JANUARY 1933
Proletarian Bulletin [January 1933]  Graphic pdf. Extremely rare internal bulletin of the Proletarian Party of America. Includes a brief report on the NEC meeting of Dec. 31 1932 to Jan. 3, 1933, held in Detroit. The PPA ran candidates in the Nov. 1932 Michigan elections, it was reported, receiving about 300 votes each. Membership is said to be slightly up from the previous year, but income down since "so many unemployed comrades are on Exempt Stamps" -- a new "Penny-A-Day Fund" is announced to continue the previous "Campaign and Expansion Fund" forward as a new "Expansion Fund." A money-making opportunity is announced in which members are called upon to sell 6 subscriptions to the party's official organ, Proletarian News, for 50 cents each, turning in $2 of the $3 to the National Office. Physical production cost of the paper is revealed as 2 cents per issue for the current size, quality, and print run. New Charles H. Kerr & Co. reprints are announced for The Communist Manifesto, Mary Marcy's Shop Talks on Economics, and Paul Lafargue's The Right to Be Lazy. A convention is called for May 27, 1933 in Detroit. Although delegate travel funds are not guaranteed, a convention fund is announced for delegates traveling from the Atlantic or Pacific Coasts. In conjunction with this, an internal discussion period is announced for Feb. 1 to May 1 in which "any sort of change can be advocated at the Local meetings, or through writing to the Party Bulletin," although discipline remains in force for public events. The party's finances are revealed to be very short, with a treasury balance of negative $50 as of Jan. 1, 1933. "Weekly taxation" of Locals per the constitution is reemphasized: "If you can't send dollars, send times, but send something. Even postal stamps are better than promises."


FEBRUARY 1933

"On the Case of Comrade Benjamin Gitlow: Statement of the National Committee of the Communist Party of the USA (Opposition)." [Feb. 15, 1933] Official statement of the governing National Committee of the Communist Party (Opposition) (a.k.a. "Lovestone group") regarding the recent resignation of leading CP(O) member Benjamin Gitlow. The statement emphasizes a series of unanimous decisions of the National Council in 1931-32 support of the General Line of the CPSU in economic development, emphasizing the fact that Gitlow making this a fundamental issue is belated at best. "At about the time of our 2nd National Conference (September 1932), Comrade Gitlow and a few other comrades began to develop a different position, to the effect that not only was the general line of the CPSU in economic construction basically wrong, but that the 'Russian question is the paramount question' so that 'our position on the Russian question determines whether or not our group has a principled justification for existence.'" This attempt at revising party policy was repeatedly rejected by the CP(O), according to the statement, which noted "For our group to adopt the viewpoint of Comrade Gitlow on this question would mean to take the steep road to liquidation or else to our conversion into a phrasemongering sect on the model of the Trotskyites, without roots in our own conditions, with eyes always fixed in unhealthy speculation upon factional developments in the CPSU." As a result, Gitlow had left the ranks of the CP(O). Still: "In spite of his sharp differences on important questions, we declare that place is still open for Comrade Gitlow in our group," the statement of the National Committee declares.


APRIL 1933
"Finnish Branch Celebrates 30th Year," by Wilno Hedman [April 29, 1933]  Brief 30 year retrospective of the history of "the largest Socialist branch of New York and of the Finnish Federation." Independent for its first two years of existence, the New York City Finnish branch joined the Socialist Party of America in January 1905. It moved into spacious headquarters located on Fifth Avenue in 1917 and subsequently hosted no fewer than three national conventions of the SPA, in addition to at least two gatherings of the New York state organization. The New York Finnish branch peaked with a membership of 918 in 1921 before splitting, with fewer than 300 remaining in the Socialist branch following an acrimonious split. This number had expanded somewhat in subsequent years, with the branch sitting with a membership between 350 and 400 by 1933. A July 1931 raid is recounted, in which more than 400 attendees of a ball were held for questioning and 18 taken in for failure to prove the legality of their entry into the USA. Recent establishment of an English-language subdivision of the Finnish branch, organized by younger members, is noted.


MAY 1933
Proletarian Bulletin [May 1933]  Graphic pdf. Extremely rare internal bulletin of the Proletarian Party of America. As the NEC had postponed the forthcoming national convention from May 27 until Labor Day, pre-convention internal discussion was correspondingly extended to Aug. 1. In this connection, veteran party member Charlie O'Brien, now living in Los Angeles, bemoans the general lack of theoretical expertise in the party, pointing to a "mental poverty" of the current 15 member NEC and its Executive Committee, with only one member, Com. Bielskas, having contributed anything of substance to the pre-convention discussion and the rest seemingly having "nothing to offer" and seeking "to learn something from the members." O'Brien advocates election of a new National Secretary and the election of party leader John Keracher instead as NEC member and party organizer. John Davis of Local Flint adds an article on "The Press and the Party," in which he argues against changing the official organ, Proletarian News, to a lighter and more topical publication by reducing its theoretical content. Davis declares the paper's deficiencies in size, content, and frequency reflect general weaknesses of the PPA, not weaknesses of the leadership. Another O'Brien article follows,  "Our Party Leadership," in which it is asserted that party leaders should be informed, experienced, consistent, theoretically able, and energetic. Since few have this full set of characteristics in a very small organization like the Proletarian Party, O'Brien advocates the reduction in size of the NEC from 15 to 7 members. A final article by William Heinhuis of Local Elkhart on "Immediate Demands" advises that the PPA stay its impossibilist course, declaring that "'Immediate demands,' when they have for their aim reforms, have no place in a revolutionary party," but instead represent a real danger by watering down the membership of the party. The Proletarian Party, as currently structured, could not even handle a large upsurge in membership, let alone function effectively in a revolutionary situation, Heinhuis asserts.


JUNE 1933
Proletarian Bulletin [June 1933]  Graphic pdf. Extremely rare internal bulletin of the Proletarian Party of America. Financial reports show seven separate funds, the sum of which grew by less than $350 from late April 1933 through the first week of June. Active party locals (11) included: Chicago, IL; Detroit, Grand Rapids, Flint, and Jackson, MI; San Francisco and Los Angeles, CA; Rochester and Buffalo, NY; Boston, MA; and Elkhart, IN. Small locals (8) also existed in: New York City; Niles, Benton Harbor, and Mecosta County, MI; Hanover, CT; Danville, PA(?); as well as Milwaukee and Mishawaka, WI. Pre-convention discussion continues, with Leo Sherwood of Buffalo listing party shortcomings; R.J. Landgraf of Detroit calling for a training camp for prospective party members; C.M. O'Brien of Los Angeles on "The Negro Problem"; Isidor Tishler of Rochester on the party press; Stanley Novak of Detroit with a list of policy suggestions for the coming convention; three criticisms of other members' articles by Charlie O'Brien; Al Renner of Detroit (soon to be suspended from the party for 6 months in a faction fight) on the need for more specialization and more frequent physical meetings of the NEC; and a short piece by Mary Wright challenging the previous convention's endorsement of the Comintern, advancing the argument that "if the CP of A is rotten, then the CI is no more sound, for the errors we find in the CP of A are carried out under the guidance of the CP."


 JULY 1933
Proletarian Bulletin [July 1933]  Graphic pdf. Extremely rare internal bulletin of the Proletarian Party of America. Financial reports show the seven separate party funds increasing by about $390 during the last three weeks of June 1933 and the first week of July. Pre-convention discussion continues with an opening piece by Morris Prizant of San Francisco on the need to overcome individualism and isolationism in the party and to expand the party's work among the "10 million native born Americans of the negro races." Carl Babbit of Flint, echoes O'Brien's May allegation of the "theoretical poverty" of the Detroit PP organization and defending the traditional refusal of the Proletarian Party to espouse ameliorative reform under capitalism. "The workers in their struggles to improve their conditions under Capitalism can never raise themselves above the level of bourgeois ideology and bourgeois politics," Babbit insists. A major factional split with the Detroit local is foreshadowed in Babbit's article. Babbit adds a second piece responding at length to a previous article by Detroit factional leader Wass. Anthony Bielskas of Grand Rapids offers opinions on the unemployment question, noting the growth and revolutionary potential of organizations of the unemloyed. F. Miller of San Francisco offers views on party discipline. Stanley Novak of Detroit defends the idea that the Proletarian Party has historically favored partial demands for such things as freedom of speech, press, and assembly, if not the reform of capitalism. He notes the Bolshevik use of the slogan "Bread, Peace, and Land" as an effective use of partial demands by a revolutionary organization and argues that similar, carefully chosen partial demands should be advanced by the Proletarian Party.


 AUGUST 1933

Proletarian Bulletin [August 1933]  Graphic pdf. Extremely rare internal bulletin of the Proletarian Party of America. With the convention scheduled for Labor Day, no financial reports are presented; instead there is final pre-convention discussion. Stanley Novak of Detroit (an adherent of the reform faction) takes on views expressed in print by party regular C.M. O'Brien of Los Angeles, taking the latter to task for a lack of constructive suggestions in his criticism. Novak is also critical of National Secretary John Keracher, accusing him of failing to subjugate his actions to the direction of the National Executive Committee. There is "too great centralization of the Party's work in too few hands," Novak states. Anthony Bielskas of Grand Rapids repeats O'Brien's refrain that the NEC is "a weak one," calling out Novak by name and declaring that the party rank-and-file "should know who to keep as leaders and who to get rid of." John Durbin of Detroit takes a shot at O'Brien for his accusation that the sitting NEC is exemplified by "mental poverty," noting that O'Brien himself has contributed nothing of substance to the party press. Durbin also takes aim at Carl Babbit of Flint, declaring that he has make "plenty of noise" in criticizing Local Detroit, while being "strangely silent" with constuctive suggestions. M.A. Larson of Detroit paints O'Brien as a conservative defender of an undynamic and aging party. He further attempts to gain factional advantage with analysis of economic trends during the depression designed to undercut O'Brien as a theoretician. Party regular Carl Babbit of Flint publishes a lengthy piece on the "Detroit Merry-Go-Round," criticizing the Detroit-based NEC members for failing to express their ideas for party reform in the Proletarian Bulletin and revealing the central factional dispute as a disagreement between National Secretary Keracher and the Detroit-based NEC members. "Because the National Secretary dares to have opinions and ideas opposed to theirs and has the courage to stand on his own feet, they recommend that the office of National Secretary as constituted at present be abolished," Babbit writes, adding ominously: "I think that in the coming Convention these 'babes in the woods' will find out that the other locals in the party will have something to say about how the Party should be run..." Fred West and George Snider of San Francisco offer views on party official organ Proletarian News. They also criticize the policy views of regulars Novak and O'Brien. O'Brien and Novak return fire against their own critics. Jack Gardner of Boston opines on immediate demands. Anthony Bielskas of Grand Rapids offers views on the routing of party speakers.


SEPTEMBER 1933

"Sinclair is Expelled by California Socialists." (The New Leader) [event of Sept. 20, 1933]  Short news report from the Socialist Party press noting the expulsion of Upton Sinclair, future candidate for Governor of California of the Democratic Party. Although the State Executive Committee of the Socialist Party of California held a special meeting on Sept. 20, 1933 to handle the Sinclair case, in actuality Sinclair had already allowed his membership to lapse effective at the end of December 1932 and under the constitution he would have been previously been dropped from the party for non-payment of dues. The expulsion resolution, reproduced in full in this article, is thus so much window dressing for political effect. The "capitalist Democratic Party" is decried in the resolution as "a powerful and dangerous enemy of the working class and of the Socialist Party" and Sinclair is declared separated from the latter for having "flatly broken his pledge" to sever connections with all other parties. Socialists are "warned against the futile supposition that they can use a capitalist party to further the interests of the working class."


 
OCTOBER 1933

"Manifesto and Program of the American League Against War and Fascism.: Adopted at the First U.S. Congress Against War, New York City, Sept. 29-Oct. 1, 1933." Founding declaration of the Communist Party's 1930s mass organization dedicated to anti-militarism and defense of the USSR. In the face of increasing war danger and the development of fascism abroad and fascist tendencies at home, the American League Against War and Fascism advocated "mass resistance" uniting workers, impoverished farmers, oppressed blacks, women, and youth in a "nationwide agitation and organization against war preparations and war." The group pledged to "support the peace policies of the Soviet Union for total and universal disarmament" and to oppose the machinations of imperialism abroad as well as "developments leading to Fascism" at home.

 

"Beginnings of Revolutionary Political Action in the USA," by Vern Smith [Oct. 1933] A pamphlet-length historical survey of the development of the American radical movement from 19th Century utopianism to the formation of the Socialist Party of America, as published in the pages of the theoretical journal of the CPUSA. While tendentious treatments of controversial topics do creep into the work, as might be expected, the article remains useful as a brief summary of the main course of left wing political development throughout the last part of the 19th Century and first part of the 20th. Smith emphasizes the continuity between the American sections of the First International and the formation of the Socialist Labor Party, from which sprang the Socialist Party of America; from which in turn sprang the American Communist movement. Of particular interest is the rather heroic portrayal of the Chicago Anarchist movement of the 1880s -- depicted as fundamentally sound revolutionists who were pushed into the position of becoming "more and more extreme in the course of their reaction against the sickening legalism of the SLP." Also interesting is the accusation that the Socialist Labor Party took a position of national chauvinism during the Spanish-American War of 1898, ignoring the transparently obvious imperialist basis of the conflict and explicitly regurgitating the official slogan that this was a war to "Free the oppressed Cubans!"


"New York Yipsels Organize Vanguard; Acts as Colorful Unit in Mass Action: Blue Shirts and Red Emblems Worn by Young Socialists." [Oct. 1933]  One of the greatest aggravations of the Old Guard Socialists in New York state was the emergence of fist-clenching, royal blue shirted young radicals at the mass meetings of the party -- a quasi-militarized form of participation reminiscent of the fascist and communist movements of Europe. The origins of this "shirts" movement in the American Socialist Party has been largely undocumented. This article from the monthly newspaper of the Young People's Socialist League reveals the origins of this organized campaign -- an initiative of the organization and propaganda committee of the Socialist Party of New York to form a "disciplined, uniformed band" called the "Socialist Vanguard." Head of the Socialist Vanguard was Jack Altman, a veteran of the Young People's Socialist League turned party functionary who was soon to emerge as a top figure in the Militant Faction. The Vanguard was organized into "squads" of 8 members, each headed by a "captain," the article indicates. There were approximately 40 of these squads in existence at the time of the writing of this piece shortly after the group's debut, a Sept. 24 meeting attended by nearly 2,000 and addressed by Norman Thomas.


"Millions Mourn Hillquit: World-Famous Socialist Leader Dies After Long Illness." (The New Leader) [event of Oct. 8, 1933]  Unsigned front-page news report of the death of Socialist Party National Chairman Morris Hillquit as published by The New Leader, at the time the party's weekly newspaper of record. The report indicates that Hillquit's death of tuberculosis at age 64 was not an expected event -- that he had continued to accept party assignments running through the coming months. The story notes that Hillquit's fatal illness marked his third bout with tuberculosis over the previous two decades and speculates whether the exertion of his November 1932 run for Mayor of New York might have sapped Hillquit of his vitality and thereby "shortened his life by years."


"His Memory Will Point the Way," by Algernon Lee [event of Oct. 8, 1933]  On October 7, 1933 the last of the three primary leaders of the early Socialist Party of America, Morris Hillquit, succumbed to a two decade-long battle with tuberculosis at the age of 64. The death inspired a spate of obituaries, testimonials, and poems in the party press, including this short piece by his political comrade of nearly 40 years, Algernon Lee. Lee emphasizes the place of Hillquit as a "great leader" with an acute eye for choosing a principled and correct course in a world of changing political situations and issues, inspiring loyalty rather than demanding obedience. Hillquit's greatest faults, in Lee's estimation, were an overly trusting nature which led him to periodically "push forward men who did not deserve it" and an inability to "feign a liking for those he disliked," even when doing so would have been politically expedient. Hillquit is remembered as a man of sensitive spirit who was quietly injured by "petty and ruthless and sometimes thoughtless" individuals who personally attacked him.


"A Story of Fifty Years of Devotion to Socialism," by William M. Feigenbaum [event of Oct. 8, 1933]  Official memorial biography of Morris Hillquit from the Socialist Party's newspaper of record, The New Leader. Although unsigned this lengthy piece was clearly written by the paper's leading journalist William M. Feigenbaum, a worthy party historian. Feigenbaum provides a complete overview of Hillquit's life, from his middle-class Jewish origins in Riga, Latvia (then part of the Russian empire) to menial work in a shirt factory and as a $3 a week Yiddish journalist, to his emergence as a top leader of the American socialist movement before the age of 30. Feigenbaum repeatedly employs the word "brilliant" in reference to Hillquit, noting his place in the organizational merger which established the Socialist Party of America, his place as a delegate to every Congress of the International Socialist movement, his role as party leader during the 1912 battle against syndicalism in the Socialist Party and in the 1924 effort to fuse behind the Presidential campaign of Robert LaFollette, and his various political campaigns for New York State Assembly (1906, 1908), for Congress (1916), for Mayor of New York (1917, 1932).


"Hillquit, Leader of SP, Dies of Heart Attack at Age 63." (Daily Worker) [Oct. 8, 1933]  Notice of the death of the National Chairman of the rival Socialist Party of America from the front page of the English-language daily of the Communist Party. The CPUSA gets both Hillquit's cause of death and age at death wrong in the headline before launching into a short litany of tendentious historical misrepresentations and dubious quotations. Hillquit is  damned  for having visited Roosevelt at the White House and for having been the recipient of posthumous condolences from conservative head of the American Federation of Labor, William Green.

 





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