Content deleted Content added
SocDoneLeft (talk | contribs) |
m →Footnotes: Untold ref inline |
||
(16 intermediate revisions by 10 users not shown) | |||
Line 5:
| logo = SLP logo wiki.png
| colorcode = {{party color|Socialist Labor Party of America}}
| foundation = {{no wrap|{{start date and
| dissolved =
| headquarters = [[Mountain View, California]]
Line 11:
| newspaper = ''[[The People (1891)|The Weekly People]]'' (1891–2011)
| membership_year = 2006
| 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)
| position = [[Left wing politics|Left-wing]]
| colors = {{color box|{{party color|Socialist Labor Party of America}}|border=darkgray}} [[Red]]
Line 18:
| country = United States
}}
{{Socialism US}}
{{DeLeonism}}
The '''Socialist Labor Party''' ('''SLP''')<ref name="SLP Constitution, Art. I, Sec. 1">"The name of this organization shall be Socialist Labor Party". Art. I, Sec. 1 of the [http://www.slp.org/res_state_htm/const_07.html Constitution of the Socialist Labor Party of America] adopted at the Eleventh National Convention (New York, July 1904; amended at the National Conventions 1908, 1912, 1916, 1920, 1924, 1928, 1932, 1936, 1940, 1944, 1948, 1952, 1956, 1960, 1964, 1968, 1972, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1979, 1980, 1981, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1987, 1989, 1991, 1993, 2001, 2005 and 2007) (cited February 18, 2016).</ref> is a [[political party in the United States]]. It was established in 1876, and was the first [[Socialism|socialist]] party formed in the country.
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
The party advocates "socialist [[industrial unionism]]", the belief in a fundamental transformation of society through the combined political and industrial action of the [[working class]] organized in [[industrial unions]].
Line 136 ⟶ 137:
The party experienced two growth spurts in the 20th 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 [[United States Senate|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 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". 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
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. The SLP nominated its last presidential candidate in 1976, 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]].
=== 21st century ===
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/
== Legacy ==
{{see also|History of the Industrial Workers of the World}}
De Leon and the SLP helped to found the [[Industrial Workers of the World]] in 1905. They soon 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<ref name="Citycyclopedia"/> 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 to join the [[Socialist Party of America]].
The American businessman and middleman for the Soviet Union [[Armand Hammer]] was said to be named after the "arm and hammer" graphic symbol of the SLP, in which his father Julius had a leadership role.{{sfn|Epstein|1996|p=35}} Late in his life, Hammer confirmed that the story contained the true origin of his given name.<ref name="Untold">{{cite book| title= Armand Hammer, The Untold Story| author= Steve Weinberg| publisher= Random House Value Publishing| isbn= 9780517062821| year= 1990}}</ref>{{rp|16}}
The [[science fiction]] writer [[Mack Reynolds]], who wrote one of the first [[Star Trek novels|''Star Trek'' novels]], was an active member of the SLP (his father [[Verne L. Reynolds]] was twice the SLP's candidate for vice president). His fiction often deals with socialist reform and revolution as well as [[Utopian socialism|socialist utopian]] thought and his characters often use De Leonite terminology such as "industrial feudalism".<ref>Hough, Lawrence E. (1998). "Welcome to the Revolution: The Literary Legacy of Mack Reynolds". ''Utopian Studies''. p. 324.</ref>
Line 156 ⟶ 159:
!width=18%|Date
!Notes and references
|-
|align="center"|1st National Congress
|align="center"|[[Philadelphia, PA]]
|align="center"| July 6, 1872
| First congress of the [[International Workingmen's Association in America]] (IWA), which formed the North American Federation of the International Workingmen's Association (NAF IWA)
|-
|align="center"|2nd National Congress
|align="center"|[[Philadelphia, PA]]
|align="center"|April 11, 1874
| Second congress of the [[International Workingmen's Association in America]] (IWA); split created [[Social-Democratic Workingmen's Party of North America]] (SDWP)
|-
|align="center"|Congress
Line 774 ⟶ 787:
== Footnotes ==
{{reflist|2}}
*{{cite book |last1=Epstein |first1=Edward Jay |title=Dossier : the secret history of Armand Hammer |date=1996 |publisher=Random House |location=New York |isbn=978-0679448020 |edition=1st|url=https://archive.org/details/dossiersecrethis00edwa}}
== Further reading ==
|