| American Labor Party: Founded in 1936 by New York liberals and labor leaders to assure union members voted for Franklin D. Roosevelt and not for such opposition groups as the Socialist Party. Ironically, the ALP was soon taken over by the Communist Party USA, and many anti-Communist ALP members broke off to form the Liberal Party in 1944. The ALP was able to elect mayors in New York state and also managed to get two members (Vito Marcantonio and Leo Isacson) to the US Congress. The ALP nominated Henry Wallace, the Progressive Party's candidate, for President in 1948, garnering 509,559 votes for FDR's former Vice-President. In 1952, the ALP failed to get 50,000 votes in the elections and lost its ballot space. By 1956, the ALP was defunct. Anarchist Federation: Generalized group of anti-government leftists founded in 1960 in New York City. The AF was founded by anarchists, syndicalists, and former members of the Industrial Workers of World (IWW). Prime members of the group included Murray Bookchin, eco-anarchist Walter Coughey, Noam Chomsky, and Charles T. Smith. The membership within the AF never grew beyond 1,000 (even during the height of the New Left movement of the 1960's), but because of the influential people within the group (and their militant views), the AF gained much attention. However, the varied views of the AF members (from pacifist to violent) of clashed. In 1964, an AF youth section, the Resurgence Youth Movement, which became well-known for causing violent civil disorder during the anti-Vietnam movement. After the Vietnam War was ended, the AF lost its steam, and most of its members left the movement to start other ones. Black Panther Party: Radical African-American group formed in Oakland, California, in 1966. Founders included Black nationalists such as Huey P. Newton and Bobby Seale. Basing their ideas on Marxism and Maoism, the Black Panthers took a militant stand (with guns and uniforms) and called for the liberation of Black people in the United States. The Black Panthers were well-known for their revolutionary stances. Panther leaders Fred Hampton and Mark Clark were killed by police when they raided the Panther headquarters. Shootouts with police on other occasions caused Huey Newton and Eldridge Cleaver to be indicted for killing several police officers. In 1968, Cleaver would run for President as the nominee of the Californian Peace & Freedom Party. Because of their militant stance, the FBI spied on the Black Panthers constantly, to anger of Panther members. In the mid-1970's, the Black Panthers ended their call for violence and attempted to run election campaigns instead. They were unsuccessful. By the 1980's, the Black Panther Party became defunct, though attempts have been made in recent years to revive it. Recently, a "New Black Panther Party" was created by Black Muslims on a very right-wing, moralist line; this group has been denounced by old Panther members. Communist League of America: Formed in late 1928 by James P. Cannon, Max Shachtman, Martin Abern, and their supporters upon being expelled from the Communist Party USA for supporting Leon Trotsky's fight against the policies of new Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin. (Cannon, Shachtman, and Abern had all been members of the CP-USA's Political Committee.) The CLA began publishing The Militant and worked at radicalizing the labor movement during the Great Depression. In 1934, the CLA merged with A. J. Muste's "Conference for Progressive Labor Action" (CPLA) to form the "Workers' Party of America." In 1936, the CLA/WP negotiated fusion with the Socialist Party, causing a group of anti-Trotskyists to split and form the Social Democratic Federation. However, the CLA continued to exist as an independent tendency and continued publishing their own newspaper, Socialist Appeal. Once they began recruiting large numbers from the SP's youth wing, YPSL, Socialist Party leader Norman Thomas decided enough was enough and expelled the CLA/WP faction in 1937. However, the Trotskyists managed to carry most of YPSL with them! Much stronger than when they had entered the SP, the Trotskyists held a convention on January 1, 1938, and officially creating the Socialist Workers Party (SWP) and publishing The Militant. Communist Party (Marxist-Leninist): Founded in May 1971 in Texas from the fusion of several Maoist splinters from SDS — the Los Angeles Marxist-Leninist Collective, Georgia Communist League, and several other ethnic-based groups. Originally named the October League in 1971, the newly created group soon gained new activists and formed several front organizations (Communist Youth Organization, National Fight Back Organization, etc). In 1977, the October League was reorganized as the Communist Party (Marxist-Leninist) and former SDS activist Michael Klonsky became party chairman. Also in 1977, Klonsky traveled to China and the CPML was recognized by the Chinese Communist Party as its official sister party in America. This was quite shocking to many, given the fact that the CPML was smaller than other Maoist organizations (including the Revolutionary Union). Combining their Maoism with workerist moralism, the CPML denounced "decadent 'counter-cultural' lifestyles," including homosexuality, free love, and drug use. Similarly, they also criticized feminism as a "petty-bourgeois ideology"; however, approximately half of the party's leadership was female. Their were numerous polemics and battles between the CPML and the Revolutionary Communist Party (RCP) during the former's existence. The RCP attacked the "revisionist" policies of post-Mao China, while the CPML still maintained fraternal relations with the Chinese government and remained uncritical to the Chinse leadership. The CPML was also more critical of Black nationalism than the RCP. The CPML also more supportive of the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA). The CPML published Class Struggle and The Call and was active in anti-racism work, but its membership never exceded 500. Due to the continually worsening policies of the Chinese Communist Party, the CPML failed to grow and began a long period of infighting. In January 1981, Michael Klonsky resigned as party chairman, and the CPML disbanded that same year. The previous Red Encyclopedia description of the CPML was incorrectly combined with that of the Communist Party USA (Marxist-Leninist). Communist Party USA (Marxist-Leninist): Formed in 1965 as a Maoist split from the Communist Party USA, following the Sino-Soviet Split. Led by Michael Laski, the CPUSA(ML) was dwarfed by the other Maoist group of that period, the Progressive Labor Party (PLP). The party published People's Voice and Red Flag, but apparently never grew beyond 50 members. To increase the Party's finances, Laski attempted to win at gambling in Las Vegas! After a subsequent Central Committee meeting that included gunshots, the CPUSA(ML) was disbanded. This is probably one of the most humorous endings to a leftist party in world history! Communist Party USA / Provisional: See Provisional Communist Party.
| Communist Workers Party: Maoist group formed by Jerry Tung and others following the break-up of Students for a Democratic Society in 1969. Extremely violent and totalitarian, the CWP hailed Joseph Stalin, Mao Zedong, even Cambodian dictator Pol Pot. They despised Trotskyists (describing them as "counter-revolutionary dogs"), applauding the execution of 14 Trotskyist leaders in Iran. They also fought with other Maoist groups, including the Revolutionary Communist Party. They first came to national attention on November 19, 1979, at Greensboro, North Carolina. In Greensboro, CWPers participated in a shootout with neo-Nazis and KKK members. Two CWP members were killed, and their murderers were acquitted of the crimes (many believe because it took place in the "racist" South). Even more attention was drawn on the CWP in 1980 during the Democratic National Convention. Calling Democratic nominee Jimmy Carter a "fascist" and a "racist", they stormed the convention in Madison Square Gardens, wearing riot gear and clubs. The police were able to stop them, but one managed to get in the building and set off fire crackers. The group, regarded as sectarian and overly violent even by fellow leftists, the CWP never got beyond a membership base of 200. They remained in violently anti-racist activities until 1985, when they renamed themselves the New Democratic Movement and entered the Democratic Party (ironically, a group they were bombing 5 years earlier). It was the feeling of CWP leader Jerry Tung and others that they could get funding for the CWP/NDM if they joined the Democrats. The organization is now moribund. Many of the former CWP members have gone on to lead fairly ordinary lives. Independent Socialist Clubs: See International Socialists. Independent Socialist League: Formed in 1940 as the Workers' Party (WP) by Max Shachtman after he left the Socialist Workers Party (SWP). Shachtman took a much more anti-Soviet tone than the other Trotskyists — calling the USSR's military agression "social imperialist" and considered the Soviet government to be "bureaucratic collectivist." The Workers' Party became an advocate of the "Third Camp" that proclaimed "Neither Washington nor Moscow." Shachtman's WP began organizing in the labor movement, gaining hundreds of young radicals, including Michael Harrington and Irving Howe. In 1949, the WP — realizing that it was more of a "socialist propaganda group" than a "party" — reorganized itself as the Independent Socialist League (ISL). Becoming an nominally democratic socialist organization, the ISL was the first organization to successfully from the attorney general's list of subversive organizations. However, despite this fact and the birth of the new civil rights movement, the ISL remained minute in size. Also during this time, the ISL lost Irving Howe and other people on the group's right who rallied around the journal Dissent. Shachtman negotiated with the leaders of the Socialist Party of America, and the ISL merged with the SP in 1957. Beginning (arguably) in the left wing of the SP, Shachtman and some of his cohorts would mutate politically to the point where they became right-wing social democrats, taking over the SP's national committee and renaming the organization Social Democrats USA. International Socialists: Revolutionary socialist group founded in 1964 in Berkeley as the Independent Socialist Club. Initiated by Hal Draper and his comrades, the founders of the club were former members of the Independent Socialist League who were opposed to the ISL's move to the right — dissolving into the Socialist Party and eventually becoming right-wing Democrats. By getting involved in the Berkeley Free Speech Movement, the Independent Socialist Club became quite successful and managed to form a sister club in New York and soon created the national Independent Socialist Committee. In 1969, this committee officially became the International Socialists (IS). Though continuing to use the Shachtmanite label of "bureaucratic collectivism" to describe the Soviet Union, the IS began to form relations with Tony Cliff (leader of what would become the British SWP and consequently began studying his theories of state capitalism to describe Stalinism. As happens during the rapid growth of any organization, a split occurred in 1973 that led to the creation of the Revolutionary Socialist League (RSL). The IS began calling for "rank-and-file caucuses" within the trade unions to challenge the conservative power of the labor bureaucrats. To facilitate this, the IS began a "move into industry" and sent its young members into factory and industrial jobs. This tactic led to some critical members to leave and form Workers' Power. In 1977, the faction of the IS that supported Tony Cliff instigated a split to create a purely "Cliffite" group; this new group became the International Socialist Organization (ISO). The leaders of what remained of the IS, probably seeing that continued splits were likely, chose to counter this by promoting regroupment of the far left. In 1986, the IS fused with Workers' Power and Socialist Unity, creating a new organization — Solidarity. Jewish Socialist Verband of America: Founded in 1921 at New York City by writer Abraham Cahan (editor of The Jewish Daily Forward) and a group of Jewish socialists for the purpose of promoting socialism among Yiddish-speaking Jews. Cahan and many JSVA members were also affiliated with the Social Democratic Federation. The group attempted to appeal to poor and lower-middle-class Jews. However, it had trouble showing up next to other larger socialist and Jewish groups. The JSVA published a monthly magazine, Der Wecker. JSVA merged with a group called the Union of Democratic Socialists, and the JSVA-UDS went on to merge with the Socialist Party of America in 1972. League for Industrial Democracy: Formed in 1905 by Socialists such as authors Jack London and Upton Sinclair for the purpose of promoting socialistic thought among young people. Originally named the "Intercollegiate Socialist Society of America", the LID based itself on the ideas of the British Fabian Society, which believed that socialism could come through educating people in society about it. The ISSA had many people who would become well-known socialists, including John Reed, Morris Hillquit and others. The Red Scare of the 1920's caused the ISSA to become moribund, and it was renamed and reorganized as the League for Industrial Democracy, commanded mainly by the Socialist Party. The LID gained membership and many well-known intellectuals, such as Reinhold Neibhur and future Socialist Presidential candidate Darlington Hoopes. During the 1940's, a new group based on the LID, the Student League for Industrial Democracy, was formed. This group severed their ties with the parent LID and renamed itself Students for a Democratic Society in 1960. When the Socialist Party became Social Democrats USA in 1973, LID became little more than a phantom front organization for SDUSA's labor bureaucrats. Today, much like SDUSA, the LID is moribund at best. Liberal Party: Founded in 1944 in New York City by the right wing of the American Labor Party after that organization was taken over by the Communist Party USA. Early leaders of the Liberal Party included numerous New Dealers, labor officials, and left religious leaders such as Reinhold Neibuhr. In 1944, Franklin Roosevelt was co-endorsed by the LP, who pulled in 320,000 votes for the President. While the ALP endorsed Henry Wallace's Progressive Party in 1948, the Liberal Party endorsed Harry Truman, convincing many liberal Democrats to stay with the more conservative Truman. In 1949, the Democratic, Republican, and Liberal parties all endorsed a single candidate to oust the ALP's US Congressman, Vito Marcantonio. The also helped Rudolph Halley become president of the New York City Council, elect Herbert Lehman for the US Senate and Averell Harriman for governor. In 1980, the LP nominated an independent candidate (former-Republican Jacob Javits) for Senate, garnering 630,000 votes. Also in 1980, the LP nominated John B. Anderson for President following his exit from the Republican Party when arch-conservative Ronald Reagan won that party's nomination. Anderson won 7% (5,581,379) of the total votes. During the 1980's, the Liberal Party began to whither away and is now defunct. Marxist-Leninist Party USA: Formed in the 1960's as the US wing of Hardial Bain's Communist Party of Canada (Marxist-Leninist), the MLP was originally known as the American Communist Workers Movement (Marxist-Leninist). Strong anti-revisionists, the ACWM(M-L) originally worshipped Mao Zedong and followed the idea of the "Third Period" — calling any other left group "social fascist." Around 1970, the ACWM(M-L) was renamed Central Organization of US Marxist-Leninists (COUSML), and actively became violent against police and fascists, as well as those other left organizations. As Mao became mild in his old age and established friendly relations with Richard Nixon, COUSML and the CP(M-L) Canada declared Maoist China "state capitalist" and began to follow the orthodox views of Enver Hoxha's dictatorship in Albania. COUSML managed to form fraternal relations with groups in Nicaragua, Sweeden, Spain and Colombia, but many of these groups would end up adopting the course of "revisionism." In 1980, COUSML became the Marxist-Leninist Party and publicly broke with the Communist Party of Canada (Marxist-Leninist). The MLP cadre published Workers Advocate and sought to unite all anti-revisionists under the slogan "Marxist-Leninists Unite!", and hoped to create a People's Army out of minority groups and workers. However, in late 1983, due to internal struggles, the MLP dissolved and the last issue of Workers Advocate was published in November of that year. Several shards of the MLP formed local groupings, including the Chicago Workers Voice Group and Communist Voice Organization. Bizarrely, Communist Voice has moved to a position that even Joseph Stalin (usually the messiah of any anti-revisionist) was a "state capitalist"! Today, these MLP splinters do little more than blame one another for the destruction of the MLP. New American Movement: This entry coming soon. People's Party: Founded in 1971 in Dallas, Texas, by a group of anti-war activists for the purpose of selecting a slate of candidates opposed to the Vietnam War. Over 200 delegates were in attendance, including those representing the Peace & Freedom Party and numerous smaller third parties. They chose to nominate Dr. Benjamin M. Spock (a democratic socialist) to be their candidate for President of the United States and Black educator Julius Hobson to be the People's Party candidate for vice-president. Spock (who had been involved with the anti-nuclear weapon group SANE) ran on a platform calling for a "democratic and decentralized socialism". The party also called for withdrawal from Vietnam, cutting the military budget in half, a steeply progressive income tax with a maximum wage of $50,000, abolition of both property and sales tax, a minimum income of $6,500 per American family, and legalization of abortion and marijuana. Spock appeared on the ballot in ten states in 1972 and garnered 78,801 popular votes. The party went on to try to make itself more of a coalition of autonomous state parties. Parties in the PP web included: Commongood People's Party (New York), Country People's Caucus (New Jersey and Missouri), Human Rights Party (Michigan), New American Party (Pennsylvania), New Party (Arizona), No Party (Massachussetts), Peace & Freedom Party (California), and the Liberal Union (Vermont). However, by the end of Vietnam War, this party, like many others of the New Left movement, became moribund. Today, the only affiliate of the PP that still exists is California's Peace & Freedom Party. Proletarian Party of America: Formed initially in 1919 by a most of the Michigan membership of the Socialist Party of America. The Michigan Party was expelled because they vehemently supported the Bolshevik Revolution. At the Chicago convention which formed the Communist Party USA, this "Michigan group" was highly stubborn and had severe disagreements with the clandestine and hierarchical character of the new Communist Party. For this, the Michigan Group was expelled from the CP in January 1920 as "Mensheviks" and subsequently formed the Proletarian Party. The Proletarian Party grew and spread to other cities, but continued to exist predominantly in the Midwest. In 1921, the party sent a delegate to the Communist International (Comintern), though were stubbornly opposed to fusing with the Communist Party. The Proletarian Party maintained the Charles H. Kerr Publishing Company, published Proletarian News, and worked more as an educational group than a political party. The party was the largest Communist opposition organization for many years, and helped organize numerous strikes — especially in the United Auto Workers (UAW). The party soon became eclipsed by Trotskyists and other opposition groups, though it remained alive on paper until 1971. Progressive Party (1924): Party formed in 1924 in Cleveland, Ohio, for the purpose of nominating Senator Robert M. La Follette (R-WI) for President. Delegates representing such groups as the Socialist Party of America, Nonpartisan League, and the Minnesota Farmer-Labor Party were present, and hoped the formation of a strong progressive third party would help increase the power of their individual movements. They nominated La Follette for President and nominated Senator Burton K. Wheeler (D-MT) for Vice-President. The PP platform called for public control of natural resources, the elimination of all monopolies, increased taxation on the wealthy, legal protection for union collective bargaining, public works to eliminate unemployment, election of all federal judges, public referendum for declaration of war, and an end to child labor. In spite of the fact that La Follette was labeled as a "pro-German isolationist" and an "agrarian radical", he nevertheless polled 4,832,532 popular votes and the electoral votes of Wisconsin, polling over 16.6% of the vote (the Democratic candidate only received slightly more, 28.8%). Unfortunately, when La Follette died in 1925, much of the force of the PP died with him, and it soon became moribund. His sons, Robert Jr. and Phillip La Follette, attempted to resurrect his party, but with little success. Progressive Party (1948): Founded in 1948, this new Progressive Party was the vehicle of (former Vice President) Henry A. Wallace for President. With 3,240 delegates in attendance at the founding convention, the PP also nominated Senator Glen Taylor (D-ID) for Vice-President. Wallace, the former Vice-President and Secretary of Agriculture, had become angered by Harry Truman and the conservative wing of the Democratic Party. The last straw for Wallace was his discharge from the position of Secretary of Commerce by Truman in 1946. The PP platform was critical of the Marshall Plan and the Truman Doctrine (designed to reconstruct the capitalist nations in Western Europe). It also denounced development of atom bombs and military aid being given to Kuomintang (Nationalist Party) of China, as well as aid to Greece and Turkey. The platform called for peace talks with the Soviet Union and the conversion of the United Nations into an international government. It also called for an end to racial segregation in the US, job discrimination against women, and wanted a higher minimum wage. The Communist Party USA decided not to run a Presidential candidate in 1948, instead joining Wallace's Progressive Party. This caused many, who already felt Wallace was too pro-Soviet, to gain the opinion that he was secretly a Communist. His polling in 1948 was far below expectations, garnering 1,157,140 popular votes. Angry at the Communist Party for their actions, Wallace resigned from the Progressive Party and retired to his farm in South Salem, New York. The PP continued to exist until 1952, when it nominated Vincent Hallinan (a California lawyer) for President. That year, the PP vote fell to 140,023 votes, and the party soon became defunct. Provisional Communist Party: Formed in 1970-71 as the "Liberation Army Revolutionary Group Organizations" (LARGO) by Gerry Doeden (1936-1995). Before this time, it appears that Doeden was involved with several SDS splinters, most notably Lyndon LaRouche's National Caucus of Labor Committees (NCLC) — a leftist cult that would later move to the far right. Using ego-maniacal methods, Doeden managed to lure a few New Lefters into LARGO and "declared war" on the state of California, apparently copy-catting the Symbionese Liberation Army's violent tactics. However, Doeden chickened out on his "war" before it began and escaped to New York, changing his name to "Gino Perente" (apparently to pass off as a Latino revolutionary). Perente's followers formed the National Labor Federation (NATLFED). NATLFED created a number of public aid and social organizations — with innocuous names such as the California Homemakers Association, Women's Press Collective, and Eastern Farm Workers Association. All these organizations funneled money and personnel to NATLFED's secret central organization, the Provisional Communist Party (aka Communist Party USA/Provisional and the Order of Lenin). NATLFED and the PCP became known as the "political Moonies" — grabbing ideal and unsuspecting youth and working them through 18-hour shifts and disconnecting them from outside relationships. Perente was apparently a Stalinist, and used a cult of personality (and threats of violence against dissidents) to keep people in line. He kept the naïve members hopeful by claiming a PCP revolution was eminent. Perente said the Provisional Party was the American section of a new Communist International — which also included the Cuban Communist Party, the Nicaraguan Sandinistas, Chilean freedom fighters, and Salvadoran FMLN. The PCP seems to have maintained an inner circle of about 200 activists. After Perente's death in 1995, the PCP was taken over by one Margaret Ribar. Then on November 10, 1996, Brooklyn police broke into the headquarters of the PCP (known as "the Cave") at 1107 Carroll Apt 2-H. Numerous weapons and underground tunnels were discovered, and numerous Party members were arrested. Since this incident, it appears that the PCP has been dispersed by law enforcement. The PCP was certainly one of the most bizarre groups in the history of the American left. Revolutionary Socialist League: Formed in 1973 as a split from the International Socialists (IS), the RSL opposed the "reformist" policies of the IS toward labor bureaucrats and the IS's rank-and-file caucuses. They also took issue with the IS's Shachtmanite view that the Stalinist countries were "bureaucratic collectivist" — instead referring to them as "state capitalist." In the beginning, the RSL was filled with passionate young revolutionaries, but (perhaps by its very nature) immediately experienced problems with sectarian elements within the organization and criticisms of the very bases of Marxism. In 1976, a group of expelled RSL sectarians formed the League for a Revolutionary Party (LRP), which even today has only around 25 members. The rest of the RSL continued to voice demands for the creation of a mass Labor Party in the United States (which the LRP also opposed). The membership of the RSL continued to move away from the traditional views of Marxism, replacing their ideology with more and more anarchist theories. In 1989, the RSL disbanded, and most of its membership went on to join the anarchist "Love and Rage" group. This group dissolved in 1998, forming the new Fire by Night Organizing Committee. This group now seems to be moribund or defunct, as well. Revolutionary Union: Predecessor of the Revolutionary Communist Party (RCP). Social Democratic Federation: Founded in 1936 at New York City by the right-wing "Old Guard" of the Socialist Party over disagreements with SP leader Norman Thomas. SDF Leaders included Mayor Jasper McLevy of Bridgeport, Connecticut, and Algernon Lee, president of the Rand School of Social Science, left the Socialist Party to form the SDF. The most notable point of disagreement between the SDF and Thomas was the latter's willingness to allow the Trotskyist Communist League of America into the party. The SDF never ran candidates of their own, though they did endorse candidates from New York's Liberal Party and the Democratic Party. After World War II, the SDF's complaints against the Socialist Party were less powerful than they were, so work began to merge the two groups back together. They officially merged in 1956, though a very small group of SDFers who still disliked Thomas left the SPA-SDF and formed the Democratic Socialist Federation (DSF). The DSF eventually also merged with the SP. Social Democratic Party of America: Founded in 1897 at Chicago by Eugene V. Debs at a convention of the American Railway Union, of which he was president. Originally called the Social Democracy of America, it was renamed to SDPA in 1898 following reorganization by Debs and Victor L. Berger. In 1900 the SDPA nominated Debs for the Presidency with Job Harriman of California as his running mate. The SDPA platform called for an end to the "system of wage slavery", public ownership of the means of production, federally financed public works for the jobless, equal rights for women, and abolition of war. The Debs-Harriman ticket polled 87,814 popular votes. In 1901, the SDPA merged with a dissident wing of the Socialist Labor Party led by Morris Hillquit. The newly formed group was named the Socialist Party of America. Social Democrats USA: Ex-leftist group formed in 1973 when former members of the Independent Socialist League (ISL) and the Social Democratic Federation succeeded in seizing the Socialist Party of America's National Committee, pulling it to the right. Disowning any aspiration to be a workers' "party," SDUSA's aim was to appeal to the "hawkish" right of the Democratic Party, because this was where the labor bureaucrats gravitated. This neo-conservative shift caused a mass exodus from what remained of the Socialist Party; most ex-SP members joined Michael Harrington's Democratic Socialist Organizing Committee (now known as DSA) or the Debs Caucus (now known as the Socialist Party USA). By entering the bureaucratic, conservative echelons of the AFL-CIO trade federation, SDUSA succeeded in getting two of their supporters elected AFL-CIO President — George Meany and Lane Kirkland. One of SDUSA's chiefs, Albert Shanker, became the head of the American Federation of Teachers. They took on many conservative goals, such as supporting the Contras in Nicaragua, the South Vietnamese, and worked in the AFL-CIO's international branch, the Free Trade Union Committee — nicknamed the "AFL-CIA" (because it broke up radical labor movements worldwide in favor of American-friendly ones). They also had a number of front organizations, including the A Phillip Randolph Institute and the Socialist Party's old League for Industrial Democracy (LID). SDUSA ended any attempt to honestly appeal to the rank and file of workers, and instead bought influence from the labor aristocracy. In 1995, SDUSA's Lane Kirkland lost reelection to the AFL-CIO's presidency by DSA's John Sweeney, and SDUSA exponentially lost influence from then on. In 1999, SDUSA created a new front organization, the New Economy Information Service (NEIS). NEIS's goal was to promote free trade and globalization in labor movements. SDUSA is now moribund, if not yet defunct. What remains of its members is trying to gain influence in Al Gore's center-right New Democrats and continues to publish its newsletter, NOtes. Socialist Party of America: Formed in 1901 from the moderate ("Kangaroo") wing of the Socialist Labor Party, the Social Democratic Party of Eugene V. Debs, and a group of Christian socialists led by congregationalist minister George Davis Herron (1862-1925). Naming themselves the Socialist Party of America, this new group became the first mass socialist party in the United States. The party grew quickly due to the fame of Debs and his colleagues in the labor movement. Morris Hillquit, the leader of the Kangaroo SLP faction, became the national secretary of the Party. By 1912, the membership of the SP had grown to 118,000. The party won thousands of state and local elections, and by the end of the 1910's, the Socialist Party had two Congressman, Meyer London (S-NY) and Victor L. Berger (S-WI). In 1919, the Socialist Party lost a large part of its membership when those within the party which supported V. I. Lenin and the Russian Bolsheviks left to form the Communist Party USA. In spite of this, Eugene Debs (the Socialist candidate for President in 1920) received 913,664 popular votes (6% of the total vote). However, after Debs's death, the party's support began to slow. Debs was replaced by Presbyterian minister Norman Thomas, who was as successful in Presidential elections as Debs. But the SPA lost many of its local elections and both of its Congressmen. Also, an angry section of the "Old Guard" within the party went on to leave the SP and create the Social Democratic Federation in 1936. During the McCarthy period of anti-Communist hysteria, the Socialist Party's support became so small that they ended their long-running Presidential campaigns. However, the Socialist Party was optimistic, because it was merging with former enemies and the hope was that the party would recreate a strong third party. In 1956, the Socialist Party merged with the Social Democratic Federation, forming the SPA-SDF. An attempt was made to merge the party with two other groups, the Independent Socialist League (led by Max Shachtman) and the Jewish Labor Bund in 1957. While the JLB deal fell through, the ISL did merge with the Socialist Party. Unfortunately, the extremely anti-Communist Shachtmanites of the ISL went to work taking over the SPA-SDF. In 1972, the SPA-SDF-ISL merged with the Jewish Socialist Verband. In 1973, the ISL Shachtmanites were in control of the command structure of the Socialist Party, renaming the SPA-SDF-ISL-JSVA "Social Democrats USA". The SDUSA became "neo-conservative", supporting no leftist cause except the labor movement. Two large groups left this newly formed SDUSA, forming two opposition groups, the Democratic Socialists of America and the Debs Caucus. The Debs Caucus would recreate the Socialist Party of Eugene Debs when it renamed itself Socialist Party USA in 1976. Socialist Unity: Formed in 1985 by Trotskyist Les Evans and other former members of the Socialist Workers Party. The founders of Socialist Unity had tried to build an organization in Socialist Action in 1983, but they became frustrated with the sectarian policies of Nat and Sylvia Weinstein and other Socialist Action leaders. Socialist Unity sought to promote regroupment of the far left, and found a common cause with the International Socialists (IS). In 1986, the two groups (along with Workers' Power) united to form Solidarity. Socialist Unity now exists in Solidarity as the Fourth International Caucus. Society of Christian Socialists: Founded in 1889 in Boston by the Reverend W. D. P. Bliss, an Episcopalian clergyman and educator, for the purpose of promoting Christian socialism. The group was primarily educational in nature and published a journal, the Dawn (discontinued in 1900), and sought to propagate a belief in the moral superiority of socialism over that of capitalism. Bliss, the son of a Christian missionary, was a tireless worker in seeking to equate socialism with the creation of a Kingdom of God on Earth. This so-called Christian Cooperative Commonwealth was to be a virtual utopia where universal affluence and brotherhood abounded. Bliss wrote Handbook of Socialism (1895) and Encyclopedia of Social Reform (1910). When he died in 1926, his organization became defunct. Many of its former members went on to join the Socialist Party of America when it came under the leadership of Christian socialist Norman Thomas. Students for a Democratic Society: Founded in 1959 by Tom Hayden at New York when a student wing of the League for Industrial Democracy broke ties with the LID and renamed the wing SDS. The group began receiving grants of thousands of dollars from such groups as the United Automobile Workers and the UAW's parent union, the CIO. The SDS started small in its first convention, with delegates from only nine universities. However, the SDS grew considerably in 1962, when 59 delegates from 11 local universities met in Port Huron, Michigan. Authored by Tom Hayden, an activist from the University of Michigan, the Port Huron Statement was approved by the SDS delegates and essentially was the first sign of the split between the "Old Left" and the "New Left". During the New Left anti-Vietnam movement of the 1960's, SDS would grow even more to the point that it would become the largest New Left organization of the time. It included members of the youth wings of the Socialist Party of America, Communist Party, and Socialist Workers Party. When President Johnson increased his military campaigns against North Vietnam, the SDS became more militant, protesting on college campuses and waving flags of the Vietcong. At its 1965 convention, the hundreds of SDS delegates decided to decentralize the organization, committing itself to a more local and grassroots outlook. Locals of SDS became so militant that they began occupying schools (most notably, the University of Chicago). In 1968, SDS fused with a Maoist political party, the Progressive Labor Party. The PLP (which was hated even by fellow Maoists) began work to take over the SDS's command structure. In 1970 at Kent State, protests involving SDS members were violently suppressed by National Guard troops who fired upon, killing four of them. However, many SDS members focussed on the problems arising from the power-grabbing of the Progressive Labor Party. By 1970, several anti-PLP groups left SDS, including the Weather Underground Organization, New American Movement, RADACADS, Venceremos Organization, Bread and Roses, Youth Against War and Fascism, Motherfuckers, the Anarchist Federation, and the Revolutionary Union. This mass breakup of the SDS would cause the organization to become defunct by 1972. Venceremos Organization: 1969-1970 split of the Revolutionary Union (the precursor of the Revolutionary Communist Party) formed by a group of Castroists who (more than the RU) believed in an armed guerrilla war against the American government. The state struck back with the FBI's COINTELPRO campaign, and many Venceremos soldiers were arrested or went into hiding. What remained of the organization dissolved in 1973. Weather Underground Organization: Group founded in 1969 at Chicago by members (predominantly upper-class radicals) of Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) who opposed the SDS's takeover by the Progressive Labor Party. The name came from the founding members' policy statement of the WUO: "You don't need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows." This line from Bob Dylan's song Subterranean Homesick Blues pointed out their anger against the PLP, and they were named the "Weathermen" after this line. The Weathermen were quoted as saying, "The main struggle going on in the world today is between US imperialism and the national liberation struggles against it." The Weathermen supported the efforts of the Black Panther Party to create a Black nation. After Bernadine Dohrn led the Weathermen faction out of the SDS, they held a "national war council" in Cleveland, officially declaring a secret struggle of guerrilla warfare against the American government. By 1970, due to their bombings and terrorist acts, the Weathermen were reduced to a hard cadre of militant terrorists. Their main heroes were Fidel Castro, Che Guevara, Ho Chi Minh, and Mao Zedong. Due to their seemingly random acts of violence and the threat they made against President Gerald Ford, the group quickly lost any following outside of their small cadre. Most of the Weather Underground leaders were arrested after one of their bombs accidentaly detonated at the headquarters in Greenwich Village. What remained of the Weathermen reorganized as the radical-left Prairie Fire Organizing Committee (PFOC) in 1975. This organization still exists in the Chicago area, headed by Professor Bill Ayers of UIC and Bernadine Dohrn of the University of Chicago. Workers’ Party: See Independent Socialist League and Communist League of America. Workers’ Power: This entry coming soon. |
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-- This page was last updated July 11, 2002. --