By 1918, the Socialist Party of America was in a state of decline. Its members became increasingly radical. The German Revolution had broken out, and the repercussions of this event began to be felt.

On November 7, 1918, a Communist Propaganda League was organized in Chicago. In February 1919, the left wing of the Socialist Party was organized in New York, and the Socialist Propaganda League was merged into it. As the left wing took a firm stance, its manifesto and platform were adopted by one socialist group after another. It was organized with the active participation of the Russian, Latvian, Ukrainian, Polish, Yugoslav, and Estonian groups within the Party, and grew to include approximately 25,000 members.

Around that time, new elections were called within the party. The left wing fielded its own candidates, and the election resulted in a significant victory. The party’s national leadership, having suffered a crushing defeat, adopted a reactionary policy. One after another, the groups and factions that had accepted the left wing’s manifesto and platform were expelled. The Executive Committee continued down this path, openly and bluntly refusing to recognize the election results, declaring them invalid on the grounds of “fraud,” convening a General Congress for August 30—which was to rule on the validity of the elections—and establishing a Provisional Committee for that purpose. But in order to influence Congress in a way that favored their own views, the congress expelled the Russians, Ukrainians, Poles, Yugoslavs, Hungarians, and Latvians from the Party, as well as the Michigan State Socialist Party. In total, about 40,000 members were expelled from the party, a measure that was undoubtedly effective in controlling the election of delegates to the Congress. And yet the elections resulted in such a decisive victory for the left wing that the talk of “fraud” seemed like a real “fraud” in itself. The National Executive Committee decided to remain in office until the August Congress, even though its term was set to expire on June 30; and it refused to disclose the results of the vote on joining the Communist International.

The conclusion was now clear. No compromise was possible. These events led directly to a split and the founding of a new party.

The Left Wing Convention

Just before the meeting of the National Executive Committee, the Boston and Cleveland groups and the New York chapter of the Socialist Party’s left wing issued a call for a national congress of the left wing, which was held in New York on June 21. It was composed of 24 delegates, representing 20 states, most of whom came from major industrial centers, the heart of the revolutionary proletarian movement. A disagreement arose over whether the Communist Party should be organized immediately, or whether it should continue the struggle with the Socialist Party until the decisive congress on August 30.

The motion for immediate withdrawal was defeated by a vote of 55 to 28. At that point, 31 delegates—mostly members of the Federation and delegates from the Michigan Socialist Party—decided to break away. On the contrary, the majority decided to participate in the Socialist Party’s General Congress and to send delegates from all the expelled and removed groups, but at the same time issued an invitation for a general meeting of all “revolutionary elements” on September 1, to form the Communist Party, together with the delegates who did not wish to participate in the Socialist Congress.

The revolutionary reconstruction

The General Congress of the Socialist Party took place on August 30. The discredited national executive committee attempted to seize control of the right wing by force, because many of the delegates were suspected of sympathizing with the left wing. The police were called on these delegates, thus clearly revealing the authoritarian nature of the former leaders. The left wing was accused of anarchism, of being made up of foreign elements, and of being the expression of hysterical fervor. The Congress was dominated by the right wing, which began by falsely claiming to send congratulations to Soviet Russia and using rhetoric about the “revolution.” But they did not formulate a new program in any way that would address the new tactical needs of socialism, since the congress chose to set aside all serious issues. The Party Conference passed a resolution calling for an International Congress to organize a Third International that would also include the Communist Parties of Russia and Germany, without recognizing that a Communist International already existed. A proposal by the minority to join the Communist International was rejected. Both resolutions were put to a referendum. The Socialist Party was by now a unified party of petty-bourgeois socialism, with approximately 25,000 members. The delegates who wanted to attend the Communist Party Conference were, in a sense, expelled, and they founded the Communist Workers’ Party. The Communist Party Congress was attended by 144 delegates representing approximately 158,000 members.

A five-member committee from the CLP (Communist Labor Party) held talks with a committee from the CP (Communist Workers Party) regarding the merger. The CLP proposed merging the two groups, but the CP rejected the proposal. The CLP delegates held widely divergent views; while some openly rejected the left wing’s positions and tactics, others were known to be centrists. The CP Committee proposed that all delegates to the CLP conference (about 20) should participate in the CP Conference as full delegates, while delegates whose organizations had accepted the left-wing manifesto and program (about 20) should be admitted as sympathizers. The other delegates—who did not represent any clear faction or speak for a small number of members, and who were merely annoyed by their party leadership’s tactics—would not be allowed to participate in the founding of the Communist Party. It was not numbers, but revolutionary resolve that was required.

The CLP Conference rejected these demands and established a permanent party. The delegates who had organized themselves into the CLP, represented no more than 10,000 members, many of whom had now joined the CP.

The Communist Party’s manifesto clearly sets forth the principles of communism; its program is a realistic application of those principles to the current problems of the proletarian struggle, and it is based on the strictest centralization and party discipline, without which a communist party is built on sand.

The Overall Situation

The Communist Party emerged during a period of major proletarian movements. There have been strike after strike, triggered by the rising cost of living and becoming increasingly intense. Recently (September 22, 1919), there was a strike involving 30,000 steelworkers and 500,000 miners. As this struggle continues, strikes will inevitably become increasingly intense and widespread, and—due to state intervention—will take on an increasingly political character, even if this is not yet fully recognized. The situation surrounding the strikes constitutes the objective condition the Communist Party needs to develop the political action of the masses.

A key factor in these strikes is the conservatism of union officials. Of the 70 strikes that have broken out over the past two months, 66 were not approved by union officials; in fact, they were called despite the officials’ opposition. There is a revolutionary upheaval within the traditional unions—a movement calling for the use of broader means of struggle, for the formation of industry-wide federations, and for the recognition of the need for political action. Finally, there is strong support within the old trade unions for a Soviet-style Russia.

The Industrial Workers of the World are currently engaged in a bitter organizing struggle. They decided to join the Communist International. But their press and their leaders constantly attack communist tactics.

The IWW is returning to its original plan of organizing all workers by industry and advocates for the peaceful development of new associations as the only means of bringing about the revolution. The Communist Party recognizes the IWW as a revolutionary movement within the industrial proletariat, but criticizes its theoretical premises and rejects its tactical proposals. The IWW rejects the need for revolutionary political action aimed at seizing state power and establishing a dictatorship, without which—and through which alone—the industrial and social organization envisioned by the industrial workers’ unions can be created. The IWW believes that its theoretical plans constitute its contribution to the movement, but in reality the significance of its movement lies in the fact that it is an expression of the development of the lower proletariat.

Imperialism undoubtedly prevails in the United States today. Congress is stagnating and proving itself inept. The central government is using the harshest repressive measures against the working class. The armed forces and military crackdowns are being used to crush strikes. Congress is exploring ways to declare strikes illegal. Under the flimsiest of pretexts, agitators are arrested and, if they are foreigners, deported. Currently, the government is directing its attacks against the Communist Party, whose offices are under surveillance and whose members are being thrown into prison en masse. The judge declares that holding a Communist Party membership card is in and of itself a crime, and that the government’s clear intention is to make the Communist Party as illegal as the socialist movement was in Tsarist Russia.

American imperialism has established itself as a world power and has become the center of the international reactionary movement. The European response and the war against Soviet Russia are supported morally and financially by the U.S. government, and there is intense agitation in favor of military intervention. The American capitalist class is brutal, unscrupulous, and extremely influential. It possesses enormous reserves of financial, industrial, and military power. It is therefore determined to conquer the world and crush the proletarian movement.

The Communist Party is fully aware of the gravity of its task, and knows that the decisive struggle of the proletariat will be waged in the United States, for only by seizing power ourselves can we secure the Russian Soviet Republic. With this in mind, the Communist Party is preparing for the struggle.

Luis C. Fraina

International Secretary of the Communist Party of America