Socialist Labor Party of America: Difference between revisions

| foundation = {{no wrap|{{start date and years agoage|1876|7|15}}}}

| membership = 77<ref name="47th convention">{{cite conference|conference=Forty-Seventh National Convention, Socialist Labor Party |date=14–16 July 2007 |title=Minutes, Reports, Resolutions etc |pages=22 |url=http://www.slp.org/pdf/slphist/nc_2007.pdf}}</ref>{{needs update|date=May 2024}}

| ideology = [[Socialism]]<br/ >[[Marxism]]<br/ > [[Impossibilism]] <br/ >[[Lassallism]] (until 1899) <br/ >[[De Leonism]] (after 1899)

Originally known as the [[Workingmen's Party of the United States]], the party changed its name in 1877 to Socialistic Labor Party<ref name="Name Change 1">[http://www.slp.org/pdf/slphist/nc_1877.pdf Socialistic Labor Party. Platform, Constitution, and Resolutions, Adopted at the National Congress of the Workingmen's Party of the United States, Held at Newark, New Jersey, December 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 1877. Together with a condensed report of the Congress Proceedings] (Ohio Volks-Zeitung: Cincinnati, Ohio, 1878), pp. 26–27.</ref> and again sometime in the late 1880s to Socialist Labor Party.<ref name="Name Change 2">While the [http://www.slp.org/pdf/slphist/slpconst_1885.pdf 1885 constitution and platform] uses the term "socialistic" in the party name, the [http://www.slp.org/pdf/slphist/slpconst_1890.pdf 1890 constitution and platform] uses the term "socialist" in the party name. As both of these sources appear to be scans of original documents, it is safe to assume that this second name change necessarily occurred somewhere between 1885 and 1890. Unfortunately, the other sources provided by the SLP are not original scans and must be taken with a grain of salt. The [http://www.slp.org/pdf/slphist/nc_1887.pdf Report of the Proceedings of the Sixth National Convention of the Socialistic Labor Party, Held at Buffalo, New York, September 17, 19, 20 & 21, 1887] (New York Labor News Company: New York, September 1887) would seem to indicate that party was still calling itself the Socialistic Labor Party in that year. While the majority of the .pdf is not an original scan, the cover page is. Yet, the [http://www.slp.org/pdf/platforms/plat1887.pdf 1887 platform] (which is in no part an original scan) would seem to indicate that the party was calling itself the ''Socialist'' Labor Party by 1887. Likewise, the 1889 platform (reported in [http://www.slp.org/pdf/slphist/nc_1889.pdf this non-scan copy] of the ''Workmen's Advocate'' on October 26, 1889) employs the name Socialist Labor Party.</ref> The party was additionally known in some states as the '''Industrial Party''' or '''Industrial Government Party'''.<ref>[https://archive.org/details/20thConventionSocialistLaborParty1940Pt.1/page/n29 20th Convention, section on Minnesota] indicates that it was known as the Industrial Party in Minnesota from approximately 1920 to [https://archive.org/details/Twenty-firstNationalConventionOfTheSocialistLaborParty/page/n25 1944, when the name was changed to Industrial Government Party.] This lasted until the apparent dissolution of the Minnesota affiliate after the mass defection into the New Union Party in 1980. Additionally, the name Industrial Government Party was [https://archive.org/details/ProceedingsOfTheTwentyThirdNationalConventionOfTheSocialistLaborParty/page/n25 used in New York] from approximately 1944 to 1954.</ref> In 1890, the SLP came under the influence of [[Daniel De Leon]], who used his role as editor of ''[[The People (1891)|The Weekly People]]'', the SLP's English-language official organ, to expand the party's popularity beyond its then largely German-speaking membership. Despite his accomplishments, De Leon was a polarizing figure among the SLP's membership. In 1899, his opponents left the SLP and merged with the [[Social Democratic Party of America]] to form the [[Socialist Party of America]].

After his death in 1914, De Leon was followed as national secretary by [[Arnold Petersen]]. Critical of both the [[Soviet Union]] and the reformist wing of the Socialist Party of America, the SLP became increasingly isolated from the majority of the [[American Left]]. Its support increased in the 1950s and into the early 1960s, when [[Eric Hass]] was influential in the party, but slightly declined in the mid -1960s. The SLP experienced another increase in support in the late 1960s and early 1970s, but then subsequently declined at a fast rate with the party last nominating a candidate for president in 1976. In 2008, the party closed its national office and the party's newspaper ''[[The People (1891)|The People]]'' ceased publications in 2011.

[[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". 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 Senate nominees increased throughout the late 1960s, hitting 112,990 in 1972.

The SLP began having trouble funding their newspaper ''The People'', so frequency was changed from monthly to bi-monthly in 2004. However, that did not save the paper from collapse and it was suspended as of March 31, 2008. An online version, published quarterly, ceased publication in 2011. As of January 2007, the party had 77 members-at-large as well as seven sections of which four (San Francisco Bay Area, Wayne County, Cleveland and Portland) held meetings, with an average attendance of 3–6 members.<ref name="47th convention"/> The SLP closed its national office on September 1, 2008.<ref>{{cite web |author= |date=December 31, 2008 |title=Socialist Labor Party Closes Office |url=http://www.ballot-access.org/2008/12/31/socialist-labor-party-closes-office/|title=Socialist Labor Party Closes Office|website=Ballot Access News|date=December 31, 2008|access-date=March 14, 2009 |authorwebsite=adminBallot Access News}}</ref>