Communist Labor Party Of America
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The Communist Labor Party of America (CLPA) was one of the organizational predecessors of the
Communist Party USA The Communist Party USA, officially the Communist Party of the United States of America (CPUSA), is a communist party in the United States which was established in 1919 after a split in the Socialist Party of America following the Russian Revo ...
. The group was established at the end of August 1919 following a three-way split of the
Socialist Party of America The Socialist Party of America (SPA) was a socialist political party in the United States formed in 1901 by a merger between the three-year-old Social Democratic Party of America and disaffected elements of the Socialist Labor Party of Ameri ...
. Although a legal political party at the time of its formation, with a form of organization closely resembling that of the Socialist Party whence it sprung, the group was quickly forced underground by the Palmer Raids of January 1920 and thereafter conducted its activities in secret. The group merged with a dissident faction of the
Communist Party of America The Communist Party USA, officially the Communist Party of the United States of America (CPUSA), is a communist party in the United States which was established in 1919 after a split in the Socialist Party of America following the Russian Re ...
in May 1921 to form the
United Communist Party of America The Communist Party USA, officially the Communist Party of the United States of America (CPUSA), is a communist party in the United States which was established in 1919 after a split in the Socialist Party of America following the Russian Revo ...
.


Organizational history


Background

With the end of
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and the consolidation of the
Bolshevik Revolution The October Revolution,. officially known as the Great October Socialist Revolution. in the Soviet Union, also known as the Bolshevik Revolution, was a revolution in Russia led by the Bolsheviks, Bolshevik Party of Vladimir Lenin that was ...
in 1918, long running tension in the
Socialist Party of America The Socialist Party of America (SPA) was a socialist political party in the United States formed in 1901 by a merger between the three-year-old Social Democratic Party of America and disaffected elements of the Socialist Labor Party of Ameri ...
(SPA) between the
revolutionary socialist Revolutionary socialism is a political philosophy, doctrine, and tradition within socialism that stresses the idea that a social revolution is necessary to bring about structural changes in society. More specifically, it is the view that revoluti ...
left-wing and the electorally-oriented center deepened. Radicals were particularly disheartened by the tepid 1916 campaign of "colorless" Socialist presidential candidate Allan L. Benson—an effort which saw the first reduction in the party's tally in presidential voting in party history. From roots in the Boston-based
Socialist Propaganda League of America The Socialist Propaganda League of America (SPLA) was established in 1915, apparently by C. W. Fitzgerald of Beverly, Massachusetts. The group was a membership organization established within the ranks of the Socialist Party of America (SPA) and ...
and the Boston newspaper '' The Revolutionary Age,'' an organized faction calling itself the
Left Wing Section of the Socialist Party The Left Wing Section of the Socialist Party was an organized faction within the Socialist Party of America in 1919 which served as the core of the dual communist parties which emerged in the fall of that year—the Communist Party of America ...
emerged at the end of 1918. Radical editor
Louis C. Fraina Louis C. Fraina (October 7, 1892 – September 15, 1953) was a founding member of the Communist Party USA in 1919. After running afoul of the Communist International in 1921 over the alleged misappropriation of funds, Fraina left the organized ra ...
composed a
Left Wing Manifesto The Left Wing Manifesto is the name bestowed upon two distinct programmatic documents of the Left Wing Section of the Socialist Party during the factional war in the Socialist Party of America of 1919. The first document, the "Left Wing Manifesto ...
, around which the Left Wing Section organized itself, holding raucous meetings of SPA locals and branches to force endorsement of the program and running a slate of candidates in the SPA's annual election in an attempt to "capture" and remold the party according to the Russian Bolshevik Party's model. Buoyed by the bloc voting of radical,
Bolshevik The Bolsheviks (russian: Большевики́, from большинство́ ''bol'shinstvó'', 'majority'),; derived from ''bol'shinstvó'' (большинство́), "majority", literally meaning "one of the majority". also known in English ...
-influenced branches of the Socialist Party's Foreign Language Federations, the Left Wing Section very apparently won a majority of the 15 seats on the party's governing National Executive Committee as well as balloting for International delegates and International Secretary in the 1919 election. Facing ceding party control to an aggressive Bolshevik National Executive Committee, the outgoing National executive Committee, guided by
James Oneal James J. "Jim" Oneal (March 13, 1875 – December 12, 1962), a founding member of the Socialist Party of America (SPA), was a prominent socialist journalist, historian, and party activist who played a decisive role in the bitter party splits of 19 ...
and Executive Secretary
Adolph Germer Adoph F. Germer (15 January 1881 – 26 May 1966) was an American socialist political functionary and union organizer. He is best remembered as National Executive Secretary of the Socialist Party of America from 1916 to 1919. It was during this pe ...
, declared that voting irregularities had rendered the result invalid. Suspensions and expulsions of a major part of the SPA's membership immediately followed, beginning with the May 1919 suspensions of the
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, Lithuanian,
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, Latvian, South Slavic and
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Federations in addition to the entire state socialist parties of Michigan, Massachusetts and Ohio.Draper, ''The Roots of American Communism,'' pg. 158. In New York, the State Executive Committee suspended and "reorganized" Left Wing locals and branches representing nearly half the state's membership. By July 1919, the Socialist Party had purged itself through suspensions and expulsions of more than 60,000 of the nearly 110,000 members that it had touted in January of that year. With Oneal and Germer's Party Regulars clearly in control of the situation, the suspended Foreign Language Federations and idiosyncratic
Socialist Party of Michigan The Socialist Party of Michigan (SPMI) is the state chapter of the Socialist Party USA in the U.S. state of Michigan. A party by the same name was the affiliate of the Socialist Party of America from 1901 until the national party renamed itself in ...
determined to move immediately to the formation of a
Communist Party of America The Communist Party USA, officially the Communist Party of the United States of America (CPUSA), is a communist party in the United States which was established in 1919 after a split in the Socialist Party of America following the Russian Re ...
and issued a call for a founding convention to be held in Chicago on September 1, 1919. Others determined to fight on against the odds to restore the results of the 1919 party election at the scheduled August 30 convention of the Socialist Party. It was this latter group that would go on to establish the Communist Labor Party of America.


Establishment

Most of the English-speaking Left Wingers, headed by National Executive Committee members Alfred Wagenknecht and
L. E. Katterfeld Ludwig Erwin Alfred "Dutch" Katterfeld (15 July 1881 – 11 December 1974) was an American socialist politician, a founding member of the Communist Labor Party of America, a Comintern functionary, and a magazine editor. Biography Early life ...
and including prominent New York journalist John Reed determined to fight on in an attempt to win control of the Socialist Party for the Left Wing. However, with many Left Wingers already abandoning this approach and the Regular faction firmly in control of a majority of the states electing delegates to the Emergency National Convention in
Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...
scheduled for August 30, 1919, the fight was essentially over before it began. The Credentials Committee of this convention was easily won by adherents of the Oneal-Germer Regulars, who froze out Left Wing-oriented delegations from California, Oregon and Minnesota. Roughly two dozen delegates pledging allegiance to the Left Wing Section bolted the convention to meet downstairs in a previously rented room, along with about 50 other Left Wingers from around the country. These latter delegates constituted themselves as the Communist Labor Party of America on August 31, 1919. Executive Secretary of the Communist Labor Party of America was Alfred Wagenknecht of Ohio. The five member National Executive Committee consisted of
Max Bedacht Max Bedacht Sr. (October 13, 1883 – July 4, 1972) was a German-born American revolutionary socialist political activist, journalist, and functionary who helped establish the Communist Party of America. Bedacht is best remembered as the long-time ...
, Alexander Bilan, L. E. Katterfeld, Jack Carney and Edward Lindgren. Initial headquarters were maintained in Cleveland before being moved to New York City in December 1919.


Underground period

The party moved to the underground in response to mass arrests and deportations conducted by the
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and its
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, guided by Special Assistant to the Attorney General
J. Edgar Hoover John Edgar Hoover (January 1, 1895 – May 2, 1972) was an American law enforcement administrator who served as the first Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). He was appointed director of the Bureau of Investigation  ...
. These raids and the move to the underground virtually destroyed the organization, which only existed in skeletal form in the first half of 1920, although publication of its legal newspaper, ''The Toiler,'' was maintained. The party also published an "illegal" underground monthly paper called ''Communist Labor Party News'' and issued the final issue of Ludwig Lore's theoretical magazine '' The Class Struggle'' under its auspices.


Dissolution through merger

On April 18, 1920, Executive Secretary
C. E. Ruthenberg Charles Emil Ruthenberg (July 9, 1882 – March 1, 1927) was an American Marxist politician and a founder and head of the Communist Party USA (CPUSA). Biography Early years Charles Emil Ruthenberg was born July 9, 1882, in Cleveland, Ohio, ...
exited the Communist Party of America and along with his factional supporters (such as
Jay Lovestone Jay Lovestone (15 December 1897 – 7 March 1990) was an American activist. He was at various times a member of the Socialist Party of America, a leader of the Communist Party USA, leader of a small oppositionist party, an anti-Communist and Centr ...
and Isaac Edward Ferguson) constituted themselves as the "real" Communist Party of America with a view to merger with the Communist Labor Party of America. This organizational marriage took place at a secret Joint Unity Convention held at
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in August 1922. The resulting organization, also organized along underground lines to avoid arrest, was known as the
United Communist Party of America The Communist Party USA, officially the Communist Party of the United States of America (CPUSA), is a communist party in the United States which was established in 1919 after a split in the Socialist Party of America following the Russian Revo ...
(UCPA). The
Communist International The Communist International (Comintern), also known as the Third International, was a Soviet-controlled international organization founded in 1919 that advocated world communism. The Comintern resolved at its Second Congress to "struggle by a ...
to which the UCPA and the CPA both pledged their allegiance sought to end duplication, competition and hostility between the two communist parties and insisted on a merger into a single organization. That was eventually effected in May 1921 at a secret gathering held at the
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hotel, near
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. The resulting unified group was also known as the Communist Party of America, which morphed into the
Workers Party of America The Workers Party of America (WPA) was the name of the legal party organization used by the Communist Party USA from the last days of 1921 until the middle of 1929. Background As a legal political party, the Workers Party accepted affiliation fr ...
(December 1921) and changed its name in 1925 to Workers (Communist) Party and to
Communist Party USA The Communist Party USA, officially the Communist Party of the United States of America (CPUSA), is a communist party in the United States which was established in 1919 after a split in the Socialist Party of America following the Russian Revo ...
in 1929.


Party press

During the party's brief life, five English-language periodicals were affiliated with it, with some inherited from organizations that had merged into the party and some new.
''The Toiler''
(Cleveland) – This paper was formerly the official publication of the
Socialist Party of Ohio The Socialist Party of Ohio (SPOH) is a socialist political party in the U.S. state of Ohio. Founded in 1901, the SPO was an affiliate of the Socialist Party of America. Since the 1972 renaming of the SPA to Social Democrats, USA, it has been the ...
under the name ''The Ohio Socialist.'' The paper changed its name to ''The Toiler'' upon its establishment as the official party paper. Due to police pressure, the official publisher was changed to the Toiler Publishing Association late in 1919, thereby allowing the paper to continue as a "legal" publication under the pretext of independence. * ''Voice of Labor'' (Chicago) – This was the serial began by John Reed and Ben Gitlow after they became disaffected with the majority of the National Left Wing Council. It continued as the labor organ of the CPA until it merged into the UCPA. It remained as a UCPA paper until it folded in July. It ran from Vol. I #1 August 15, 1919 to Vol. II #2 July 10, 1920. * ''Communist Labor News'' (Cleveland) – One or two issues of a four-page
broadsheet A broadsheet is the largest newspaper format and is characterized by long Vertical and horizontal, vertical pages, typically of . Other common newspaper formats include the smaller Berliner (format), Berliner and Tabloid (newspaper format), ta ...
bearing this name were produced immediately after the party's formation, with content substantially similar to material also printed in the ''Ohio Socialist.'' * ''Communist Labor'' (New York) – Six issues of this irregularly-issued tabloid newspaper were produced between December 6, 1919 and May 15, 1920Goldwater, Walter ''Radical periodicals in America 1890-1950'' New Haven, Yale University Library 1964; pg. 9. This was the "illegal" underground organ of the CLPA. * '' The Class Struggle'' (New York) – The final issue of this theoretical journal, dated November 1919, bore the imprint of the CLPA on the cover. It was terminated for financial reasons.


Footnotes


Publications

* ''Communist Labor Party News,'
Vol. 1, No. 1
(Dec. 6, 1919). * James H. Dolsen
''The Defense of a Revolutionist by Himself: Story of the Trial of James H. Dolsen, Who Defended Himself on the Charge of Criminal Syndicalism, Superior Court, Oakland, California, March 23-April 23, 1920.''
Oakland, CA: James H. Dolsen, 1920. * Benjamin Gitlow
''The "Red Ruby" Address to the Jury: Also, Darrow; the Judge Giovanitti.''
n.c. (New York): Communist Labor Party, n.d. (1920).


Further reading

* James Oneal, ''American Communism: A Critical Analysis of its Origins, Development and Programs.'' New York: Rand Book Store, 1927. * Bryan D. Palmer, ''James P. Cannon and the Origins of the American Revolutionary Left, 1890-1928.'' Urbana, IL: University of Illinois Press, 2007.


External links

* Tim Davenport

Early American Marxism website, www.marxisthistory.org/
''The Ohio Socialist,''
Marxists Internet Archive Marxists Internet Archive (also known as MIA or Marxists.org) is a non-profit online encyclopedia that hosts a multilingual library (created in 1990) of the works of communist, anarchist, and socialist writers, such as Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels ...
, www.marxists.org/ —Virtually complete run of pdfs {{Authority control 1919 establishments in Illinois 1920 disestablishments in the United States Political parties established in 1919 Political parties disestablished in 1921 Banned communist parties Defunct communist parties in the United States History of the Communist Party USA