A document of obvious historical import. The National Conference of the Left Wing Section of the Socialist Party held in New York City from June 21-24, 1919 was among the most important gatherings in U.S. revolutionary history. While there had been other ‘lefts’ in the Socialist Party, radicalized by the war, politicized by the collapse of the International, and inspired by the Russian Revolution this Left Wing arguably spoke for a majority of the Party’s active members and brought together many disparate tendencies, with the Russian Federation wielding great weight. Over 90 delegates from 20 states attended with the Language Federations well-represented. The fissures that would become fractures in the following months, largely over questions debated here, were evident before this meeting. Most Michigan attendees, who favored the immediate formation of a Communist Party, walked out to form the Proletarian Party of America. The first split in the U.S. Communist movement was at its first meeting. Louis C. Fraina played a prominent role organizing and opening the conference, with speeches in the report below from Larkin, Ruthenberg, Solintzky, MacAlpine, Hickt, Ballam, Batt, and others.

‘Report of the National Left Wing Conference’ from Revolutionary Age. Vol. 2 Nos. 5 & 6. August 2 & 9, 1919.

Owing to the fact that it is impossible to get out the complete stenographic report of the proceedings of the National Left Wing Conference, June 21-25, in booklet form in the short time at our disposal, it has been decided to run extracts from the report dealing with the matters now under dispute. It is proposed to give such extracts as will state the position of both sides and will throw all possible clarity on the issues involved.

First Session, June 21st, 1919

Opening Address

Meeting was called to order at 2:30 p.m. Maximilian Cohen presiding.

Mr. Fraina was elected temporary chairman.

Chairman: Left Wing Comrades of the Socialist Party: I think all of us realize that this conference is laying the basis for a new revolutionary Socialist movement in the United States. I think all of us realize that the tasks of this conference are tasks that are going to determine the future of the movement in this country. And the conditions that have brought this conference into being are conditions of crisis in Capitalism–conditions of crisis in Capitalism that have not only produced critical conditions in the life of Capitalism itself, but have equally produced conditions of crisis in the international Socialist movement, and in our own American Socialist movement.

We have met here this afternoon in answer to a mass impulse within the Socialist Party a mass impulse that is trying to transform the Socialist Party into a revolutionary party of Socialism a movement that is trying to square Socialism, not with passive, hesitant, compromising theory of ultra-Socialism and of the ultra conditions of Capitalism, but with the new militant conception of revolutionary Socialism of the proletarian struggle against Capitalism. We have been told by our opponents in the Socialist Party that it is just an isolated movement that this Left Wing is not something that has its roots deep within life itself that it is simply an emotional expression of the proletarian revolutions in Europe. It is true that the proletarian revolution in Europe is a vital contributing factor toward the development of the Left Wing movement in the American Socialist Party. But it has been a factor in developing this Left Wing movement in that it is proven by the actual test of the revolution that the concepts of the Left Wing within the American Socialist Party–a Left Wing that was not born today or the day before, but which has always been the militant “left”–the militant minority of the American movement that their concepts of revolutionary action have been proven correct by the experience of the proletarian revolution.

So that we don’t have to base this movement of ours simply upon European events. We can base this movement of ours upon events within the American Socialist movement itself. We can say that the Left Wing of today is the child of the Left Wing of yesterday which has been given an experience, which has been given a new courage, and a new militant insight into its problem by the Communists of the revolutionary proletariat in Europe. And so, comrades, we are met here this afternoon for two purposes–or rather, our task is a dual task. On the one hand, it is to crush the moderate Socialism within the American movement, by trying to conquer the Socialist Party for revolutionary Socialism. And we are also met to lay down here this afternoon not only a basis for this conquest of the Socialist Party but a basis for a new militant revolutionary party, for a party that can function either as the Socialist Party or as a party independent of the existing Socialist Party, if conditions compel us to realize that task.

And this party of ours is going to join hands with revolutionary Socialism the world over. It is going to do its task in accordance with the spirit and the tactics of revolutionary Socialism. It is going to do what it can in accord with its own conditions and its available forces to express revolutionary Socialism in the policy and the practice of the Socialist movement. And this does not mean, as the Right Wing within the party tries to insinuate, that we necessarily must have immediate revolution. We are simply trying to prepare ourselves for the day when the revolution shall come.

The test of revolutionary Socialism is not simply an immediate revolution. The test of revolutionary Socialism is in its policy during the actual struggles of the proletariat at all times, under all conditions in the struggle against Capitalism and the ruling class, and we can express the tactics and the principle of revolutionary Socialism just as well in ordinary times, just as well in pre-revolutionary times, as we can during the stress and turmoil of the revolution itself. And as a matter of fact, this revolutionary policy of ours, by impregnating the proletariat with the consciousness of militant action, is preparing the proletariat and ourselves as well for the final struggle against Capitalism–a preparation which is necessary because unless you have that preparation, unless the movement develops that revolutionary consciousness out of the actual struggle, the immediate struggle of the proletariat, when the day of the revolution does come, we shall find the movement lined up with the counter-revolution against the Socialist proletariat.

So, comrades, I don’t think that we have to elaborate upon this thesis. I know that we are going to face this task in a spirit of revolutionary Socialism, and of revolutionary reality. I know that we are going to lay a basis here for a movement that is going to engage in the militant struggle against Capitalism. Because behind this conference is not simply the masses within the Socialist Party that have sent you here in order to realize their concept of revolutionary Socialism, but behind these masses within the party are the proletarian masses that are anxious to get the call of militant struggle against Capitalism, in order to realize the coming of the Socialist republic. And the spirit of this the Socialist republic. And the spirit of this conference, the spirit of the delegates here assembled, the spirit of the masses in the Party behind this conference, is the spirit of the Communist International which calls upon the proletariat of the world to prepare itself for the final revolutionary struggle against Capitalism. (Applause.)

Preliminary Reports

The Chairman: There being nothing before the house, comrades, I wonder whether it would be a good idea to fill in the time, I think it would be a good idea, as the Credentials Committee will take probably half an hour or so to get its report–it might be a good idea to have some of the comrades from the various parts of the country make reports upon the condition of the movement in their section, short five-minute speeches.

Mr. MacAlpine: I make a motion that we listen to the State Secretary of the Socialist Party of Michigan.

Mr. Batt: He is not here. But I am secretary of the Ways and Means Committee of the Socialist Party of Michigan, and might acquaint you with the situation.

Of course, there is nobody here that is not aware of the details of the activity of the National Executive Committee in expelling the Socialist Party of Michigan, and suspending the various language federations, in all approximately forty thousand members of the Socialist Party. The State Secretary of the Socialist Party of Michigan went over to Chicago to verify the reports that we have received unofficially as to the expulsion of the State of Michigan. And as a means of dealing with the issue, he called a special emergency convention of the Socialist Party of Michigan, which met last Sunday in the House of Masses, Detroit, to consider what would be the future activity of the Socialist Party of Michigan in reference to the Socialist Party of America and the general Socialist movement in this country. We have a peculiar condition in Michigan that does not exist in any other organized group of Socialists in the United States. The Left Wing program that you brought up and that has been endorsed, I dare say, over 50 per cent–yes. 75 per cent of the delegates here this afternoon, represent organizations that have only adopted that program in the last few months. I point out the fact that the Socialist Party of Michigan has been carrying on its propaganda on a non-reformistic basis since 1914. For the last five years, the so-called “left” element has had control of the Socialist Party of Michigan. There has been no reform propaganda carried on officially by the Socialist Party of Michigan in that number of years. We have concentrated our activity upon pointing out to the working class the necessity of seizing control of the political state and establishing a workers’ government, generally called the Dictatorship of the Proletariat. And when we convened last Sunday afternoon there was no question of altering our position one iota. We never considered for one moment the proposition of apologizing to the National Executive Committee and reversing our stand upon the reform amendment that we placed in our constitution. That was not even considered by the convention. It was moved by the Finnish Translator-Secretary in the name of the Finnish delegates to the convention that we do that kind of a thing, and the convention hooted him off the floor. They would not listen to him.

The questions that we considered there last Sunday are the questions that the comrades are going to have to consider here. The National Executive Committee has demonstrated its reactionary tendencies by expelling from the Socialist Party of America forty thousand members–practically expelling them–suspending some and expelling others. If I know anything about yellow Socialists–if I have learned anything by the past activity of yellow Socialists both in the American movement and in the different European movements, there is no step too degrading, too contemptible, too miserably mean for the Executive Committee to take in order to maintain their control of the Socialist Party of America (Applause.)

I warn you here, and I warn you now that the National Executive Committee of the Socialist Party of America would ruin the organization rather than turn the control of it over to you. The reason for the expulsion of the Socialist Party of Michigan is plainly apparent when you consult the votes taken on the National Executive referendum at the last election. The vote went overwhelmingly for what is commonly called “the red slate” or the “Left Wing slate”–Wm. Bross Lloyd of Chicago, John Keracher of Detroit, and myself. The expulsion of the state of Michigan excludes those three candidates who were duly elected. Keracher and myself are excluded, of course, by our expulsion from the party, and Wm. Bross Lloyd of Chicago loses all chance of being a member of the Executive Committee because the loss of the Michigan vote puts him behind Victor L. Berger of Milwaukee. So, you see, they very conveniently defeated the slate of the Left Wing in that district to which we belong. Their cry of constitutionality, their cry of living up to party rules, etc., is here plainly shown as just so much camouflage. They don’t propose to perform all kinds of extra-constitutional acts in order to maintain their committee membership.

You are invited to attend a convention in August in the city of Chicago. You are invited to go–like hell you are. (Laughter.) You are not going to be represented there. The state of Michigan has been expelled. In all probability, other states will follow. The language federations which have formed a very strong part of the Left Wing movement has been suspended, and none of its membership will be represented at the national convention in Chicago in August. You are going to be tried, convicted and sentenced by whom? By the Right Wing of the Socialist Party of America. And if I know anything about the activities of that Right Wing in the past, the fact that the suspension of the language federations will be changed to expulsion is a foregone conclusion. And as for any repudiation of the acts of the Executive Committee of the Socialist Party of America, as for their repudiation of those acts, there is absolutely no hope on your part. We considered these things in the convention in the State of Michigan last Sunday afternoon, and we arrived at a conclusion–a conclusion which I am going to offer to you in the course of the convention to consider a conclusion which I think you ought to agree upon if you view the conditions rightly. We drew up a manifesto of the Socialist Party, and we intend to send it broadcast, with or without the endorsement of this Left Wing conference. We drew up a manifesto laying down what we have believed for the last five years to be the basis upon which the Socialist Party should be organized. We have laid down that basis clearly and concisely as a tentative program upon which the Socialists within the Socialist movement may unite in a convention and draw up a program and platform for a new Socialist Party in America. (Hearty and prolonged applause.)

We have set the date for that convention as September first 1919 in the city of Chicago. And I, as the Secretary of the Ways and Means Committee of the Socialist Party of Michigan, have charge of the arrangements of that convention. Before this conference is over, you are going to have an opportunity to endorse that call. You are going to have an opportunity of urging the Lefts in this country to line up on their tentative program for the organization of a real Socialist Party. I know some of you don’t want to do that. I know some of you would prefer to follow the middle course of fighting it out within the Socialist Party. I know some of you would want to sit in and fight–fight in a convention in which you will have no representation–fight in a convention in which it is not as yet known that you will even have a voice–fight against such contemptible creatures as Victor L. Berger, Adolf Germer, Morris Hillquit, Seymour Stedman and a few others. They have demonstrated, in my estimation, beyond the peradventure of any doubt that they are not going to allow the control of the Socialist Party of America slip from their fingers. They have, since the expulsion of Michigan and the suspension of the language federations they have turned the property of the Socialist Party of America over to trustees elected for long terms of years so that there will be no chance of any Left Wing element getting control of it. And some, some would ask us to continue a vacillating policy of fighting within such a corrupt organization of that sort. Some would even hesitate to strike now once and for all for a real Socialist movement in America. Some of you would prefer to fight this thing out within the party, but I, for one, have given up all hope of fighting it out in the Party. I considered, and we have considered–I speak in the name of the Socialist Party of Michigan–we considered that by this act of expelling some forty thousand members from the Socialist Party of America, the National Executive Committee has thrown down the gauntlet to the Socialist within the Socialist Party, hurl it into their teeth. (Prolonged and hearty and I for one will not hesitate to pick it up and applause.)

Mr. Paul: Comrade Chairman and Comrades: The question he (delegate Zucker of New York) brought up was a resolution that was submitted by the Resolution Committee last Sunday, that the City Convention of the Greater City instruct its delegates to the National Left Wing conference to organize a Communist Party. The question was debated thoroughly on all sides, and the resolution was finally adopted by a vote of 62 to 51. The matter was then left for a referendum to the members of the branches and locals represented in that convention last Saturday. Outside of that, the Secretary of the City Committee has not received any reports from the various branches or locals.

Mr. Ferguson: Comrades, at the time of the meeting of the National Executive Committee, Comrade Ruthenberg, Comrade Fraina, Comrade Keracher came in, and an informal meeting was held–I remember these delegates, and I have forgotten two or three, some of the all of the Translator Secretaries, and perhaps comrades from Chicago–a group of about twenty comrades met and informally organized a provisional committee, to carry on what campaign could be carried on until the time of the meeting of this conference. In view of what has been said, I might state the point of view the policy of the members there gathered, and that was decidedly that it was up to the Left Wing to make the fight for control within the party, in spite of all the suspensions that had been made. So there you have another angle. The committee was unanimous in that respect. There was no proposition about organizing a new party. The proposition was that we had enough strength within the party–that the rank and file is so thoroughly disgusted–so thoroughly permeated with the ideals of revolutionary Socialism, that there is no question that if we do some measure of propaganda work, some measure of organization, we have the overwhelming majority of the newly elected Executive Committee on the vote which the old N.E.C. refused to recognize. We decided that at the appropriate time one of the newly-elected members of the National Executive Committee would make a motion to Adolf Germer to call the N.E.C. in session, and if he would refuse the newly-elected N.E.C. would meet in spite of Comrade Germer. This newly-elected Executive Committee, the majority of which are Left Wing delegates, would proceed to function as the regular National Executive Committee of the Socialist Party, issue a declaration to the membership, and try, to a large extent within its power, to take over the actual official work of the organization. The four Left Wing delegates elected to the International Congress would meet in July, and issue a declaration to the party member ship as the delegates to the International Congress of the American Socialist Party. We would furthermore try to take over the arrangements for the convention and bring the final fight to the Emergency Convention of August 30. We furthermore suggested to the comrades of the State of Michigan that they refuse to recognize their expulsion by the National Executive Committee. We recommended to them that they stay within the party, and send contesting delegates to the emergency convention at Chicago. And we furthermore recommend the same procedure to the expelled locals and branches of New York–that they organize independently of the Right Wing Party as the official Socialist Party in New York State, send their delegates to the convention, and then at the convention, we would decide whether we have got the Socialist Party, or whether we have to follow some other course of action. (Great applause.)

Mr. Ballam: Comrade Chairman and Comrades: As Chairman of the Convention of the State of Massachusetts, which Convention elected its State Secretary, Comrade Sproule, and the Chairman of the Convention, who is also editor of its official organ, to represent the State of Massachusetts in this Left Wing Conference, I want to say speaking for its delegation, that it has gone solidly to the Left–decidedly to the Left–that it does not intend to quibble or treat with this proposition–that it has wiped out the Centre–recognizes no Centrist position; and in making this report I want to make that plain. I appreciate, and I think every delegate here appreciates the outraged feelings of the comrades of Michigan, and of the various Language Federations illegally suspended and illegally expelled by the N.E.C. We have made our propaganda to the rank and file of the Socialist Party, and the rank and file of the Socialist Party has accepted the Left Wing position. We have Wing. It is now in our hands. So that the captured the party of America for the Left position of the delegates from Massachusetts as the position of the Socialist Party of Massachusetts, is that we will stay in the Party and fight this thing out, not allowing the N.E.C. to expel us, but that we will expel the N.E.C., and every member connected with against everyone implicated in illegal acts such them (applause) that we will prefer charges as they have performed, and throw them out of the Socialist Party of America, capture it for revolutionary Socialism–first throw them out, and let them take their places in America together with the other social-patriots that left the party during the war of their own accord the Spargos and the rest of them. Now, that is the position of Massachusetts. We do not want to get out because they want us to get out. They cannot throw us out because they have not the power to throw us out. But if it should be proven after the Convention in August that in spite of the fact that by every demonstrable proof, by a counting of noses and votes, that we have the Party, but through their machinations they hold the Convention, it will be plenty of time to act, and if it is necessary, then to organize the Communist Party in America. We can do so, but at this time, we mean to take possession physical possession of all the party machinery that is built up through the sacrifice of the rank and file, and we do not propose to leave that intact in the hands of a few renegades that propose to use it for bourgeois purposes to betray the Socialist movement.

I think, briefly stated, that this is the position of the Socialist Party of Massachusetts, and I sincerely hope it will be the position of the Left Wing Conference. (Applause.)

Mr. Stoklitsky: Comrade Chairman and Comrades: We have had a very pleasant time discussing questions with Comrade Germer. There were certain moments when I personally felt that I must leave that office and go away from there. Comrade Wagenknecht is here, and he can illustrate that thing from the side of a Comrade who was in the place and saw how we were treated there. As a matter of fact it was not the office of the Socialist Party, but it was merely a police station, comrades. (Laugher.) But we are used to fight, and we did our share. I don’t think it is necessary for me to explain how it happened. You know all about it. I am sure that out federations they will stay together as federated federations, with the Left Wing of the Socialist Party, if the Left Wing of the Socialist Party will prove that they are real Bolsheviki. (Hearty applause.) But, comrades, if there will be any question, and we will see that there is not a real policy of Communists, we will fight, and we will fight very hard, even for a small technical thing. We are used to it. And small technical thing. We are used to it. And the main power of the Bolsheviki is that they fight big things and small things with the same power and with the same force, and we will do that. I thank you, comrades. (Applause.)

Chairman: There was a convention recently, comrades, of the Jewish Federation of the Socialist Party, in Boston. This convention was packed by the moderates. They used all kinds of parliamentary tricks to strangle the Left Wing delegates there, and the Left Wing delegates stayed away, and formed a Federation of their own. I have been asked to present to you the request of a representative of this new federation–revolutionary federation, to speak on this matter, Comrade Hiltzik.

Mr. Hiltzik: Comrade Chairman and Delegates: I am here to greet this convention in the name of the Jewish Left Wing Federation, just lately organized in Boston. Comrades, I just want to mention a word or two as to how our Left Wing has been formed in the Jewish movement. You all know that the only two conservative federations up to date have been the Jewish and the Finnish–that is the information that we got here in New York from the Socialist Party. We began a revolution in the Jewish Federation as early as May 1918. It was at the time when the Jewish machine–the machine of the Jewish Federation organized an effort to turn the Jewish Federation into a campaign of social-patriotism, and they called for that purpose a Nation al conference here in New York last May, to repudiate the St. Louis platform, and to recognize the social patriotic stand of all social patriots in the world. At that time, they decided by a fake majority of twenty-five against nineteen to support the Wilson administration, and to repudiate the St. Louis platform. That is the time when the revolutionary comrades in the Jewish movement found it necessary to organize and to test the rank and file of the Jewish movement, and we found that before the Left Wing was organized that the Jewish comrades in the movement were already in revolt against their federation. And we finally decided that when the Jewish convention will be called, we are certainly going to capture the Jewish Federation for the revolutionary Socialist Party–that is, for the Left Wing. But when we came to the convention we found that they had also at this convention a fake majority of social-patriots and opportunists, who have been trying to put a Jewish Socialist Federation on record as against the Left Wing. When we could not do anything else, we split the convention and a great minority, about 40 per cent of the delegates present–that is we were in the majority, if not for their fake make-up of a majority–we left the convention and formed our own convention. We named our convention the Jewish Left Wing Federation of the Socialist Party. We also decided at that convention that we go on record as joining the Left Wing–supporting, the Left Wing morally and financially. We elected our officials, and the only thing we are waiting for now is for the establishment of a Communist Party, and at that time we are going to join the Communist Party.

Immediate Organization of Communist Party

MacAlpine: I move to suspend the regular order of business and go to the discussion of the advisability of forming a Communist Party.

Larkin: In putting the motion, I suggest that you have Comrade Ruthenberg and Comrade Hourwich draft a brief resolution. We want the advisability of starting a Communist Party here and now, or waiting until the 30th August, settled.

Hourwich and Ruthenberg, thereupon drew up the following resolution.

“Be it resolved that this National Conference representing the Left Wing within the Socialist Party hereby sever all relations with the Socialist Party, and that we begin immediately the organization of the Communist Party.”

The Chairman: We will vote on Comrade MacAlpine’s motion to suspend the rules.

(The motion was made to suspend the rules and this was unanimously carried.)

Ruthenberg: Comrades, you understand of course, that in moving this resolution, I did so by instruction of the body, and not because of any sympathy with what the resolution proposes. I believe personally that the proposition contained in that resolution would be the best way in tile world to hamper the Left Wing movement in the organization of a virile Communist Party in the future. We have thus far endeavored to carry on our fight within the Socialist Party. We have won the fight within the Socialist Party, and now some comrades come here and ask us to scuttle the ship and run away when we have won a victory. We only need to press that victory in order to take hold of the existing order. (Applause.) By this conference going on record to organize a Communist Party, we are taken away from the position which we now hold before the membership of the Socialist Party. We carried on a fight through the machinery of the party organization. We have won in a referendum. And now the other side adopts extra constitutional means to rob us of our victory, and we are in a position before the membership as the injured party in the struggle. If we now step out of the organization–and remember there is in the heart of most members of the organization some feeling of loyalty to the organization, some feeling that this party under the name of the Socialist Party which they have sacrificed for, for so many years, is something they don’t want to easily let go of, and if we take this step and ask them to go outside the organization, we are not going to carry with us as many members of that party–those who even are in sympathy with our purpose and our manifesto and program–than if we continue to fight through the two short months that still lie before the National Convention. And I submit to you that at that National Convention will be the appropriate time for us to proceed–not at the end, but at the very beginning of that convention.

What situation will we find? Some of us here say that the reactionaries will control that convention. How? They will control, then step out and organize your Communist Party. But if we go there with delegates from the several expelled organizations, if we go there with the delegates of all the organizations inside of the party, and the secretary calls that convention to order, who is going to be in control on the floor of that convention? Who is going to elect the chairman? Who is going to be in the majority? Why, the members of the Left Wing. And if they adopt some scheme, some parliamentary action to eliminate these outcast delegations, then we, the majority will simply start right there on the floor of that convention and proceed to organize the Communist Party. (Great applause.)

Zucker: Comrade Ruthenberg states that we have carried the fight within the Socialist Party until now, and that we shall proceed to carry on the fight in the same manner as in the past, until August 30th, in spite of the fact that the majority of the organization committee has reported that in their opinion the N.E.C. is going to expel nearly seventy-five per cent of the membership of the Socialist Party, in order to continue their control of the organization. Comrade Ruthenberg still labors under the delusion that because we have the majority of the votes, therefore the control of the machinery of the Socialist Party follows inevitably. Comrades, let us not make the great mistake of imagining that because we have the votes, therefore the machinery comes our way. We have been shown the fallacy of the Right Wingers who claim that when we shall have captured fifty-one per cent of the votes on election day, we will then get control of the State. We tell them that is an absurdity. In order to control the State, you must destroy the capitalist state. And so it is here. In the referendum of the membership we had at least 75 per cent of the membership voting our way. But a group of seven individuals have defeated the will of more than half the membership of the Socialist Party–have expelled them from the Socialist Party–and what is more, they are determined to expel the other half. At a meeting of the N.E.C., they elected a Board of Trustees that took over the control of the property of the Socialist Party, which means that they–the Left Wing, if it shall by some miracle, capture the Socialist Party, there will no doubt be a legal fight as to whether the present N.E.C. is the legal Socialist Party. Comrades, I say it is absurd. It is criminal for the Left Wing to bring its case before the tribunals to decide the justice and legality of our act. Comrades, the Left Wing has not only been spat in the face in Chicago–they have been kicked down stairs, and now it is proposed that the Left Wing shall come crawling back to plead for justice and for mercy and for constitutionality.

Comrades, more than half of the delegates present are now out of the Socialist Party. We have been expelled from the Socialist Party, and it is impossible for me as an individual as well as for other comrades to have their opinions voiced at the meeting of the National Convention. Another thing, let us not commit the fatal error of waiting until August 30th before we shall organize our party. The machine in the Socialist Party is wise. They have always adopted the policy, whenever the revolutionary movement of the Socialist Party becomes powerful, of seeming to adopt the program of the revolutionists, and once this is adopted the machine will remain in control. Comrades, I want you to think back to the historic fight of 1912 between Hillquit and Hayward, when six months later Hayward was kicked out of the Socialist Party. I want you to remember how in 1917 in St. Louis, when the rank and file of the party demanded a revolutionary program, the reactionaries in the Socialist Party adopted a revolutionary program–the St. Louis Program. No sooner was it adopted, than it became a mere scrap of paper, and the machine supported the war. They voted for liberty bonds. Their congressmen voted for appropriations, and the rank and file were ignored. Comrades, they are going to adopt a similar St. Louis program August 30th. They are going to adopt the principles of the Left Wing, and then come before the members of the Socialist Party and say, “Comrades, why split? We have always been with the Left Wingers in principle.” I will read from an official organ of the Socialist Party. It says, “It is true, comrades, that the new conditions require a change in policies. I am sure that I am speaking for the majority of the committee in stating that we intend to make such changes. But you of the Left Wing cannot wait. You adopt your manifesto and tell us to swallow it or smash the party.” And that is what they will do on August 30th. They will seemingly adopt our program and principles, and they will say, “we expelled the Left Wing not because we are against the principles, but because they wanted to shove it down our throats,” and then, comrades, they will play the same trick that they did in 1910 and 1912 and every other fight, where the revolutionary rank and file tried to assert its power and gain control of the party machinery. Comrades, now it the time for action. If we wait for August 30th–the historic moment to organize the party is lost. Now, the rank and file in the Socialist Party is with us. They feel that we have been unfairly dealt with by the machine, and, comrades, we know that a great many of those within the Left Wing are not Left Wingers because of conviction. The great mass within the Left Wing are there because of sentiment, because we have been wrongly dealt with. Comrades, let us have the courage to start not with the great mass, although I say without the masses no revolution can succeed. We want the masses, but we want them on our program, and on our principles. Let us have the courage to start with a small number, if possible, but let us start as real revolutionists, and ask the rank and file to join with us on all principles to organize the Communist Party. (Great applause.)

MacAlpine: Comrade Chairman and Comrades: It is all very well to talk about the name “Communist.” Any person who is a delegate to this convention can get on this floor and make an emotional appeal on the name “Communist.” We all know that the name “Communist” is covered with the blood of Karl Liebknecht and Rosa Luxenburg. We all know that this name has been adopted in Russia by the workers and peasants who are facing the bayonets of the entire capitalist world. We know that it has been adopted in Hungary. But this is not the time for us to act on emotions. This is the time for us to act with regard to the future of the American movement. If our movement is worth anything, we can march forward to its success–we can march forward on our own revolutionary integrity. Comrade Zucker advances this argument: They, the Right Wing, will control the organization. If the Right Wing controls the organization, then the answer is contained in the majority report. Our answer will be the Communist Party. Frightened men–a weak man strikes wildly and at random. But a man who knows a why and a wherefore of his actions is poised from the moment, and when he strikes he strikes with deadly effect. And that is what we propose to do. When we strike there will be nothing left of the Right Wing or of the center. (Great applause.) Comrade Zucker appeals in the name of the revolution for what that great revolutionist Morris Hillquit in his hour of distress appeals for a split. Morris Hillquit who was wont to fight on the barricades like a tiger, now calls, like a whipped cur, and calls, “Comrades, split-save us!” But we will split when we choose not when they choose. (Applause.) We will split at the psychological moment, and no sooner or later. And the psychological moment is when the entire membership of the American Socialist Party have their eyes turned upon Chicago. At that moment, unless we have dominated, we will meet in a different hall in the same city, and we will compare our program with the milk-and-water program of the Rights. Then we will have a comparison, and on that comparison we can appeal to the revolutionary sentiment of the rank and file of the American working class, or the working class, as I prefer to put it, in America. Comrade Zucker also says that in Chicago we were kicked down the stairs. I am one of those who was so kicked. But are we men or are we children? If we have been kicked down the stairs, we can walk upstairs again. Our part is not to play the part of some little miss who is in a huff because of a rebuff. Our part is the part of revolutionists who will march on unheeding these rebuffs. Hillquit calls for a split, and Comrade Zucker tries to tell you that at Chicago they will be attempting to avert a split. If they will change the opinion sounded by the spokesman of Scheidemann Socialism in America, it will be because they know that with us lies the spirit of the future of American Socialism. (Great applause.)

Hiltzik: I want to take the statement of Comrade Ruthenberg. He says the reason why we should not split now and wait until the call, is, because there is a feeling of loyalty towards the Socialist Party on the part of the delegates. Now, Comrades, I would like to ask how many there are here in this room who feel a loyalty to the Socialist Party. I know that I, for one, who have been giving away the greatest part of my time and energy in the Socialist movement, have lost loyalty to the Party, and so did many comrades who are working with me in the Left Wing. Comrade Ruthenberg makes an appeal that we should wait until we capture the machinery, because we have captured the party already. I say that we have captured the party already, and therefore we should ignore the machine and proceed with the organization of a Communist Party (Applause.) What do we want to capture? That is the question before you. The comrades have been talking of capturing three or five months ago. They are also talking of capturing today. All it means now is to capture the furniture in the office. And now, comrades, do you expect that those well-trained politicians will give up their property? They consider it their property and not yours. They said it time and again, and no matter what you say, no matter how big a majority you have, they are going to hold fast, they are going to hold the property and declare themselves the Socialist Party. What are you waiting for? kicked You were not kicked hard enough? (Laughter.) Comrade Ruthenberg wants to wait until we come to Chicago, and they will tell us that we are officially kicked out. Until now we have been kicked out unofficially. He says that he will sit at the convention–he! The Left Wing! Will the comrades of Michigan help elect a chairman? Will the federations, thirty thousand, help elect a chairman? Will the comrades of New York help elect a chairman? No! Because they are already expelled, and they will not be permitted to go there. Comrades, I have also learned from the experience at Boston, at the convention of the Jewish Federation—we also–many of us came there. You say that we will go to Chicago and capture the convention, because we are in the majority. What have they done in Boston? The very same thing that the machine in the party has done. They have expelled the Left Wing branches before they had a chance to have their delegates express their opinions. They voted for their officials, for their Credentials Committee, before they admitted the Left Wing delegates, and then they decided that they did not belong there, that these branches did not exist—that those members were not members of the Socialist Party, and therefore had no business at the convention. That is the very same thing that is going to be done by the Right Wing. What are you waiting for now?

There is a statement by Comrade MacAlpine, and that is, “We will capture the Party and we will have the whole rank and file with us.” Now, Comrades, this is the very same thing that the bourgeois democracy wants us to do wait until we capture the entire working class, and then we will establish Socialism. And we say no. Though we are in the minority, if we are the revolutionary Socialists, if we know what the working class wants, we are going to establish the dictatorship of the proletariat in spite of the ignorance of the majority. We shall do it now,–not wait until we get the majority–the ignorant majority, perhaps, or the official majority, or some that are following the machine. We have the rank and file with us officially or not. We are going to establish a Communist Party and the rank and file will flock to us. Now, comrades, you either decide to establish the Communist Party or you decide to annihilate the Left Wing. If this conference is disbanded without any decision about establishing a Communist Party, it will mean that we are going to lose the confidence of the rank and file, and they will not have confidence in the present leaders of the Left Wing. Comrades, the rank and file have followed you until now because they hoped that this conference would build a Communist Party for them. But if they are disappointed in you, they will establish a Communist Party over your heads. Then, Comrades, you will have to come to them, and you will come secondary in importance and not the leaders, as you would be if you said the word now. You will be in the same position as are those traitors of the party that are now waiting to see how the official majority will go. Whether it will be with them or against them. Comrades, don’t make that mistake. Don’t go away from this place tonight, without deciding to have a Communist Party. (Great applause.)

Ballam: Comrade Chairman and Comrades: The proposition that we have to consider is a serious on, and one which every here need hesitate to make up his mind definitely. Those comrades from New York who are in close touch with each other, and who have fought this matter out among themselves, are in a very different position in this conference than the comrades who have come here as delegates from states and from locals recently adopting the Left Wing program. I am one of these delegates. Now, the Left Wing program to me as an individual, is not a new one except in some of its phases. I have been on the Left, I have been in the minority of a minority ever since I have been a member of the Socialist Movement, and that means since 1898. Now, Comrade Zucker mentions 1912 and 1917. But, 1912 and 1917 is not 1919. The conditions that existed then–the minds of the comrades and the conditions and environment existing at that time were not the same as they are now. What the officials of the Socialist Party could do then and get away with I maintain they cannot do to-day in the present state of mind of not only the class-conscious workers organized in the Socialist Party, but of the working class in the United States, that the Socialist organizations throughout the world are watching the Left Wing conference. They are watching it from the Rand School, from the New York Call and from Chicago, and they are anxious–tickled to death to have a movement of separation at this time. Now, don’t mistake me. Don’t misunderstand me–you who have gone to the Left of the Left. I sympathize and I understand your position. I understand it only too well. I could not blame you at all–you who have been outlawed and expelled for wanting to take advantage of what you considered the psychological moment: But to you Russian comrades I would say–remember what Marx says, “The proletariat of each country will have to deal with its bourgeoisie in its own country first.” (Applause.) The Russian comrades in Russia, the Hungarian comrades in Hungary, and the Spartacans in Germany, and in other countries, are dealing with their bourgeoisie and dealing with them well. Now, it is up to us, and remember that we have a movement peculiar to and conditioned by the historical traditions and backgrounds existing on this continent. In view of this fact, we have to deal with a large percentage of unemotional Anglo-Saxons, whose psychology is moulded by Anglo-Saxon traditions, history and psychology. We have to deal with that, and we have to take into consideration, that these members of the Party are not emotional, and that they are not stirred with us yet. We have the majority with us on the proposition of organizing the Left Wing Conference, but we may not have them with us to organize a Communist Party here and now. They may repudiate that action, while they may be willing to back up in the convention in Chicago on August 30th, and then if we go there with our full strength and force the confidence of our position and the knowledge that we can win, and the determination to win, will see us through all the rest of it. Comrades, I hold it a blunder for which we will pay and pay dear, to be not an error in principle, but in tactics, if we adopt this resolution to-night.

The Revolutionary Age (not to be confused with the 1930s Lovestone group paper of the same name) was a weekly first for the Socialist Party’s Boston Local begun in November, 1918. Under the editorship of early US Communist Louis C. Fraina, and writers like Scott Nearing and John Reed, the paper became the national organ of the SP’s Left Wing Section, embracing the Bolshevik Revolution and a new International. In June 1919, the paper moved to New York City and became the most important publication of the developing communist movement. In August, 1919, it changed its name to ‘The Communist’ (one of a dozen or more so-named papers at the time) as a paper of the newly formed Communist Party of America and ran until 1921.

PDF of full issue: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/revolutionaryage/v2n05-aug-02-1919.pdf

PDF of issue 2: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/revolutionaryage/v2n06-aug-09-1919.pdf