Update 11-02: Sunday, September 11, 2011.
"Open Letter to Theodore Debs of the Social Democratic Party in Chicago from William Butscher of the Social Democratic Party in Springfield, Dec. 15, 1900." The road to unity between the two organizations calling themselves the Social Democratic Party of America was neither simple nor the road straight. Despite fielding a joint ticket of Debs (Chicago SDP) and Harriman (Springfield SDP) in the November 1900 Presidential campaign, obstacles remained to the achievement of organic unity of the two parties. This letter from Springfield SDP Executive Secretary William Butscher to his de facto counterpart in the Chicago organization, Theodore Debs, urges the latter organization to drop its hesitance to unification. Butscher notes that while some party leaders "were busy arguing on the line of rejecting union for the sake of unity and analyzing the spirit of their fellow workers in the field of Socialism, the rank and file of the Social Democrats saw nothing but the approaching national campaign, and joined hands in the battle against the common foe -- capitalism." Butscher notes that the rank-and-file in the state of Illinois had forced a complete united ticket in that state over the heads of the national leadership in Chicago. Butscher expresses concern over the motivation behind a newly slated January 15, 1901 convention of the Chicago organization. "To wantonly split our movement just now is an act against our great obligation, a crime against this country, and you are apparently willing to doubly commit this iniquity in your manifest efforts to make the discord in the Socialist ranks permanent," Butscher declares, and he asks for a postponement until the rank and file is allowed to state its opinion on the unity question.
"An Address to Populists Setting Forth the Difference between the Populist Movement and the Socialist Movement — Populists Should Join the SDP, but They Must Realize What It Means," by "Wage Earner" [Jan. 5, 1901] A lengthy appeal from the Springfield Social Democratic Party paper St. Louis Labor, calling for disaffected left wing members of the faltering People's Party to join the Social Democratic Party of America. The tepid program of the People's Party is the subject of scorn here: "The Middle-of-the-Road platform upholds individualism; the private ownership of capital; the competitive system; the profit system; wage slavery, and ignores the class struggle," the author notes, adding that the platform is merely providing lip service for a dying class. "The middle class capitalist will be completely buried within the next four years," the author predicts. "No power on earth can save him. The evolution of civilization has decreed the extinction of the middle class." To the currency reform obsessed Populists, the author submits a highly utopian alternative: "Under socialism, private ownership and barter in capital being at an end, money would lose the functions which it possessed under capitalism and would be abolished. The Socialists propose to use non-transferable labor certificates which each individual would receive in an amount equal to his per capita proportion of the annual national product."
Letter to Theodore Debs, National Secretary of the "Chicago" Social Democratic Party from William Butscher, National Secretary of the "Springfield" Social Democratic Party, April 18, 1901. Further correspondence between the head of the ex-SLP "Springfield" Social Democratic Party and his counterpart atop the ex-SDA "Chicago" organization. Butscher acknowledges the receipt from Theodore Debs (brother of Gene Debs) of a convention call for a Unity Convention approved by the membership of the Chicago organization. "While your party was voting upon your call, our party, by practically unanimous vote, adopted a resolution, a copy of which I enclose and which, you will notice, calls for a general convention of the Socialists in terms similar to those in your call," Butscher notes, adding "It is with great pleasure that we exercise the authority conferred on us by the said resolution and accept your invitation for a joint unity convention." The two organizations would subsequently unite with a couple smaller grouplets as the Socialist Party of America.
"Constitution of the Socialist Party of Washington." [as adopted by referendum vote, Nov. 15, 1901]. The early Socialist Party of America was a federation of state organizations, with a loose and delimited central organization. This is the first state constitution adopted by what would emerge as one of the strongest state organizations of the Debsian era, the Socialist Party of Washington. The primary party unit of the SPW was the local, consisting of 5 or more members "believing in the principles of revolutionary Socialism." Dues consisting of 10 cents per member per month were to be paid directly by the local to the State Committee, with the Local Secretary maintaining the membership list and reporting names of officers and reports on the status of the local every six months. No provisions are made for the use of party cards or dues stamps. The SPW was to be governed by annual conventions, which would establish the headquarters city for the state organization. For more on the Socialist Party of Washington, see Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Socialist_Party_of_Washington
"Introduction to the Official Report of the Chicago Convention," by John Reed and Benjamin Gitlow [circa Sept. 15, 1919] Close political associates Reed and Gitlow, hardline anti-Russian Federation folk, provide here an introduction to an official publication of the Communist Labor Party detailing the events of its founding convention for its members. The pair call for an end to the six months of "ceaseless bickering" between Right and Left which dominated discourse in the old Socialist Party and which now seemed to be continuing between the CLP and the rival Communist Party of America. "The vast bulk of the Party membership, we are sure, from whatever part of the country it may come, is with us. Our Convention, in which there were regularly elected delegates from 22 states — including the solid West — proves that the revolutionary rank and file of the old Socialist movement in this country has lined up with the Communist Labor Party," Reed and Gitlow declare. They add that Federation autonomy has been eliminated in the CLP, whereas in the CPA no language branch could remain a member without first being a member of its associated language group. The CLP stood ready to unify with the CPA, however, Reed and Gitlow noted, despite four rejected appeals for unity on an equal basis made to the CPA in Chicago.
"The Capitalists Challenge You, Workingmen! Proclamation of the Communist Party of America." [Oct. 1919] This is one of the first agitational leaflets produced and circulated by the Communist Party of America, directed at striking steel workers in Gary, Indiana. In response to what had been a successful strike, troops were dispatched to the city, which the Communist Party attempted to make into an object lesson of the nature of class rule: "The Steel Trust was in danger of being beaten. It might have to submit before the power of the workers. To save itself it brought into the field the instrument forged by the capitalists to uphold their system of exploitation and oppression, the State, which in spite of all its democratic pretensions is but the physical expression of the Dictatorship of the Capitalist Class. WORKINGMEN OF THE UNITED STATES, THE CAPITALISTS ARE CHALLENGING YOU! They are demonstrating before your very eyes that the governmental power is theirs, for use against you when you dare strike against the enslavement which they force upon you."
"The German-Speaking Branches in New York: Most of the German-Speaking Comrades True to the Socialist Party are Reorganizing — Others Divide Up Between Communist and Communist Labor Parties," by G.A. Hoehn [Oct. 1, 1919] Socialist Party Regular G.A. "Gus" Hoehn, editor of St. Louis Labor, gets his German-American readership up to date with affairs in the Socialist Party's German-language branches in New York in the aftermath of the September 1919 party split. Hoehn details the story of Ludwig Lore, formerly an IWW organizer who became Herman Schlueter's successor as editor of the daily newspaper of the German Federation, the New Yorker Volkszeitung. "When John Reed, Fraina, and others decided to put the Socialist Party on wings, Lore joined the 'Left Wing,' which was his privilege. But he always pretended he would defend the unity of the Socialist Party and his only object was to get the party into a radical revolutionary position," Hoehn writes. With the split, Lore went with the Communist Labor Party established by Alfred Wagenknecht and his associates, publishing accounts of the CLP convention in the Volkszeitung. As a result, Hoehn notes, many German branches of New York went over to the CLP en bloc, having received no legitimate information from the Socialist Party in the Lore-dominated daily. Hoehn was brought to New York by SPA loyalists from September 20 to 26, 1919, to represent the party's position in person to the German branches, being joined at a large meeting on Sunday, September 21 by Executive Secretary Adolph Germer. The CLP and CPA also had representatives in attendance to state the cases of those organizations. The end result of the debates was a split of the German-language branches between SPA and CLP branches, with the latter retaining control of the Volkszeitung. Hoehn nevertheless held up hope that error would be recognized and that the supporters of the Communist movement would subsequently return.
"Confidential Circular Letter of the CPA’s “Proletarian Club” Minority to its Supporters." [circa Oct. 15, 1919] A split of the Communist Party of America between its rather incongruous "Federationist" and "Marxian Educationalist" factions seems to have been in the cards from the date of the organization's establishment, owing in large measure to the latter group's certainty of its ideological correctness and revulsion for the idea of compromise. This document, preserved by the Justice Department's Bureau of Investigation, moves back the origins of the split which lead to the formation of the Proletarian Party of America back into early October 1919 -- mere weeks after the formation of the CPA in Chicago. On October 5, 1919, a joint session of the (interlocking) Board of Control of the Proletarian University and Board of Directors of The Proletarian was held to determine the future course of the Keracher/Socialist Party of Michigan/Educationalist faction. A split was clearly in the offing: "It was the consensus of opinion at our meeting that the time is not ripe for the lunching of a new party embodying our views; it appears to be advisable to defer action until such time as the issues was forced upon us, or until we had developed sufficiently in strength to make the venture a success. In the meantime, the intention is to proceed with the work of strengthening and unifying the groups now in existence, and organizing and assisting groups." The time of the forthcoming split was carefully planned: "The question then arises: When will be the most fitting time to launch a party such as we favor? Should it happen that the issues is not forced upon us prematurely, it appears that the ideal moment would be immediately preceding the national convention of the present parties. This would mean that we should be prepared to act in May 1920. This allows ample time for preliminary organization; so that we may have the framework of the new organization prepared, and have on hand funds necessary for carrying on propaganda and organization work on a national scale."
"Letter to Johnson H. Meek in Yarrow, MO from William L. Garver, State Secretary of the SP of Missouri in Springfield, MO, October 16, 1919." The State Secretary of the Socialist Party of Missouri William Garver justifies the Socialist Party of America's decision to proceed to a split at its 1919 Emergency National Convention in this letter to a party member elsewhere in the state. " Garver has confidence in the forthcoming 1920 political campaign and its prospects for success, something he deems which would have been "hampered and held back if the elements that have lost hope in political action had had a dominating influence in the party." While the Communists have abandoned the political process for "mass action," Garver professes his continued faith in an electoral road to power, declaring: "I contend that the American people can still use the ballot and get the police and army in their control through political action if they want to.... I am ready and willing to use force, but I want to have the public opinion of the masses of the people on our side when the force is used, and the only way to have it is to have the force clothed with the legal power. Let us get the police force and the army and navy in our power and on our side." Garver deplores the factional war waged by the Left Wing against the Regular, calling it "the most regrettable thing" the way in which "sincere comrades swallow without apparent question the accusations hurled at the old-time workers who for 20 or even 30 years have worked for the upbuilding of the Socialist Party. Along comes someone who has not had his ambition for leadership gratified and makes charges against the officials, and immediately the rank and file, who have developed such abnormal faculties of criticizing the exploiters and capitalists, cannot help but use the same critical faculties upon their own comrades."
"U.S. Senate Resolution No. 213." [adopted Oct. 17, 1919] J. Edgar Hoover's campaign for the arrest and deportation of alien radicals did not occur in a political vacuum, this resolution of the United States Senate makes clear. On October 14, 1919, conservative forces in the Senate introduced this resolution calling upon Attorney General Mitchell Palmer to "advise and inform the Senate whether or not the Department of Justice has taken legal proceedings for the arrest and deportation of aliens" who had "attempted to bring about the forcible overthrow of the Government of the United States" and "preached anarchy and sedition" in print and via the spoken work. This was, it was believed by the Senators, a exercise in pursuing "a deliberate plan and purpose to destroy existing property rights and to impede and obstruct the conduct of business essential to the prosperity and life of the community." The resolution passed the Senate three days later.
"Letter to E.M. Wormley in St. Joseph, MO from William L. Garver, State Secretary, Socialist Party of Missouri in Springfield, October 18, 1919." Open letter from the State Secretary of the Socialist Party of Missouri, William Garver, to a member of Local St. Joseph explaining the causes of the 1919 Left Wing split as he understood them. Garver places the main cause of the split in the explosive growth of the SPA's foreign language federations in the aftermath of the Russian and Hungarian revolutions. "Many members of these federations are not naturalized citizens of the country, could not vote, and as a natural result did not have much confidence in the vote ever getting anything. This was accentuated by the knowledge that the Russian and Hungarian revolutions had been secured without the vote. The feeling grew stronger and stronger that the vote was no good," Garver indicates. "About this time some members of the party who had given up hope in political action for quite a while coined the term Mass Action, and this term was taken up as showing a method better than political action," Garver adds, noting that this idea appealed to the federationists, who secretly named a slate in the elections for party office and voted for it en bloc. Acting upon evidence of gross irregularities, the results of this election were set aside, Garver continues, with an emergency convention called to settle the matter and "the old committee holding in the meantime, because they would naturally hold until their successors were seated."
"Confidential Letter to Anthony Caminetti in Washington, DC from J. Edgar Hoover in Washington, DC, Oct. 30, 1919." With political and popular pressure growing for the federal government to take action against alien radicals, J. Edgar Hoover, a young Special Assistant to Attorney General Mitchell Palmer, was eager to accommodate. This October 30 letter to immigration chief Anthony Caminetti notes that given the increased activities of the anarchist Union of Russian Workers, a determination had been made by the Department of Justice's Bureau of Investigation that "certain leaders of this organization should be taken into custody." Each local office of the BoI had received instructions to investigate the activities of the URW in its vicinity and to submit "affidavits setting forth the names of the secretaries, delegates, and organizers of each local" to the Attorney General's office no later than November 3, 1919. Hoover seeks Caminetti's cooperation in an envisioned mass operation in which warrants would be issued, arrests made, and prisoners turned over to immigration authorities for final disposition in bulk. This would ultimately be carried out in the evening of November 7, with the process ending with mass deportations aboard the Buford in January 1920.
"Telegram to Special Agents in Charge of Offices of the Bureau of Investigation from J. Edgar Hoover in Washington in the name of BoI Chief Frank Burke, November 6, 1919." While the so-called "Palmer Raids" of January 2/3, 1920 are best remembered by historians and in the public mind, this was actually the second of J. Edgar Hoover's mass dragnets against the non-citizen radicals in America. On November 7/8, 1919 a very similar operation was conducted on a smaller scale against the anarchist Union of Russian Workers organization. This cable from Hoover to the Special Agents in charge of Bureau of Investigation offices scattered around the country provides final details on the operation. The mass arrests are to take place at the "most opportune time" on Friday evening, November 7, Hoover instructs, with examinations by waiting immigration inspectors to follow immediately. Details of the operation were to be wired from each local BoI office to headquarters no later than 10 am on Saturday, November 8.
"Statistics of the Nov. 7, 1919 Operation Against the Union of Russian Workers: A Memorandum by J. Edgar Hoover." In January 1920, Special Assistant to the Attorney General J. Edgar Hoover, chief figure in the Wilson Administration's repressive activity against the non-citizen radical movement in the United States, was able to tally the statistics for the mass operation conducted against the anarchist political organization the Union of Russian Workers. This memorandum indicates that a total of 483 warrants against URW activists had been received from the Department of Labor, of which 387 were served on November 7. Actual arrests in the operation had nearly hit the 1100 mark, however, although only 435 were ultimately held for deportation. As of the January 22, 1920 date of this memorandum, 218 URW members had been ordered deported, with another 124 cases remaining pending. These numbers indicate that nearly 65% of those arrested in Hoover's November 7 operation were picked up without a warrant, although the big majority of these were never deported.
"Speech Honoring the 2nd Anniversary of the Bolshevik Revolution: Brownsville Labor Lyceum, NYC — Nov. 7, 1919," by James Oneal There are a number of reasons that the Socialist Party split in 1919. Not included on this list was any difference in viewpoint between Socialist Party Regulars and Left Wing Socialists over the nature and fundamental justice of the Bolshevik Revolution in Russia. This is absolutely not a matter of debate: both factions were strongly supportive of the October Revolution in 1919, with the Regulars only gradually moving to a position of hostility, particularly after the show trial of the Socialist Revolutionaries in 1922. This November 7, 1919 speech in honor of the 2nd anniversary of the Bolshevik by the most Regular of the Regulars, National Executive Committee member James Oneal reiterates the point. Oneal notes that it took from 1776 to 1783 -- seven years of "chaos, disorder, violence, and dissolution" -- for the celebrated American Revolution to consolidate itself. Despite the similarity of the American revolutionary process to its Russian counterpart, Oneal finds one important difference: "We are accustomed in this country to glorify all bourgeois revolutions, all capitalistic revolutions are glorified, are worshiped, but any revolution that proposes to emancipate working men and peasants, are denounced and are anathematized, and they try to strangle it in the blood of those who achieve them." Oneal declares that "in Russia the red banner of freedom flows above 150 million human beings, and it will stand as a beacon light to all the peoples of the world; and because it will serve as a beacon light, for that reason the diplomats and the bankers and the financial oligarchy and the international imperialists intend to crush it if they possibly can. Russia is an inspiration of the working class, to the working class of the world."
"Department of Justice Press Release on the Mass Arrest Campaign Against the Union of Russian Workers, Nov. 8, 1919." J. Edgar Hoover was never one to miss an opportunity to publicize his activities. This is the press release prepared by the Department of Justice for American newspapers explaining their coordinated mass raids against the anarchist Union of Russian Workers which took place in the evening of November 7. Hoover dutifully gives credit for the raids to his superiors, despite the fact that it was actually he who conceived and directed the operation. The lead of the statement reads: "More than 200 Russian Reds, one of them with all the materials for making a bomb in his possession, were taken into custody last night by Agents of the Department of Justice in a raid that covered more than 15 of the largest industrial centers of the country. The raids were made at the direction of A. Mitchell Palmer, Attorney General. Anthony Caminetti, Commissioner of Immigration, cooperated." The press release claims a rather implausible membership of 7,000 in 60 locals for the URW, and indicates the group -- called "even more radical than the Bolsheviki" -- was organized in New York in 1907 by a group of 11 men led by one William Szatow [Shatov], at present the Chief of Police of Petrograd." The seizure of bomb-making components from the room of a URW organizer in Trenton, New Jersey is particularly emphasized.
"Statement of the Experience of George A. Evans, a Former Teacher at the People’s House, 133 East 15th Street, Telling of the Brutal Treatment of the Police in the Raid Made There Nov. 7, 1919." This is the account of a victim of the November 7, 1919 Department of Justice coordinated mass raids against the Union of Russian Workers -- testimony taken by friends of the URW about a week after the fact and preserved in the archives of the DoJ's Bureau of Investigation. George A. Evans had been conducting an English language class at the "People's House," headquarters of the URW in New York City. Headed by Detective-Sergeant James J. Gegan of the New York Police Department, the operation was marked by systematic and intentional police brutality, according to Evans' account: "Suddenly there arose moans and screams in the classrooms upstairs as the result of the blows from the blackjacks used by the police. On all the floors, from which men individually were being hurled down the stairs and pitched into the rooms on the 2nd floor, where other policemen mercilessly clubbed and kicked them down the lower stares and finally into the big Assembly Rooms. Not one of these men escaped and nearly every one was bleeding profusely. After this cruel treatment they too were lined up. The police then called for 20 volunteers to step out of the line. Not understanding what all this meant these poor victims remained silent. The plainclothesmen then picked the 20 men, clubbed them one by one, kicked them down the stoop into the street, and thus got into the patrol wagons. When these 20 men had gone another 20 were selected, and they went through the same experience, and then another 20, continuing until the whole crowd had been thoroughly beaten up." In addition to physical violence, Evans indicates that policemen stole from their victims: "Some of these men had wallets that disappeared. One lost one with $35.00 -- a large amount to this laboring man. Another lost his watch, which he greatly valued."
"Report to the United States Senate in Response to Senate Res. No. 213 from Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer, Nov. 14, 1919." With the US Senate breathing down his neck to take repressive action against the radical movement in America, Attorney General Mitchell Palmer was forced to show progress by reporting to Congress in accord with Senate Resolution 213. Easing his political position was the November 7 mass raid conducted against the Union of Russian Workers between the October 17 date of the resolution and the November 14 date of Palmer's report. Palmer laments the lack of any applicable law with which to prosecute individual radicals, due to the termination of the war and with it the Espionage Act and supplies a model bill for correction of this deficiency. Despite this, Palmer tells Congress that under the auspices of the newly established "Radical Division" of his Justice Department "a more or less complete history of over 60,000 radically-inclined individuals has been gathered together and classified, and a foundation for action laid either under the deportation statutes or legislation to be enacted by Congress." Undercover agents had been employed in information gathering activities, Palmer implies, and "a force of 40 translators, readers, and assistants" was engaged rendering radical publications into English. Palmer counts 328 domestic and 144 imported radical newspapers (providing a tally of American-produced publications by specific language) and notes that the radical movement was targeting black Americans as a "particularly fertile ground for the spreading of their doctrines" -- with some success. Palmer sees a foreign hand at work, declaring that "from the date of the signing of the armistice, a wave of radicalism appears to have swept over the country, which is best evidenced by the fact that since that date approximately fifty radical newspapers have commenced publication. A large number of these papers openly advocate the destruction of the United States Government and encourage and advise their readers to prepare for the coming revolution. It is also a noticeable fact that a great many of these publications are practically devoid of advertising matter, which indicates that they are receiving money from outside sources to further their propaganda."
"Confidential Letter to Anthony Caminetti in Washington, DC from J. Edgar Hoover in Washington, DC, Nov. 19, 1919." Concerned that lawyers for accused anarchists had been advising those arrested to "under no condition make any statement concerning their affiliations or their connections or activities," the Department of Justice's chief of anti-Red operations, Edgar Hoover sent this confidential inquiry to Immigration chief Anthony Caminetti seeking advice as to whether the practice of advising arrested suspects of their right to counsel at the beginning of hearings was a formal rule of the immigration service, an act of Congress, or simply a common practice initiated by the Department of Labor. Without admissions by the defendants, membership in prohibited organizations would be nearly difficult, Hoover indicates, as "the activities of aliens who are radically inclined are always most secretive in character, it quite often is next to impossible to prove actual membership with the organization alleged to be anarchistic. In most of the cases of the Union of Russian Workers which are now pending before the officers of your bureau, the agents of this department have been reliably informed by confidential informants that the individuals in custody are members of the Union of Russian Workers. You of course will appreciate the inadvisability of calling such confidential informants as witnesses in the deportation hearings, for their usefulness as such informants would immediately be curtailed." Implicit in this letter is Hoover's belief that no notification of the right to legal representation was required and that the testimony of secret informants should be sufficient to prove deportation-worthy membership in banned radical organizations.
"Hysteria Rampant in the United States: Authorities Take Radicals Seriously, Raid and Crush Them. Thousands Arrested." [events of Jan. 2, 1920] This article from the Buffalo, New York Socialist weekly The New Age reviews the results of the Department of Justice's January 2 raids in that community. Some 83 "alleged anarchists" were arrested in Buffalo as a result of the operation, the paper indicates, including predominantly Russians, Poles, and Hungarians. Only 6 of these proved to be citizens. "Very few" of the non-citizen radicals trapped by the Justice Department were actually "prepared to lead an active hand in any enterprise directed against our government," the paper asserts. Despite its limited efficacy, the government's repressive action had the practical effect of disrupting the left wing movement: "The Socialist Party has been disrupted, sober-minded people have been scared away from the Socialist movement, the political agencies of our ruling classes have been furnished ample excuses for their rule of terror, and thousands of families have been made miserable." Among those arrested was Dr. Anna Reinstein, wife of prominent Communist Boris Reinstein, the paper notes.
"Jailing Radicals in Detroit," by Frederick R. Barkley [events of Jan. 2-19, 1920] Justice Department activity in Detroit as part of the mass operation of January 2/3, 1920 is recounted in this article in the liberal weekly news magazine, The Nation. As part of the Bureau of Investigation's effort to "break the back of radicalism in Detroit" some 800 men were arrested and held incommunicado for days with insufficient space, food, water, ventilation, or toilet facilities, the article charges. About 100 seem to have been released in short order, with 400 of those arrested in the dragnet held for between one and two weeks, with the remainder held over for charges. About half of these had been released on bail by January 19, the article indicates. The particularly abusive Detroit operation was singled out for special criticism in 1921 hearings before a subcommittee of the Judiciary Committee of the US Senate.
"Resolution of the 5th Enlarged Plenum of ECCI on the American Question." [adopted April 6, 1925] The 5th Enlarged Plenum of ECCI included a special American Commission, per usual, to attempt to mediate and resolve the ongoing factional war in the American Communist movement, per usual. This is the final American Resolution adopted by ECCI. The 1924 LaFollette movement is called a "genuine petty-bourgeois phenomenon" and his successful isolation of the Communists from the LaFollette-Farmer-Labor movement deemed something that "was to have been expected at the beginning." The policy of the Workers Party of America to oppose LaFollette and his broad alliance in the elections is deemed to have been a correct one. The CI indicates that the Communists will continue to attempt to exert influence in the budding Third Party movement, but now under the slogan "For a Labor Party" instead of "For a Farmer-Labor Party" owing to the objective lack of farmer support for the movement. Attention is paid to Volkszeitung editor and CEC member Ludwig Lore, who is deemed an "opportunist" and leader of a "non-Communist tendency in the Workers Party." ECCI once again weighs in against the ongoing factional war in the American Party, acknowledging that it "arose out of real differences" but had subsequently "been of too acute a character on both sides and at times assumed impermissible forms."
