JANUARY 1900
"A Brief History of Socialism in America," by Frederic Heath [Published January 1900] Morris Hillquit's 1903 History of Socialism in the United States has been long regarded as the first comprehensive history of the American Socialist movement in the English language written by a participant. In actuality, Hillquit's book was the second; this history of the American Socialist movement, attributed to founding member of the Social Democratic Party of America Frederic Heath, predated Hillquit's work by over 3 1/2 years! First put into print in January 1900 by the fledgling publishing house of Eugene V. Debs as a primary part of The Social Democracy Red Book, the section reproduced here picks up the story with the coming of Marxian socialism to America in the 1850s -- a lengthy discussion of the various permutations of communal socialism in the 19th Century having been omitted. Detail is strong for the history of the Socialist Labor Party of the late 1880s. The work is especially valuable for its account the formation of the Social Democracy of America and the Social Democratic Party of America which emerged from it. The fine detail relating to the split at the 1898 convention indicates this unsigned work was clearly the product of a participant -- although equally clearly not that of Gene Debs himself. One passage of particular interest demonstrates the deep fissure in the American Socialist movement between Social Democratic and proto-Communist wings even as early as 1900: "Social Democracy is but another term for democratic Socialism. In this sketch of the development of the Socialist movement in America, we have seen...in the Socialist Labor Party, a kind of Socialism, or rather of Socialistic propaganda, in which a hierarchy ruled, and which, besides heresy-hunting among its own members, instinctively stood for a Socialist state in which the administration of affairs would, to say the least, be bureaucratic. Such an administration would be quite apt to develop into a despotism. Presented in such a spirit, Socialism had little attraction for the Yankee lover of freedom, and so it had to make way historically for a truly democratic type -- for a party standing for social democracy." Historians interested in the origins of the Socialist Party of America will want to print out and preserve this 18 page document, which includes illustrations of four early SDP activists: successful Massachusetts politician James F. Carey, editor of the official organ A.S. Edwards, pioneer Texas Socialist W.E. Farmer, and little-known SDP founding member Margaret Haile.
"A Trip to Girard," by "Wayfarer" [Jan. 1900] Brief first hand account of a trip by a pseudonymous Midwestern member of the Social Democratic Party to the "modern Mecca of Socialism," Girard, Kansas to visit the editor of the seminal socialist weekly newspaper, The Appeal to Reason, J.A. Wayland. "Wayfarer" manages to become closely acquainted with Wayland, and remarks on Wayland's dedication to the ideas of John Ruskin. He quotes Wayland as saying that "The Appeal editorials are simply Ruskin turned into the language of the common people." Wayland relates the story of how he became involved in the socialist movement to "Wayfarer," giving credit to a Pueblo, Colorado shoe store proprietor named "Bredfield" who plied him with conversation and radical literature -- in the first place Gronlund's The Cooperative Commonwealth. The story of Wayland's unsuccessful Ruskin colony is related, featuring a scam in which purported colonists were misrepresenting the situation in the colony and using funds earmarked for the Tennessee group's development were instead misdirected to quarter the colonists at a hotel at Tennessee City, at which they were "living in luxury on the money [Wayland] had forwarded." Wayland is proclaimed to be "decidedly my kind of good fellow" by the author of the piece.
MARCH 1900
"Social Democrats in Convention: Large, Enthusiastic, and Intelligent Gathering." [events of March 6-9, 1900] Unsigned account from the pages of the Appeal to Reason of the so-called "1st National Convention" of the Social Democratic Party, a gathering of the Chicago-based organization which included participation by representatives of the rival organization by the same name based in Springfield, Massachusetts. Unity negotiations and the nomination of a Presidential slate dominated the proceedings, with a joint committee returning with a recommendation for merger or the two competing organizations but unable to agree upon a name. A 12 point platform for the party was moved for acceptance by Eugene Debs -- a program which interestingly marked the organization in favor of "equal civil and political rights for men and women" but which failed to mention the question of race. The convention was nearly split by the apparently unexpected refusal of Debs to stand as the party's nominee for President of the United States and a similar refusal by Job Harriman of California. An informal committee seems to have met with debs on the night of March 8 and to have pushed him into reluctantly accepting the party's nomination. Harriman of the Springfield SDP was similarly nominated by acclamation as nominee for Vice-President. Party name was to be decided by membership referendum, the convention determined, with the adoption of the name "Social Democratic Party" explicitly endorsed.
"The Truth About Colonies," by Herbert N. Casson [March 10, 1900] Older, wiser, and $1,000 poorer, veteran of the Ruskin utopian socialist colony in Tennessee Herbert Casson attempts to prevent others from repeating his mistakes with this article in the Appeal to Reason, published by fellow Ruskin defector Julius Wayland. Miserable food, pathetic lodging, and disaffected fellow inmates are what are in store for those attempting to make their way into the woods to attempt to carve out a utopia. "There is not today, and there never has been, a single successful socialist colony in America," Casson emphasizes. Not only Ruskin but the Equality Colony in Washington state and the Christian Commonwealth of Georgia suffer identically miserable conditions, Casson says. All attempt to put up hand-labor against machine-labor, "which is like arming soldiers with bows and arrows against men with Mausers." Casson charges that all "ignore the value of specialists in production, and thus produce an inferior quality of goods. They can find no market except by appealing to the sympathy of socialists, who buy their stuff for the sake of the 'cause.'" He declares that his fellow "evolutionary socialists" have "no right to huddle together, as if we were saints and all other folks were sinners. We should rather stay with the crowd, teach them what we know, and learn more."
"The Social Democratic Convention has Emphasized Startling Truths," by Eugene V. Debs [March 24, 1900] In the wake of a convention two weeks earlier which seemed to move the Social Democratic movement in America towards unity and growth, party leader and Presidential candidate Gene Debs offered the following assessment of the organization and its prospects to readers of the weekly Appeal to Reason. "The Social Democratic Party is not a reform party, but a revolutionary party," Debs declares. "It does not propose to modify the competitive system, but to abolish it. An examination of its platform shows that it stands unequivocally for the collective ownership and control of all the means of wealth production and distribution — in a word, socialism." Debs notes that the Social Democratic Party now had a presence in 25 states, of which Massachusetts, Wisconsin, and Washington were "marked for early conquest" by virtue of the movement's impressive roots there. Debs declares that "the reins of government" is the party's goal and that it refused to be moved "from the straight course mapped out for it by Marx and Engels, its founders, and pursued with unflagging fidelity by their millions of followers."
MAY 1900
"The Negro and Socialism," by J.A. Wayland [May 12, 1900] Socialism would solve the problem or racial relations in America by making possible a perfect, segregated world intimates publisher and editor of the Appeal to Reason Julius Augustus Wayland. Wayland supposes that in the Socialist future every citizen, black and white, would be raised in a decent environment and trained in some useful calling upon maturity. Since he regards as axiomatic the idea that "the white population would not like to have the black work side by side with it, as it does today, nor would the black like to work where it felt a difference between them," cities and sections would consequently emerge "where the colored race would be supreme." In these places "they would have as good homes and factories and surroundings as the white race, because the whole nation would be interested in them having such conditions," Wayland blandly prophesies. Both races would thereby be freed for cultural and economic development in parallel -- and thus would Socialism "solve the race question."
"Report of the National Executive Committee to the 10th (Regular) Convention of the SLP," by Henry Kuhn. [June 1900] The full text (37 pages, 292 k.) of the report of SLP National Secretary Henry Kuhn to the (regular) 10th Convention of the Socialist Labor Party, held in New York from June 2 to 8, 1900. Kuhn recounts the 1899 split with the SLP Right in exhaustive detail, including a state-by-state rundown of the party situation. The definitive account of the 1899 SLP split from the point of view of the SLP "regular" faction associated with the New York City NEC and the English language party organ, The People, edited by Daniel DeLeon.
1896 and 1900 Constitutions of the Socialist Labor Party. Parallel texts of the 1896 and 1900 national constitutions of the SLP, illustrating organizational structure before and after the 1899 split of the SLP Right (the so-called "Kangaroos"). Useful for assessing the legality (or lack thereof) of various tactics employed by the New York-based "regular" NEC in the bitter 1899 factional struggle and the structural changes which it deemed necessary in the aftermath.
JULY 1900
"Debs’ Denial," by J.A. Wayland [July 23, 1900] With the Presidential campaign heating up in the summer of 1900, the Democratic Party reached into its bountiful bag of dirty tricks in an effort to undermine the new left wing opposition represented by the Social Democratic Party. False reports were trafficked indicating that SDP candidate Eugene V. Debs would be dropping out of the race on Oct. 1 to throw his support to the Democratic nominee, William Jennings Bryan. This allegation brought immediate refutation by the Social Democratic Party candidate and his brother at the National Office -- the full text of which is reproduced here. Gene Debs declares himself "equally opposed to all capitalist parties of whatever name," while his brother notes that socialist activists remained "highly amused" to the crude attempt at trickery by the Democratic Party. Appeal to Reason editor J.A. Wayland indicates a target of a million votes for the new party and likens the place of Debs on the ticket to that of Abraham Lincoln in the election of 1856.
AUGUST 1900
"Constitution of Local St. Louis of the Social Democratic Party of America (Adopted August 5, 1900)." Basic document of organizational law of the 210-member Local St. Louis of the Springfield SDP. This document specifies the election of four officers by Local St. Louis and the division of the membership into geographic branches for propaganda work (there were a total of 7 of these early in 1901). Each branch elected an organizer who would sit with the officers of the Local on a "City Central Committee" to govern the affairs of the Local, subject to its instructions. Dues were set at 25 cents per month, plus an additional 10 cents a quarter to pay for an official publication. An order of business for the monthly general meetings of Local St. Louis is specified. No provision is made for language-based branches, branches were constructed strictly on the basis of city voting wards. Branches were instructed to "devote their attention solely to propaganda and organization work in their respective localities."
"Why I Am a Socialist," by George Herron. [Sept. 1900] A speech by Professor George D. Herron to a campaign meeting of the Social Democratic Party held at Central Music Hall in Chicago on September 29, 1900. Herron argues that three main historical lines were coming together in the struggle for socialism in America: the "dogmatic" European Marxist trend exemplified by the Socialist Labor Party; the historic trend seeking individual liberty in the tradition of Rousseau, Jefferson, and the French Revolution; and a new religious sensibility seeking spiritual freedom through common economic liberation. Herron states that neither existing party was conscious of the reconstructive task facing society but rather sought to prop up the brute lawlessness of capitalism. Only common ownership of the resources and productive tools needed jointly by all would allow for the "full liberty of the human soul," Herron stated, and only the action of the working class itself could win this liberty.
"Platform of the Social Democratic Party of America, 1900." [Sept. 15, 1900] The election of November 1900 marked the first time that the Social Democratic Party of America was able to field a national ticket, featuring Eugene V. Debs for President and Job Harriman for Vice-President. This document reproduces the national platform of the SDP in this inaugural campaign. The maximum program is short and sweet, two planks calling for the organization of the working class into a political party and the abolition of "wage slavery" in favor of a system of cooperative industry on the basis of the social ownership of capital and the means of distribution. A 12 plank minimum program is also part of the platform, featuring two planks in favor of women's rights; several in favor of public ownership of utilities, natural resources, and means of transportation and communication; establishment of the initiative and referendum; and initiation of programs of national accident and unemployment insurance and old age pensions.
"Competition vs. Cooperation: Speech delivered at Central Music Hall, Chicago, IL -- Sept. 29, 1900," by Eugene V. Debs This speech launched the 1900 candidacy of Eugene Debs for President of the United States under the banner of the Social Democratic Party of America. Debs takes aim at the Republican and Democratic parties, calling the former the party of big capital and the latter the party of petty capital and asserting no fundamental difference between the two, both being for continuation of the wage system of capitalism even if they disagreed on the question of imperialism. To this was opposed the new Socialist organization, representing the working class and "declaring in favor of collective ownership of the means of production" as the only possible solution to unemployment and chronic economic stagnation. Debs holds up radical abolitionists William Lloyd Garrison, Wendell Phillips, and Elijah Lovejoy as role models, noting that in their time they were subjected to severe criticism and physical attack, only to be acknowledged as heroes by a later generation. Debs appeals for support in the voting booth, declaring that "It is infinitely better to vote for freedom and fail than to vote for slavery and succeed." He sees "wage slavery" as a comparable modern evil to the chattel slavery defeated by the abolition movement and argues that only socialism provides an escape, professing "absolute confidence" in achieving a socialist future.
"E.V. Debs." (St. Louis Chronicle) [Sept. 29, 1900] A published personal biography from the first Debs Presidential campaign by a reporter (unfortunately unnamed) who conducted extensive interviews with Debs and others who knew him in constructing a detailed, positive piece. Debs is quoted directly and at great length. The formation and demise of the American Railway Union is recent history and is therefore covered in detail here, including interesting material on the Chicago trial and potential legal peril he faced. Debs indicates that he left working as a railway fireman following the death on the job of a friend, at his mother's request. Glowing testimonials of a local Terre Haute clothing manufacturer and a Baptist minister are directly quoted as evidence of Debs' quality as a human being.
OCTOBER 1900
"Why I Shall Vote with the Social Democracy," by Walter Thomas Mills [Oct. 20, 1900] The "Little Giant" of constructive socialism, Walter Thomas Mills, explains why he will be voting for the Social Democratic ticket of Eugene V. Debs and Job Harriman in the November 1900 elections. Radical change was impossible through the old parties, in Mills' view, since both were wedded to commercialism and thus the need to establish imperialist markets abroad. The protestations of the Democrats that they were opposed to military-driven imperialism was fatally undermined by the fact that the workers would continue to receive sufficient wages only to purchase a portion of their output, thereby making the pursuit of markets abroad inevitable. Moreover, the Democrats sought to destroy the economic trusts, Mills notes, while he instead sought to have them "socialized and all the people made sharers in their benefits." Mills theorizes that a million votes for the Social Democracy will cause the old parties to begin join operations to defeat the new socialist threat, thereby making possible "the speedy overthrow of both."
"Speech at Canton, Ohio," by Eugene V. Debs [published Oct. 27, 1900] Campaign speech to an Ohio crowd by Social Democratic Party nominee Gene Debs. Debs expresses an almost pure Lassallean view of the transition to socialism, declaring that the working class "will not much longer supplicate for their rights, but will taken them, not in lawlessness but in a lawful manner. They are beginning to realize that the ballot is the key that will unlock the industrial dungeons of the world." Debs asserts that the trusts and the trend to centralization are unable to be regulated but does not despair, since these things work towards socialism by eliminating individual capitalists and dispersing petty proprietors to the working class. Debs declares that while he is working as best he can for socialism, the workings of the capitalist system are actually doing more to expedite the process: "Every time Rockefeller crushes a competitor he is assisting more than I. The day will come when all will be crushed out, and then will come the change." Debs calls Social Democracy "the only real democracy" and states that industrial harmony, social fellowship, gender equality, and an end to crime and unemployment will be the byproducts of the coming socialist future.
"A Plea for Unity of American Socialists," by George Herron. [Nov. 1900] The stenographic report of a speech delivered by Christian Socialist stalwart George Herron to a mass meeting of Chicago Socialists on Nov. 18, 1900. Herron states that only disunity and factional strife could derail the socialist movement from ultimate victory ("for a generation or a century") and arguing that a united movement could make use of the quasi-religious sensibilities of the educated segment of society in a mass movement for human liberation. An excellent exposition of SPA ideology from the university professor who co-founded the Rand School of Social Science.
"The Vital Issue," by Eugene V. Debs [Nov. 3, 1900] This article from the pages of the Appeal to Reasonis seemingly the transcript of a campaign speech by Social Democratic Party of American Presidential nominee Eugene V. Debs. Debs identifies the Republican Party as the political vehicle of the capitalist class, the Democratic Party as the political vehicle of the atrophying middle class, and the Social Democratic Party as the political vehicle of the growing wage-working class. With respect to the country's ever more heavily centralized, trustified industry, Debs intimates that the Republican Party essentially seeks its continuance, the Democratic Party its abolition, and the Social Democratic Party its nationalization. Debs asserts that fighting the inner tendency of capitalism towards centralization through legislation is as ineffectual as attempting to legislate the tides or the path of the sun, a reprise of the one-sided battle of an earlier century over the emergence of industrial machinery. The direction of development is clear to Debs and the Democratic Party's prescription to roll back the clock utterly unrealistic, with the only real issue being whether the trusts should be "vicious" privately-owned combinations or "good" publicly-owned combinations.
DECEMBER 1900
"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.
"Unity Referendum of the Social Democratic Party (Springfield NEC group), December 29, 1900." The Socialist Party of America, established in the summer of 1901, was the product of grassroots pressure for unity from locals of the Social Democratic Party. This is the text of the unity referendum submitted to the SDP associated with the National Executive Committee headquartered in Springfield, Massachusetts -- the former "kangaroos" of the SLP featuring most prominently New York City attorneys Henry L. Slobodin and Morris Hillquit. The referendum was submitted by National Secretary William Butscher in the form of eleven questions asking whether a unity convention should be held, with whom, and whether the basis of representation should be 1 delegate per local and 1 additional delegate per 100 members or major fraction thereof. Authorization was also sought by the NEC to negotiate changes to this referendum required by its prospective main unity partner, the Social Democratic Party with headquarters in Chicago (Berger, Debs & Co.).
