Foreign Language Federations (1890 - 1930) - Armenian

 

Armenian group of the United Communist Party
In December of 1920 there was but a single primary party unit ("Group") in the United Communist Party using the Armenian language, located in New York City.

[fn: DoJ/BoI Investigative Files, NARA M-1085, reel 940, doc. 501 -- downloadable below.]

 
The UCP did publish its program in an Armenian language edition in 1920, one of 16 languages in which it did this.

 

Armenian Section of the Workers Party of America
There was a factional division among the Armenian workers sympathetic to the Comintern in the early 1920s. Two organizations competed with each other, the Armenian Workers Party and the former Social Democratic Hunchakist Party.
On December 27, 1923, the battle between these two organizations for the mantle of the CI was taken up by the Executive Committee of the Comintern, which adopted a resolution demanding that Comrade Sunarin and his group which had bolted the Workers Party return to party ranks. An Armenian Conference was additionally to be carried out following the convocation of the WPA's 3rd Convention at the end of December 1923. This conference was to definitely form the Armenian Section of the Workers Party.
The CEC of the WPA set Feb. 22, 1924 as the date and Boston the locale for the convention to form the Armenian Section of the WPA. The Armenian section would be the 18th language group of the WPA.
The Armenian Federation of the Workers Party had branches in New York; Los Angeles; San Francisco; Chicago; Detroit; Boston; East Boston; Worcester, MA; Watertown, MA; Toledo, OH; Hopewell, VA; Providence, RI; Ambridge, PA; Lawrence, MA, Granite City, IL; and Indiana Harbor, IN.


1. Unity Convention --- Boston, MA --- Feb. 22, 1924.
Therer were a total of 38 delegates to the Unity Convention -- 19 delegates from 16 branches of the "Armenian Federation of the Workers Party, Social Democratic Huntchakist" and 19 delegates from 16 branches of the Armenian Workers Party, which had not been affiliated with the WPA prior to the convention.
The unity program was proposed by C.E. Ruthenberg, who represented the WPA at the convention. Provisions of the agreeement called for recognition of both groups and issuance of membership cards and dues stamps to both groups; a requirement that within 3 months the branches of the two groups would merge into a single organization, with one branch in each city; a requirement that a Bureau be elected by each of the groups under condition of a prohibition of factional activity, including letters and circulars. At the end of the 3 month period, the CEC of the WPA was to either appoint a Bureau to represent the United Armenian Section or call an new convention. Branches or individuals failing to carry out or hindering execution of the unity program were to be subject to expulsion from the WPA.

The Secretary of the Armenian Bureau of the WPA at the start of 1925 was N.S. Keosseian of New York City.