Tom Mooney tried to win a trip around the world by selling the most subscriptions to Wilshire’s, a Socialist magazine; he won a second prize—a trip to the Copenhagen Congress of the Socialist International. Here, Mooney gives the magazine his history as he sets off to Europe.

‘On the Road to Copenhagen’ by Thomas J. Mooney from Wilshire’s Magazine. Vol. 14 No. 9. September, 1910.

HAVING been fortunate enough to win the second place in the Wilshire “Round the World Contest,” which gives me a trip to the Copenhagen Congress, I have arrived to-day in New York after crossing the continent from San Francisco, and to-morrow (August 10) will sail on the ‘President Lincoln” for Hamburg, and from thence continue my journey to Copenhagen. Comrades Berger, Hillquit, Spargo and Hunter are fellow passengers bound for the same place.

I need hardly say that I was much disappointed in not gaining the first prize, as I worked very hard for it for the last year. However, the second prize is some consolation, and I have also acquired a very valuable amount of information about the Socialist movement in general through my efforts, as during the year past I have covered most of the western and northwestern States and have had excellent opportunity for observation.

About four years ago I first came in contact with Socialism and became a convert. Previous to that time I had practically never heard of the movement, though I had travelled all over the United States and through many of the countries of Europe. Indeed it was in Europe that I first heard of Socialism in America, through an American Socialist, Nicholas Klein, whom I met in Austria, where he was making an investigation of social and industrial conditions. Klein put me in touch with American Socialism and the Socialist press, and on my return to my native country I at once joined the Socialist Party and have since worked steadily in the movement.

My own experience in this matter convinces me that there are yet millions of my countrymen who are in the same state of blissful ignorance regarding Socialism as I was four years ago. Though the field to be covered is still enormous, there is, however, no doubt but that the movement is growing rapidly and Socialism becoming a far more frequent topic of conversation everywhere. On the train from San Francisco here among one group of the passengers it was discussed for the entire trip. There were farmers, lumbermen, miner, factory workers, drummers, and even soldiers among them, and several of the train crew took part in the discussion. As soon as one of the group dropped off the train at his destination, his place was taken by some new passenger, and the subject was never dropped until we reached New York City. One of the conductors expressed much astonishment over the persistency with which the topic was continued, and remarked to me that ten years ago people who talked that way would have been shot, and that nobody ever talked about Socialism then, though it seemed that now they could talk of nothing else in the last two or three years. There was almost as much Socialism talked on that train as on the famous “Red Special,” on which I had travelled two years before with our Socialist Presidential candidate, Eugene V. Debs, and on which I was employed as literature hustler at the meetings along the road.

At New York I was met by the Wilshire people and everything is being done by them fer my comfort and convenience during my short stay here. Gaylord Wilshire, I am informed, is now in Europe and will meet me at the Socialist Congress in Copenhagen. I wish to express my thanks to the Wilshire management for their kindness and courtesy, and the promptness with which they have made good all they promised.

And here I also wish to thank all those comrades who in any way helped me in my efforts in the contest. Should I ever be in a position to do any of them a favor in the future, I will gladly do so.

I expect to learn much at Copenhagen, as it is the first congress I ever attended, and I will no doubt become acquainted with aspects of Socialism which I have not had opportunity to observe. If space can be found in these columns, I will try to give some of my impressions to the readers of Wilshire’s Magazine in some future number.

Wilshire’s Magazine began as The Challenge, and was one of the most successful Socialist publications in U.S. history. Personally published by Gaylord Wilshire (of Wilshire Blvd. fame) in Los Angeles the magazine, like the Appeal to Reason, was aligned, but independent of the Socialist Party, and not on its ‘Marxist’ wing, its politics more closely resembled the Appeal’s Populism, although it was increasingly sympathetic to industrial unionism putting it at odds with the Party’s right.

PDF of full issue: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/wilshires-mag/v14-17-1910-1915-Wilshires-Mag.pdf