‘The Socialist Party of South Dakota’ by State Secretary W.A. Williams from Appeal to Reason. No. 398. July 18, 1903.

Comrade Debs was the first candidate that the South Dakota comrades had the honor of casting a vote for. They gave him 170 votes and for a time after that the party made very slow progress, on account of the inactivity of the members. Men were timid in expressing themselves, and the doctrine was talked of by a few on the quiet. But as time passed, the comrades became bolder and began the spreading of Socialist literature, which resulted in the organization of 3 locals, which were not affiliated with the Socialist Party. Local Sioux Falls was the first to become affiliated with the general movement, and received its charter from the National Committee at St. Louis. This local now has 40 members. Through its influence, Aberdeen, Clark, Madison, and Oneida locals were induced to go into the national party, all of which resulted in a state convention at Aberdeen on Aug. 28, 1902.

Here we perfected a state organization, and placed a full ticket in the field, composed of some of the best men in the state. As a result of the straightforwardness of the nominees, our vote was 2,838, which we considered fair for the first roundup. The people of South Dakota are now aware of the existence of a Socialist Party in their midst. In Aberdeen the comrades succeeded in preventing the city lighting from going into the hands of a private company. In Sioux Falls the banner local had the honor of electing the first Socialist to a seat in the city council. It was somewhat of a surprise to the Republicans to see a radical Socialist elected, but they will find that Comrade John O. Johnson will fill the place OK and keep them thinking of what is to come in the near future. We have 15 locals organized in 2 counties. We are coming, Father Abraham. Watch us grow.

W.A. Williams, Secretary, State Committee.

The Appeal to Reason was among the most important and widely read left papers in the United States. With a weekly run of over 550,000 copies by 1910, it remains the largest socialist paper in US history. Founded by utopian socialist and Ruskin Colony leader Julius Wayland it was published privately in Girard, Kansas from 1895 until 1922. The paper came from the Midwestern populist tradition to become the leading national voice in support of the Socialist Party of America in 1901. A ‘popular’ paper, the Appeal was Eugene Debs main literary outlet and saw writings by Upton Sinclair, Jack London, Mary “Mother” Jones, Helen Keller and many others.

PDF of full issue: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/appeal-to-reason/030718-appealtoreason-w398-DEFECTIVE.pdf