A humorous report from the ‘Founding Convention’ of the Workers Party in New York City held December 23-26, 1921 by the sharp pencil of T.J. O’Flaherty. With some unavoidable snark, and a cast of characters including Harry Waton, John Keracher, Harry Wicks, James P. Cannon, Dennis Batt, and William F. Dunne. Anyone interested in Communism’s history in the U.S. will find this a delight. The Workers Party of America, as the unified above-ground US section of the Third International, was born as the result of demands of the Comintern for an open political party. This would end the debate that had divided the movement since the beginning. Founded in December 1921 at a conference in New York City, the vast majority of the delegates came Communist Party of America (Section of the Communist International) which had united the old CPA and the Communist Labor Party. Along with the CPA were some recalcitrant Language Federations and the bulk of the Workers Council group. 164 delegates and around 100 fraternal delegates attended the meeting which was the first as an open, united (more or less) movement. While the Communist Party of America would remain as an underground group for the time being, the majority of energies of Communist were now in building the Workers (Communist) Party of America. The underground Communist Party of America was formally dissolved at a secret conference on April 11, 1923. A group called The Central Caucus broke from the CPA in the run up to the Conference over the move to a fully above-ground party. Their English language paper was Workers Challenge, sometimes called the “United Toilers Party” it was led by Charles Dirba, George Ashkenudzie, and John T. Ballam. Leadership of the new above-ground Workers Party included James P Cannon and Caleb Harrison as National Secretary, Charles Ruthenberg as Executive Secretary and paper editor, William Kruse, Elmer T. Allison, Harold L. Ware, William F. Dunne, J. Louis Engdahl, Jay Lovestone, Alexander Bittelman, Marion Emerson, Ludwig Lore, and Harry M. Wicks.

‘Flashlights on the Convention’ by Thomas J. O’Flaherty from The Toiler. Vol. 4 No. 204. January 7, 1922.

The Mass Meeting

The Workers Party was ushered into existence with one of the most enthusiastic demonstrations ever staged in New York. In the Star Casino on Friday evening, Dec. 23rd, the workers of New York, and members of the organizations which responded to the call for unity in a revolutionary working class political party, met to hear the leaders of the new party explain the reason for the coming into existence of this party at such a critical moment in the history of the American labor movement. The hall was packed with workers and a few detectives who were spared from the task of hunting for the Wall Street Houdini who is always within the grasp of the Federal detectives, but always manages to escape.

James P. Cannon, Chairman of the Joint Committee which brought about the unity of the several groups forming the Workers’ Party, was chairman of the meeting. In a short, well-chosen speech he explained the purpose of the workers’ party. The speakers of the evening were Jack Carney, editor of the Voice of Labor; William P. Kruse, Illinois; George Hardy, formerly Secretary-Treasurer of the I.W.W.; J.O. Bentall, editor of Truth, Duluth, Michigan; Charles Baker, Ohio; Margaret Preevey, Ohio, and Caleb Harrison.

The announcement that Eugene V. Debs was released from Atlanta Penitentiary and was again a free man was greeted with prolonged cheers. A telegram was sent to him in the name of the Workers’ Party expressing the joy of the convention over his release. The meeting also sent greetings to the Communist prisoners in New York State and to those in several prisons all over the country. A collection of over $300 was taken up to defray the expenses of the convention.

The First Day

The Workers’ Party convention was undoubtedly the most serious attempt ever made in America to organize the workers into a mass party having for its object the unity of all revolutionary elements in the country to present a united front against the common enemy. While this convention was characterized by an efficiency which the capitalist press pretended to regard as “steamrolling,” there were some amusing incidents, chief among them the appearance of Harry Waton on the first day of the convention, his attempt to make a speech and his precipitate exit uttering exclamations which would not sound good to the ear of a minister’s son. The capitalist and “socialist” press magnified this incident into a split. Waton had founded an organization a few days prior to the convention so that he could secure admission as a delegate. He was not in harmony with the purpose of the Workers’ Party so his credentials were not accepted. He made a little noise got his name in the papers and vanished.

The first day of the convention was taken up with the reading of the call for the convention by Louis Engdahl who introduced James Cannon, temporary chairman. Caleb Harrison was elected permanent chairman for the day. After the reading of a few reports and the appointment of committees the convention adjourned until the following day.

On Sunday the convention was called to order at 2 o’clock with Steve Burcher of New Jersey in the chair. Burcher is a giant in stature and was able to keep the crowded hall in order by tapping the table with a penknife. A few Watonians began to exercise their lungs but were choked off. Dennis Batt could not see very much difference between the constitution of the Workers’ Party and that of the Socialist Party.

The capitalist press darkly hinted at “secret” caucuses during the convention. A motion that a member of the party “must be of sound moral character” excited amusement. The Times commented on this with the object of giving the impression that the revolutionary element did not hold morals in high esteem. Possibly the man who made the motion expected that a fellow like James Stillman might apply for admission, on the ground that he was a worker engaged in the production of scandals.

On Monday William T. Dunn, editor of the Butte Bulletin, gave the press reporters something to chew over. He stated the Butte Bulletin was protected by armed workers as the result of an attempt made by the business elements of that city to wreck the plant shortly after it was founded by the workers. A certain number of workers were armed with rifles and threw out detachments for several blocks around the plant. Since they took this precaution the authorities in that section of the country have a very wholesome respect for them. This is a lesson that the American worker in every part of the country should take to heart.

Bat’s Day

The Three Proletarian pedagogues of Detroit in the persons of Batt, Wicks and Keracher had their day on Dec. 26th. After the program was read Batt opened his mouth so wide that you could almost see his ego, and proceeded to apply the rod of castigation to the political hides of those responsible for the program in no uncertain fashion. Batt boasted of the fact that these three pedagogues calling themselves a party have not moved backward or forward for the past two years. On this immobility he based his contention that the three of them comprised the only party in America that put forward a real revolutionary program. Wicks thought that he should not allow the occasion to pass without showing himself to the citizens of this big town, and rose to inform the audience that they had a branch of the Proletarian Party in Los Angeles; He did not say whether there was a branch in Painted Post or the South Sea Islands.

Keracher got up, had nothing to say, and he said it.

Jim Cannon, speaking for the Workers’ Part, went to Bat(t). He thought the visiting comrades from the Great Lakes were all right, but that they violated rule seven, which everybody knew meant that they took themselves too damn seriously. They did not come here to put up an argument but to advertise themselves. Comrade Batt boasted that, they have not moved for two years. “That’s nothing, Comrade Batt,” said Cannon. “The Socialist Labor Party has not moved for forty years.” Acknowledging Comrade Wick’s claim that he had some influence in the Typographical Union in Chicago, he thought that was because the typographical union was so closely associated with books. Cannon expressed his hope that the Proletarian Party would find its way into the ranks of the Workers’ Party. So the “big” debate ended and the program was adopted unanimously.

The Toiler was a significant regional, later national, newspaper of the early Communist movement published weekly between 1919 and 1921. It grew out of the Socialist Party’s ‘The Ohio Socialist’, leading paper of the Party’s left wing and northern Ohio’s militant IWW base and became the national voice of the forces that would become The Communist Labor Party. The Toiler was first published in Cleveland, Ohio, its volume number continuing on from The Ohio Socialist, in the fall of 1919 as the paper of the Communist Labor Party of Ohio. The Toiler moved to New York City in early 1920 and with its union focus served as the labor paper of the CLP and the legal Workers Party of America. Editors included Elmer Allison and James P Cannon. The original English language and/or US publication of key texts of the international revolutionary movement are prominent features of the Toiler. In January 1922, The Toiler merged with The Workers Council to form The Worker, becoming the Communist Party’s main paper continuing as The Daily Worker in January, 1924.

PDF of full issue: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/thetoiler/204-jan-07-1922.pdf