The tale of activists from the rival S.L.P. and S.P. joining together in Indianapolis’ non-partisan Young People Socialist League to open a Marxist library. It is interesting to see in the introductory reading list for newcomers what texts were seen as ‘essential’ at the time. Many would find themselves on lists today. The author is from the prominent activist Janke family in the Socialist Labor Party.

‘Building Up a Socialist Library in Indianapolis’ by Frank P. Janke from The Daily People. Vol. 10 No. 361. June 26, 1910.

STICK-TO-IT-IVE-NESS

This is an age of mottoes. Everywhere we go, be it in office, factory, shop or store, we find such bright sayings as “Do it now,” “Smile,” “Quit your kicking,” “Keep cool,” etc., staring one in the face,

Among the many I have seen none struck me so forcibly as Josh Billings’ saying:

“Consider the postage stamp my son, its usefulness consists of sticking to one until it gets there.”

This quotation prompted me to choose the above head for a title of my write-up. I have chosen for my title a  vulgarism, or slang expression, which perhaps better expresses my meaning than any other word or combination affords in the English language.

It is the “stick-to-it-iveness” of that all but invincible body of comrades in the S.L.P. that has made it possible for us to be able to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the birth of our powerful weapon, the Daily People.

In the face of seemingly insurmountable difficulties we have stuck to the job like a postage stamp and though we have not yet got there, “we nevertheless will” continue on our journey until we are safely delivered in the Socialist Commonwealth.

Now this article deals with a venture carried on out here in Indianapolis, and also carried on in the face of obstacles. The article is not given to the readers of The People in a boastful spirit, but rather with the hope that comrades elsewhere will go and do likewise.

About two and one-half years ago the Indianapolis Section of the S.L.P. opened a reading room in which Socialist papers were kept on file. Unfortunately this proved a failure both from a point of finances and of attendance. The S.P. also launched a similar venture which also failed.

The writer and one or two members of the S.P. were certain that a way could be found by which a library could be founded and successfully conducted for the benefit of the Socialist movement as a whole, if not for the immediate benefit of either of the two parties. We stood practically alone for some time. On all sides we heard. “You can’t do it, “It can’t be done,” “You won’t succeed,” etc.

A local of the Young Peoples Socialist League had just been formed in this city. The writer joined, being the first S.L.P. member taken into the League, though now he does not stand alone. It should be understood that the League in this city is perhaps different than elsewhere. It is open to all who recognize the class struggle regardless of whether they are affiliated with the S.P. or the S.L.P.

The matter was at once brought before the League, a library committee was appointed, subscription lists were circulated and money gathered in. Books were contributed, and our most sanguine expectations were more than fulfilled.

Among the many contributions was a complete file of “The Neue Zeit,” and the English branch of the S.L.P. contributed a complete collection of the publications of the S.L.P., which included many rare, pamphlets now long out of print.

All pamphlets have been separately bound in handy pamphlet binders and have their place among the bound books upon the shelves.

Nine months have passed since the library was opened to the public. We now have nearly 700 volumes of the best literature second to none in the state, and also containing good works of fiction, popular science, and history. About fifteen papers are also regularly received. The attendance, while not phenomenal, is very satisfactory.

That such an undertaking required work need hardly be stated, especially when it falls to a mere handful of members. As soon as it was clear that success would crown our efforts, others joined in with the work. Cataloguing, classifying, binding, labeling, etc., required much time and study, but it was cheerfully done, and the League has an investment that will become more useful as time goes on.

It might be added that the library is conducted in accordance with the most up-to-date methods and rules, and the classification is according to the most scientific system as used in the best libraries.

In connection with the regular work of the library, we have just begun advertising a special reading course in Socialism for those who are just becoming interested in the movement. We have found that beginners often read at random, thereby getting hold of the wrong thing first, which often leads to discouragement. In order to overcome this we have formed study series each containing the following named thirteen books: The four Kautsky pamphlets, McClure’s “Socialism,” Liebknecht’s “Socialism: What It is and What It Seeks to Accomplish It,” Engel’s “Socialism from Utopia to Science,” La Monte’s “Socialism; Positive and Negative,” “The Communist Manifesto,” Vail’s “Principles of Scientific Socialism,” Marx’s “Value, Price, and Profit,” Debs “Industrial Unionism,” DeLeon’s “Two Pages from Roman History,” and Trautman’s “Industrial Unionism.”

The new reader has a set laid aside for his special use. He uses them in the order named, taking out No. 1, on return of which he gets No. 2, etc. This set is held for him until he has gone through the whole series; it is then given to another reader. We began with five such sets, the number to be increased as needed. This plan insures a new reader an unbroken course of reading, never needing to wait on any one book until it is returned by someone else. What the outcome of this plan will be cannot now be said as it is just being inaugurated.

It should not be thought, however, that it is all smooth sailing. As stated above, most of the members of the League belong to the S.P., and I want to say that with the exception of a very few, the cream of the S.P. is in the League. It must be said to their credit that they have faithfully carried out the plan and purpose of the League.

There is, however, an element in the local S.P. to whom The People, both Daily and Weekly, and the other S.L.P. literature, is an eye-sore, and for that reason they do not give the library the support that it deserves. The League, in spite of all that, will hold its own, and we members of it, both S.P. and S.L.P. alike, feel certain that no harm can come from a free, unhampered, access to the entire literature of the movement. The working class will eventually decide which is right and which is wrong.

There is literature in this library with which the writer does not agree, but he is willing that it remain there. The League is and will remain a free forum for the exchange of ideas. Our library gives the working class access to the literature of the entire movement, and comparative study will be productive of better results in the long run, than one-sided study will, though it be on the right side. It will never hurt to know what the other fellow is doing and there is no better place to find it out than in his literature.

This little library, of about 700 volumes, not yet a year old has already done much good, and its usefulness, has scarcely begun. It is a local monument to what stick-to-it-ive-ness will do.

New York Labor News Company was the publishing house of the Socialist Labor Party and their paper The People. The People was the official paper of the Socialist Labor Party of America (SLP), established in New York City in 1891 as a weekly. The New York SLP, and The People, were dominated Daniel De Leon and his supporters, the dominant ideological leader of the SLP from the 1890s until the time of his death. The People became a daily in 1900. It’s first editor was the French socialist Lucien Sanial who was quickly replaced by De Leon who held the position until his death in 1914. Morris Hillquit and Henry Slobodin, future leaders of the Socialist Party of America were writers before their split from the SLP in 1899. For a while there were two SLPs and two Peoples, requiring a legal case to determine ownership. Eventual the anti-De Leonist produced what would become the New York Call and became the Social Democratic, later Socialist, Party. The De Leonist The People continued publishing until 2008.