Though begun as a project of the Socialist Labor Party, the S.W.G.N.Y. was itself unaffiliated and included such figures as the young Elizabeth Gurley Flynn. Anna Touroff gives their monthly report for May, 1907.

‘The Socialist Women’s Group of New York’ by Anna B. Touroff from The Weekly People. Vol. 7 No. 15. June 9, 1907.

Give Friends and Sympathizers Report of Work Done.

We wish to impress a certain significant fact upon the minds of those interested in the work of “The Socialist Women of Greater New York,” to wit, that whenever prolonged silence is preserved by the Socialist Women of Greater New York it is not to be regarded as a sign of relaxation in their activity, but, on the contrary, as the following report will demonstrate, as an indication of intensified activity, not favorable to written reports from their busy members and officers.

Now, let us give the list of accomplished facts, darkly hinted at in the introduction to this report.

You all know of our first call for a prize contest essay upon “Woman and the Socialist Movement,” issued in January, 1907. This call was responded to by a rich crop of letters of inquiry cheer and encouragement from all over the country and also Europe, necessitating an adequate amount of reciprocity in the shape of answers keeping your secretary pretty busy all the time.

Results or no results–that will be seen after December 30th, 1907, as then the final accounts will be rendered and the contest closed.

This first call was soon followed by our second call “to Socialist writers” for contributions of articles suitable for “leaflet literature,” which is meeting with a very generous response, too, also keeping your secretary busy writing letters up to date.

We will soon publish these articles dealing with the woman question in its various features, as enumerated in our call “To Socialist Writers.”

The first to respond was Miss Mary Solomon of New York City with a contribution already known to the readers of The People on “Woman, and Marriage,” since followed by a series of articles on topics not directly bearing on the subject in question.

Mary Solomon is scarcely 18 years old; she is a typical proletarian young woman, earnest true and devoted to her class. She has since joined our organization, and promises to become a useful and active member.

Let us hope that this aspiring young Socialist woman will develop into a full fledged and well equipped champion of her class, provided the shop and long hours do not undermine her health and life.

Lately received, though not yet published articles, are headed by a contribution from the pen of Mrs. Charlotte Perkins Gilman of New York City, entitled “The Woman as an Economic Dependent,” followed by No. 2, from the pen of Eva Osler Nickols of Chicago entitled “How Long Will It Last,” No. 3, written by Mrs. M. Haltfield of Terre Haute, Ind., on “Woman and Politics,” and one, the latest, by the author of “Nature’s Cure,” besides many letters of inquiry, and not a few offering their services at distributing and selling our literature at shops and mills.

While engaged in the work of receiving and answering letters appertaining to our two calls, we organized Branch A (Jewish speaking) of the Socialist Women of Greater New York, and began to grapple with its educational problem, and, in order to solve it successfully, we had to settle down to a course of hard study, both of languages and methods, and today we can safely report that we are self-supporting, that means, not dependent on any outside intellectual assistance in conducting the educational work of the above mentioned organization. Our March auxiliary work we will not enumerate here. You all know it and also, the fact that it necessitates doing work:

We also aided in organizing the Socialist Women of Jersey City.

What I have to mention here is the part the Socialist Women of Greater New York took in celebrating the International Labor Day, on May first, which this year, on account of recent events in the labor movement of this country, assumed at the same time the aspect of a Moyer-Haywood demonstration. The Socialist Women of Greater New York marched in an inspired body, carrying their banner aloft and sending abroad their “Declaration of International Solidarity” (distributing 5,000 copies), their message to the workingwomen of New York to gather under the banner of emancipation from wage slavery and sex slavery–the only lasting effective protest of organizing the conscious intelligent, true force of class unity and class action.

A few details in connection with this celebration may not be without interest to the readers of The People. As most of you know, the Socialist Labor Party celebrated International May Day and Moyer and Haywood Day at Cooper Union on May 1st in the evening, after the demonstration arranged by the Non-Partizan Moyer and Haywood Conference, the Socialist Party celebrating their holiday and Moyer and Haywood demonstration May 4th at Grand Central Palace. A committee was appointed by the Socialist Women of Greater New York to request the two respective arrangement committees to wit, the S.L.P. and S.P. to read, the “Declaration of International Solidarity from their respective platforms. The Socialist Party refused on the ground that the platform, belonging to the American Federation of Labor under whose auspices they (the S.P.) demonstrated for Moyer and Haywood, they were thus incapacitated from admitting our committee. The S.L.P. complied with our request and its audience greeted with enthusiasm the reading of the “Declaration of International Solidarity” of the Socialist Women. We, nevertheless, were on deck at the S.P. celebration, as always wherever workingmen and women congregate, to give a lesson in class solidarity by distributing our leaflet and also expressing our sympathy with the Moyer and Haywood demonstration by giving the weight of our numbers–though without official representation–in the ranks of their women.

Between May first and May 18th the Socialist Women of Greater New York were more than busy with preparations for their strawberry festival, arranged for the benefit of their propaganda fund. This festival was a huge success, having so far netted $130 net profit, excepting outstanding tickets.

After the Strawberry festival we held a lecture, with Miss Elizabeth Gurley Flynn as the able exponent of “The Economic Condition of Women under Capitalism,” which for its many interesting and instructive features would deserve separate and detailed attention, but, which, to my greatest regret, I must crowd in with many other details in this general report.

The Socialist Women of Greater New York have a canvasser out extending the message of Socialism to the women of Greater New York through “Woman under Socialism” by August Bebel. The first month of her activity is promiseful for the future, about 85 copies having been sold. Our comrade was called away by urgent circumstances, but will resume her work as soon as allowed by same. Mrs. Rosenblatt deserves a better definition than our “canvasser”; she is a devoted sincere Socialist woman, and we hope you will hear from her in the near future.

Now comes the finishing touch, which will complete the report of our activity. At a meeting which took place on Friday, May 23, Branch A adopted a motion to bring the principles of revolutionary socialism and unionism before women wage earners, whenever and wherever on strike by arranging mass meetings and distributing literature. To raise the financial means to bring them in touch with the revolutionary message of their class, 2,000 tickets were ordered printed for the purpose of creating a propaganda fund, said tickets to be sold at shops and mills at 5 cents each. We were not long in waiting for our first christening. The capitalist system takes care of these educational opportunities of the working class and chances for the undesirable apostles of the new creed.

The women white goods workers went on strike. Immediately after learning of same a committee was sent to the women strikers. The latter received the message very favorably and expressed satisfaction and gratitude at the interest displayed accepting our offer for a lecture at their headquarters. Miss Elizabeth Flynn then, with the sanction of the officers of the union, delivered a highly instructive talk on the following day on Industrial Unionism, accompanied by a free distribution of appropriate literature.

I must again express my sincerest regret at not being able to enter into a minute analysis of Miss Flynn’s masterly elucidation of the principles of Industrial Unionism, on account of lack of space. But it certainly went home and has rendered its services. Before closing this report I want to mention one interesting feature of the activity of the Socialist Women of Greater New York among the women strikers.

A committee consisting of Miss E. Epstein, Miss E.G. Flynn and the undersigned was appointed by the striking girls to visit some of the scabbing girls to teach them class solidarity, with the result that the girl spoken to became immediately an agitator herself persuading the other “scabs” to give up their shameful jobs.

Whatever the outcome of this strike may be the Socialist Women have done their duty by bringing the principles of true class solidarity and class consciousness before a body of working women. Not only this, they endeared themselves to these women wage earners, not as individuals, but as a body of Socialist women whose aims and principles they will be eager to learn and to know–and thus get what they lack, Socialist education.

Now we want to go after the banner and see what we can do. So we again must give up our written reports and buckle down to the hard, though unskilled labor of the rank and file.

Yours for it,

Anna B. Touroff,

Secretary S.W.G.N.Y.

New York, June 17.

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.

PDF of full issue: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/the-people-slp/070629-weeklypeople-v17n14-haywoodtrial.pdf