Early American Marxism

Welcome to a website dealing with the history of the early American Marxist movement.
This is not intended to be a political website, but rather a historical resource. We all have our own political views in the present; the goal of the historian is to understand the political ideology and actions of others in the past. Whether one accepts the economic doctrine of the labor theory of value, the existence of distinct classes and the primacy of class struggle as the vehicle of social change, and the analytical framework of historical materialism as valid guides to action in the world today -- or whether one views these principles of Marxism to be quaint relics of a secular religion from a bygone century -- is of little import to us here... The questions which should concern us all, regardless of our contemporary political views or organizational affiliations are WHAT HAPPENED? and WHY?
Priests and politicians absolve or condemn; historians attempt to understand and explain. This mission statement implies that one must immerse oneself in the documents of a given period to really absorb the set of ideas (economic, political, social) which guided or constrained action. One must absorb great piles of primary source material before any sort of true understanding can be reached. Once the big picture is grasped, the mentality of the participants absorbed, and the fine detail begins to become clear, then the task of the historian changes. Rather than reading, the order of the day becomes writing: the vast quantities of source material must be distilled, translated into coherent prose for a largely uninitiated audience. It is a great and exciting task, one full of reward and frustration.
If you have research questions or comments or would like to help produce pdf documents for distribution through this site, please do drop me a line:-- MutantPop@aol.com.

Thanks for your interest.

--- Tim Davenport // Corvallis, OR

1911

"Who is the Foreigner?" by D. Bond [June 1911] Short anti-racist article from The International Socialist Review advocating acceptance of a class view of society rather than one of artificial racial and ethnic divisions. "There are but two nations in the civilized world. To which nation do you belong? Do you belong to the nation that lives by working, or to the nation that lives by owning? Some people who think they live by working in reality live by working the workers. Preachers, lawyers, capitalists, and burglars are apt to be of this class. 'Workingmen of all countries, unite.' That means unite in your own nation. The Chinaman, Jap, Mexican, Italian, Hungarian, or Negro who works, belongs to my nation. He belongs to your nation if you both are doing needful work," Bond declares.

1916

"Socialist Presidential Referendum Now On, Arouses Intense Interest." (Editorial from the Appeal to Reason) [Jan. 22, 1916] In 1916 the Socialist Party of America did not hold a typical quadrennial convention to nominate its candidates for President and Vice President of the United States, instead making use of a party referendum to select its nominees. This "Socialist experiment" is here hailed by the weekly Appeal to Reason as a "great success" and an example to be followed in the future by the Democratic and Republican parties. Three had been nominated for President: Appeal columnist Allan L. Benson of New York, Pennsylvania AFL leader James H. Maurer, and North Dakota Socialist leader Arthur LeSeur of Kansas. "A big vote on the Presidential referendum will be an inspiring beginning for the next big national contest between the forces of capitalism and Socialism," the editorial declares.

"State Convention Passes Upon Many Important Questions: Finnish Difficulties Satisfactorily Settled --Many Constitutional Changes." [events of Feb. 26-28, 1916] This unsigned article from the Minneapolis Socialist weekly New Times, edited by Alex Georgian, reviews the changes made at the 1916 Minnesota State Convention of the Socialist Party. The conflict within the Finnish Socialist Federation in 1914-15 had taken a serious toll on the party's membership, as had the discouragement and economic downturn which followed the eruption of war in Europe in the summer of 1914. From a high of 5,600, the paid membership of the Socialist Party of Minnesota had fallen to 3,547, it was reported to the convention. The convention determined to issue charters to five locals loyal to the (conservative) national Finnish Socialist Federation while at the same time implementing constitutional changes that would make it more difficult for the State Executive Board to arbitrarily suspend locals. Henceforth, charges would have to first be published in the official state newspaper and seconds for the proposed suspension gathered from 6 locals in no fewer than 5 counties. Former Christian Socialist and future Communist Jeremy Bentall was nominated to head the Socialist Party's ticket as its candidate for Governor.

"The Duluth Convention," by John Gabriel Soltis [events of Feb. 26-28, 1916] This upbeat report of the recently completed Minnesota State Convention of the Socialist Party of America hails the termination of the bitter feud within the Finnish Socialist Federation as the greatest achievement of the gathering. "It can be said to the credit of Leo Laukki, the brilliant Finnish thinker and leader of the 'Reds,' that he himself engineered and supported the much desired rapprochement between the two Finnish factions," Soltis writes. He adds: "It was clear to all that the Finns of both sides desired unity. After all they came to realize that their differences of opinion concerning tactics did not justify a wide split, so they united. As a result the organization is now much stronger. This act of unity confirms the theory that socialists can always unite if they have the will to do so." Soltis also indicates that the creation of a new county level of organization in the Minnesota party will go far in curbing the "anarchical" actions of individual locals. He also lauds the choice of Jeremy Bentall as the party's candidate for Governor, noting that Bentall is "an able speaker in two languages, and a clean student of the revolutionary movement."

"The State Convention," by Alex Georgian [events of February 26-28, 1916] Recap of the 1916 Minnesota State Convention of the Socialist Party by New Times editor Alex Georgian. Georgian concurs with other analysts that the chief accomplishment of the 1916 Minnesota convention was the liquidation of the split within the Finnish Socialist Federation in the state, revealing details of the backstory. According to Georgian, the pro-syndicalist Left Wingers of the Finnish Federation, expelled from the national federation for their support of the Left Wing daily Sosialisti, retained their charters from the Minnesota State Executive Board and blocked the efforts of moderates loyal to the national Finnish Federation from forming their own locals. Composition of the Minnesota Executive was determined in advance by the Left Wing Finns and their anglophonic allies, who elected a full slate, thus maintaining the status quo. The 1916 convention seems to have brokered an agreement allowing the moderate Finns to establish their own locals in exchange for legitimacy of the Left Wingers and their paper -- support of which had been deemed to be a party crime by the moderate Finnish Federation leadership, based in the Eastern District. Georgian, later a prominent member of the early American Communist movement, reveals his sympathies to be with the Finnish moderates rather than the pro-syndicalist Left Wingers.

"What the Convention Accomplished," by Sigmond N. Slonim [events of February 26-28, 1916] This analysis of the 1916 Minnesota State Convention of the Socialist Party reiterates the steps towards reunification of the so-called "Reds" and "Yellows" into which the Finnish Socialist Federation was divided. The two factions had "instead of fighting for the abolition of capitalism and the establishment of socialism, began to spend their time, money, and energy in fighting each other" and a split of the federation itself had resulted. The decision of the convention to allow the excluded Finns to establish locals had laid the groundwork for real unity of the two factions, Slonim believes. "I hope that the time is not very far off when the two factions of our party will soon realize the importance of having harmony in the party and they will join hands not only by holding membership in the party, but by doing away with their animosities and hatreds against each other and will then put up a solid front in their struggle against capitalism until the time will come when the toilers of the world will be emancipated from wage slavery."

"The Finnish Amendment," by Sophie Carlson [May 6, 1916] The author of this letter to the Minneapolis Socialist Party weekly was a moderate member of the Finnish Federation whose local lost its charter as part of the faction fight in the Finnish Socialist Federation -- a particularly bitter battle in the state of Minnesota. Carlson describes the sequence of events, in which her Chisholm, MN local expelled a handful of pro-IWW dissidents for two years under Article II, Section 6 of the Socialist Party's national constitution. Under the Socialist Party's federative system, final say over such matters in the state was held by the elected officials of the state party in each state; and the Minnesota State Executive Board overturned the decision of Local Chisholm and ordered the expelled syndicalists reinstated by Local Chisholm. This the local refused to do, which the Minnesota SEB met by pulling the charter of Local Chisholm for violation of party discipline and issuing a new charter to the pro-syndicalist dissidents. When the moderate majority faction reapplied for admission to the Socialist Party of Minnesota, the SEB declined, stating there was already a Finnish branch in Chisholm. The moderate majority sought to align itself with the national Finnish Socialist Federation (which had itself conducted mass expulsions of its pro-IWW Left Wing) and refused to join the chartered local and a stalemate ensued. Carlson is not hopeful of rapprochement between the two factions: "We have had meetings and hot debates, and at present are trying to compromise but it seems impossible," she writes.

"Eugene V. Debs, Interviewed for Appeal, Sees Bright Chance for His Election to the United States Congress: 'Voters Sure to Come to Us,' Says Veteran Champion of the Working Class -- Comrades Throughout the Country Support the Campaign with Silver Ballots -- Fifth Indiana District Being Flooded with Socialist Literature," by Emanuel Julius [July 1, 1916] In 1916, 4 time Socialist Party Presidential standard bearer Eugene V. Debs decided not to run for chief executive, but to instead pursue election to US Congress in the Indiana 5th District. Appeal to Reason writer Emanuel Haldeman-Julius paid a visit to Debs at his home in Terre Haute to report on the high profile campaign for the tens of thousands of readers of the Kansas Socialist weekly. "I have every reason to believe that the campaign if properly constructed (and I am sure it will be) will bring the vote to us. The preparedness issue will do it. I have confidence that the situation is going to become more and more responsive to the appeal of Socialism," Debs told Julius. Debs expresses disdain for President Woodrow Wilson's reversal on the issue of stopping the trusts and his flip-flopping on militarization: "Mr. Wilson, who had all his life been opposed to militarism, has now become the avowed champion of plutocratic preparedness, and today he stands before the country pleading in the name of Wall Street and its interests for the largest standing army and the most powerful navy in the world," Debs declared. Debs was upbeat about party unity in 1916: "I've been in all campaigns since our party was organized in 1900," said Debs, "and never have I been in a campaign like this one, never have I seen such harmony."

"A Short Cut to Revolution," by James Oneal [Dec. 23, 1916] This article by Socialist Party of Massachusetts State Secretary James Oneal demonstrates once again that the Left/Right split in the SPA predated American entrance into the European war. Oneal responds to a December 1916 article by S.J. Rutgers in the International Socialist Review announcing the establishment of an organized Left Wing faction in the Socialist Party, with a view to eventual formation of a "new International." Oneal lists the failings of the Left Wing in Massachusetts during 1913-1914, when they held control of the administration of the state organization, racking up a $1200 debt and damaging or destroying the primary party locals which they controlled. According to Oneal, the Left Wing failed to endorse or support, either organizationally or financially, the recently completed campaign of SP Presidential nominee Allan Benson. Oneal claims that "the formal way provided by the party" for its reform "does not appeal to them for these super-men are superior to referendums, conventions, and constitutions. They must have an inner circle within the party. Composed of Syndicalists, Direct Actionists, IWWs, anti-religious bugs, and a hash of other views, they constitute the queerest collection of opinions that will be found anywhere in the country. The Left Wing had split the organization, Oneal states, with the factions "tearing each other to pieces over 'proper tactics.'" Oneal warns that "This is a forecast of what may be expected should the 'revolutionists' get support elsewhere."



1917
"A Criticism and a Confession," by Louis Kopelin [Feb. 3, 1917] The harmonious Socialist Party Presidential campaign of 1916 was met with a demoralizing result, which was the cause of soul-searching throughout the organization. The defeat of the Appeal to Reason's favorite son, columnist Allan Benson, was particularly hard to bear and it led the paper's editor, Louis Kopelin, to reassessment of the party's axiomatic assumptions. For the first time, the Socialist Party was not a young party in the process of growth, but an established minority party in malaise: "For the first time in the history of the Socialist movement in this country our national vote has shown a loss... Moreover, it is not only the loss in the national vote that we have to sorrowfully record. Our party organization has about half as many dues-paying members at this time as we had a few years ago. And our party press has suffered a severe slump in circulation and effectiveness." While the party Right blamed the Left for the defeat (and vice versa), Kopelin felt that something more fundamental was at work: "The Appeal firmly believes that our entire scheme of propaganda generally adopted by Socialists during the last 20 years has been built on preconceived notions not applicable to conditions in the United States. When we reflect upon the cumbersomeness and fruitlessness of our methods we are amazed that we have made such progress as we have. It is remarkable that American Socialism has grown in spite of the Socialists." Kopelin launches into a tirade of criticism of the party, including its "artificial and arbitrary plan for propagating Socialism," "rigid rules of discipline befitting the foreign military nations which gave them birth," literature with "stereotyped phrases have been imported and rammed down the unwilling throats of a people like ours whose language and logic are simple and direct," and the "un-American and undemocratic rule of centralized power in the hands of officials and committees, allowing no development and freedom of action on the part of the rank and file." A new "plan of action" is promised by Kopelin to his readers. It was, in short, the heart-wrenching 1916 Presidential defeat rather than the war and the Socialist Party's reaction to it which pushed the Appeal to Reason headed by Louis Kopelin to the right.

"'Socialize Now -- Railroads First!' That is the Appeal's Plan of Action," [editorial by the Appeal to Reason] [Feb. 10, 1917] One week after flinging down the gauntlet over the poor showing of the Socialist Party in the elections of 1916, Messrs. Kopelin and Haldeman-Julius of the Appeal to Reason come forward with their aggressive new program of constructive socialism. Rather than whiling away for a wholesale revolutionary change of society and its economic system, the Appeal posits the idea of pushing forward with a campaign for piecemeal nationalization, beginning with the nation's railway system -- among the largest industries of the nation. To this end, the paper was placing muckraking journalist Charles Edward Russell, author of Stories of the Great Railroads, in charge of the campaign by writing a series of articles on the topic -- which the thousands of members of the "Appeal Army" were to take to the people as part of a grassroots pressure campaign on the nation's political establishment. "First, we shall sow the seeds of education; later, we shall reap the harvest of organization and victory," Kopelin declares, failing to mention an associated bump which such a campaign might bring to the newspaper's circulation and coffers. "We are convinced that the American people are ready for this approach to the Cooperative Commonwealth," writes Kopelin, because "conditions are ripe" and dissatisfaction with the industry prevalent among the 2 million railway workers.

 
"A Revolutionist's Career," by Leon Trotsky [March 1917] Article written in the spring of 1917 and published in Feb. 1918 by the Socialist Party weekly St. Louis Labor providing details of Leon Trotsky's life in his own words for a breathless public. The 38-year old Soviet leader draws a striking contrast between his politicized upbringing in Jewish Russia with the typical situation in the United States: "Here in America schoolboys seem to spend most of their time in sports, baseball and football. In Russia, the boys -- and girls, too, for that matter -- use their leisure for reading books like Buckle's History of Civilization, Marx's Capital, Kautsky's The Social Revolution, and our own great classics that throb with the passion of revolt. Our pastime is chiefly attending underground Socialist meetings and spreading the propaganda among workingmen in the city and peasants in the country." Trotsky does not hedge about his political affiliation during the pre-war period: "I was a Mensheviki of the extreme left, or a near-Bolsheviki." Trotsky describes his situation in America, where he arrived in Dec. 1916: "Here in New York I lived with my wife and two children in three rooms in a Bronx tenement, wrote for the Novyi Mir, the Russian Socialist daily, and spoke at Socialist meetings. I do not expect my stay here to be very long, however, for a revolution is bound to break out in Russia in a short time, and as soon as that happens I shall hasten to my home country and help in the work of Russia's liberation."

"The Reds and the Yellows," by Henry Ollikainen [April 7, 1917] This letter to the editor of the Minneapolis New Times by moderate Finnish Socialist Henry Ollikainen takes English speaking Socialists of the state to task for favoring the syndicalist Left Wing of the Finnish Socialist Federation as the "only movement which represents the revolutionary spirit among the Finns." Ollikainen charges that the syndicalist wing, headed by the "ill-famous" Leo Laukki, had been engaged in "spreading all kinds of slanderous charges against the Finnish Socialist Federation among the English comrades" and that they had been likewise speaking in a derogatory manner about the majority of the Socialist Party itself. Laukki is characterized as a "shrewd politician" and an opportunistic charlatan who had posed as a Socialist merely to gain employment in a party institution upon coming to America. "When the Federation at its National Convention at Smithville, Minn., in July 1912 decided to stand firmly for international socialist principles and by a great majority rejected the syndicalistic ideas, Mr. Laukki, and his followers started the cry that the whole organization is rotten, and that it is lead by a few blind leaders who do not know and do not care anything about Socialism," Ollikainen charges, adding that an "underground movement" had been formed to "capture" the Finnish Socialist daily Työmies for the syndicalists. When the attempt on Työmies failed, the syndicalists established their own paper, Ollikainen notes. He also charges that Laukki and the syndicalists "captured about 30 locals, mostly in Minnesota, and the controlled the Socialist Party of Minnesota for the last two years and a half and the result was that the membership fell down nearly 3,000. Now they charge the Finnish Federation for their own fault."

"Why I Am Against Conscription: An Open Letter to Members of Congress," by John Reed [April 21, 1917] In the wake of American entry into the European war and the introduction of legislation calling for military conscription, war correspondent and future Communist Labor Party leader John Reed published this open letter to members of Congress detailing the reasons for his opposition to the draft. Reed characterizes military conscription as un-democratic, physically unsound, unnecessary, and un-American. "Conscription not only drills men's bodies, but their minds. It makes them obedient to authority, whether right or wrong; takes away their power to think originally; makes them expert with guns, and therefore, eager to use them; and gives them a hatred of independent thought and contempt for human life," Reed asserts. Reed argues that the pending legislation "means inevitably universal military training, which is only universal military service in disguise. And that means that instead of being free to work for a larger measure of democratic progress in this country, American democrats must devote all their energies and their resources to fighting the extension of militarism in their country."

"Letter to the Editor of New Times," by A.L. Sugarman [April 28, 1917] The State Secretary of the Socialist Party of Minnesota, a Left Winger and card-carrying member of the IWW, takes issue here with the April 7, 1917, letter to Minneapolis Socialist weekly New Times by Henry Ollikainen. Sugarman charges that Ollikainen misrepresented the views of the revolutionary socialist Left Wing -- the so-called "Reds" -- in his letter, which he held actually differed from the the constructive socialist moderates as follows: "The difference lies chiefly in the fact that whereas the Reds want to educate the proletariat, the Yellows wish to elect aldermen. The Reds say that a political campaign is essentially a device of education, a trick to take advantage of the state of the public mind at elections to pound home the message of revolt; the Yellows say it is chiefly an attempt to gain power. The former adopt the logical course; an educated working class will not need to be told how to vote. The latter puts the cart after the horse; secures a vote, and then tries to teach the voter." Sugarman claims that only an insignificant minority of the Left Wing did not believe in any form of political action and invites the constructive socialists to back up their theoretical advocacy of the principles of industrial unionism with concrete action "by endorsing the one organization that stands for it" -- the IWW. Sugarman also charges that a bloc-voting Finnish "machine" is behind the effort to recall him as State Secretary as part of its effort to seize "control."

"Stand United!" [editorial by the Appeal to Reason] [April 28, 1917] The radical anti-militarist policy of the 1917 St. Louis Convention of the Socialist Party is met with approval in this editorial from the Appeal to Reason, probably authored by editor Louis Kopelin. The paper's longstanding policy is reaffirmed: "As a consistent and militant opponent of militarism, the Appeal has fought this war from the beginning and to the very last. Even though the controlled press has lashed Congress and the administration into declaring war against Germany, the Appeal can not and will not lend its support to this conflict. The Appeal is not disloyal to the government of the United States. The Appeal has no sympathies for the ruling class of Germany or of any other country. In the best sense the Appeal is pro-American and consequently pro-humanity." Kopelin notes that "We feel convinced that the present war is the inevitable result of the determination of American capitalists to carry on business as usual in spite of the military operations abroad." Kopelin urges the united effort of the Socialist Party in this moment of crisis: "At this time there ought not to be carping criticism of the various schools of thought and action. The forces of reaction are united and are working day and night. Let us not weaken the cause of humanity and Socialism by foolish and futile heresy hunts. We need the help of everyone who is in favor of overthrowing the present system of industry with its horrible results, such as war, prostitution, poverty, and the like."

"Dr. M. Goldfarb Will Return to Work in Russia: Revolution Has Opened Way for Him to Continue Work for the Bund, Halted in 1913 by the Romanov Autocracy -- He is Member of ACW of A." (news article in Advance) [May 18, 1917] News story from the American labor press detailing the return to his homeland of radical Russian Jewish activist Max Goldfarb, better known to history by his later Comintern pseudonym of "A.J. Bennett." Goldfarb was brought to America in the summer of 1913 to lecture the Jewish Federation of the Socialist Party of America, the article notes, and was now returning to revolutionary Russia as part of a group of 20 to 30 expatriates at the expense of the Provisional Government. The article indicates that Goldfarb entered the revolutionary movement through the Bund in the town of Berdichev in 1902, that he emigrated in 1903 to study in Paris, and that he had returned during the 1905 revolution to fight for Russian freedom on behalf of the Bund. After the failure of the revolution, Goldfarb had served 3 months in prison, before going abroad as a delegate to the 5th Congress of the RSDLP in London in 1907. Goldfarb had returned to Russia, where he gave measured public lectures between 1910 and 1913, attempting for election to the Duma on behalf of the Bund. Goldfarb had been imprisoned once more at the end of 1912 before being sponsored in America as a speaker and organizer for the JSF and the American Clothing Workers of America.

"The Majority Report," by Eugene V. Debs [May 26, 1917] Socialist Party leader Gene Debs lets fly here with both barrels at the "hitherto prominent members of the party" who attacked the majority resolution on war and militarism adopted at the St. Louis Convention as "treasonable." Debs declares: "We have not a bit of patience for this charge. To us it seems base and cowardly. Let the capitalist press, and not our own comrades, bring this charge. There are time when it is 'treasonable' to be law-abiding and when to be 'treasonable' is to be true to revolutionary principles and to the cause of humanity. We are aware without being reminded by our own comrades that the charge of treason may be brought against us by the servile hirelings of Wall Street who can construe the law to fasten the charge of treason upon any undesirable citizen, and that, like Karl Liebknecht, we may be put in jail or have to face a firing squad, but we would rather a thousand times meet such a fate than to be craven and cowardly as to resort to parlor tactics when red hell threatens to engulf us for feat of being deemed 'treasonable' by the wolves of Wall Street." Debs parries the charge that the St. Louis Resolution is "Pro-German": "We are neither pro-German nor pro-Ally. We are Socialists, international Socialists, and we have no use, not one bit, for capitalist wars. We have no enemies among the workers of other countries; and no friends among the capitalists of any country; the workers of all countries are our friends and the capitalists of all countries are our enemies. The class war is our war and our only war." Debs accuses the opponents of the St. Louis Resolution of lining up with "the vultures of Wall Street" and the most reactionary elements of the American foreign policy establishment in their support of the war. Debs heartily endorses the St. Louis majority report in the face of a split of the SPA's Right Wing, declaring: "We are for the majority report. It states our position in plain terms and we propose to stand by it. Those who believe that it is 'treasonable' and fear to be suspected of treason to capitalism, and those who believe that Wall Street is waging war to free the working class and democratize the world may leave the party but the party will live, it will appeal as never before to red-blooded Socialists, and it will bear its revolutionary banner proudly forward to victory."

"Thou Art Not Dead, O Liberty! While Plutocratic Interests Prussianize the United States, True Americans Who Believe in Democracy and Peace Hold Inspiring Conference at New York, and Organize Permanent People's Council to Fight for Freedom in this Country," [unsigned article in the Appeal to Reason] [events of May 30-31, 1917] This article from the Appeal to Reason reports on the establishment of the People's Council by the 1st American Conference for Peace and Democracy, held in New York City on May 30 and 31, 1917. The founding convention was addressed by Socialist stalwarts Morris Hillquit and Victor Berger, as well as Rev. Jenkin Lloyd Jones, Judah L. Magnes, Scott Nearing, and Lola M. LaFollette, daughter of Sen. Robert LaFollette. Topics of discussion included America's aims in the world war' conscription and the safety of free speech, free assemblage, and a free press; protection of the rights of labor during the war; as well as the Russian revolution and its influence upon the international situation. The gathering concluded with a mass meeting at Madison Square Garden the night of May 31, 1917 -- attended by 20,000 sympathetic individuals.


1918

"Socialist Peace Plan Wins! President Wilson Adopts Bolsheviki Policy: Socialists of Nation Rally to Back Them Up," unsigned article from St. Louis Labor [meeting of Jan. 13, 1918] After the overthrow of the Tsarist autocracy in November 1917, the perspective of many of the American Left turned from a position of unalterable hostility to American participation in the World War to one of critical support. On Jan. 13, 1918, Local St. Louis, Socialist Party, held a mass meeting at which the keynote speech was given by Irwin St. John Tucker. This unsigned news report from St. Louis Labor reports on the meeting and its extensive resolution adopted, which hailed Wilson's adoption of "the Bolsheviki policy of appealing to the radical forces in Germany against the forces of their own militarist caste." The resolution declares that "It is evident that the salvation of the world depends on the overthrow of the German militarist and junker party by the Socialist movement in their own land. President Wilson has recognized this, and his utterances tend steadily toward that end." The resolution continues that "President Wilson has followed the steps taken by the Russian Bolsheviki toward the realization of this great hope of the destruction of the cause of war, by making the principal aim of the strategy of the world the final overthrow of the militarist and imperialists classes by the Socialist, radical, and liberal forces." It adds that "In order that this judgment of the people may be intelligently formed and adequately expressed, we demand the restoration in this country of the right of free press, free speech, free assemblage, free petition, convinced that only by this means can the forces of justice and right unite the world over to overthrow the dark and bloody power of absolutism."

"Statement to the American Socialist Movement when Sentence was Affirmed," by Alfred Wagenknecht [circa Jan. 17, 1918] In July of 1917, leading Ohio Socialists Alfred Wagenknecht, C.E. Ruthenberg, and Charles Baker were sentenced to 1 year in jail on charges of having obstructed the draft by making anti-militarist speeches. This sentence was upheld by the Supreme Court on Jan. 15, 1918. This is the statement which Wagenknecht published in the radical monthly The International Socialist Review at the time of his incarceration. Wagenknecht boldly declares: "There's no fear of prison written on the face of sentenced Socialists.... In a day, the "underdogs" of Russia became the rulers of the land. In a day the overburdened, overworked, bent Russian straightened up, cast the parasites from his back, took a deep breath, and said: 'This is my Russia.' Only a year in jail! We gladly make the sacrifice. It is about the least we can do as our part in the work of freeing the workers from their masters."

"Open Letter to George Goebel, SPA NEC member, in Newark, NJ, from Louis Kopelin, Editor of The New Appeal, in Girard, KS, January 19, 1918." The Appeal to Reason did not change its name or its line on American participation in the world war until December of 1917, at which time it signed on to Woodrow Wilson's effort with little hesitation. This open letter from Appeal to Reason editor Louis Kopelin to Socialist Party National Executive Committee members George Goebel in reply to Goebel's inquiry for clarification illuminates the social-patriotic turn of the Kansas weekly. Kopelin states that while he hates war as much as he ever had in his 15 years in the Socialist movement, Wilson's declaration of democratic war aims on Dec. 4, 1917, had turned the tide. Kopelin writes: "I felt that the White House would be led to believe that the country did not care a snap about a democratic statement of aims because the newspapers and telegrams would feature the belligerent part of the address. I therefore came to the conclusion that so far as our paper was concerned we would stand by the President so long as he stood by a democratic peace such as we advocated. I telegraphed him to that effect." Kopelin asks "if the proposals made by the Bolsheviki, the United States, and Great Britain, are answered with a tremendous military offensive on soil not belonging to Germany, what in God's name are we to do? How can any sane and active Socialist or Socialist newspaper remain aloof in this greatest of all human crimes?"

"Our National Executive Committee," by Ludwig Lore [late Jan. 1918] This editorial appeared in Ludwig Lore's magazine The Class Struggle, one of the first proto-communist periodicals in the United States. Lore notes that some 9 weeks after the Bolshevik Revolution in Russia, the timid NEC of the Socialist Party of America (Berger, Hillquit, Work, Stedman, and Maley) had yet to take a stand. In contrast to the decisive positions of European socialist parties, Lore charges that the American NEC "preferred to wait for developments in Russia, to see whether or not the Bolsheviki would be maintained in power." Lore declares for a new orientation for the SPA: "In the new epoch of severe social struggles into which the world is evolving, the Socialist movement of the world, and certainly that of the United States, will sorely need the socialist clearness, the revolutionary determination, the proletarian fearlessness and consistency of the Bolsheviki. Spirit and tactics of the Third International will be permeated with the spirit of the Bolsheviki, or it will cease to be. The new election of the National Executive that is already under way gives the Socialists of the United States the opportunity to "do their bit" in preparing the Socialist movement to cope with the problems that are awaiting it."

"Leaflet of the Socialist Propaganda League for a Meeting Held in New York City, Feb. 15, 1918." Machine-readable approximation of a promotional leaflet touting a mass meeting hosted by the Socialist Propaganda League (publishers of the proto-Communist journal, The Class Struggle). The "monster mass meeting" was entitled "Bolsheviki and World Peace," with a purpose of explaining "the international aspirations of the Bolsheviki." Speakers at the free meeting at the Harlem Casino on 116th St. in NYC were to include Louis Fraina, Ludwig Lore, and Nicholas Hourwich, with Justis Ebert sitting in the Chair.

"Food Kaisers," by J. Louis Engdahl [March 1918] Organizational Leaflet No. 15 of the Socialist Party of America. In this newsprint agitational leaflet Left Wing journalist Louis Engdahl takes aim at the "five food kaisers" controlling the supply of meat in America -- Swift, Armour, Morris, Cudahy, and Wilson. Engdahl proclaims there is "no hope from the old parties" in curbing the excesses of the meat oligopoly and cites figures to demonstrate the great increase in profits of the meat industry during the war year of 1917. "Millions dying of neglect, millions on the brink of starvation, millions on the hunger line, other millions, even up into the ranks of the middle class; all help swell the increasing demand for liberation from the greatest evil of all ages -- THE PROFIT SYSTEM," Engdahl declares.

"State Convention," by Alexis E. Georgian [March 2, 1918] In the aftermath of the Feb. 23-25, 1918 State Convention of the Socialist Party of Minnesota, constructive Socialist newspaper editor Alexis Georgian reflects upon the factional situation in Minnesota and across America. Georgian rejects the one-sided terminology of the "two fairly distinct factions" as "Reds" and "Yellows" -- instead opting to call them the "minority" and "majority" factions, respectively. Georgian states that there were two main points of departure between the constructive Socialist "majority" and the revolutionary Socialist "minority" factions: the place of immediate demands in the program and the question of recognition of the IWW. With regards to immediate demands, Georgian argues quite lucidly that those seeking to delete them from the Socialist program are "Utopians," likening the Socialist Party's pursuit of immediate demands in the political arena to the IWW's "daily struggle for immediate demands" in the economic sphere. "They can readily understand that it is only by waging a constant struggle on the industrial field for immediate demands to better the present condition of the workers that their organization is strengthened and that the workers acquire the necessary experience, intelligence, and numbers to accomplish the overthrow of capitalism," Georgian declares. As to the second question, Georgian states that the constructive Socialist "majority" faction already recognizes the superiority of industrial unionism over craft unionism, meeting the IWW more than half way, "but this does not satisfy the minority. They must have an endorsement of the IWW organization." Georgian believes this impossible unless and until "the IWW cease their opposition to independent political action of the working class."

"Resolution of the Executive Committee of the First United Russian Convention Sent to President Woodrow Wilson, March 4, 1918." This is the resolution sent by the first plenary session of the Executive Committee of the "First United Russian Convention," an organization which brought together liberal, socialist, and anarchist members of the "Russian colony" in America, claiming to represent members of some 200 organizations. The resolution declares "the Executive Committee of the First United Russian Convention in America expresses its deep indignation against the prospective attack on revolutionary Russia with the consent of the allies and declares that any intervention of Japan in the internal affairs of Russia regardless of the form of such intervention is nothing more than a badly disguised attempt to take advantage of the embarrassing situation of Russia in order to suppress in alliance with the German imperialists the struggle of the Russian proletariat for the liberation of the whole world from the yoke of capitalism." Three of the 5 signatories were prominent members of the Communist movement -- Gregory Weinstein (of the Russian Soviet Government Bureau and the Communist Labor Party), Alexander Stoklitsky (Translator-Secretary of the Russian Socialist Federation and founding member of the Communist Party of America), and Nicholas Hourwich (editor of Novyi Mir and founding member of the CPA).

"Special Socialist National Convention Proposed by Local St. Louis, Mo." [March 14, 1918] On March 4, 1918, Local St. Louis, SPA, passed a resolution calling on the National Executive Committee to "call a special national convention of the party, to be held not later than the second week in June of this year, time and place to be fixed by the NEC." This letter of March 14 to the NEC announced this decision and asserts that "the Russian situation and other most vital questions affecting the present and future policy and attitude of our national and international movement" demands "our close and conscientious consideration, which can only be given by the representatives of our Socialist Party from all parts of the country in national convention assembled." The letter was distributed to the Socialist press and a call made for the various State Secretaries of the SPA to take up the call for a special convention of the party in their own states.

"Benson Scores Proposal to Withdraw US Army," by Allan L. Benson [April 6, 1918] In this article published in the pro-war New Appeal, former Socialist Presidential candidate Allan Benson voices his desire that the Socialist Party restate its position on the European conflict. "I have no reason to doubt that American Socialists are as loyal to the Allied cause as are any other Americans," Benson declares. Benson states that "tremendous excitement attendant upon the outbreak of war unsettled many judgments" at the party's 1917 St. Louis Emergency National Convention, that war profiteering was being combatted by the Wilson administration, and that Wilson "has given every indication of his desire to end the war on just terms, and we may be sure that he will continue this policy to the end."

"Karl Marx the Man: An Appreciation," by Eugene V. Debs [May 4, 1918] Eugene Debs is best remembered by many as a self-styled revolutionary Christian Socialist. The fact is, however, that Debs was at the same time a Marxian international socialist, a publisher of an edition of "The Communist Manifesto" back in 1901. In this article, published in St. Louis Labor, Debs pays tribute to Marx on the 100th anniversary of his birth: "Karl Marx as a scientific and scholarly investigator, writer and author in the field of economic, political, and social research, stands preeminent before the world. As the triumphant awakener of the long asleep and the revolutionary leader of the long-enslaved masses of mankind he towers above us a titan and without a peer in history. But it is in his character as a man that he stands supreme and challenges the respect and love, the admiration and emulation of the modern world.... Marx the Man towered even above Marx the intellectual titan of his day. Stern, inflexible, self-forgetting, and rigidly scrupulous and honest, he presents to us today the inspiring figure of a man." Marx's self-abnegation and unflinching commitment to the socialist cause brings Debs' most glowing compliments: "Had he but consented to negotiate, to bargain, to compromise with the ruling powers he and his loved ones would never have been driven into the desert and compelled to eat in cold and hunger and tears the bitter bread of poverty and exile. But Karl Marx was immeasurably above and beyond temptation; his loft character disdained all dickering and temporizing, he stood at all times and in all situations inflexible as granite in his moral rectitude, and though he and his dear ones might be thrown into the street and perish of cold and starvation, he would not, could not pervert or prostitute his ideas and ideals, the children of his brain and soul."

"The Right Socialist Platform," by Carl D. Thompson [May 4, 1918] Christian Socialist Carl Thompson hails the program of the February 1918 Inter-Allied Socialist and Labor Conference as "the most logical, constructive, and consistently socialistic program that has so far appeared" in this article published in the pro-war New Appeal. Thompson notes the conference's endorsement of the policy and war aims of the Woodrow Wilson administration and its declaration that it is "inflexibly resolved to fight until victory is achieved" for these principles -- "the continuance of the struggle that the world may henceforth be made safe for democracy." Thompson urges the Socialist Party to take this "practical, constructive, statesmanlike" position, which Thompson asserts is furthermore "thoroughly consistent with the principles of Socialism." Thompson throws down the gauntlet to his party, announcing that "from this time on, I am for the vigorous prosecution of the war until we have secured a peace based upon the principles laid down by the Inter-Allied Socialist and Labor Conference and affirmed by President Wilson."

"Socialists Must Clean House or Begin Anew." [editorial in The New Appeal] [May 18, 1918] New Appeal Editor Louis Kopelin ratchets up the rhetoric with this editorial in the pro-war Socialist weekly, accusing the Socialist Party's leadership of pro-Germanism: "The Kaiser, Von Hertling, Hindenburg, and Ludendorff could not have devised a more cunning and hypocritical excuse to avert an expression of a majority than Hillquit, Berger, Stedman, and Germer, the bosses of the Socialist Party, have just announced to prevent the rank and file of the American Socialists from repudiating the un-American and anti-internationalist platform adopted by the party convention last year." By rejecting reconsideration of the Socialist Party's war program established by its 1917 St. Louis Emergency National Convention, Kopelin shrilly asserts that the "wreckers of the Socialist Party and the besmirchers of the name of Socialism" have prevented the party "from taking its rightful place in the worldwide struggle against autocracy and militarism." The St. Louis Resolution is dismissed as a "pro-German...official pronunciamento of an organization claiming to be the Socialist Party of America." Kopelin demands either a purge of the party's leadership or a split of the organization: "The New Appeal, as the leading organ of the Socialists of America, publicly calls attention to this situation and demands that the party either purge itself of its disloyal platform and leaders or prepare itself for a new political alignment that will serve both our country and the cause and not the disloyalists and Central Powers." Kopelin appeals both to the "Americanism" and the "internationalism" of his readers in rallying "to the support of our country and the Western European democracies in their life and death struggle against the most ruthless and powerful military despotism in human history."

"The Russian Revolution and the Germans [excerpt]," by Eugene V. Debs [May 18, 1918] The pro-war Right of the Socialist Party attempts to wrap themselves in the mantle of popular party leader Gene Debs with this tendentiously-introduced excerpt. Debs declares the war situation to be "radically different" for the Socialist Party in the wake of the Bolshevik revolution and decries the failure of the German Socialist movement to rise up against the German autocracy. "The German war lords, their junker allies, and the military hordes that do their bidding, no longer are in disguise with reference to the Bolsheviki. They have shown to the world beyond cavil that they propose to annihilate social democracy in Russia and reduce that great people to a nation of vassals. That is their naked, shameless purpose, in violation of their own treaty, and with but feeble protest on the part of the German people." Debs continues in this harshly critical vein: "The Russian revolution may be crushed, the unarmed proletariat overwhelmed, and the noble and aspiring peasants and workers reduced to vassals; the Bolsheviki may be overthrown, and the nascent democracy may lie weltering in its own blood and ruins; province after province may be wrested from a subjugated and helpless people; Poland may be outraged, Finland seized, and Bohemia persecuted; Liebknecht and Rosa Luxemburg may be thrown into prison; every Socialist aspiration may be strangled and every blood-bought democracy ground beneath the iron heel of the Kaiser, but the German people may not audibly protest. The much-vaunted social democratic movement of Kaiserland is as helpless as if it consisted of so many babes."

"So Long, Louis! Our Hearts Are With You!" by Emanuel Haldeman-Julius [June 8, 1918] New editor of The New Appeal, Emanuel Haldeman-Julius, bids farewell to former editor of the paper Louis Kopelin, headed from his home in southeastern Kansas to service in the American Army in the European war. No sooner has Kopelin melodramatically been waved out of town by Haldeman-Julius than the future father of the "Little Blue Books" has moved into his patented crass hucksterism: "You are going to be given a chance to show your loyalty to The New Appeal right now. I want you to demonstrate your conviction that The New Appeal should climb to new achievements, to new victories. You will do this by going among your friends and getting them to subscribe for this paper -- you will do it NOW, so that I can send word to Louis that the Army is standing by and there will be not the slightest let-up.... Undoubtedly you little expected The New Appeal to give copies of its Socialist Classics as premiums for subscriptions, but it is true. The New Appeal wants to spread the good message of international democracy and Socialism and it wants your help. Get busy today and secure four 20-week subscriptions at 25 cents each, making a dollar for the four subscriptions. Send us the dollar and the book you covet will be sent postpaid by return mail. There are 12 volumes in this set and you will want to get all of them."

"Beware of Red Flag Exploiters! An Editorial from St. Louis Labor," by G.A. Hoehn [Nov. 30, 1918] In this editorial in St. Louis Labor, Editor Gus Hoehn condemns the recent unprovoked attack of a New York mob of soldiers and sailors on a peaceful meeting featuring Scott Nearing -- and their attempting to blame the victims for the violence. "The fact of the matter is that the meeting did proceed peacefully and adjourned peacefully, and it was not until the exits were opened to let the thousands of people out quietly and peacefully that the soldiers and sailors broke through the lines of police officers and brutally attacked the men, women, and children. Women were brutally beaten because they wore red roses in their hair or red carnations in their coats. Men were knocked down because they wore red neckties, etc." The New York police were to blame for their inability to contain the "uniformed rowdyism" of the Right Wing mob. This violence was glorified in the capitalist press, Hoehn notes, "because their masters need these riots. Because their capitalist masters want to exploit these riots as a means of propaganda not only against the European revolutions, but against the American Socialist and Labor movement!" Indeed, it was not the participants who were to blame, in Hoehn's view, but rather the capitalist puppeteers pulling the strings: "Don't blame those soldier and sailor boys in New York for what they did; but look for the powers behind the scenes that managed the 'Red Flag Riots' for national and worldwide stage effect!"

CLICK THE LOGO AT THE TOP OF THE PAGE TO GO TO THE EARLY AMERICAN MARXISM WEBSITE.