest is the publication here of the minutes of the first three sessions of the City Committe of the Left Wing Section of Local Greater New York, Socialist Party. Debsiana includes a de facto open letter by Debs calling for a general strike for the freedom of Tom Mooney if all other efforts failed and a letter to Debs from Ludwig Lore, publisher of The Class Struggle. Also appearing here is material by Mary Marcy, Jack Carney, and C.E. Ruthenberg. Of final note is a short piece documenting the short-lived effort by Harry Wicks and others to establish a "Workers and Soldiers Council" in Portland, Oregon. All files are available for free download and non-commercial reproduction at the following URL: http://www.marxisthistory.org/subject/usa/eam/14-11.html Thanks for your interest, Tim Davenport [email protected] Corvallis, OR ============= NEW FILES ============= (1) "The Coming Struggle," by Mary Marcy [Jan. 1, 1919] This article by the co-editor of the recently terminated International Socialist Review gives voice to the revolutionary enthusiasm and illusions that swept the American radical movement in the aftermath of World War I. "To my mind the ultimate triumph of Socialism is as inevitable as the coming of the spring," Marcy declares. "The capitalist financial system is already crumbling. The spirit of revolution is already spreading beyond the boundaries of Russia into Germany, Bulgaria, Austria-Hungary, Italy, and down to Romania and far into Sweden and Finland." In response, capital was becoming internationally organized into a single world entity, with a single world army to defend its interests, Marcy says. In order to be effective in the future, "Socialism must become more and more international," she indicates. * * * (2) "Letter to Arthur E. Elmgreen in Chicago from Eugene V. Debs in Terre Haute, Jan. 11, 1919." This Debs document was apparently conceived as an open letter directed to the delegates of the Mooney Labor Congress, convened in Chicago on Jan. 14, 1919. Debs proclaims jailed California labor leader Tom Mooney to be "absolutely innocent" and "the victim of the most infamous conspiracy in American history." He condemns Gov. William Stephens of California as a "tool of the corporations" and the state's courts as "debauched to the last degree" and urges united action of the working class and organized labor movement to win the freedom of Mooney and his associate Warren Billings, culminating if necessary in a general strike. "[I]f all entreaties are in Citation: Tim Davenport. Early American Marxism (14-11). H-Labor. 04-04-2014. https://networks.h-net.org/node/7753/discussions/15365/early-american-marxism-14-11 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License. 1 H-Labor vain and all measures fail, then as a last resort let a general strike be ordered and the industries of the nation paralyzed from end to end by an outraged working class determined upon rebuking crime and securing justice. ...The working class and the common people and all who sympathize with them must take this matter into their own hands and fearlessly meet the issue by stopping the wheels of industry long enough to compel the financial bandits and their mercenaries to realize that the honest workers have some rights they are bound to respect." (3) "Workers and Soldiers Council Organized in Portland." (Oregon Socialist Party Bulletin) [events of Jan. 9-13, 1919] While the organization of "Soviets" in Winnipeg and Seattle in association with general strikes in these cities are remembered as major historical events, less widely noted is a short-lived effort to establish a Soviet in Portland, Oregon. This article from the monthly publication of the Socialist Party of Oregon reprints a solicitation letter written shortly after the Jan. 9, 1919 formation of the "Portland Council of Workers and Soldiers" over the signatures of the organization's "Temporary President," Harry M. Wicks (later of Proletarian Party and Communist Party fame) as well as its Recording Secretary, Joe Thornton of the Street Railway Men's Union. Although decked out in bright red revolutionary bunting, the modest main purpose of the organization seems to have been to provide a mechanism for the integration of returning soldiers into the labor movement and to thereby avoid the growth of right wing "patriotic" organizations and strikebreaking. The entity itself seems to have generally resembled a city central labor council, with all unions entitled to representation on the basis of 1 delegate for every 100 members in good standing, or major fraction thereof. Only a very few meetings of this stillborn organization were held. (4) "The Bolshevists: Grave-Diggers of Capitalism," by C.E. Ruthenberg. [Jan. 29, 1919] Reformatted edition. Ruthenberg, Secretary of the large Local Cuyahoga Country, Socialist Party organization, poses the question whether or not the Russian Bolsheviks actually represented "something new." While the capitalist press accused them of "anarchy, ...rioting and bloodshed, wholesale murder and destruction" leading to "the collapse of orderly society," Ruthenberg argues that the Bolsheviks represented instead the consistent application of the established principles of Marxian Socialism. After outlining the basic tenets of Marxism, Ruthenberg declares himself in favor of the latter proposition... * * * (5) "Minutes of the New York City Committee, Left Wing Section, Socialist Party, Feb. 2, 1919." Minutes of the first meeting of the New York City Committee of the Left Wing Section, Socialist Party, with Edward Lindgren in the chair. Election of committees took place, including a permanent 4 person "International Committee" consisting of Rose Pastor Stokes, Jim Larkin, Nick Hourwich, and Jack Reed; a 3 member Speakers Committee, including Bert Wolfe, Ed Lindgren, and Max Cohen; and a 5 person Press Committee, of Julius Hammer, Jay Lovestone, Fannie Horowitz, Harry Hiltzig, and a Comrade Spanier. The decision was made to print dues cards and to collect dues of 10 cents per month for members of the organized faction. County Organizers were selected for four boroughs as well as the Russian and Yiddish language branches. John Reed was named New York editor of The Revolutionary Age, published in Boston, with a Comrade Lehman made the circulation and business manager, with wages of $25 a week guaranteed. Temporary committees were established to investigate rental of an office and to put out the Left Wing Manifesto in pamphlet form. (6) "The Left Wing," by Jack Carney [Feb. 21, 1919] Short editorial from the pages of Duluth Truth announcing publication of the Left Wing manifesto in the pages of that paper and promising the Left Wing the support of "the comrades of the Scandinavian and the English locals of Duluth" and the paper editorially. The Irish-born Carney writes: "The Left Wing manifesto and program comes at a time when it is most needed. It will arouse those comrades who have left the party disgusted with the opportunism of its leader. It will inspire those who have remained true to the cause of the International, before the war, during the war, and after the war. It will compel those who have stood still, to reconsider their position anew." Citation: Tim Davenport. Early American Marxism (14-11). H-Labor. 04-04-2014. https://networks.h-net.org/node/7753/discussions/15365/early-american-marxism-14-11 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License. 2 H-Labor (7) "Killing the Socialist Party: An editorial in The Ohio Socialist, Feb. 26, 1919." In January 1919 dues stamps sales suddenly exploded for the Socialist Party, as this editorial in left wing Ohio Socialist notes. Ohio's sales were up 85% from the figures of the previous month and more than triple those of January the previous year. Interestingly, this does not seem to have been directly related to the party's referendum election of a new National Executive Committee, hotly contested by the left wing, as the "regular" states of Wisconsin and Pennsylvania also seem to have posted unusually large January sales, this article intimates. Some 12,616 Socialist Party dues stamps were sold in Ohio in Jan. 1919, making it the third largest state in membership dues collected, following New York and Wisconsin and ahead of Illinois. (8) "Minutes of the New York City Committee Left Wing Section, Socialist Party, March 2, 1919." Minutes of the second meeting of the City Central Committee of the Left Wing Section of the Socialist Party, Greater New York. A fairly mundane meeting, marked by the resignation of Carl Brodsky as organizer of New York County and a decision to send the Left Wing Manifesto to the printer for publication as a pamphlet the next day. Edward Lindgren is dispatched to Boston to work on the Revolutionary Age there. An office was rented out for the group's headquarters at a cost of $15 per month. Future Communist leaders J. Wilenkin and Rose Wortis make their appearance as delegates. Minutes were compiled by Ella Wolfe as Recording Secretary, wife of Bert. (9) "Letter to Eugene V. Debs in Terre Haute, IN, from Ludwig Lore in New York City, March 5, 1919." Reformatted edition. Letter from Ludwig Lore, first among equals on the editorial board of The Class Struggle, to his new, albeit nominal, co-editor Gene Debs.