Socialist Labor party

Socialist Labor Party
Chairperson	Robert Bills
Founded	1876 (As the Workingmen's Party)
Headquarters	P.O. Box 218 Mountain View, California, 94042-0218
Ideology	Marxism-DeLeonism
Official colors	Red
Website
slp.org
Politics of the United States Political parties Elections

The Socialist Labor Party of America (SLP), established in 1876, is the oldest socialist political party in the United States and the second oldest socialist party in the world. Originally known as the Workingmen's Party of America, the party changed its name in 1877 and has operated continuously since that date, although its current existence is tenuous. The party advocates the ideology of "socialist industrial unionism" — belief in a fundamental transformation of society through the combined political and industrial action of the working class organized in industrial unions.

Organizational history

Forerunners and origins

In 1872, the International uniting the socialist parties of the world moved its headquarters to New York City. The organization had been deeply divided over tactics, with one side, headed by Karl Marx, believing in the efficacy of the ballot and trade union organization as preliminary to workers' revolution and the other, headed by Mikhail Bakunin, advocating the revolutionary overthrow of organized government.^[1] Bitterly disagreeing with the violent tactics advocated by their opponents, the so-called International Socialist faction felt the Anarchists must be expelled from the international federation at any cost, while at the same time the number of Anarchists were rising in the organization. As a last ditch effort to stop Bakunin and his allies, the 1872 Congress was called for The Hague, a city chosen so as to exclude Bakunin, who could get there from his safe haven in Switzerland without crossing through countries in which he would be arrested.^[2] This decision gave the Marxist faction control of the congress, which they used to further entrench their position by moving the headquarters of the International from London to America.^[2]

Later in 1872, a socialist congress was held in New York City bringing together American adherents of the International from 22 sections.^[2] This was followed up in 1874 with another gathering, a convention in Philadelphia at which was formed the ephemeral Social Democratic Workingman's Party, the first Marxist political party in the United States.^[3]

The SLP does not seem to have used its distinctive arm-and-hammer logo until sometime in the 1890s.

The socialist movement in America remained deeply divided from the onset over tactics, and not just between Anarchists and Social Democrats. Newcomers from Germany often sought to follow the same parliamentary-driven approach being employed by the Ferdinand Lassalle and fledgling Social Democratic Party of Germany, while longer term residents of America often tended to support a trade union orientation.^[4] In April 1876, a preliminary conference took place in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania bringing together representatives of the union-oriented "Internationalists" and the electorally-oriented "Lassalleans. The gathering agreed to issue a call for a Unity Congress to be held in July to establish a new political party.^[5]

On Saturday, July 15, 1876, delegates from the remaining American sections of the First International gathered in Philadelphia and disbanded that organization.^[6] The following Wednesday, July 19, the planned Unity Congress was convened, attended by seven delegates claiming to represent a membership of 3,000 in four organizations: the trade union-oriented Marxists of the now-disbanded International, and three Lassallean groups — the Workingmen's Party of Illinois, the Social Political Workingmen's Society of Cincinnati, and the Social Democratic Workingmen's Party of North America.^[7] The organization formed by this Unity Convention was known as the Workingmen's Party of the United States (WPUS), and the native English-speaking Philip Van Patten was elected as the party's first "Corresponding Secretary," the official in charge of the day-to-day operations of the party.^[7]

A number of socialist newspapers also emerged around this time, all privately owned, including Paul Grottkau's Chicago Arbeiter Zeitung, Joseph Brucker's Milwaukee Socialist, and an English-language weekly also published in Milwaukee called The Emancipator.^[3] German émigrés dominated the organization, although in Chicago Albert Parsons and G.A. Schilling maintained an active English-speaking section.^[8]

In 1877 the Workingmen's Party met at Newark, New Jersey in a convention which changed the name of the organization to the Socialist Labor Party (generally rendered in English throughout the 1880s as "Socialistic Labor Party," a more stilted rendition of the German name of the group, Sozialistischen Arbeiter-Partei).^[9] The organization made an electoral alliance with the Greenback Labor Party, the forerunner of the People's Party, but no great electoral triumphs were scored.^[10]

About this same time, the American anarchist movement began to gain strength, fueled by the economic crisis and strike wave of 1877. As socialist Frederic Heath recounted in 1900:

"The line between Anarchism and Socialism was not at this time sharply drawn in the Socialist organizations, in spite of the fact of their being opposites. Both being critics and denouncers of the present system, however, they were able to work together.

"As a result of the brutalities of the militia and regulars in the railway strikes of 1877, a new plan was devised by the Chicago agitators. This found expression in the Lehr and Wehr Vereian (teaching and defense society), an armed and drilled body of workmen pledged to protect the workers against the militia in a strike.... The arms-bearing tactics were opposed by the Executive Committee of the SLP, the Secretary of which was Philip van Patten. A fight ensued between the Verbote, which was the weekly edition of the Arbeiter Zeitung, of Chicago, and the Labor Bulletin, the official party organ which Patten edited."^[11]

This fight over tactics between the electorally-oriented socialists and the mass action-oriented anarchists continued through the 1881 SLP Convention in New York, at which time some of the party's anarchist members and one New York section split from the party to form a new party called the Revolutionary Socialist Labor Party, as part of an International Workingman's Association. The official organ of this short-lived splinter group was a newspaper called The Anarchist.^[12]

In 1882, Johann Most, a former German Social Democrat turned Anarchist firebrand, came to America, further fueling the growth and militancy of the American anarchist movement. The SLP further broke with the anarchists at its 1883 convention, with Paul Grottkau forced by the anarchists to resign from the Arbeiter Zeitung, turning over its editorship to August Spies, who was later executed as part of the anti-anarchist repression which followed the Haymarket affair of May 1886.^[13]

In 1886, the SLP took an active part in the New York City mayoral campaign of Single Tax advocate Henry George.

The coming of DeLeon

Daniel DeLeon in 1902.

The year 1890 has long been regarded as a watershed by the Socialist Labor Party, as it marked the date when the organization came under the influence of Daniel DeLeon.^[14] DeLeon, a native of the Central American island of Curaçao, had been resident in the United States for 18 years before he began to play a leading role in the American socialist movement. DeLeon attended a Gymnasium in Hildesheim, Germany, in the 1860s, before studying at the University of Leyden, from which he graduated in 1872 at the age of 20.^[15] DeLeon was a brilliant student — well versed in history, philosophy, and mathematics. He was also a linguist with few peers, possessing fluency in Spanish, German, Dutch, Latin, French, English, and ancient Greek, and a reading knowledge of Portuguese, Italian, and modern Greek.^[16]

Upon graduation, DeLeon immigrated to the United States, settling in New York City. There he made the acquaintance of a group of Cubans who sought the liberation of their native land and edited their Spanish-language newspaper.^[17] DeLeon paid the bills with a job teaching Latin, Greek, and math at a school in Westchester, New York.^[18] This teaching job enabled DeLeon to finance his further education at Columbia Law School, from which he graduated with honors in 1878.^[19] Thereafter, DeLeon moved to Texas, where he practiced law for a time, before returning to Columbia University in 1883 to take a position as a lecturer on Latin American diplomacy.^[19]

DeLeon seems to have been further politicized by the 1886 workers' campaign for the Eight-Hour Day, and the brutal excesses of the police which came with it..^[19] DeLeon was on the committee which nominated Henry George ran for Mayor in that same year, and he spoke in public several times on George's behalf during the course of the campaign..^[19] DeLeon participated in the first Nationalist Club in New York City, a group dedicated to advancing the socialist ideas expressed by Edward Bellamy in his extremely popular novel of the day, Looking Backward.^[19]

The failings of the Nationalist Club movement to develop a viable program or strategy for winning political power left DeLeon searching for an alternative. This he found in the ostensible scientific determinism underlying the writings of Karl Marx..^[20] In the fall of 1890, DeLeon abandoned his academic career to devote himself full time to the SLP. He was engaged in the spring of 1891 as the party's "National Lecturer," traveling the entire country from coast to coast to speak on the SLP's behalf.^[19] He was also named the SLP's candidate for Governor of New York in the fall of that same year, gathering a respectable 14,651 votes.^[21]

In 1892, DeLeon was elected editor of The Weekly People, the SLP's English-language official organ.^[18] He retained this important position without interruption for the rest of his life, never serving as the ostensible head of the organization but always recognized, by supporters and detractors alike, as the guiding force of the SLP through his editorial control of the party press. While increasing the exposure and popularity of the organization among the American-born during his editorial tenure, Daniel DeLeon proved to be a polarizing figure among the Socialist Labor Party's membership during his editorial tenure, as historian Howard Quint notes:

"Even DeLeon's opponents were usually willing to concede that he possessed a tremendous intellectual grasp of Marxism. Those who had suffered under his editorial lashings looked on him as an unmitigated scoundrel who took fiendish delight in character assassination, vituperation, and scurrility. But most of DeLeon's contemporaries, and especially his critics, misunderstood him, just as he himself lacked understanding of people. He was not a petty tyrant who desired power for power's sake. Rather, he was a dogmatic idealist, devoted brain and soul to a cause, a zealot who could not tolerate heresy or backsliding, a doctrinaire who would make no compromise with principles. For this strong-willed man, this late nineteenth-century Grand Inquisitioner of American socialism, there was no middle ground. You were either a disciplined and undeviating Marxist or no socialist at all. You were either with the mischief-making, scatterbrained reformers and 'labor fakirs' or you were against them. You either agreed on the necessity of uncompromising revolutionary tactics or you did not, and those falling into the latter category were automatically expendable as far as the Socialist Labor Party was concerned."^[22]

Revolutionary Industrial Unionism in theory and practice

To make sense of the further development of the Socialist Labor Party, we must understand the main ideological principle of the organization — Revolutionary Industrial Unionism (also known as "Socialist Industrial Unionism.")

A central axiom of Marxism is that the liberation of the working class must come at the hands of the working class itself.^[23] That this premise has been advanced by an unending string of middle-class intellectuals ranging from the professor-without-portfolio Dr. Karl Marx to the college-educated lawyer V.I. Lenin to lawyer and university lecturer Daniel DeLeon may be characterized as either inevitable, ironic, or a major contradiction, depending on one's personal perspective. Be that as it may, Marxists have universally assumed that only conscious and concerted effort by the working class itself can lead to cause the revolutionary transformation of economy and society. The devil lies in the details — how best to motivate this state of understanding and drive to action among those who sell their labor-power to others, how best to achieve the transformation of state and society.

The early Socialist Labor Party, influenced by the father of the Social Democratic Party of Germany, Ferdinand Lassalle, argued that the wage gains and improvements of conditions achievable by trade unions were insignificant and ephemeral. Only the capture of the state through the ballot box would enable a restructuring of the economy and society in anything resembling a permanent manner. So long as capitalism existed, wage gains here would be offset by the pressure of wage cuts there and incomes would be driven down to a subsistence minimum through the inexorable pressure of the market. Thus the political campaign for the capture of the state — winning office for the sake of winning power to enact change — was considered paramount.

For the Marxists who had come to dominate the Socialist Labor Party by the 1890s, this idea was exactly backwards. So long as fundamental economic relations between workers and employers remained unchanged, any alteration of the personnel of the state apparatus would be short-lived and would fall to nothing due to the wealth of the employers and their desire to preserve the existing economic order. The employing class controlled press and school and pulpit, the Marxists believed, their ideas of the "natural" order of things stuffed the heads of their willing political servitors. Only through collective action, trade union activities, could the working class begin to achieve consciousness of itself, the nature of the world, and its purported historic mission.

But what sort of trade unions would instill in the working class the ideas and drive to action that would lead to a revolutionary restructuring of the economic order?

The party split of 1899

National Secretary Henry Kuhn was the top political official of the SLP "regulars" in the faction fight of 1899.

De Leon's opponents, (primarily German-Americans, Jewish immigrants of various origins, and trade unionists led by Henry Slobodin and Morris Hillquit), left the SLP in 1899. They later merged with the Social Democratic Party, headed by Victor L. Berger and Eugene V. Debs to form the Socialist Party of America.

Early 20th Century

With the death of De Leon, the SLP, always critical of both the Soviet Union and of the Socialist Party's "reformism," has been isolated from the majority of the American Left, and that isolation became ever-increasing.^[24] By remaining steadfast the party had, however, remained influential. The party had always advocated what they consider purist socialism in its program, arguing that other parties have actually abandoned the dream and become either fan clubs of dictators or merely a radical wing of the Democratic party.

Late 20th Century

The party experienced two growth spurts in the twentieth century. The first occurred in the late 1940s. The presidential ticket, which had been receiving 15,000 to 30,000 votes, increased to 45,226 in 1944. Meanwhile, the aggregate nationwide totals for U.S. Senate nominees increased during this same period from an average in the 40,000 range to 96,139 in 1946 and 100,072 in 1948. The party's fortunes began to sag during the early 1950s, and by 1954 the aggregate nationwide totals for U.S. Senate nominees was down to 30,577.

Eric Hass became influential in the SLP in the early 1950s. Hass, the nominee for President in 1952, 1956, 1960, and 1964, played a major role in rebuilding the SLP. He authored the booklet "Socialism: A Home Study Course" which was well-received.^[who?] Hass increased the party's nationwide totals and recruited many local candidates. His vote for President increased from 30,250 in 1952 to 47,522 in 1960 (a 50% increase). Although his total slipped to 45,187 in 1964, Hass outpolled all other third party candidates - the only time this happened to the SLP. Aggregate nationwide totals for U.S. Senate nominees increased throughout the late 1960s, hitting 112,990 in 1972.

The increased interest in the SLP in the late 1960s was not a permanent growth spurt. New recruits subscribed to the anti-authoritarian views of the time and wanted their voices to have an equal status with the old-time party workers. Newcomers felt that the party was too controlled by a small clique, resulting in widespread discontent. In 1976, the SLP nominated its last Presidential candidate and has run few campaigns since then. In 1980, members of the SLP in Minnesota, claiming that the party had become bureaucratic and authoritarian in its internal party structure, split from the party and formed the New Union Party.

The SLP began having trouble funding their newspaper The People, so frequency was changed from monthly to bi-monthly in 2004. That did not save the paper from collapse, however, and it was suspended as of 31 March 2008. The SLP closed its national office on 1 September 2008 ^[25]. The SLP, while almost completely inactive, carries on, mainly as a paper organization amongst the remaining members.

Legacy

Perhaps the greatest impact of De Leon and the SLP was their help in founding the Industrial Workers of the World in 1905. Before too long, however they had a falling out with the element that they termed 'the bummery,' and left to form their own rival union, also called the Industrial Workers of the World, based in Detroit. De Leon died in 1914,^[24] and with his passing this organization lost its central focus. This body was renamed the Workers International Industrial Union (WIIU) and declined into little more than SLP members. The WIIU was wound up in 1924.

Famed author Jack London was an early member of the Socialist Labor Party, joining in 1896. He left in 1901 but remained a Socialist.

The science fiction writer Mack Reynolds was an active member of the SLP and his fiction often deals with socialist reform and revolution as well as socialist Utopian thought.

Conventions

Convention	Location	Dates	Notes
Unity Congress	Philadelphia, PA	July 19-22, 1876	Establishes Workingmen's Party of the United States.
National Congress	Newark, NJ	Dec. 26-31, 1877	Name changed to Socialistic Labor Party; Documents & Proceedings
2nd National Convention	Allegheny, PA	Dec. 26, 1879-Jan 1, 1880	Documents & Condensed Proceedings
3rd National Convention	Bowery, NYC	Dec. 26-29, 1881	Proceedings, in German, from the New Yorker Volkszeitung
4th National Convention	Baltimore, MD	Dec. 26-28, 1883	Proceedings, in German, some pages blacked out
5th National Convention	Cincinnati, OH	Oct. 5-8, 1885	Proceedings, in German
6th National Convention	Buffalo, NY	Sept. 17-20, 1887	Proceedings
7th Nat. Conv. [regular]	Chicago, IL	Oct. 12-17, 1889	Account of Proceedings in Workmens Advocate
7th Nat. Conv. [dissident]	Chicago, IL	Sept. 28- Oct. 2, 1889	Proceedings
8th National Convention	Chicago, IL	2-5 July, 1893	Proceedings as reported in The People
9th National Convention	New York City	July 4-10, 1896	Proceedings
10th Nat. Conv. [regular]	New York City	June 2-8, 1900	Proceedings
10th Nat. Conv. [dissident]	Rochester, NY	Jan. 27-Feb. 2, 1900	No stenographic record published.
11th National Convention	New York City	July, 1904	Microfilm of the typescript is available from the Wisconsin Historical Society.
12th National Convention	New York City	July 1908	No stenographic record published.
13th National Convention	New York City	April 1912	No stenographic record published.
14th National Convention	New York City	April 29-May 3, 1916	No stenographic record published. Platform.
15th National Convention	New York City	May 5-10, 1920	Proceedings
16th National Convention	New York City	May 10-13, 1924	Proceedings
17th National Convention	New York City	May 12-14, 1928	Proceedings
18th National Convention	New York City	April 30-May 2, 1932	Proceedings p. 1, Proceedings p. 2
19th National Convention	New York City	April 25-28, 1936	Proceedings p. 1, Proceedings p. 2
20th National Convention	New York City	April 27-30, 1940	Proceedings p. 1, Proceedings p. 2
21st National Convention	New York City	April 29-May 2, 1944	Proceedings
22nd National Convention	New York City	May 1-3, 1948	Proceedings
23rd National Convention	New York City	May 3-5, 1952	Proceedings
24th National Convention	New York City	May 5-7, 1956	Platform
25th National Convention	New York City	May 7-9, 1960	Platform
26th National Convention	New York City	May 2-4, 1964	Platform
27th National Convention	Brooklyn, NY	May 4-7, 1968	Platform
28th National Convention	Detroit, MI	April 8-11, 1972	Platform
29th National Convention	Southfield, MI	February 7-11, 1976	Platform
30th National Convention		1977	Proceedings; no pdf available.
31st National Convention	Philadelphia, PA	May 26-31, 1978	Proceedings; no pdf available.
32nd National Convention		1979	Proceedings; no pdf available.
33rd National Convention		June 27-July 1, 1980	Proceedings; no pdf available.
34th National Convention		1981	Proceedings; no pdf available.
35th National Convention		1982	Proceedings; no pdf available.
36th National Convention	Akron, OH	July 18-23, 1983	Proceedings; no pdf available. Platform.
37th National Convention		1985	Proceedings; no pdf available.
38th National Convention	Akron, OH	July 27-31, 1987	Proceedings; no pdf available.
39th National Convention	Santa Clara, CA	April 29-May 3, 1989	Proceedings
40th National Convention	Santa Clara, CA	April 28-30, 1991	Proceedings
41st National Convention	Santa Clara, CA	May 1-4, 1993	Proceedings
42nd National Convention	Santa Clara, CA	July 15-18, 1995	Proceedings
43rd National Convention	Santa Clara, CA	May 2-5, 1997	Proceedings
44th National Convention	Santa Clara, CA	April 9-12, 1999	Proceedings
45th National Convention	Santa Clara, CA	June 1-4, 2001	Proceedings
46th National Convention	Santa Clara, CA	July 9-11, 2005	Proceedings

Secretaries of the SLP

Name	Tenure	Title
Philip Van Patten	1876 -c.1883	Corresponding Secretary
Wilhelm Rosenberg	1885-1889	Corresponding Secretary
Benjamin Gretsch	1889-1891	National Secretary
Henry Kuhn	1891-1906, 1908 (pro tem)	National Secretary
Frank Bohn	1906-1908	National Secretary
Paul Augustine	1908-1914	National Secretary
Arnold Petersen	1914-1969	National Secretary
Nathan Karp	1969-1980	National Secretary
Robert Bills	1980-	National Secretary

Presidential tickets

Election	SLP Presidential Nominee	Vice-Presidential Nominee
1892	Simon Wing	Charles Matchett
1896	Charles Matchett	Matthew Maguire
1900	Joseph F. Malloney	Valentine Remmel
1904	Charles H. Corregan	William Wesley Cox
1908	August Gillhaus	Donald L. Munro
1912	Arthur E. Reimer	August Gillhaus
1916	Arthur E. Reimer	Caleb Harrison
1920	William Wesley Cox	August Gillhaus
1924	Frank T. Johns	Verne L. Reynolds
1928	Verne L. Reynolds	Jeremiah D. Crowley
1932	Verne L. Reynolds	John W. Aiken
1936	John W. Aiken	Emil F. Teichert
1940	John W. Aiken	Aaron M. Orange
1944	Edward A. Teichert	Arla A. Albaugh
1948	Edward A. Teichert	Stephen Emery
1952	Eric Hass	Stephen Emery
1956	Eric Hass	Georgia Cozzini
1960	Eric Hass	Georgia Cozzini
1964	Eric Hass	Henning A. Blomen
1968	Henning A. Blomen	George Sam Taylor
1972	Louis Fisher	Genevieve Gundersen
1976	Jules Levin	Constance Blomen

Notable members

Footnotes

Further reading

• Frank Girard and Ben Perry, Socialist Labor Party, 1876-1991: A Short History. Philadelphia: Livra Books, 1991.
• Howard Quint, The Forging of American Socialism: Origins of the Modern Movement: The Impact of Socialism on American Thought and Action, 1886-1901. Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, 1953.
• L. Glen Seratan, Daniel Deleon: The Odyssey of an American Marxist. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1979.

External links

Primary documents

• Bulletin of the Socialistic Labor Movement, Vol 1, No. 14 (Dec. 1880-Jan. 1881). Full issue of rare official organ. Retrieved September 29, 2009.
• SLP Documents Downloads, Early American Marxism website. Index for assorted SLP documents in pdf format. Retrieved September 29, 2009.
• Report of the Proceedings of the National Convention of the Socialistic Labor Party. Index for pdfs of proceedings of SLP, 1878-1887. Retrieved September 29, 2009.
• Daniel DeLeon Online, Socialist Labor Party. Extensive collection of editorials and writings by Daniel DeLeon in pdf format. Retrieved September 29, 2009.

Links relating to the historic SLP

• SLP Publications, Early American Marxism website. Partial but lengthy list of official publications of the SLP. Retrieved September 29, 2009.
• Early American Marxism website. Includes extensive party history. Retrieved September 29, 2009.
• "DeLeon — A Sketch of His Socialist Career", Socialist Labor Party. Official party history of the SLP's most notable leader. Retrieved September 29, 2009.
• Papers of the Socialist Labor Party of America: Records of the Socialist Labor Party of America; guide to a microfilm edition. User guide to the microfilm collection filmed by the State Historical Society of Wisconsin. Retrieved September 29, 2009.

Contemporary SLP links

• Socialist Labor Party of America, official party website. Retrieved September 29, 2009.
• The People, index of issues available in pdf, 1999-2008. Retrieved September 29, 2009.

See also

• Arm and Hammer
• British Socialist Labour Party
• Socialist Studies