Update 13-27: Sunday, Nov. 24, 2013.
"Organize or Pay!," by Adoph Germer [January 1917] (Graphic pdf, 400k.) This, the first in a series of "Organization Leaflets" by the Socialist Party of America, could be one of the most banal pieces of propaganda literature in the history of the American socialist movement. SPA Executive Secretary Germer notes that some of his readers might have voted for the Democratic Presidential nominee, fearing the Republicans; others the Republican, fearing the Democrats. Only those who voted for Socialist Allan Benson (soon to desert the SPA over its war stance) voted for what they actually wanted, Germer declares. No matter how anyone voted, food prices were going up rapidly, having been "fixed by a well organized group of food speculators." Germer urges that the workers themselves organize in the ranks of the Socialist Party, paying dues to the organization to keep it in the hands of it members themselves rather than "becoming an instrument of the masters of our bread." Leaflet not listed in OCLC WorldCat.
The Proletarian, vol. 3, no. 4 [January 1921] (Graphic pdf, large file, 2.5 megs.) Full issue of the official magazine of the Proletarian Party of America. This issue contains: Cover art by Breit [V.M. Breitmayer]; "The Editor's Corner"; Nikolai Lenin: "'Left Wing' Communism, An Infantile Disorder"; James Conlan: "The Next War"; John Keracher: "International Notes" (Asia Minor, Great Britain, Japan, Norway); A.J. MacGregor: "The Third International"; "The Marxian Law of Value" (Pt. 3); Murray Murphy: "Bertrand Russelll on Bolshevik Theory"; Ern Reen: "Lenin vs. Kautsky" (Pt. 2).
"Left Wing Carries YPSL Convention: Huge Majority Prevails as Gerrymander Flops," by Hal Draper [events of Sept. 2-5, 1937] Account of the 9th National Convention of the Young People's Socialist League, youth section of the Socialist Party, which became "the first organization of the Second International to go over to the banner of the Fourth Internationalist movement." Draper, a partisan of the Trotskyist majority and the newly elected National Secretary of the YPSL organization, depicts the convention as a battle between 4th Internationalists and partisans of the Clarity faction, who Draper characterizes as "centrists" and "maneuverers." Draper states that the outgoing National Committee postponed the scheduled start of the Philadelphia convention from September 2 and through "every shady device long known to every labor faker" attempted to stack the convention in favor of its adherents. These tactics were said to include falsifiication of dues records, sale of dues stamps to validate a phantom membership, expulsion of members for the alleged party crime of sale of the Trotskyist Socialist Appeal, and irregularities in delegate apportionment. Still unable to capture the convention, the Clarity Regulars walked out of the convention and reassembled elsewhere, Draper states. Ernest Erber was reelected National Chairman by the convention and a slate of Trotsky supporters elected to constitute the National Executive Committee. A 7 member "National Buro" was also constituted and national headquarters established in New York City.
"Crushing Left Wing Majority at YPSL Convention Make Impossible Alibi Attempt of Socialist Call." (Socialist Appeal) [events of Sept. 2-5, 1937] Unsigned Trotskyist account of the battle between the Appeal (Trotskyist) and Clarity (left social democratic) factions at the 9th National Convention of the Young People's Socialist League in Philadelphia. The author polemizes against an account by Clarity-supporter Al Hamilton published in the Socialist Call. Whereas Hamilton is said to have claimed that only 40 delegates had remained at the convention after a Clarity walkout, the author asserts the "actual count" was 148 remaining, of whom 104 were regular delegates. By way of contrast, there had been just 92 delegates aligned with the Clarity faction, of whom 53 were from the state of New York, with only 1 from west of the Mississippi, the author indicates.
