The Workers' Council of the United States, commonly known as the "Workers' Council," was a short-lived organized faction of former

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 ...

members seeking to affiliate with the

Comintern The Communist International (Comintern), also known as the Third International, was a Soviet Union, Soviet-controlled international organization founded in 1919 that advocated world communism. The Comintern resolved at its Second Congress to ...

. When that failed, it agitated for the creation of an open communist party. It was small and short-lived group, but it played an important role in the 1921 creation of 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 ...

. It included many individuals who would have prominent careers in radical and labor movements such as Moissaye Olgin,

J. Louis Engdahl John Louis Engdahl (November 11, 1884 – November 21, 1932) was an American socialist journalist and newspaper editor. One of the leading journalists of the Socialist Party of America, Engdahl joined the Communist movement in 1921 and continued ...

Alexander Trachtenberg Alexander "Alex" Trachtenberg (23 November 1884 – 26 December 1966) was an American publisher of radical political books and pamphlets, founder and manager of International Publishers of New York. He was a longtime activist in the Socialist Part ...

William F. Kruse William F. Kruse (1894–1979) was an important head of the Young People's Socialist League (YPSL) in the 1910s. He was a member of the Socialist Party of America until 1921, acting as a leader of the party's Left Wing faction, loyal to the T ...

, and

Melech Epstein Melech Epstein ( yi, מלך עפשטײן, 1889–1979) was an American journalist and historian. His two most famous books, ''Jewish labor in U.S.A.'' and ''The Jew and communism'' are considered standard works. Early life Epstein was born i ...

Organizational history

The group began as the Committee for the Third International in 1920, as an internal group within the Socialist Party advocating affiliation with 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 ...

. Meanwhile, several ethnic federations were growing weary of the rightward shift of the party. The

Finnish Socialist Federation The Finnish Socialist Federation () was a language federation of the Socialist Party of America which united Finnish language-speaking immigrants in the United States in a national organization designed to conduct propaganda and education for social ...

voted to leave in December 1920. When the party convention decided against joining the Comintern at its June 1921 convention, the Czech federation left in late August, followed by the

Yiddish language Yiddish (, or , ''yidish'' or ''idish'', , ; , ''Yidish-Taytsh'', ) is a West Germanic language historically spoken by Ashkenazi Jews. It originated during the 9th century in Central Europe, providing the nascent Ashkenazi community with a ver ...

-speaking

Jewish Socialist Federation The Jewish Socialist Federation (JSF) was a secular Jewish Yiddish-oriented organization founded in 1912 which acted as a language federation in the Socialist Party of America (SPA). Many of the founding members of the JSF had previously been memb ...

in September. The

Jewish Federation The Jewish Federation (JFED), is generally a secular Jewish non-profit organization, found within many metropolitan areas across the United States with a significant Jewish community. They provide supportive and human services, philanthropy, finan ...

would provide the bulk of the group's membership. The Committee officially left the Socialist Party after the Jewish Federation had seceded, changing its name to the "Workers Council of the United States." The new group advocated a completely legal Communist movement in the United States, a stand that only aggravated internal disharmony within the recently 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 Re ...

. After a series of negotiations the Workers' Council, the American Labor Alliance (the CPs already existing legal front) and the

agreed to the creation of the

at a convention at Star Casino, New York on December 23–26, 1921. One of the stipulations for the Workers' Council joining the new organization was the creation of a daily Yiddish newspaper. This was paper, the ''

Morgen Freiheit Morgen Freiheit (original title: ; English: ''Morning Freedom'') was a New York City-based daily Yiddish language newspaper affiliated with the Communist Party, USA, founded by Moissaye Olgin in 1922. After the end of World War II the paper's pro- ...

'' ("Morning Freedom"), was launched on April 22, 1922, with M.J. Olgin as editor. From April 1 to December 15, 1921, the Workers' Council published ten issues of a biweekly serial called ''The Workers' Council.'' The publication was initially edited by Benjamin Glassberg, who was succeeded by Louis Engdahl. At the time of the establishment of the Workers Party of America, this periodical was merged with ''The Toiler'' to form ''The Worker'', which in 1924 expanded to daily frequency as the well-known publication, ''

The Daily Worker The ''Daily Worker'' was a newspaper published in New York City by the Communist Party USA, a formerly Comintern-affiliated organization. Publication began in 1924. While it generally reflected the prevailing views of the party, attempts were ...

.''

Walter Goldwater Walter Goldwater (July 29, 1907 – June 24, 1985) was an American antiquarian bookseller, who worked briefly at International Publishers before founding University Place Book Shop in Manhattan, part of "Book Row". He was also a co-founder and p ...

, ''Radical Periodicals in America, 1890-1950.'' New Haven: Yale University Library, 1964; pp. 46-47.

References

Publications

A complete digital archive of ''The Workers' Council''''Go to the masses! A manifesto of the Third congress of the Third International; also the withdrawal statement of the Committee for the Third International of the Socialist party to the members of the Socialist party.''

External links

{{Authority control 1920 establishments in the United States 1921 disestablishments in the United States Communist Party USA Factions of the Socialist Party of America Political party factions in the United States