The Joint Legislative Committee to Investigate Seditious Activities , popularly known as the Lusk Committee , was formed in 1919 by the New York State Legislature to investigate individuals and organizations in New York State suspected of sedition .
110-724: A private, two-month-long investigation of radicalism conducted by a committee of the New York City Union League Club produced a unanimous vote of the club's members to petition to the New York State Legislature for a government investigation. Within days, the New York State Legislature established the Joint Legislative Committee to Investigate Seditious Activities by Concurrent Resolution on March 26, 1919. The nine-member Committee targeted offenses committed under
220-492: A "clearly undemocratic, quasi-Leninist platform" that lobbied for the removal of the current "bogus democracy of capitalist parliamentarianism". Wanting the government to be replaced by a "genuine worker's democracy", the American Socialist Party stated that "whether or not it is a majority, will not shrink from the responsibility of organizing and maintaining a government under the workers' rule". This
330-484: A "specific, concrete, definite, affirmative declaration of guilt" of the five Assemblymen before they were ever charged with any offense. It was also Sweet who appointed the members of the Judiciary Committee to which the matter was referred. "Thus the accuser selects his own judges", Hillquit declared. Hillquit sought to remove for reasons of bias any members of the Judiciary Committee who had taken part in
440-478: A centralized government was essential to their prosperity. The national government enforced contracts, tariffs, and an expanding infrastructure, all in the best interest of the professionals in the merchant, financial, and manufacturing classes, which in turn, benefited the population at large. These professionals also developed an economic interest in the federal government, because as the war progressed, Union League ideas had their effect and New York City's elite bore
550-493: A coalition of moneyed professionals like themselves. Strong believed that the club would only thrive with a respectable catalogue of moneyed men. Olmsted especially desired to recruit the new generation of young, wealthy men, so that the club might teach them the obligations and duties of the upper class. The founders aimed to win the political governing elite over to support the Union and to abolish slavery. They also believed that
660-714: A continued effort to gain control of the SPA at its forthcoming Emergency National Convention in Chicago, to be held at the end of August, while another section, headed by the Russian Socialist Federation of Alexander Stoklitsky and Nicholas Hourwich and the Socialist Party of Michigan seeking to wash its hands of the Socialist Party and immediately move to establish a new Communist Party of America . Eventually, this latter Federation-dominated group
770-656: A date that was not selected accidentally. The 1st National Convention of the CPPA was assembled in Cleveland at the city auditorium, which was packed with close to 600 delegates representing international unions, state federations of labor, branches of cooperative societies, state branches and national officers of the Socialist, Farmer-Labor and Progressive Parties as well as the Committee of 48 , state and national affiliates of
880-455: A disproportional amount of the nation's debt. As they bought more and more war bonds, the holders had an increasing economic interest in the success of the Union, in addition to the convictions that led them to buy the bonds in the first place. The club held its first official meeting on March 20, 1863. At this first meeting, Robert B. Minturn , head of the nation's second largest shipping firm,
990-809: A few that were racially integrated. The leaders of the all-black units were mostly urban Blacks from the North, who had never been slaves. Foner (p 283) says "virtually every Black voter in the South had enrolled." Black League members were special targets of the Ku Klux Klan 's violence and intimidation, so the Leagues organized informal armed defense units. After the end of Reconstruction, the Union League Club of New York devoted itself to civic projects and clean government. It and its members helped to found
1100-501: A gathering that punted on the issue of committing itself to the 1924 presidential campaign, deciding instead to "immediately issue a call for a convention of workers, farmers, and progressives for the purpose of taking action on nomination of candidates for the offices of President and Vice President of the United States, and on other questions that may come before the convention". The decisive moment finally came on July 4, 1924,
1210-479: A new political party. The Socialist Party was an enthusiastic supporter of the CPPA and the group dominated its thinking from the start of 1922 through the first quarter of 1925. In this period of organizational weakness, the party sought to forge lasting ties with the existing trade union movement, leading in short order to a mass labor party in the United States on the British model. A first National Conference of
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#17327725633011320-616: A parallel convention. It was this gathering that established itself as the Communist Labor Party on August 31, 1919. Meanwhile, elsewhere in Chicago, the Federations and Michiganders and their supporters established the Communist Party of America at a convention gaveled to order on September 1, 1919. Unity between these two communist organizations was a lengthy and complicated process, formally taking place at
1430-466: A resolution declaring your seat herein vacant, pending a hearing before a tribunal of this house, you will be given an opportunity to appear before such tribunal to prove your right to a seat in this legislative body, and upon the result of such hearing and the findings of the Assembly tribunal, your right to participate in the actions of this body will be determined. The Assembly suspended the quintet by
1540-424: A result of the committee's work, five Socialist Party members of the legislature were expelled in 1920 . It produced a negative reaction on the part of the press and the public that helped change national attitudes against the anti-red campaign of 1919–20 . The legislature considered the committee's recommendations for curbing and countering radical propaganda. It passed a series of laws funding anti-radical work by
1650-669: A secret convention held at the Overlook Mountain House hotel near Woodstock, New York , in May 1921 with the establishment of a new unified Communist Party of America. A Left Wing loyal to the Communist International remained in the Socialist Party through 1921, continuing the fight to bring the Socialist Party into the ranks of the Comintern. This group, which opposed the underground secret organizations
1760-491: A socialist ticket was in 1912 , when Debs gained 901,551 total votes, 6% of the popular vote. In 1920 , Debs ran again, this time while imprisoned for opposing World War I, and received 913,693 votes, 3.4% of the total. Early political perspectives ranged from radical socialism to social democracy. Victor Berger and New York party leader Morris Hillquit sat on the party's more social democratic or right-wing side. Radical socialists and syndicalists, including Debs and members of
1870-487: A special election was held to fill the five seats vacated by the Assembly, with each of the five expelled Socialists running for reelection against a "fusion" candidate representing the combined Republican and Democratic parties. All five Socialists were returned to office. Three of the five, Waldman, Claessens and Solomon, were again denied their seats after a contentious debate by votes of 90 to 45 on September 21, 1920. Orr and DeWitt, deemed less culpable than their peers by
1980-484: A vote of 140 to 6, with one Democrat supporting the Socialists. Civil libertarians and concerned citizens raised their voices to aid the suspended Socialists and protest percolated throughout the press. The principal argument was that the expulsion of elected members of minority parties by majority parties from their councils set a dangerous precedent in a democracy. The battle culminated in a highly publicized trial in
2090-787: A week after the Palmer Raids had swept and stunned the country, the New York Assembly was called to order. The majority Republicans easily elected their candidate for the Speaker, Thaddeus C. Sweet and after opening day formalities the body took a brief recess. Back in session, Sweet declared: "The Chair directs the Sergeant-at-Arms to present before the bar of the House Samuel A. DeWitt , Samuel Orr , Louis Waldman , Charles Solomon , and August Claessens ",
2200-648: The 1912 elections . Sixteen Socialist candidates in the 1912 House elections received over 20% of the popular vote and five of those received over 30%. In June 1918, Debs made an anti-draft speech, calling for draft resistance . Urging young men to ignore the draft law was a crime under the Sedition Act of 1918 and Debs was convicted and sentenced to serve ten years in prison. President Warren G. Harding commuted his and two dozen others' sentences at Christmastime 1921. According to historian Sally Miller, Victor Berger : In January 1919, Vladimir Lenin invited
2310-604: The American Civil War . Tensions were running high in New York City at the time, because much of the city's governing class bitterly opposed the war and were eager to reach some kind of accommodation with the Confederate States of America . Thus, pro- Union men chose to form their own club, with the twin goals of cultivating "a profound national devotion" and to "strengthen a love and respect for
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#17327725633012420-527: The American Federation of Labor (AFL). AFL leadership, headed by Samuel Gompers , strongly opposed the Socialist Party, but many rank-and-file unionists in the early 20th century saw the Socialists as reliable political allies. Many moderate Socialists, such as Berger and International Typographical Union President Max S. Hayes , urged close cooperation with the AFL and its member unions. Others in
2530-495: The Bull Moose Party ticket in 1912, Roosevelt was persona non grata at the club for several years, being welcomed back after the United States entered World War I . From its founding as a men's club, the members decided to admit women in the mid-1980s. Faith Whittlesey , President Reagan's Ambassador to Switzerland was the first female member (1986). Women now play prominent roles in the club's leadership including
2640-673: The Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), sat on the left. There were also agrarian utopian-leaning radicals, such as Julius Wayland of Kansas, who edited the party's leading national newspaper, Appeal to Reason , along with trade unionists; Jewish, Finnish and German immigrants; and intellectuals such as Walter Lippmann and the Black activist/intellectual Hubert Harrison . The party outsourced its newspapers and publications so that it would not have an internal editorial board that
2750-636: The Metropolitan Museum of Art , Grant's Tomb , and the Statue of Abraham Lincoln on Union Square , Manhattan. They also assisted in building the Statue of Liberty by raising funds through Edouard de Laboulaye and William Maxwell Evarts , as well as funding the Statue's pedestal through a committee chaired by member John Jay . The ULC's first clubhouse, built in 1863 was at 26 East 17th Street , facing Union Square . The second clubhouse
2860-555: The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People . Walling and Ovington both argued inside the party that it had not done enough to oppose racism and they were joined by other left-wing intellectuals who published articles in the party press about the importance of anti-racism to the socialist cause, including Hubert Harrison and I. M. Rubinow . The party had a tense and complicated relationship with
2970-597: The New York Draft Riots exploded right in the club's backyard. The Union League Club was high on the vandals' list of targets (right after the Colored Orphan Asylum), but some brave members kept them at bay by maintaining an armed vigil in the locked and barricaded clubhouse on East 17th Street, just off Union Square Park . A few months later, the members decided to make an unmistakable gesture that they had not been intimidated. Authorized by
3080-646: The October Revolution in the Russian Republic in 1917 and the establishment of the Communist International in 1919—many members left the Socialist Party to found Leninist Parties. After endorsing Robert M. La Follette 's Progressive Party in 1924 , the party returned to independent action at the presidential level. It had modest growth in the early 1930s behind presidential candidate Norman Thomas . The party's appeal
3190-554: The Social Democratic Federation . While the party was always strongly anti-fascist as well as anti-Stalinist , its opposition to American entry in World War II cost it both internal and external support. The party stopped running presidential candidates after 1956 , when its nominee, Darlington Hoopes , won fewer than 6,000 votes. In the party's last decades, its members, many of them prominent in
3300-451: The South . The Socialist Party of Louisiana initially adopted a "Negro clause" that opposed disenfranchisement of blacks , but it supported segregation. The clause was supported by some Southern socialists and opposed by others, although this was not because of its accommodation of racism as such, but because it officially enshrined this accommodation. The party's National Committee persuaded
3410-716: The Soviet Union . Leaders of two of its caucuses formed separate socialist organizations, the Socialist Party USA and the Democratic Socialist Organizing Committee , the precursor of the Democratic Socialists of America . The few own the many because they possess the means of livelihood of all. [...] The country is governed for the richest, for the corporations, the bankers, the land speculators, and for
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3520-603: The U.S. War Department , the club decided to recruit, train and equip a Colored infantry regiment for Union service. The 20th U.S. Colored Infantry was formed on Riker's Island in February 1864. The next month, it marched from the Union League Club, down Canal Street and over to the Hudson River piers to embark for duty in Louisiana . In spite of numerous threats, the members of the Union League Club marched with
3630-589: The Union ." A foundational article of the club was the duty to resist and expose corruption, as well as to elevate the idea of American citizenship in the country. The Union League (also known as Loyal Leagues) was actually a political movement before it became a social organization. Its members raised money both to support the United States Sanitary Commission , the forerunner of the American Red Cross , which cared for
3740-1019: The Union League . Its fourth and current clubhouse is located at 38 East 37th Street on the corner of Park Avenue , in the Murray Hill neighborhood of Manhattan . It was designed by Benjamin Wistar Morris and opened on February 2, 1931. The building was designated a New York City landmark on October 25, 2011. The club is one of the most prestigious in New York City. Union League clubs, which are legally separate but share similar histories and maintain reciprocal links with one another, are also located in Chicago and Philadelphia . Additional Union League clubs were formerly located in Brooklyn , New York, and New Haven, Connecticut . The club dates its founding from February 6, 1863, during
3850-493: The White House . Two former presidents, Ulysses S. Grant and Herbert Hoover , were active members after leaving office. Theodore Roosevelt was blackballed when he first applied for membership in 1881, possibly because his mother, Martha Bulloch Roosevelt , was a well-known Confederate sympathizer. Following the sudden deaths of his wife and mother in 1884, however, he was offered membership and accepted. After running on
3960-641: The Workers Party of America , sent four delegates to the CPPA's December 1922 gathering. But after protracted debate, the Credentials Committee strongly objected to the participation of Communist representatives in its proceedings and issued a recommendation that Workers Party's representatives and youth organization not be seated. The Socialist Party's delegates strongly supported excluding the Communists and acted accordingly, even though
4070-546: The assassination of United States President William McKinley by an anarchist in Buffalo, New York . For more than a year the Committee gathered information on suspected radical groups by raiding offices and examining documents, infiltrating meetings, assisting law enforcement agents in thousands of arrests, and subpoenaing witnesses to testify at the committee's hearings. The committee's use of search warrants and raids
4180-472: The criminal anarchy articles of the State's Penal Code. The committee was chaired by freshman State Senator Clayton R. Lusk of Cortland County. who had a background in business and conservative political values, referring to radicals as "alien enemies." With the exception of a minor case, this was the first time that the state's criminal anarchy statutes had been invoked since they were enacted in 1902 following
4290-664: The "Regulars", who controlled a big majority of the seats of the Socialist Party's governing NEC. When it seemed certain that the 1919 party elections for a new NEC had been dominated by the Left Wing, the sitting NEC, citing voting irregularities, refused to tally the votes, declared the entire election invalid and in May 1919 suspended the party's Russian, Latvian, Ukrainian, Polish, South Slavic and Hungarian language federations , in addition to Michigan's entire state organization. In future weeks, Massachusetts's and Ohio's state organizations were similarly disfranchised and "reorganized" by
4400-446: The "forces of every progressive, liberal, and radical organization of the workers must be mobilized" to repel conservative assaults and "advance the industrial and political power of the working class". This desire for common action seems to have been shared by various unions, as late in 1921 a call was issued in the name of the country's 16 major railway labor unions seeking a Conference for Progressive Political Action (CPPA). The CPPA
4510-604: The 1912 platform of the Tennessee party stated that white supremacist ideology was a tool of the capitalist class to divide and rule the working class, while the Virginia party passed a resolution three years earlier to focus more attention on encouraging solidarity between black and white workers and to invite nonwhite workers to join the party. Most notable was the Socialist Party of Oklahoma , which led opposition to
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4620-481: The 19th century contributed paintings to the club in lieu of dues, and these remain part of the club's collection. Socialist Party of America#Expulsion of Socialists from the New York Assembly .281920.29 Progressive Era Repression and persecution Anti-war and civil rights movements Contemporary The Socialist Party of America ( SPA ) was a socialist political party in
4730-469: The American labor movement as claimed by our extreme industrialists", he declared. The issue of "syndicalism vs. socialism" was bitterly fought over the next two years, consummated by Haywood's recall from the Socialist Party's National Executive Committee (NEC) and the departure of a broad section of the left wing from the organization. The memory of this split made the intraparty battles of 1919–1921 all
4840-430: The Assembly's five Socialist members. Sweet attacked the five, declaring they had been "elected on a platform that is absolutely inimical to the best interests of the state of New York and the United States". The Socialist Party, Sweet said, was "not truly a political party", but rather "a membership organization admitting within its ranks aliens, enemy aliens, and minors". The party had denounced America's participation in
4950-408: The Assembly, which dominated the body's activity from its opening on January 20, 1920, until its conclusion on March 11. Socialist Party leader and former 1917 New York City mayoral candidate Morris Hillquit served as chief counsel for the suspended Socialists, aided by party founder and future Socialist vice-presidential candidate Seymour Stedman . At the trial, Hillquit charged that Sweet had made
5060-485: The Attorney-General and the training of teachers of patriotism who would use their expertise in factories and businesses. Other bills defined the kinds of institutions that could provide education and forbade private instruction outside them. Another required public school teachers take loyalty oaths Governor Al Smith vetoed the legislation, objecting in particular to government power over instruction. He called
5170-855: The Board of Governors, the Admissions Committee, the Public Affairs Committee, and the House Committee. In 2020, the club elected its first woman president, Mary Beth Sullivan. Among the Honorary Members were Sandra Day O'Connor , Henry Kissinger , Neil Armstrong , Margaret Thatcher , Antonin Scalia , Brent Scowcroft , Barbara Bush , and H. Norman Schwarzkopf . The club has a strong artistic tradition (see list of members below). Some artist-members in
5280-541: The Bureau's New York office, became the committee's chief investigator. This cooperation allowed federal authorities whose powers were limited by the lack of a peacetime anti-sedition statute to use state authority against radicals. On June 12, the police and private detectives working for the Committee raided the Russian Soviet Bureau, an agency headed by Ludwig Martens , that sought American recognition of
5390-459: The CPPA after the convention. Although the Socialists did not realize it at the time, the chances that the organization would ever be transformed into an authentic mass Farmer-Labor party like British Labour were greatly lessened by the FLP's departure. The Socialists remained optimistic, and the May 1923 National Convention of the Socialist Party voted after lengthy debate to retain its affiliation with
5500-472: The CPPA and to continue its work for an independent political party from within that group. The May 20 vote in favor of maintaining affiliation with the CPPA was 38–12. Failing a mass farmer-labor party from the CPPA, the Socialists sought at least a powerful presidential nominee to run in opposition to the old parties. A 3rd National Conference of the CPPA was held in St. Louis, Missouri , on February 11 and 12, 1924,
5610-481: The CPPA was held in Chicago in February 1922, attended by 124 delegates representing a broad spectrum of labor, farmer and political organizations. The gathering passed an "Address to the American People" stating its criticism of existing conditions and formally proposing an amorphous plan of action validating the status quo ante: the labor unions on the group's right wing to endorse labor-friendly candidates of
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#17327725633015720-548: The Communist Parties had become, included noted party journalist J. Louis Engdahl and William Kruse , head of the party's youth affiliate, the Young People's Socialist League , as well as a significant segment of the Socialist Party's Chicago organization. These left-wing dissidents continued to make themselves heard until their departure from the party after the 1921 convention. On January 7, 1920, less than
5830-407: The Democratic Party, the Socialists and Farmer-Labor Party adherents on the group's left wing to conduct their own independent campaigns. From the Socialist Party's perspective, perhaps the most important thing the CPPA did at its first National Conference was agree to meet again. The party leadership understood the process of building an independent third party that could count on the allegiance of
5940-438: The European war and had lent aid and comfort to Ludwig Martens , the "self-styled Soviet Ambassador and alien, who entered this country as a German in 1916". It had supported the revolutionaries in Germany , Austria and Hungary , Sweet continued; and consorted with international Socialist parties close to the Communist International . Sweet concluded: It is every citizen's right to his day in court. If this house should adopt
6050-465: The Farmer-Labor Party calling for "independent political action by the agricultural and industrial workers through a party of their own" defeated by a vote of 52 to 64. A majority report declaring against an independent political party was instead adopted. This defeat of the bid for an independent political party cost the CPPA one its major component organizations, with the Farmer-Labor Party delegation announcing that its group would no longer affiliate with
6160-419: The IWW and the radical wing of the Socialist Party to join in the founding of the Communist Third International, the Comintern . The Left Wing Section of the Socialist Party emerged as an organized faction early that year, building its organization around a lengthy Left Wing Manifesto by Louis C. Fraina . This effort to organize in order to "win the Socialist Party for the Left Wing" was staunchly resisted by
6270-428: The Left Wing language federations suspended, a big majority of the hastily elected delegates to the gathering were controlled by the Executive Secretary Adolph Germer and the Regulars. A group of Left Wingers without delegate credentials, including Reed and his sidekick Benjamin Gitlow , made an effort to occupy chairs on the convention floor before the gathering was called into order. The incumbents were unable to block
6380-411: The Left Wingers at the door, but soon called to their aid the already present police, who obligingly expelled the boisterous radicals from the hall. With the Credentials Committee firmly in the hands of the Regulars from the outset, the gathering's outcome was no longer in doubt and most of the remaining Left Wing delegates departed, to meet with other co-thinkers downstairs in a previously reserved room in
6490-581: The Louisiana party to withdraw the clause, but when the state party subsequently established segregated branches, the wider party did not object. Segregated locals could also be found in state parties in Texas and elsewhere. When Texas socialists established a Land Renters' Union in 1911, they initially banned black tenants from joining, before later setting up segregated locals for black and brown farmers. The party's membership rose by over 50,000 from 1901 to 1910. The party had 4,320 members in 1901, 20,763 in 1904, 41,751 in 1908, and 58,011 in 1910. Elsewhere,
6600-458: The NEC, while in New York and Pennsylvania the "Regular" State Executive Committees undertook reorganization of Left Wing branches and locals on a case-by-case basis. In June 1919, the Left Wing Section held a conference in New York City to discuss its organizational plans. The group found itself deeply divided, with one section, led by NEC members Alfred Wagenknecht and L. E. Katterfeld and including famed radical journalist John Reed favoring
6710-512: The Socialist Party dismissed the AFL and its craft unions as antiquated and irrelevant, instead favoring the much more radical IWW and the "syndicalist" path to socialism. In 1911, IWW leader Bill Haywood was elected to the National Executive Committee of the Socialist Party, on which AFL partisan Morris Hillquit also served. The syndicalist and the electoral socialist squared off in a lively public debate in New York City's Cooper Union on January 11, 1912, with Haywood declaring that Hillquit and
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#17327725633016820-436: The Socialist Party had won 1,200 political offices, including U.S. representative, 32 state representatives and 79 mayors. It gained new votes in ethnic strongholds such as Milwaukee and New York from conservative German Americans who also opposed the war. From 1912 to 1938, the party ran more candidates for seats in the United States House of Representatives than any other minor party, with its height being 358 candidates in
6930-458: The Socialist Party was formed by a merger between the Social Democratic Party of America (headquartered in Chicago, IL ) and dissident Lassallean members of the Socialist Labor Party of America , who had also adopted the name Social Democratic Party of America (headquartered in Springfield, MA ). The new party chose "socialist" over "social democratic" because the latter lost its meaning when translated from German to English . From 1901 to
7040-420: The Socialist Party, which stood and stands for democratic and representative government". The legislature attempted to prevent the election and seating of Socialists in the future by passing laws designed to exclude the Socialist Party from recognition as a political party and to alter the legislature's oath-taking procedures so that elected members could be excluded before being sworn. Governor Al Smith vetoed
7150-470: The Socialists ought to try "a little sabotage in the right place at the proper time" and attacking Hillquit for having abandoned the class struggle by helping the New York garment workers negotiate an industrial agreement with their employers. Hillquit replied that he had no new message other than to reiterate a belief in a two-sided workers' movement, with separate and equal political and trade union arms. "A mere change of structural forms would not revolutionize
7260-416: The Union wounded following battles, and the Union cause generally. The New York League was founded by four prominent professionals and intellectuals: Henry Whitney Bellows , Frederick Law Olmsted , George Templeton Strong , and Oliver Wolcott Gibbs . The men, all members of the United States Sanitary Commission , desired to strengthen the nation state and the national identity. They first aimed to recruit
7370-529: The United States formed in 1901 by a merger between the three-year-old Social Democratic Party of America and disaffected elements of the Socialist Labor Party of America who had split from the main organization in 1899. In the first decades of the 20th century, the SPA drew significant support from many different groups, including trade unionists , progressive social reformers, populist farmers and immigrants . Eugene V. Debs twice won over 900,000 votes in presidential elections ( 1912 and 1920 ), while
7480-412: The Women's Committee on Political Action and sundry individuals. Very few farmers were in attendance. It was around this time that the Socialists began actively participating in discussions about democratic principles as much as Marxist ones. By 1924, they supported the Progressive Party ticket, which pushed for the reform of the Democratic Party . Ten years after that, the American Socialists adopted
7590-455: The activities of the Lusk Committee , the New York State Senate's anti-radicalism committee. He particularly challenged the presence of Assemblyman Louis A. Cuvillier , who had stated on the floor of the house the previous night words to the effect that "if the five accused Assemblymen are found guilty, they ought not to be expelled, but taken out and shot". The Assembly voted overwhelmingly for expulsion on April 1, 1920. On September 16, 1920,
7700-419: The call and declaring that the time had come "for a militant political movement independent of the two old party organizations". But La Follette declined to lead a third party, seeking to protect those progressives elected nominally as Republicans and Democrats. He said that the primary issue of the 1924 campaign was breaking the "combined power of the private monopoly system over the political and economic life of
7810-417: The consent of the vast majority in the interests of that majority" and explained his belief that " a reasonable and wise repression of revolutionary activities tends toward the maintenance of law, order and peace in the community." Notes References Union League Club of New York The Union League Club is a private social club in New York City that was founded in 1863 in affiliation with
7920-414: The country's trade union leadership would be a protracted process and the mere fact of "agreement to disagree" but nevertheless meeting again was regarded as a step forward. The communist movement also sought to pursue the strategy of bursting from its isolation by forming a mass Farmer-Labor Party. Finally emerged from its underground existence in 1922, the Communists, through their "legal political party",
8030-789: The documents seized was a large volume of birth control literature. While the press had demonstrated little sympathy for the Russian Bureau, the liberal and radical press, joined by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), defended the Rand School. Others raids targeted the left wing of the Socialist Party and the IWW. When they analyzed the materials it hauled away, it made much of attempts to organize American Negroes and calls for revolutions in foreign-language magazines. The committee's agents raided 73 branches of
8140-436: The earlier findings of the Judiciary Committee, were seated by votes of 87 to 48. In solidarity with their ousted colleagues, the pair refused to take their seats. After the five seats were again vacated, Hillquit expressed his disappointment at the Assembly's "unconstitutional action". But, he continued, "it will draw the issues clearer between the united Republican and Democratic parties representing arbitrary lawlessness, and
8250-406: The exploiters of labor. The majority of mankind are working people. So long as their fair demands—the ownership and control of their livelihoods—are set at naught, we can have neither men's rights nor women's rights. The majority of mankind is ground down by industrial oppression in order that the small remnant may live in ease. — Helen Keller , Socialist Party of America member, 1913 In 1901,
8360-484: The four volume work constituted a report, while the rest reprinted materials seized in raids or supplied by witnesses, much of it detailing European activities, or surveyed efforts to counteract radicalism in every state, including citizenship programs and other patriotic educational activities. The committee's work led to the conviction on charges of criminal anarchy of two anarchist editors, who were sentenced to years in prison and other radical immigrants were deported. As
8470-504: The labor, peace, civil rights, and civil liberties movements, fundamentally disagreed about the socialist movement 's relationship to the labor movement and the Democratic Party and about how best to advance democracy abroad. In 1970–1973, these strategic differences became so acute that the SPA changed its name to Social Democrats, USA , both because the term "party" in its name had confused the public and to distance itself from
8580-426: The legislation's supporters "prejudiced," "hysterical," and "mainly interested in the control of liberal thought." His veto of the school licensing bill said: "The safety of this government rests upon the reasoned and devoted loyalty of its people. It does not need for its defense a system of intellectual tyranny, which, in the endeavor to choke error by force must of necessity crush truth as well." The legislature passed
8690-536: The legislation. In the first half of 1919, the Socialist Party had over 100,000 dues-paying members, and by the second half of 1921 it had been shattered. Fewer than 14,000 members remained in party ranks, with the departure of the large, well-funded Finnish Socialist Federation adding to the malaise. In September 1921, the NEC determined that the time had come to end the party's historic aversion to fusion with other political organizations and issue an appeal declaring that
8800-516: The legislature in April 1920. The report, published as Revolutionary Radicalism: Its History, Purpose and Tactics with an Exposition and Discussion of the Steps being Taken and Required to Curb It , ran to more than 4,000 pages. De facto editor of the report was Archibald E. Stevenson , Assistant Counsel of the committee, whom critics asserted "directed its activities from the start." Only ten percent of
8910-516: The men of the 20th, and saw them off. During World War I , the club sponsored the 369th Infantry, the famed Harlem Hellfighters , which was commanded by William Hayward , a club member. During Reconstruction , a major era of civil rights changes, Union Leagues were formed all across the South. They mobilized freedmen to register to vote. They discussed political issues, promoted civic projects, and mobilized workers opposed to segregationist white employers. Most branches were segregated but there were
9020-537: The more bitter. The party's opposition to World War I caused a sharp decline in membership. It suffered from the Postmaster General 's decision to refuse to allow the delivery of party newspapers and periodicals via the U.S. mail, severely disrupting the party's activity, particularly in rural areas. Radicals moved further left into the IWW or the Communist Party USA . Members who supported
9130-639: The move to the present building at 37th Street and Park Avenue. The property was purchased from J.P. Morgan II . Unlike many club buildings, the current clubhouse is purpose-built, rather than being a converted mansion or building constructed for another purpose. The club has always promoted clean government and public-spiritedness. Many of its early members, notably cartoonist Thomas Nast , were instrumental in breaking "Boss" Tweed's corrupted political organization. (A future club president, Elihu Root , served as one of Tweed's defense counsels.) Manhattan District Attorney and club member Charles S. Whitman used
9240-509: The new Bolshevik government. Some of those arrested were immediately interrogated by the Committee about Soviet propaganda in the U.S. and other witnesses quoted from seized documents to demonstrate that the Russian Bureau aimed at the violent overthrow of the government. A second raid on the Rand School , an institution that espoused the peaceful evolution of socialism and taught history, economics, and English language skills, followed. Among
9350-624: The newly organized Communist party on November 8, a Saturday evening when the radicals would be celebrating the anniversary of the Bolshevik Revolution. They raided the offices of dozens of radical publications as well. Most of the literature obtained in the raids was available for sale in bookstores. Raids in upstate cities followed, including Buffalo, Utica, and Rochester, and then on the offices of Communist newspapers in New York City. The committee's investigation officially ended when it submitted its final report with recommendations to
9460-501: The onset of World War I , the Socialist Party had numerous elected officials throughout the United States. There were two Socialist members of Congress, Meyer London of New York City and Victor Berger of Milwaukee (a part of the sewer socialism movement, a major front in socialism, Milwaukee being the first and the only major city to elect a socialist mayor, which it did four times between 1910 and 1956); over 70 mayors ; and many state legislators and city councilors. The party
9570-470: The pamphlets and books that were sold at party meetings. Approaches to agriculture and farmers' interests were subject to significant debate in the party. While members in most parts of the country advocated collective farming , the Texas and Oklahoma state parties supported populist policies based on small-scale farm ownership, which socialists elsewhere considered economically backward. The populist position
9680-408: The party adopted a program of reforms including state-backed agricultural cooperatives , socialization of transport, storage and processing facilities, progressive land taxes, and government-supported land leases for small farmers. Positions in the party on racial segregation varied and were the subject of heated debate from its foundation to the 1919 split. At its founding convention, a resolution
9790-487: The party also elected two U.S. representatives ( Victor L. Berger and Meyer London ), dozens of state legislators, more than 100 mayors, and countless lesser officials. The party's staunch opposition to American involvement in World War I , although welcomed by many, also led to prominent defections, official repression, and vigilante persecution. The party was further shattered by a factional war over how to respond to
9900-605: The party who sought to organize white, black and indigenous workers across color lines through their party or labor movement work included Ameringer, Covington Hall , and Otto Branstetter . More widely, anti-racist socialists were spurred to action by the Springfield race riot of 1908 . Socialist writer William English Walling 's reporting on the riot inspired another socialist, Mary White Ovington , among others, to work with prominent black leaders such as W. E. B. Du Bois , Ida B. Wells , and Mary Church Terrell to establish
10010-510: The privacy afforded by the club to secretly interview witnesses during his investigation of the case that sent NYPD Lt. Charles Becker , a corrupt police officer, to the electric chair in 1915. Whitman had previously founded the Night Court and was elected New York Governor as a result of the trial. Fifteen U.S. presidents have been members of the club, and two, Theodore Roosevelt and Chester A. Arthur , were members prior to entering
10120-416: The resolution enshrined a commitment to opposing racism, sections of the party continued to argue against that. For example, Victor Berger drew on scientific racism to claim that blacks and mulattoes "constitute[d] a lower race". They were opposed by others who defended the spirit of the resolution, most notably Debs. This spread of opinion was reflected in the drawing up of constitutions by state parties in
10230-563: The same bills again after Smith left office, and Republican Governor Nathan L. Miller signed them on May 12, 1921. Smith was re-elected in November 1922. The Lusk laws were repealed early in 1923 and an attempt to prosecute the Rand School for operating an educational institution without a license was suspended. Writing in the September 1921 issue of Current Opinion , Lusk described his Committee's work as "repression carried on by and with
10340-523: The state's 1910 ballot initiative on a grandfather clause to prevent blacks from voting . Prominent party member Oscar Ameringer wrote the ballot argument against it, and the party launched an unsuccessful lawsuit to prevent the question from going to the ballot. Party propaganda argued that if working-class solidarity did not extend across racial lines, then the ruling class would exploit blacks as strikebreakers and an instrument of repression. The state party's 1912 platform stated: "safety and advancement of
10450-416: The third, William Costley, held that blacks were in "a distinct and peculiar position in contradiction to other laboring elements in the United States". Costley introduced his own resolution, which also condemned the campaign of "lynching, burning and disenfranchisement" that black Americans suffered. His resolution passed, albeit with the language on "lynching, burning, and disenfranchisement" removed. While
10560-480: The two organizations shared a vision of a party akin to the British Labour Party in which constituent political groups jointly participated while retaining their independent existence. The fissure between the organizations thus widened. As with the first conference, the 2nd Conference of the CPPA split over the all-important issue of an independent political party, with a proposal by five delegates of
10670-550: The war effort quit, ranging from the rank and file to prominent intellectuals such as Walter Lippmann , John Spargo , James Graham Phelps Stokes and William English Walling . Some briefly formed the National Party in an unrealized hope of merging with the remnants of Theodore Roosevelt 's Progressive Party and the Prohibition Party . Official membership fell from 83,284 in 1916 to 74,519 in 1918. By 1918,
10780-475: The working class depends upon its solidarity and class consciousness. Those who would engender or foster race hatred or animosity between the white and black sections of the working class are the enemies of both." This stance earned the party support from key black leaders in the state. In the Southwest , the non-racial United Mine Workers aided black recruitment into the party. Notable figures associated with
10890-454: Was a power in its own right. As a result, a handful of outside publishers dominated the published messages the party distributed and agitated for a much more radical anti-capitalist revolutionary message than the party itself tolerated. The Appeal to Reason newspaper thus became part of its radical left wing as did the Charles H. Kerr Publishing Company of Chicago, which produced over half of
11000-458: Was able to successfully run candidates in smaller municipalities as well as big cities, winning the mayoralty of Butte, Montana , with Lewis Duncan and that of Schenectady, New York , with George R. Lunn . Its voting strength was greatest among recent Jewish, Finnish and German immigrants, coal miners and former populist farmers in the Midwest. According to Jimmy Weinstein , its electoral base
11110-449: Was an exceptional departure from legislative practice. It also had the cooperation of local police departments and prosecutors to enable it to operate aggressively despite its limited budget. The committee and the federal government's Bureau of Investigation , forerunner of the FBI, cooperated by sharing information, interrogation expertise, and informants. Rayme W. Finch, formerly an agent in
11220-587: Was backed by Algie Martin Simons , who argued that small farmers were not being eradicated under capitalist pressure as many socialists believed, but that they were "a permanent factor in the agricultural life in America" and that socialist and labor movements needed to attract their support to advance working-class interests. After disappointing performances in the 1908 elections when it ran on an under-developed agrarian platform based on land collectivization, in 1912
11330-402: Was elected president. Some of the elected vice presidents included William H. Aspinwall , Moses Taylor , and Alexander T. Stewart . It did not take long for the club's enemies to make their displeasure felt with the new organization. On July 13, 1863, just five months after the club's foundation and only days after receiving word of the twin Union victories at Gettysburg and at Vicksburg ,
11440-511: Was joined by important Left Wingers C. E. Ruthenberg and Louis Fraina, a depletion of Left Wing forces that made the result of the 1919 Socialist Convention a foregone conclusion. Regardless, Wagenknecht's and Reed's plans to fight it out at the 1919 Emergency National Convention continued apace. With the most radical state organizations effectively purged by the Regulars (Massachusetts, Minnesota) or unable to participate (Ohio, Michigan) and
11550-445: Was originally intended to be an umbrella organization bringing together various elements of the farmer and labor movement together in a common program. Invitations to the group's founding conference were issued to members of a wide variety of "progressive" organizations of widely varied perspectives. As a result, from its inception the heterogeneous body was unable to agree on a program or a declaration of principles, let alone congeal into
11660-446: Was presented in favor of "equal rights for all human beings without distinction of color, race or sex", specifically highlighting African Americans as particularly oppressed and exploited and calling for them to be organized by the socialist and labor movements. This was opposed by a number of white delegates, who argued that specific appeals to black workers were unnecessary. Two of the black delegates present agreed with this position, but
11770-466: Was seen as an attempt to propose a political reform that would ultimately result in a better social and economic reform consistent with their beliefs. The National Committee had previously requested that Wisconsin Senator Robert M. La Follette run for president. The Cleveland Convention was addressed by La Follette's son, Robert M. La Follette Jr. , who read a message from his father accepting
11880-684: Was strongest west of the Mississippi River , "in the states where mining, lumbering, and tenant farming prevailed". It was also able to attract support from railroad workers. Its vote shares were highest in Oklahoma , Nevada , Montana , Washington , California , Idaho , Florida , Arizona and Wisconsin , and it also attracted support in Texas , Arkansas and Kansas . From 1900 (before its formal union) to 1912, it ran Eugene V. Debs for president at each election. The best showing ever for
11990-468: Was the Jerome Mansion , the childhood home of Winston S. Churchill's mother Jennie Jerome , at Madison Avenue and East 26th Street , facing Madison Square Park (1868). The club then moved to Fifth Avenue and West 39th Street (1881); the building included decor designed by Frank Hill Smith , John La Farge , Augustus Saint-Gaudens , and Will Hicok Low . The club remained there until
12100-439: Was weakened by the popularity of President Franklin D. Roosevelt 's New Deal , the organization and flexibility of the Communist Party under Earl Browder and the resurgent labor movement 's desire to support sympathetic Democratic Party politicians. A divisive and ultimately unsuccessful attempt to broaden the party by admitting followers of Leon Trotsky and Jay Lovestone caused the traditional Old Guard to leave and form
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